In the thirteenth chapter of Revelation two Beasts are there described. The first is the final Head of the last great Empire before the establishment of the millennial kingdom of our Lord. The second Beast is denominated, in other passages, "the False Prophet". There is a difference of opinion as to which of these Beasts represents the Antichrist. In the Appendix to our book "The Redeemer's Return", where this subject is discussed and from which we shall here freely transcribe, we have stated that opinion is about equally divided. But during the last five years we have made a much wider investigation, and as the result we have found that the great majority of those who have written on the subject regard the first Beast as the Antichrist, and that only a comparative few - nearly all of whom belong to a particular school - favour the alternative view. However, the writings of the few have had a wide circulation and have exerted a considerable influence on students of prophecy, and therefore these papers on the Antichrist would lack completeness, and probably some of our readers would be disappointed, if we said nothing on the subject. It is in no spirit of controversy that we now present our own reasons for believing it is the first Beast of Rev. 13 who is the Antichrist.
The book of Revelation makes known the fact that there is a Trinity of Evil. Each of these three evil persons comes into view in Rev. 13. First, there is "the Beast" (v. 2). Second, there is "the Dragon" (v. 2). Third, there is "another Beast" (v. 11). The fact that of this third Beast it is said "He spoke as a dragon" (v. 11) at once intimates his satanic nature and character, for the speech corresponds to the heart. The demoniacal nature of each of these evil persons comes out clearly in Rev. 16:13,14, where we read, "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. For they are the spirits of demons, working miracles". Finally, in Rev. 19:19,20 we are told, "And the Beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet...these both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone", and then in 20:10 we read, "And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the False Prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever".
The above scriptures clearly establish the fact that there is a Trinity of Evil. Now it surely needs no argument to prove that these three evil persons are opposed to and are the antithesis of the three Persons in the Godhead. The Devil stands opposed to God the Father - "Ye are of your father, the Devil", John 8:40, etc. The Antichrist stands opposed to God the Son - his very name shows this. The remaining evil person stands opposed to God the Spirit. If this be the case, then our present task is greatly simplified: it is merely a matter of noting what is separately predicted of the two Beasts in Rev. 13 so as to ascertain which of them stands opposed to Christ and which to the Holy Spirit.
Now there are only two arguments of any plausibility which have been advanced to support the view that it is the second Beast of Rev. 13 which is the Antichrist, but so far as we are aware
no one has endeavoured to show that the first Beast represents the third Person in the Trinity of Evil! Yet he must be so if the second is the Antichrist! This is unmistakably clear from Rev. 16:13,14 and 19:19,20. The first argument used is drawn from the language of 13:11, where of the second Beast it is said, "He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon". This, we are told, indicates that it is the Antichrist who is here in view, aping the Lamb of God. Personally, we are amazed that such an assertion should have been made in soberness. It is difficult to imagine anything more wide of the mark, seeing that not only is it not said this beast with the two horns was "like the lamb" but in this same book "the Lamb" is pictured with "seven horns" (see. 5:6). But if this second Beast, the False Prophet, be the opponent of God the Spirit, then the two horns have a pertinent significance, for two is the number of witness, and just as Christ declared the Spirit of God should "testify (lit., bear witness) of Me" (John 15:26), so the third person in the Trinity of Evil bears witness to the first Beast - see 13:12,14,16. In the second place, it is said that the first Beast of Rev. 13 is presented as the political Head, while it is the second who is viewed as the religious Head. But if this is not a bad mistake, it certainly needs to be modified. It is the first Beast, not the second, who is
worshipped (v. 12)! Having thus noticed briefly the two leading objections which have been brought against the position we are about to define and defend, we shall now present some of the many arguments on the other side.
In the first place, to regard the Antichrist as limited to the religious realm and divorced from the political, seems to us, to leave out entirely an essential and fundamental element of his character and career. The Antichrist will claim to be the true Christ, the Christ of God. Hence, it would seem that he will present himself to the Jews as their long-expected Messiah - the One foretold by the Old Testament prophets - and that before apostate Christendom, given over by God to believe the Lie, he will pose as the returned Christ. Therefore, must we not predict, as an inevitable corollary, that the pseudo Christ, will usher in a false millennium, and rule over a mock messianic kingdom? That this conclusion is fully borne out by Scripture we shall show in a moment.
Why was it (from the human side) that, when out Lord tabernacled among men, the Jews rejected Him as their Messiah? Was it not because He failed to fulfil their expectations that he would take the government upon His shoulder and wield the royal sceptre as soon as He presented Himself to them? Was it not because they looked for Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel there and then? Is it not therefore reasonable to suppose that when the Antichrist presents himself to them, that he will wield great temporal power, and rule over a vast earthly empire? It would certainly seem so. Happily we are not left to logical deductions and conclusions. We have a "thus saith the Lord" to rest upon. In Dan. 11:36 - a scripture upon which all are agreed concerning its application - the Antichrist is expressly termed "The King" (which) shall do according to his will". Here then is unequivocal proof that Antichrist will exercise political or governmental power. He will be a king - "the king" - and if a king he must be at the head of a kingdom.
In the second place, if the Antichrist is to be a perfect counterfeit of the true Christ, if he is to ape the millennial Christ as set forth in Old Testament prophecy - for, of course, he will not mimic the "suffering" Christ of the first advent - then it necessarily follows that he will fill the role of king, yea, that he will reign as a King of kings, as Satan's parody of the Son of man seated upon "the throne of His glory". That the Antichrist will also be at the head of the religious world, that he will demand and receive Divine honours, is equally true. Just as in the Millennium the Lord Jesus will
"be a Priest upon His Throne" (Zech. 6:13), so the Antichrist will combine in his person the headships of both the political and the religious realms - see our notes on Ezek. 21:25,26 in Chapter 9. And just as the Son of Man will be the Head of the fifth world-empire (Dan. 2:44) so, the Man of Sin will be the head of the revived fourth world-empire (Dan. 2:40).
In the third place, to make the Antichrist and "the False Prophet" one and the same person is to involve us in a difficulty for which there seems to be no solution. In Rev. 19:20 we read, "And the Beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him....These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone". Now, if the False Prophet be the Antichrist, then who is "the Beast" that is cast with him into the Lake of Fire? The Beast here cannot be the Roman Empire (the people in it), for no member of the human race (as such) is cast into the Lake of Fire until
after the Millennium (see Rev. 20). That "the Beast" is a separate entity, another individual than the False Prophet is also clear from Rev. 20:10 - "And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the False Prophet are". In this last quoted scripture, each of the three persons in the Trinity of Evil is specifically mentioned, and if "the Beast" is not the Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, the second person in the Trinity of Evil, who is he?
In the fourth place, what is predicted of the first Beast in Rev. 13 comports much better with what is elsewhere revealed concerning the Antichrist, than what is here said of the second Beast. In proof of our assertion we submit the following:
Points of resemblance between the first Beast of Rev. 13 and the Man of Sin of 2 Thess. 2: -
1. The first Beast receives his power, seat, and great authority from the Dragon, Rev. 13:2. Cf. 2 Thess. 2:9 - "Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders".
2. :All the world" wonders after the first Beast, Rev. 13:2. Cf. 2 Thess. 2:11,12 - "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the Lie; that they all might be damned", etc.
3. The first Beast is "worshipped", Rev. 13:4. Cf. 2 Thess. 2:4 - "He as God sitteth in the temple of God".
4. The first Beast has a mouth "speaking great things", Rev. 13:5. Cf. 2 Thess. 2:4 - "Who...exalteth himself above all that is called God". Note also that in Rev. 13:5 it is said of the first Beast, he "has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies". Is not this one of the chief characteristic marks of the Antichrist?
5. The first Beast makes war on the saints, Rev. 13:7. Cf 2 Thess. 2:4 - "Who opposeth...all that is called God", that is, he will seek to exterminate and obliterate everything on earth which bears God's name.
From these points of analogy it is evident that the first Beast of Rev. 13 and the Man of Sin of 2 Thess. 2 are one and the same person.
In the fifth place, that the second Beast is not the Man of Sin appears from the fact that the second Beast causeth the earth to worship the first Beast (Rev. 13:12), whereas the Man of Sin exalteth himself (2 Thess. 2:4), and compare Dan. 11:36: "And he exalteth himself". As already intimated, there are several things which show plainly that the second Beast is the third person in the Trinity of Evil, that is, the one who is the satanic parody of the Holy Spirit. The point now before us supplies further confirmation. There is nothing in Rev. 13, nor elsewhere, to show that this second Beast is worshipped, rather does he direct worship away from himself, to the first Beast. Therefore, he cannot be the pseudo Christ, for the Lord Jesus did, again and again, receive worship (see particularly Matthew's Gospel), and will be worshipped on His return. But this second Beast, who directs worship away from himself, accurately imitates the Holy Spirit in this respect, for nowhere in the New Testament is the third Person of the Holy Trinity presented as a distinct Object of worship; instead, He is to "glorify" Christ (John 16:14) by drawing out our hearts unto that blessed One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Again; it has been generally recognized by prophetic students that our Lord referred to the Antichrist when He said, "I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43). If the one here mentioned as coming "in his own name" is the Antichrist, then it is certain that the second Beast of Rev. 13 cannot be the Antichrist, for he does not come "in his own name". On the contrary, the second Beast comes in the name of the first Beast as is clear from Rev. 13:12-15. Just as the Holy Spirit - the third Person in the Holy Trinity speaks "not of Himself" (John 16:13), but is here to glorify Christ, so the second Beast - the third person in the Evil Trinity seeks to glorify the first Beast, the Antichrist.
If it should be objected that the second Beast is represented as working miracles (Rev. 13:13,14) and, that as the Man of Sin is also said to come "after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9), therefore, the second Beast must be the Antichrist, the answer is, This by no means follows. The power to work miracles is common to each person in the Trinity of evil. Just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each perform miracles, so does the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet (see Rev. 16:13,14 for proof). Three things are said in connection with the second Beast which correspond closely with the work of the Holy Spirit. First, "he maketh fire come down from heaven" (Rev. 13:13), cf Acts 2:1-4. Second, "he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast" (Rev. 13:15), cf John 3:6 - "born of the Spirit". Third, "he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads" (Rev. 13:16), cf Eph. 4:30 - "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption".
Finally; the second Beast is clearly subordinate to the first Beast. But would the Jews receive as their Messiah and King one who was himself the vassal of a Roman? Was not this the very reason why the Jews of old rejected the Lord Jesus, i.e., because He was subject to Caesar, and because He refused to deliver the Jews from the Romans!
In the sixth place, as we have seen, in Dan. 11:36 the Antichrist is termed "the King", and if a king he must posses a kingdom, and can there be any doubt as to the identity of this kingdom? Will not Antichrist's kingdom be the very one which Satan offered in vain to Christ? namely, "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them" (Matt. 4:8). That the kingdom of the Antichrist will be much wider than Palestine appears from Dan. 11:40-42 - "And at the time of the end shall the king of the South push at him (the Antichrist): and the king of the North (the Antichrist, as King of Babylon) shall come against him (the King of the South) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships: and he (the Antichrist) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He (the Antichrist) shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his (the Antichrist's) hand, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He (the Antichrist) shall stretch forth his hand upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape". From this scripture it is also clear that the Antichrist will be at the head of a great army and therefore must be a political ruler as well as a religious chief.
In the seventh place, it is generally agreed among those students of prophecy who belong to the Futurist school, that the rider upon the four horses in Rev. 6 is the Antichrist. If this be the case, then we have further proof that the Antichrist and the Head of the revived Roman Empire is one and the same person. This may be seen by comparing three scriptures. In Rev. 6:8, of the rider on "the pale horse", we read, "His name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him". In Isa. 28:18, those who will be in Jerusalem during the Tribulation period are addressed by Jehovah as follows: "And your covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand". What "covenant" can this be, except the one mentioned in Dan. 9:27, where we read of the Roman Prince (the Head of the revived Roman Empire) confirming the covenant with the many for seven years? Now reverse the order of these three passages, and what do we learn? In Dan. 9:27 we learn that the Head of the Roman Empire makes a covenant with the Jews. In Isa. 28:18 this covenant is said to have been made with Death and Hell". While in Rev. 6:8 the rider on the pale horse (whom it is generally admitted is the Antichrist) is named "Death and Hell". Hence, from whatever angle we approach the subject it is seen that the Antichrist is the Head of the fourth world-kingdom.
"In the volume of the book it is written of Me" (Heb. 10:7), said the Lord Jesus. Christ is the key to the Scriptures - "Search the Scriptures...they are they which testify of Me", are His words; and the Scriptures to which He had reference were not the four Gospels, for they were not then written, but the writings of Moses and the prophets. The Old Testament Scriptures, then, are something more than a compilation of historical narratives, something more than the record of a system of social and religious legislation, or a code of ethics. The Old Testament Scriptures are, fundamentally, a stage on which is shown forth, in vivid symbolry, stupendous events then future. The events recorded in the Old Testament were actual occurrences, yet were they also typical prefigurations. Throughout the Old Testament dispensations God caused to be shadowed forth things which must yet come to pass. This is in full accord with a basic law in the economy of God. Nothing is brought to maturity at once. As it is in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual: there is first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. So there is first the shadow, and then the substance; the type, and then the antitype.
"Whatsoever things were written a foretime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15:4). Israel's tabernacle was "a figure for the time then present" (Heb. 9:8,9), as well as the example and "shadow of heavenly things" (Heb. 8:5). Concerning the history of Abraham, his wives and his children, the apostle was inspired to write "which things are an allegory" (Gal. 4:24). These and other passages which might be quoted witness plainly to the typical meaning of portions of the Old Testament. But there are some brethren who will own the typical significance of these things, who refuse to acknowledge that anything else in the Old Testament has a typical meaning save those which are expressly interpreted or mentioned in the New. But surely this is a mistake. Ought we not to regard those Old Testament types which are expounded in the New Testament as samples of others which are not explained? Are there no more prophecies in the Old Testament than those which in the New Testament are expressly said to be "fulfilled"? Assuredly there are. Then why not admit the same in connection with the types? Nothing is said in the New Testament that the history of Joseph has a profound and wonderful typical significance, yet who with anointed eyes can fail to see in the experiences of Jacob's favourite son a remarkable foreshadowing of the person and work of Christ!
There will probably be few who read this chapter that will dispute what we have said above. No doubt the majority of our readers have already been instructed in much of the typology of the Old Testament. Many of God's servants have written at length upon the Passover, the brazen serpent, the Tabernacle, etc., as well as upon the many ways in which such men as Abel, Noah, Isaac, Moses, David, etc. prefigured the Saviour. But strange to say, very little seems to have been written upon those who adumbrated the Antichrist. So far as we are aware practically nothing has been given out concerning the many Bible characters of ill fame, who foreshadowed that coming one, that occupies such a prominent place in the prophetic scriptures. A wide field is here opened for study, and we take pleasure in now submitting to the careful perusal of the reader the results of our own imperfect researches, hoping that it may lead others to make a more complete examination of the subject for themselves.
It was well said by one of the Continental Puritans that "When we read the Scriptures, we are to judge beforehand, that then only do we understand them, when we discover in them a wisdom unsearchable and worthy of God" (Witsius). Such is the inexhaustible fullness of the written Word of God that not only are its words significant of things, but even the things, which are first signified by the words, also represent other things, which they were appointed to prefigure long before they happened. Besides the plain and literal sense of Scripture, there is also a mystical sense, hidden beneath the surface and which can only be discovered as we, in dependence on the Holy Spirit, diligently compare scripture with scripture. In pursuing the latter we need not only to proceed with due caution, but in "fear and trembling", lest we devise mysteries of of our own imagination, and thus pervert to one use what belongs to another. The principle which will safeguard us is to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the antitypes. Let nothing be regarded as a type unless we are sure there is an exact correspondence with the antitype. This will preserve us from erroneously supposing that any person who is clearly a type of either Christ or the Antichrist is so in every detail of his life. Thus Moses was plainly a type of Christ as our Mediator, and in many other respects too, but in his failures and in other details of his personal history he was not a type of Christ. So, too, with those who foreshadowed the Antichrist: not everything recorded of them prefigured the character or deeds of the Man of Sin. Should it still be inquired, How are we to ascertain in which respects the actions of Old Testament characters were, and were not, typical? the answer, as given above, is, By comparing the antitype. This will save us from the wild allegorizing of Origen and others of the "Fathers". We shall now look at ten Bible characters, each of which strikingly typified the Antichrist.
1. Cain. It is indeed solemn to discover that the very first man born into this world prefigured the Man of Sin. He did so in a least seven respects. First, we may observe that in 1 John 3:12 we are told "Cain was of that Wicked One, i.e. the Devil. Of none other is this particular expression used. The Antichrist will also, in a special sense, be "of that Wicked one", for the Devil is said to be his father (John 8:44). Second, Cain was a religious hypocrite. This is seen in the fact that at first he posed as a worshipper of God, but the emptiness of his pretensions were quickly evidenced; for, when the Lord refused his offering, Cain was "very wroth" (Gen. 4:5). As such he clearly prefigured that one who will first claim to be the Christ, only to stand forth later as His denier (1 John 2:22). Third, by his primogeniture Cain occupied the position of ruler. Said the Lord to him, "Unto to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him", that is, over Abel (Gen. 4:7). Such, too, will be the position filled by the Antichrist - he shall be a Ruler over men. Fourth, in murdering his brother Abel, Cain foreshadowed the wicked martyrdom of the Tribulation saints by the Son of Perdition. Fifth, Cain was a liar. After the murder of Abel, when the Lord asked Cain, "Where is Abel thy brother?", he answered, "I know not" (Gen. 4:9). In like manner deceit and falsehood will characterize him who is appropriately named "the Lie" (2 Thess. 2:11). Sixth, God's judgment descended upon Cain. So far as we know from the Scripture record, no human eye witnessed the dastardly murder of Abel, and doubtless Cain deemed himself secure from any penal consequences. But if so, he reckoned without God. The Lord announced to him, "Thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground", and then He declared, "And now art thou cursed from the earth" (Gen. 4:10). So, too, in his reckless conceit , the Antichrist will imagine that he can defy God and slay His people with impugnity. But his blasphemous delusions will be quickly dispelled. Seventh, Cain was made to exclaim, "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Gen. 4:13). Such indeed will be the awful portion meted out to the Antichrist - he shall be "cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).
2. Lamech. And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; "Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and seven fold" (Gen. 4:23,24, R. V.). The record of this man's life is exceedingly brief, but from the little that is recorded about him we may discover at least seven parallelisms between him and the Antichrist. First, the meaning of his name. Lamech signifies "powerful". This was an appropriate name for one who foreshadowed the Man of Sin who, as the Head of the United States of the World, will be powerful governmentally. He will also be mighty in his person, for we are told that the Dragon shall give power unto him (Rev. 13:4). Second, in the fact that Lamech was a descendant of Cain (Gen. 4:17-19), not Seth, we see that he sprang from the evil line. Third, he was the seventh from fallen Adam, as though to intimate that the cycle of depravity was completed in him. So the Antichrist will be not only the culmination of satanic craft and power, but as well, the climax of human wickedness - the Man of Sin. Fourth, the first thing predicted of Lamech is his "lawlessness". "Lamech took unto him two wives" (Gen. 4:19). As such he violated the marriage law and disobeyed the command of God (Gen. 2:24). Clearly, then, he foreshadowed the "Lawless One" (2 Thess. 2:8, R.V.). Fifth, like Cain before him, Lamech was a murderer. His confession is, "I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me" (Gen. 4:23). In this, too, he foreshadowed the Man of blood and of violence. Sixth, he was filled with pride. This comes out in two details. First, he says to his wives, "Hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech" (Gen. 4:23). Second, in his arrogant self-importance - "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly LAMECH seventy and seven fold" (Gen. 4:24). This appears to mean that Lamech had slain a man for wounding him, and mad with passion, he jeered ironically at God's dealings with Cain. Seventh, in the fact that the very next thing recorded after the brief notice of Lamech is the birth of Seth (the one from whom, according to the flesh, Christ descended) who set aside the line of Cain - for on his birth Eve exclaimed, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew" (Gen. 4:25) - thus we have a beautiful foreshadowing of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus following the overthrow of the Antichrist.
3. Nimrod. This personal type of the Antichrist is deeply interesting and remarkable full in its details. His exploits are recorded in Gen. 10 and 11, and it is most significant that his person and history are there introduced at the point immediately preceding God's call of Abraham from among the Gentiles and His bringing him into the promised land. Thus will history repeat itself. Just before God again gathers Abraham's descendants from out of the lands of the Gentiles (many, perhaps the majority of whom, will be found dwelling in Chalden, in Assyria, the "north country" see Isa. 11:11; Jer. 3:18, etc.) there will arise one who will fill out the picture here typically outlined by Nimrod.
Let us examine the details of this type. First, the meaning of his name is most suggestive. Nimrod signifies "The Rebel". A fit designation was this for a man that foreshadowed the Lawless One, who shall oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God (2 Thess. 2:4), and who shall "stand up against the Prince of princes" (Dan. 8:25). Second, we are told that he was a son of Cush - "And Cush begat Nimrod" (Gen. 10:8), and Cush was a son of Ham, who was curst by Noah. Nimrod, then, was not a descendant of Shem, from whom Christ sprang, nor of Japheth; but he came from Ham. It is remarkable that these men who typified the Antichrist came from the evil line. Third, we are told that Nimrod "began to be a mighty one in the earth" (Gen. 10:8). Four times over is this term "mighty" connected with this one who prefigured him "whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9). But observe that it is first said, "He began to be mighty", which seems to suggest the idea that he struggled for the pre-eminence and obtained it by mere force of will. How this corresponds with the fact that the Man of Sin first appears as "the little horn" and by force of conquest attains to the position of King of kings needs only to be pointed out. It is also significant that the Hebrew word for "mighty" in Gen. 10:9 is "gibbor" which is translated several times "Chief" and "Chieftain". Fourth, it is also added, "Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord" which means that he pushed his designs in brazen defiance of his Maker. The words "mighty hunter before the Lord" are found twice in Gen. 10:9. This repetition in so short a narrative is highly significant. If we compare the expression with a similar one in Gen. 6:11, - "The earth also (in the days of Noah) was corrupt before God" - the impression conveyed is that this "Rebel" pursued his impious designs in open defiance of the Almighty. The contents of Gen. 11 abundantly confirm this interpretation. In like manner, of the Antichrist it is written, "And the King shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god (ruler), and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods" (Dan. 11:36). Fifth, Nimrod was a "Man of Blood". In 1 Chron. 1:10 - "And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be mighty upon the earth". The Chaldea paraphrase of this verse says, "Cush begat Nimrod who began to prevail in wickedness for he slew innocent blood and rebelled against Jehovah". This, coupled with the expression "a mighty Hunter before the Lord", suggests that he relentlessly sought out and slew God's people. As such, he accurately portrayed the bloody and deceitful Man (Psa. 5:6), the violent Man (Psa. 140:1). Sixth, Nimrod was a King - "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel" (Gen. 10:10. Thus he was King of Babylon, which is also one of the many titles of the Antichrist (Isa. 14:4). In the verses which follow in Gen. 10 we read, "He went out into Assyria and builded Ninevah, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah", etc. (Gen. 10:11). From these statements it is evident that Nimrod's ambition was to establish a world empire. Seventh, mark his inordinate desire for fame. His consuming desire was to make for himself a name. Here again the antitype marvellously corresponds with the type, for the Man of Sin is expressly denominated "King over all the children of pride" (John 41:34).
What is recorded in Gen. 10 about Nimrod supplies the key to the first half of Gen. 11 which tells of the building of the Tower of Babel. Gen. 10:10 informs us that the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel. In the language of that day Babel meant "the gate of God", but afterwards, because of the judgment which the Lord there inflicted, it came to mean "Confusion". That at the time Nimrod founded Babel this word signified "the gate (the figure of official position) of God", intimates that he not only organized an imperial government over which he presided as king, but that he also instituted a new and idolatrous system of worship. If the type be perfect, and we are fully assured it is so, then, as the Lawless One will yet do, Nimrod demanded and received Divine honours. In all probability, it was at this point that idolatry was introduced.
Nimrod is not directly mentioned in Gen. 11, but from the statements made about him in chap. 10 there cannot be any doubt that he was the "Chief" and "King" who organized and headed the movement and rebellion there described: "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (11:4). Here we behold a most blatant defiance of God, a deliberate refusal to obey His commands given through Noah - "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (9:1). But they said, "Let us make us a name lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth". As we have seen, Nimrod's ambition was to establish a world-empire. To accomplish this two things, at least, were necessary. First, a centre, a great headquarters; and second, a motive for the inspiration and encouragement of his followers. The former was furnished in the city of Babylon: the latter was to be supplied in the "let us make us a name". It was inordinate desire for fame. The idea of the Tower (considered in the light of its setting) seems that of strength, a stronghold, rather than eminence.
To sum up. In Nimrod and his schemes we behold Satan's initial attempt to raise up an universal ruler of men. In his inordinate desire for fame, in the mighty power that he wielded, in his ruthless and brutal methods, in his blatant defiance of the Creator, in his founding of the kingdom of Babel, in his assuming to himself Divine honours, in the fact that the Holy Spirit has placed the record of these things just before the inspired account of God's bringing Abraham into Canaan - pointing forward to the re-gathering of Israel in Palestine, immediately after the overthrows of the Lawless One - and finally, in the Divine destruction of his kingdom - described in the words, "Let Us go down and there confound their language" (Gen. 11:7), which so marvellously pictures the descent of Christ from heaven to vanquish His impious rival - we cannot fail to see that we have a wonderfully complete typical picture of the person, the work, and the destruction of the Antichrist.
4. Chedorlaomer. The history of this man is recorded in Gen. 14 which is a chapter of deep interest to the student of typology. The chapter opens with the words "And it came to pass in the days" of." This is an expression which occurs six times (in the Hebrew) and always marks a time of trouble ending in blessing - cf Ruth 1:11; Isa. 7:1; Jer. 1:3; Ester 1:1; 2 Sam. 21:1" (Companion Bible). Such is plainly the case here. The first half of Gen. 14 depicts Tribulation conditions, and this is followed by a scene foreshadowing millennial glory. The time when Chedorlaomer lived is the first point in the type. His history is recorded just before the first mention of Melchizedek, the priest-king, who came forth and blessed Abraham - an unmistakable foreshadowment of Christ in millennial glory, blessing Israel. Second, the name of this man is highly significant. Gesenius, in his lexicon, says of the word `a handful of sheaves'...perhaps its true etymology should be sought in the ancient Persian". The latter is doubtless correct, for "Elam", of which Chedorbaomer was king (Gen. 14:1), is the ancient name for Persia. Col. Rawlinson searched for his name on the tablets of ancient Assyria, and there he found that his official title was, "Ravager of the west"! Thus was he a true type of the coming one who shall wade through a sea of blood to his coveted position as Emperor of the world. Third, it is indeed remarkable to find that just as Rev. 13:1 shows us that the empire of which the Antichrist will be the Head (see our notes on this verse in Chapter 11) includes within it the territory and perpetuates the characteristics of the earlier empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome), so
dominions: "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations". Now "Shinar" is one of the names of Babylon (see Dan. 1:2); "Elam" is the ancient name of Persia' "Ellasar" is translated "Hellas" in the Sept., which is the ancient name of Greece; while "Tidal king of the nations" evidently stands for Rome, the last of the world empires. Fourth, but what is even more striking, is the fact that in Gen. 14:5 Chedorlamoer is seen at the head of the kings mentioned in v. 1. They act as his vassals, and thus bow to the superiority of this one who was evidently a King of kings. Fifth, Chedorlaomer was a warrior of renown. He was the Attila, the Napoleon of his day. He defeated in battle the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and brought them into subjection and servitude (see 14:2-4). Later, they rebelled, and gathering his forces together he went forth, vanquished, and slew them (14:9,10). Thus did he foreshadow the Destroyer of the Gentiles (Jer. 4:7). Sixth, in Gen. 14:12 we read, "And they took Lot, Abraham's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed". This prefigured the persecution of Israel by Antichrist and his subordinates in a coming day. Finally, we learn how that Abraham and his servants pursued Chedorlaomer and his forces, and that "Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him" were slain "in the kings dale" (14:17), which strikingly adumbrated the future overthrow of Antichrist and the kings who shall be with him, in the dale of Megiddo (see Rev. 19:19).
5. Pharaoh. We have in mind the Pharaoh of the book of Exodus. His history and character are described at much greater length than the other personal types of the Antichrist which have been before us, and therefore more parallelisms are to be found here. We shall aim to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. First, Pharaoh was king of Egypt which, in Scripture, is the lasting symbol of the world. In like manner, the one whom he so strikingly prefigured will be Head of the world-kingdom. Second, the Pharaoh of Exodus came from Assyria (Isa. 52:4); so also will the Antichrist first rise in that land. Third, Ex. 1 presents him to our view as the merciless persecutor of the Hebrews, embittering their lives by hard bondage. Fourth, he is next seen as the one who sought to cut off Israel from being a nation, giving orders that all the male children should be slain in infancy. Fifth, he was the blatant defier of God. When Moses and Aaron appeared before him and said, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness", his arrogant reply was, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?" (Ex. 5:1,2). Sixth, God's two witnesses performed miracles before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:10); so, too, will God's two witnesses in the Tribulation period work miracles before the Beast (Rev. 11:6,7). Seventh, Pharaoh had magical resources at his disposal (Ex. 7:11), as the Antichrist will have at his (2 Thess. 2:9). Eighth, Pharaoh made fair promises to the Hebrews, only to break them (Ex. 8:8,15). In this, too, he foreshadowed the Antichrist in his perfidy and treachery toward Israel. Ninth, he met with a drastic end at the hands of God (Psa. 136:15). Tenth, he was overthrown at the time that Israel started out for the promised land: so Antichrist will be cast into the Lake of Fire just before Israel enters into everlasting possession of their promised inheritance. In all of these ten respects (and in others which the student may search out for himself) Pharaoh was a striking and accurate type of the Antichrist.
6. Abimelech. First, Abimelech signifies "father of the king". Gideon, deliverer of Israel, was his father. But his mother was a concubine, and this name was given to him, no doubt, for the purpose of hiding the shame of his birth. Looking from the type to the antitype - "Father of the King" - all attention to the satanic origin of the Antichrist. Second, Abimelech slew seventy of his own brethren (Judges 9:5), and was therefore a bloody persecutor of Israel. Third, Judges 9:6,22 tell us that he was "king over Israel". Fourth, it is significant to note that he occupied the throne at the time of Israel's apostasy (see Judges 8:33,34). Fifth, it is also most suggestive that we are told he commenced his career at the stone (Judges 9:6), or pillar, which Joshua erected in Ebal (facing Gerizim), the mount where all the curses of a broken law were announced - Deut. 11:29; 27:4,12,13; Josh. 8:30. Sixth, he was a mighty warrior, a violent man (see Judges 9:40-50, and cf Psa. 140:1 for the Antichrist as such). Seventh, he was slain by the sword (Judges 9:54 and see Zech. 11:7; Rev. 13:3 for the antitype).
7. Saul. In at least ten respects Saul foreshadowed the Antichrist. Almost the first thing told us about Saul is that he was "from his shoulders and upward higher than any of the people" (1 Sam. 9:2, which is repeated in 10:23). As such he fitly prefigured the coming Super-man, who in intelligence, governmental power, and satanic might, will so tower above all his contemporaries that men shall exclaim, "Who is like unto the Beast?" (Rev. 13:4). Second, Saul was king of Israel (1 Sam. 10:24), so also will the Antichrist be. Third, Saul was a priest-king, blatantly performing the office of the Levite (see 1 Sam. 13:9, and cf Ezek. 21:25,26 R. V.). Fourth, the time of his reign was immediately before that of David, as that of the Antichrist will immediately precede that of David's Son and Lord. Fifth, he was a mighty warrior (see 1 Sam. 11:11; 13:1-4; 15:4; 7:8). Sixth, he was a rebel against God (1 Sam. 15:11). Seventh, he hated David (1 Sam. 18:7,8,11; 26:2, etc.). Eighth, he slew the servants of God (1 Sam. 22:17,18). Ninth, he had intercourse with the powers of evil (1 Sam. 29). Tenth, he died by the sword (1 Sam. 31:4).
8. Goliath. First, his name means "Soothsayer" which at once connects him with the powers of evil. Second, he was a giant, and thus, like Saul, prefigured the Super-man. Third, he was the enemy of Israel. Fourth, his consuming egotism was displayed in his blatant challenge, "I defy the armies of Israel" (1 Sam. 17:10). Fifth, the mysterious number 666 (the number of the Antichrist) is connected with Goliath. Note the three sixes. (a) He was six cubits high (1 Sam. 17:4). (b) Six pieces of armour are enumerated - helmet, coat of mail, greaves, target, staff, and shield (1 Sam. 17:5-7). (c) His spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (1 Sam. 17:7). Sixth, he was slain by the sword (see 1 Sam. 17:51). Seventh, he was slain by David - type of Christ. In each of these respects he foreshadowed the Antichrist.
9. Absalom. First, the meaning of his name is very significant. "Absalom" means "father of peace". A careful reading of his history reveals the fact that, again and again, he posed as a man of peace, while war was in his heart. So the Antichrist will pose as the promised Prince of peace, and for a time it will appear that he has actually ushered in the Millennium. But ere long his violent and bloody character will be revealed. Second, Absalom was the son of David, and therefore a Jew. Third, but Absalom was a son of David by Maacah, the daughter of the Gentile king of Jeshur (2 Sam. 3:3). So, too, will the Antichrist be a veritable king among men. Fifth, Absalom was a man of blood (2 Sam. 13,etc.). Sixth, Absalom sought to obtain the kingdom by flatteries (2 Sam. 15:2-6); cf Dan. 11:21,23. Seventh, he cloaked his rebellion by a pretense of religion (read 2 Sam. 15:7,8). Eighth, he was the immediate cause of the faithful followers of David being driven from Jerusalem into the wilderness (2 Sam. 15:14-16). Ninth, he reared up a pillar unto himself (2 Sam. 18:18), which clearly foreshadowed the image which the Antichrist will cause to be set up unto himself. Tenth, he met with a violent end (2 Sam. 18:14).
There are quite a number of others who foreshadowed the Antichrist in one or more of the outstanding features of his character and career. For instance, there is Balak who, accompanied by Baalam the prophet sought to curse and destroy Israel - a striking foreshadowing of the Beast with his ally the False Prophet. There is Adoni-zedek, mentioned in Joshua 10, and who headed a federation of ten kings; it is remarkable that his name signifies "lord of righteousness" which is what the Antichrist will claim to be as he comes forth on the white horse (Rev. 6). Then there is Adoni-kam, with whom is associated the mystical number 666 - see Ezra 2:13; and how profoundly significant that his name signifies "the Lord hath risen". We believe that this mystic number in connection with the Antichrist will apply to him only after his resurrection - and six the number of man! Sennacherib (2 Kings 18) prefigured the Antichrist in a number of ways: as the king of Assyria, the blatant defier of God, smitten by the sword, etc. Haman, four times denominated "the Jews' enemy" (Esther 3:10, etc.), and termed "the adversary" (Esther 7:6), was another typical character. Nebuchadnezzar, king of kings, who demanded universal worship, who set up an image to himself, and decreed that all should worship it under pain of death, etc., manifestly pointed forward to the Man of Sin, and so we might continue. Almost every prominent feature of the Antichrist's person and career was foreshadowed by some Old Testament character. The subject is intensely interesting, and we trust that many of our readers will be encouraged to pursue it further for themselves. In closing this chapter we shall look at one New Testament type of the Antichrist.
10. Herod. At the beginning of the New Testament there meets us a typical foreshadowing of the Antichrist. We refer to what is recorded in Matt. 2. The description there furnished of Herod obviously contains a prophetic adumbration of his great prototype. Notice, first, that three times over he is denominated "the king" (vv. 1,3,9), as such he prefigured the last great king, before the appearing of the King of kings. Second, observe his hypocrisy. When the "wise men", who had followed the star which heralded the Saviour's birth, were summoned into Herod's presence, we are told that he said unto them, "Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also" (v. 8). That nothing could have been further from his mind is plain from his subsequent acts. But, nevertheless, he first posed as a devout worshipper. Such is the role that the Antichrist will first fill in Palestine. Third, next he threw off his religious mask and displayed his wicked heart: "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem", etc. (v. 16). Similarly will the Antichrist act in Jerusalem. Three and one half years before his end comes he will discard his religious pretensions and stand forth in his true character. Fourth, in this edict of slaying the young children in Bethlehem and the coasts thereof, he was aiming, of course, at Christ Himself. Thus did he accurately foreshadow that one who will yet fulfil the terms of Gen. 3:15, where we read of a double "enmity" - between Satan and the woman (Israel), and between her Seed (Christ) and the Serpent's "seed" (the Antichrist". In the fifth place, we may also discover in Herod's destruction of the children, a forecast of the fiendish assaults which the Antichrist will make upon the Jews, when he seeks to cut them off from being a nation. In the sixth place, we may note how the consequence of Herod's cruelty will reappear in the future - "In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Matt. 2:18). This is a quotation from Jer. 31:15. But like most, if not all, prophecies, this will receive another and final fulfilment at the close of the Tribulation period. Our authority for this is found in the words which immediately follow in Jer. 31: "Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the Enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border". Thus it is clear that "bitter weeping and lamentation" will again be heard in Ramah just before Christ returns and restores Israel. Seventh, the accuracy of the typical picture supplied by Matt. 2 may be discovered in the failure of Herod to destroy the Christ-child. Just as God foiled Herod, so will He yet bring to nought the wicked designs of the Antichrist; and just as we read of Christ coming and dwelling at Nazareth after the death of Herod, so Christ shall again dwell in that land after the death of the false King. Surely, this remarkable typical picture of the Antichrist should cause us to search more diligently for other esoteric allusions to him in the New Testament.
We arrive now at a branch of our subject upon which the Lord's people are in evident need of instruction: they have less light here than on most prophetic themes. And perhaps we should not be surprised at this. The very name Babylon means confusion, and widely prevails the confusion concerning it. Yet here and there God has raised up individuals who have borne faithful testimony to the teaching of His Word concerning the past and future of Babylon, and to their witness the writer acknowledges his indebtedness. In view of the ignorance which generally obtains we shall proceed the more cautiously. We here propose to examine carefully the principal scriptures in the Old Testament bearing upon our present theme.
"Babylon was a mighty city of old; its beginnings were in Shinar in the days shortly after the flood; it played an important part in the history of Israel and of Judea; it was the head of the kingdoms of the earth in the days of Nebuchadnezzar; after its capture by the Medes and Persians it fell from its high estate, but for some centuries after Christ it was still a city of importance, and the head of a district. In the New Testament it is first mentioned by Peter (1 Pet. 5:13), and here in the book that tells of the events that occur in the Day of the Lord we read of it as a city again dominating the world, and that at a time when Israelites are again prominent in the story of the earth. Here, too, Babylon reappears in its ancient dual aspect, political and social, the first city of earth and also the leader of the worship and religion of the world powers. The site of old Babylon is known at the present day; it covers a wide extent of ground, and parts of it are inhabited, as for instance Hillah, where there are some five or six thousand people. When the long-talked-of Euphrates Valley Railway becomes a reality, Babylon will be one of the most important places on the line" (Col. VanSomeron - "The Great Unfolding"). This quotation supplies a brief but fairly comprehensive outline of our subject.
The earliest mention of Babel in scripture is in connection with the name of him who first after the deluge attained to greatness in the earth - greatness apart from God. Nimrod was the grandson of Ham, who called down upon him the curse of his father, Hoah. "The sons of Ham were Cush...and Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, in the land of Shinar" (Gen. 10:7-10). Let the reader turn back to the previous chapter for our comments on Nimrod as a type of the Antichrist. "Thus mightiness in the earth and commencement of kingly rule are first mentioned in connection with one, the seat of whose power was Babylon and the land of Shinar. Nimrod - Nebuchadnezzar - Antichrist, are, as we shall see, the three great names connected with that region and with that city" (B.W. Newton: "Babylon; Its Revival and Final Destruction" - 1859).
The first mention of anything in scripture always calls for the most particular attention, inasmuch as the initial occurrence of any term or expression in the Word of God invariably defines its meaning and forecasts its subsequent significance and scope. The passage just quoted from Gen. 10 is inseparably connected with and is in fact the key to what is found in Gen. 11. There we learn that the land of Shinar is mentioned as the place where men first united in confederate action against God. God had commanded that men should spread abroad - Gen. 9:1. But they, in blatant defiance, preferred to centralize. They determined to make for themselves a name, saying, "Go to, Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). And this, we are told, was "In the land of Shinar" (11:2). But the Lord interfered, came down, confounded their speech, and scattered them - "And they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth", etc. (Gen. 11:8,9). Thus we see that at the beginning, the land of Shinar and the city of Babylon were the scene of confederate evil, and of judgment from the hand of God.
Shinar, then, was the land around Babel. Now, though the building of the city of Babylon was checked during the days of Nimrod, yet his kingdom was not overthrown. In Gen. 14:1 we read of "Amraphal king of Shinar". It would appear from several scriptures that "the land of Chaldea" - the capital of which was the city of Babylon - is but another name for "the land of Shinar". In Dan. 5:30 Belshazzar is termed "the king of the Chaldeans", while in 7:1 he is called "the king of Babylon" - cf Isa. 47:1; Jer. 50:8; 51:54; Ezek. 12:13. In addition to these passages, Dan. 1:2,3 seems to positively establish this conclusion, for there we are expressly told that the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's day was situated in "the land of Shinar"! This serves to confirm the fact that Chaldea or Babylonia was the most ancient of the early empires. It was from "Ur' of Chaldea (Gen. 11;28) that Abram was called; and it was "the Chaldeans' who plundered Job (Job 1:17); and in Josh. 7:21 we read of the "goodly Babylonish garment" which tempted Achan, among the spoils of Jericho. In striking accord with this is the statement found in Jer. 5:16, where the Holy Spirit terms the Babylonians as "ancient" as well as a "mighty" nation. After the days of Joshua, Babylon was not directly referred to again till the days of Esar-Haddan, of whom it is said, "And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cutthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof" (2 Kings 17:24, and cf Ezra 4:2). Closely connected with the land of Shinar is Assyria. For a time the supremacy alternated between Assyria and Babylonia, until in the days of Nabapolasser, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, Ninevah was conquered and Assyria became subject to Babylon.
But though Shinar and its capital are referred to in Gen. 10 and 11, and though there are occasional allusions to them in the centuries that followed, it was not until Israel's apostasy had been fully manifested that we find Babylon coming into the place of prominence and dominion. "Until Jerusalem had been sufficiently tried, to see whether she would prove herself worthy of being God's city, Babylon was kept in abeyance. The founder of Babylon's greatness was that great king who was raised up to scourge Jerusalem, and who commenced the "Times of the Gentiles", by receiving from God that endowment of power which was taken from Israel, and remains vested in the Gentiles, till Jerusalem shall be forgiven and cease to be trodden down. It was Nebuchadnezzar who `walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my majesty?' (Dan. 4). The greatness of Babylon dates only from Nebuchadnezzar" (B.W.N.).
The fifth chapter of Daniel tells how Belshazzar, the successor of Nebuchadnezzar, was slain by Darius, who took over the kingdom. Neither the city nor the kingdom was then destroyed, and so far from it being made desolate and without inhabitant, it remained for long centuries a city without inhabitant, it remained for long centuries a city of note. Two hundred years after its capture by Darius, Alexander the Great, after his conquest over the Persians, selected Babylon as the intended capital of his vast dominion, and, in fact, died there. In the first century of the Christian era Babylon still stood, for Peter refers to a church there! (See 1 Pet. 5:13). Several of the church "Fathers" refer to Babylon, and at the beginning of the sixth century A.D. the famous Babylonian Talmud was issued by the Academies of Babylonia. Mr. Newton tells us that "Ivan Hankel in A.D. 917 speaks of Babylon as a small village. Even in the tenth century, therefore, it had not wholly disappeared". Slow and almost indiscernible was its decline and decay. Even in this day there is still a small town, Hillah, standing on the original site of ancient Babylon. What, then, of the future?
That there will yet be another Babylon, a Babylon eclipsing the power and glory of that of Nebuchadnezzar's day, has long been the firm conviction of the writer. Nor are we by any means alone in this conviction. A long list of honoured names might be given of those who have arrived, independently, at the conclusion that the Scriptures plainly teach that Babylon is going to be rebuilt. But there is no need to buttress our conviction by an appeal to human authority. Better than the faith of the reader rest on the Word of God, than in the wisdom of the best of men. Before we set forth some of the many scripture proofs on which our conviction rests, let us ask, Would it not be passing strange if Babylon had no place in the End-time? Scripture tells us that Jerusalem, which has been so long trodden down by the Gentiles, is to be restored by human agency, and have a re-built temple (Matt. 24:15). Egypt and Assyria have yet an honoured future before them, as is clear from Isa. 19:23,24. Moab, Edom, and Seir are to figure in the coming day, as is intimated in Num. 24:17,18. Greece awaits her final judgment from God (Zech. 9:13). And so we might go on. Why, then, should Babylon be exempted from the general renovation of the East?
But we are not left to logical deductions, the Word of God expressly affirms that Babylon will play a prominent part at the Time of the End. The empire over which the Antichrist will reign is described in the identical symbols which were applied to the four world-kingdoms of Dan. 7. In Dan. 7:3 Daniel beheld "four great beasts" come up from the sea, and in Dan. 7:17 we are told "these great beasts, which are four, are four kings (or kingdoms) which shall arise out of the earth". These four beasts or kingdoms were the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. Dan. 7:4 says "The first was like a lion". 7:5 says "The second was like a bear". 7:6 says the third was "like a leopard". 7:7 says the fourth was "dreadful and terrible". Now, in Rev. 13:1,2, where we have a symbolical description of the empire which the Antichrist shall head, we are told that John saw "a Beast rise up out of the sea", and then it is added, "the Beast...was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion". Of the fourth beast of Dan. 7 we read, "It had ten horns" (7:7); so in Rev. 13:1 the Beast there has "ten horns". Who, then, can doubt that Rev. 13:1,2 is given for the express purpose of teaching us that the four great world-kingdoms of the past - not merely the fourth but all of the four - are to be revived and restored at the Time of the End? But as this point is disputed by some, we tarry to advance further proof.
It is to be noted that the Beast (kingdom) of Rev. 13:1 is said to have "seven heads". This has puzzled many of the commentators, but once it is seen that the Beast of Rev. 13:1,2 is a symbolic description, first of a composite kingdom, made up of and perpetuating the features of the four world-empires of old; and second, a symbolic description of the one who shall head it, all difficulty disappears. That we have here in Rev. 13:1,2 a composite kingdom is clear from the "seven heads". Now note that in Dan. 7 the first, second and fourth kingdoms are not said to have more than one head, but the third has four heads" (Dan. 7:6). Thus the beasts of Dan. 7 have, three of them one head each, and the third four heads, or seven in all; which tallies perfectly with Rev. 13:1. But even this does not exhaust the proofs that the four kingdoms of Dan. 7 are to be restored, and play their final parts immediately before the Millennium.
If the reader will turn to Dan. 2, which is parallel with Dan. 7 - the "image in its four parts (the head, the breast and arms, the belly and thighs, the legs and feet) corresponding with the four beasts - it will be found that when we come to v. 45, which speaks of Christ (under the figure of "the Stone cut out of the mount without hands") returning to earth to destroy the forces of evil, and then set up His kingdom, we discover that the Stone "brake in pieces the iron (Rome), the brass (Greece), the clay (apostate Israel), the silver (Medo-Persia), and the gold (Babylon). What we desire the reader to note particularly is that the Stone strikes not only the iron, but the brass, clay, silver, and gold; in fact, v. 35 tells us, expressly, they shall be "broken to pieces together"! If, then, they are destroyed together, they must all be on the scene at the time of Christ's return to earth to inaugurate His millennial reign, and if so, each of them must have been revived and restored!! As our present inquiry concerns not the renovation of Persia, Greece and Rome, but only that of Babylon, we shall confine ourselves to the scriptures which speak of the last mentioned.
1. Isa. 13 and 14 contain a remarkable bearing directly on the theme before us. It is termed in the opening verse. "The burden of Babylon". It tells of the terrible judgment which God shall send on this city. It speaks of the total and final destruction of it. It declares that "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah". It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation (vv. 19, 20). Now the one point pertinent to our present inquiry is, Whether Isa. 13 describes the doom which befell the Babylon of Belshazzar's day, or the judgment which shall overtake the Babylon of the coming day. Upon this point there is, for those who desire to be subject to God's Word, no room for uncertainty. The sixth verse expressly declares that this "burden of Babylon" is to receive its fulfilment in "the Day of the Lord". This, we need hardly add, is the name for that day which follows the present Day of Salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). If the reader will consult a concordance he will find that "the Day of the Lord" never refers to a period now past, but always has reference to one which is yet future! If any doubt remains as to whether or not Isa. 13 is speaking of a future day, the contents of v. 10 should forever remove it. There we are told that "the stars of heaven and the constellation thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine". All students of prophecy will see at a glance that these cosmic phenomena are w hat are to be witnessed during the Tribulation period - cf. Matt. 24:29. There is not a hint anywhere either in Scripture or (so far as we are aware) in secular history, that such disturbances among the heavenly bodies occurred at the captivity of Babylon by Darius. And it is at that time, in "the Day of the Lord" when the sun is darkened and the moon shines not, that Babylon is overthrown (v. 19). This one scripture is quite sufficient to establish the futurity of Babylon and its coming overthrow. [7]
2. The 14th of Isaiah reads right on from 13, completing the "burden of Babylon" there begun. It supplies further proof that there is to be another Babylon. The chapter opens with a declaration of Israel's coming restoration. It declares "the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land" (v. 1). It goes on to say, "It shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, That thou shalt take up this taunting speech against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!" (vv. 3,4). Should the quibble be raised that these verses are speaking of the restoration of Israel to Palestine following the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar's time, it is easily silenced. The verses that follow those just quoted make it unmistakably clear that this prophecy yet awaits its fulfilment. Thus we read in vv. 7,8, "The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us". The whole earth never has been "at rest" since the days of Cain (except it were during the brief period when the Word tabernacled among men). But it will be during the Millennium! Notice, too, that following the overthrow of "the golden city", Israel exclaims, "Since thou art laid down, (laid low) no feller (no cutter off) is come up against us"! This establishes, unequivocally, the time of which this prophecy treats. Long after the days of Belshazzar, the Romans came up against Israel and cut them off. But none shall do this again when the last king of Babylon is destroyed!
Above, we have quoted to the end of the 8th verse of Isa. 14. In the 9th verse the prophet suddenly turns from Babylon to its last king. Verses 9 to 20 contain a striking portrait of the lofty arrogance and fearful doom of the Man of Sin. Then, in verse 21, the "burden returns again to the subjects of the Antichrist: "Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts" (vv. 21-23). Finally, the prophet concludes with a parting word concerning the Antichrist: "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them,and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? (vv. 24-27). Well has it been said, "These are remarkable and significant words, and certainly we cannot say they have been fulfilled. Will any one affirm that God's purpose which He hath purposed upon the whole earth was accomplished when Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and Persians? Did the hand that was stretched out over all the nations, then fulfil its ultimate designs? Was the Assyrian then trodden under foot in THE LAND, AND ON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL, and, that at a time when the yoke of bondage is finally broken from off the neck of Israel? If this were so we should no longer see Jerusalem trodden down now. "The times of the Gentiles' would have ended. Israel would be gathered, and Jerusalem be "a praise in the earth". The concluding words of this prophecy, therefore, might alone convince us that it yet remains to be fulfilled" (B.W.N.).
3. We appeal next to the 60th chapter of Jeremiah. The opening verses contain a prophecy which certainly has not received its complete fulfilment in the past. It declares, "The words that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant which shall not be forgotten" (vv. 1-5). Mark carefully three things in these verses. First, it is announced that the land of Babylon shall be made so desolate that neither man nor beast shall dwell therein. Second, the time for this is defined as being when Israel and Judah together (and since the days of Rehoboam they have never been united) shall "seek the Lord". Third, it is when Israel and Judah shall join themselves to the Lord in "a perpetual covenant"! Still more explicit is the time-mark in v. 20: "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found".
4. The whole of Jer. 51 should be carefully studied in this connection. Much in it we reserve for consideration in the two chapters which will follow this. Here we simply call attention to vv. 47-49: "Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the Spoiler shall come upon her from the north, saith the Lord. As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth". Surely little comment is needed here. When did the slain "of all the earth" (i.e. of all nations) fall in the midst of Babylon? And when did heaven and earth and all that is therein rejoice at her overthrow? "When Babylon passed into the hands of the Medes there was little occasion for such joy. It made little difference to the earth whether Babylon was reigned over by Chaldeans, or by Persians, or Greeks, or Romans. There was little cause for thanksgiving in such transfer of authority from one proud hand to another. But if there be a fall of Babylon that is to be immediately succeeded by the kingdom of Him, of whom it is said, "All nations shall call Him blessed"...then there is indeed sufficient reason why heaven and earth, and all that is therein should sing" (B.W.N.).
5. "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies" (Micah 4:10). In the light of such scriptures as Micah 5:3, Matt. 24:8 ("sorrows" literally means "birth-pangs"), etc., there can be no room for doubt as to the time to which this prophecy refers. It is at the close of the Great Tribulation. And at that time a remnant of Israel will be found in Babylon and they shalt be delivered by the Lord.
6. Both the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah as will as the Apocalypse speak of the
immediateness of the blow which is to destroy Babylon. "Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate...therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart I am, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee
in a moment, in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in thy perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments" (Isa. 47:1,8,9). "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed:; howl for her" (Jer. 51:8). "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for
in one hour is thy judgment come" (Rev. 18:10). There has been nothing in the past history of Babylon which in any wise corresponds with these prophecies.
7. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Revelation each declare that Babylon shall be burned with fire. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorah" (Isa. 13:19). "The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holes: their might hath failed; they become as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken...Thus saith the Lord or hosts; the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire" (Jer. 51:30,58). "And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!" (Rev. 18:18). We know of nothing in either Scripture or secular history which shows that Babylon was burned in the past.
"But it will be said, perhaps, How can this be? Has not Babylon already been smitten? Has it not already been swept with the besom of destruction? Our answer is - Not at the time and with the concomitant circumstances specified in the passage just quoted. It is true indeed that the Euphratean countries have been smitten - sorely smitten under the hand of God. God is wont in His goodness to give premonitory blows. He is accustomed to warn before He finally destroys. Egypt, Jerusalem, and many other places, have all experienced premonitory desolations, and so has Babylon. Its present ruin (which came on it slowly, and if I may so speak, gently), is a memorial of what God's righteous vengeance can do, and a warning of what it will more terribly do, if human pride in contempt of all His admonitions, shall again attempt to rear its goodly palaces when He has written desolation. But if it be the habit of God thus graciously to warn, it is equally the habit of man to say, "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars'. Unbidden, the hand of man revived what God had smitten (that is what happened in Chicago and San Francisco! A.W.P.). Without therefore undervaluing the lesson given by past visitations of God's judgments - without hiding, but rather seeking to proclaim the reality and extent of the ruin, His holy hand has wrought, we have also to testify, that the hand of man uncommissioned from above will, sooner or later, reconstruct the fabric of its greatness - its last evil greatness, on the very plains which teem with the memorials of a ruin entailed by former and yet unrepented of transgressions. Egypt, Damascus, Palestine, and in a measure, Jerusalem, are already being revived. And if these and neighbouring countries which have been visited by inflictions similar to those which have fallen on Babylon, are yet to revive and flourish with an evil prosperity at the time of the end, why should Babylon be made an exception?" (B.W.N.).
That the Antichrist will be intimately connected with the land of Chaldae is clear from a number of scriptures, notably, those which speak of him as "the Assyrian" and "the king of Babylon". But as this is a disputed point we are obliged to pause and make proof of it. Let us turn, then, first to Isa. 10 and 11 which form one continuous prophecy. We can not now attempt even an outline of this long and interesting prediction, but must merely single out one or two statements from it which bear on the point now before us.
In the fifth verse of Isa. 10, the Lord addresses the Antichrist as follows: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation". This intimates, as pointed out in a previous chapter, that the Son of Perdition is but a tool in the hands of the Almighty, His instrument for threshing Israel. His consuming egotism and haughtiness come out plainly in the verses that follow (7-11). But when God has accomplished His purpose by him, He "will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks" (v. 12). How this serves to identify him with the "little horn" of Dan. 7:20, the Man of Sin of 2 Thess. 2:4! - cf further his proud boastings recorded in Isa. 10:13,14. In v. 23 is another statement which helps us to fix with certainty the period of which the prophet is speaking, and the central actors there in view: "For a consummation, and that determined, shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, make in the midst of all the earth" (R.V.). The words "consummation" and "that determined" occur again in Dan. 9:27 - "He (Antichrist) shall make it (the temple) desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the Desolator". The "King of Assyria" and "the Desolator" are thus shown to be the same. In Isa. 10, vv. 24 and 25 we read, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O My people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For et a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their destruction". Clearly this is parallel with Dan. 11:36: "And the King shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished". In the 11th chapter of Isaiah there is a statement even clearer, a proof conclusive and decisive: "And He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked" (11:4). These very words are applied to the Man of Sin in 2 Thess. 2:8.
In Isa. 14 we have a scripture which very clearly connects the Antichrist with Babylon. The opening verses (which really form a parenthesis) tell of the coming restoration of Israel to Jehovah's favour, and then in v.4 they are bidden to take up "a taunting speech (marginal rendering) against the King of Babylon". The taunting speech begins thus: "How hath the Oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! the Lord hath broken the staff of the Wicked" (vv. 4,5). As to who is in view here there is surely no room for doubt. He is Israel's Oppressor in the End-time; he is the Wicked One. In the verses which follow there are many marks by which he may be positively identified. In v. 6 this "King of Babylon" is said to be "He who smote the people (i.e. Israel) in wrath with a continual stroke". In v. 12 he is called "Lucifer (Day-star), Son of the morning", a title which marks him out as none other than the Son of Perdition. Whatever backward reference to the fall of Satan there may be in this verse and the ones that follow, it is clear that they describe the blasphemous arrogance of the Antichrist. In v. 13 we read, "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north". Then, in vv.15 and 16 we are told, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the Pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? Clearly it is the Man of Sin that is here in view.
In Isa. 30 we have another scripture which links Antichrist with Babylonia. Beginning at v.27 we read: "Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with His anger, and the burning thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: And his breath, as an over-flowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel". Clearly it is the very end of the Tribulation period which is here in view. The reference is to the return of the Lord to earth in great power and glory, when He shall overthrow those who are gathered together against Him, and put an end to the awful career of the Antichrist. Continuing, we find this passage in Isa. 30 closes as follows: "For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which, smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the King it is prepared; He hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" - cf "the breath of the Lord" here with Isa. 11:4. For further references to Antichrist and Assyria see Isa. 7:17-20; 8:7, etc.
The next two chapters will be devoted to a consideration of Babylon in the New Testament, when Rev. 17 and 18 will come before us. May the Lord in His grace give us the wisdom we so sorely need, and preserve the writer and reader from all error.
In the last chapter we confined ourselves to the Old Testament, in this and the one that follows we shall treat mainly of Babylon in Rev. 17 and 18, though, of necessity, we shall examine these in the light of Old Testament passages. In the previous chapter, we briefly reviewed the Old Testament evidence which proves there is to be a re-built Babylon, over which the Antichrist shall reign during the Time of the End. Now as both the Old and New Testaments have one and the same Divine Author, it cannot be that the latter should conflict with the former. "If the Old and New Testaments treat of the circumstances which are immediately to precede the Advent of the Lord in glory, the substantive facts of that period must be alike referred to in both. If the Old Testament declares that Babylon and `the land of Shinar' is to be the focus of influential wickedness at the time of the end, it it impossible that the Revelation, when professedly treating of the same period, should be silent respecting such wickedness, or respecting the place of its concentration. If the Old Testament speaks of an individual of surpassing power who will connect himself with this wickedness, and be the king of Babylon, and glorify himself as God, it is not to be supposed that the Revelation should treat of the same period and be silent respecting such an event. If, therefore, in the Old Testament, the sphere be fixed - the locality named - the individual defined - it is impossible that the Revelation, when detailing the events of the same period, should alter the localities, or change the individuals. There cannot be two sovereign individuals, nor two sovereign cities in the same sphere at the same time. If the mention of the "Land of Shinar', and of Assyria", and of "the king of Babylon", be intended in the Old Testament to render our thoughts fixed and definite, why should similar terms, applied in the Revelation to a period avowedly the same, be less definite?" (B.W.Newton).
Of Rev. 17 and 18 it has been well said, "There is, perhaps, no section of the Apocalypse more fraught with difficulty than the predictions concerning Babylon. Enigmatical and inconsistent with each other as, at first sight, they seem to be, we need to give careful attention to every particular, and much patient investigation of other scriptures, if we would penetrate their meaning and possess ourselves of their secret" (Mr. G.H. Pember, M.A.). In prosecuting our present study we cannot do better than borrow again from the language of Mr. Pember, "Nor is the present necessarily brief and imperfect essay written in any spirit of dogmatic certainty that it solves the mystery; but only as the conclusion, so far as light has been already vouchsafed, to one who, having received mercy of the Lord, has been led to much consideration of this and kindred subjects".
An exposition of the Revelation or any part thereof should be the last place for dogmatism. Both at the beginning and close of the book the Holy Spirit expressly states that the Apocalypse is a "prophecy" (1:3; 22:19), and prophecy is, admittedly, the most difficult branch of Scripture study. It is true that during the last century God has been pleased to give His people not a little light upon the predictive portions of His Word, nor is the Apocalypse to be excepted. Yet, the more any one reads the literature on the subject, the more should he become convinced that dogmatism here is altogether unseemly. During the last fifteen years the writer has made it a point to read the Revelation through carefully at least three times a year, and during this period he has also gone through over thirty commentaries on the last book of the Bible. A perusal of the varied and conflicting interpretations advanced have taught him two things. First, the wisdom of being cautious in adopting any of the prevailing views; second, the need of patient and direct waiting on God for further light. To these may be added a third, namely, the possibility, yea, the probability, that many of the prophecies of the Revelation are to receive a double, and in some cases, a treble, fulfilment.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable". This applies equally to the Prophets as to the Epistles, and it was just as true five hundred years ago as it is today. That being so, the right understanding of the final fulfilment of the prophecies in the Revelation cannot be the only value that book possesses. There must also be that in it which had a pertinent and timely message for the people of God of this dispensation in each generation. There must be that in which strengthened the faith of those saints who read it during the "Dark Ages", and that which enabled them to detect and keep clear from the which opposed to God and His Christ. In other words, its prophecies must have received a gradual and partial fulfilment all through the centuries of the Christian era, though their final fulfilment be yet future. Such is the case with Rev. 17 and 18. Ever since John received the Revelation there has always existed a system which, in its moral features, has corresponded to the Babylon of the 17th chapter. There exists such a system today; there will exist such a system after the Church is raptured to heaven. And there will also come into existence another and final system which will exhaust the scope of this prophecy.
The position which the Apocalypse occupies in the Sacred Canon is surely indicative of the character of its contents. The fact that it is placed at the close, at once suggests that it treats of that which concerns the end of things. Moreover, it is taken for granted that the student of this sixty-sixth book of the Bible is already acquainted with the previous sixty-five books. Scripture is self-interpreting, and we may rest assured that whatever appears vague or difficult in the last book of Scripture is due to our ignorance of the meaning of the books preceding, and particularly of the Prophets. In the Apocalypse the various streams of prediction, which may be traced through the Old Testament Scriptures, are seen emptying themselves in the sea of historical accomplishment. Or, to change the figure, here we are given to behold the last act of the great Dispensational Drama, the earlier acts of which were depleted in the writings of the seers of Israel. And yet, as previously intimated, these final scenes have already had a preliminary rehearsal during the course of the Christian centuries.
It will thus be seen that we are far from sharing the views of those who limit the prophecies of the Revelation to a single fulfilment. We believe there is much of truth in both the Historical and Futurist interpretations. We are in entire accord with the following words from the pen of our esteemed brother, Mr. F.C. Jennings: "How many of the controversies that have ruled, alas, amongst the Lord's people, have been due to a narrow way of limiting the thoughts of God, and seeking to confine or bend them by our own apprehension of them. How often two, or more, apparently opposing systems of interpretation may really both be correct; the breadth, the length, and height, and depth, of the mind of God, including and going beyond both of them". Let us now come more directly to our present theme.
The first time that Babylon is mentioned in the Apocalypse is in 14:8: "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication". Now what is there here to discountenance the natural conclusion that "Babylon" means
Babylon? Two or three generations ago, students of prophecy received incalculable help from the simple discovery that when the Holy Spirit spoke of Judea and Jerusalem in the Old Testament Scriptures He meant Judea and Jerusalem, and not England and London; and that when He mentioned Zion He did not refer to the Church. But strange to say, few, if any of these brethren, have applied the same rule to the Apocalypse. Here they are guilty of doing the very thing for which they condemned their forebears in connection with the Old Testament - they have "spiritualised". They have concluded, or rather, they have accepted the conclusions of the Reformers, that Babylon meant Papal Rome, ultimately being refined to signify apostate Christendom. But what is there in Rev. 14:8 which gives any hint that "Babylon" there refers to the Papal system? No; we believe that this scripture means what it says, and that we need not the annals of secular history to help us to understand it. What then? If to regard "Jerusalem" as meaning
Jerusalem be a test of intelligence in Old Testament prophecy, shall we be counted a heretic if we understand "Babylon" to mean
Babylon, and not Rome or apostate Christendom?
The next reference to Babylon is in Rev. 16:18,19: "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightening; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath". The remarks just made above apply with equal force to this passage too. Surely it is a literal city which is in view, and which is divided into three parts by a literal earthquake. If it does not mean this then the simple reader might as well turn from the Apocalypse in dismay. More than a hint of the literalness of this great city Babylon is found in the context, were we read of the river Euphrates (v. 12). This is sufficient for the writer: whether or not it is for the reader, we must leave with him.
We come now to Rev. 17, and as soon as we read its contents we are at once struck with the noticeable difference there is between it and the other passages which have just been before us. Here the language is no longer to be understood literally, but symbolically; here the terms are not plain and simple, but occult and mysterious. But God, in His grace, has provided help right to hand. He tells us that here is "mystery" (v. 5). And what is more, He explains most (if not all) of the symbols for us - see vv. 9,12,15,18. With these helps furnished it ought not to be difficult to grasp the general outline.
The central figures in Rev. 17 are "the great whore", the "scarlet-coloured Beast", and the "ten horns". The Beast is evidently the first Beast of Rev. 13. The "ten horns" are stated to be "ten kings" (v. 12). Who, then, is figured by "the great Whore"? There are a number of statements made concerning "the great Whore" - "the woman" - "the mother of harlots" - which are of great help toward supplying an answer to this question. First, it is said that she "sitteth upon many waters" (v. 1), and in v. 15 these are said to signify "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues". Second, it is said, "The kings of the earth have committed fornication" with her (v. 2). Third, she is supported by "a scarlet-coloured Beast" (v. 3), and from what is said of this Beast in v. 8 it is clear that he is the Antichrist, here viewed at the head of the last world-empire. Fourth, the woman "was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious stones" (v. 4). Fifth, "Upon her forehead was a name written - Mystery: Babylon the great", etc. (v. 5). Sixth, the woman was "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs" (v. 6). Seventh, in the last verse it is said, "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth". These seven points give an analysed summary of what is here told us about this "woman".
Now the interpretation which has been most widely accepted is, that the "Whore" of Rev. 17 pictures the Roman Catholic system. Appeal is made to the fact that though she poses as a virgin, yet has she been guilty of the most awful spiritual fornication. Unlike the blessed One who, in His condescension and humiliation, had "not where to lay His head", Romanism has coveted silver and gold, and has displayed herself in meretricious luxury. She has had illicit intercourse with the blood of saints. Other parallelisms between the woman of Rev. 17 and the Roman Catholic system may be pointed out. What, then, shall we say to these things?
The points of correspondence between Rev. 17 and the history of Romanism are too many and too marked to be set down as mere co-incidences. Undoubtedly the Papacy has supplied a fulfilment of the symbolic prophecy found in Rev. 17. And therein has lain its practical value for God's people all through the dark ages. It presented to them a warning too plain to be disregarded. It was the means of keeping the garments of the Waldenses (and many others) unspotted by her filth. It confirmed the faith of Luther and his contemporaries, that they were acting according to the revealed will of God, when they separated themselves from that which was so manifestly opposed to His truth. But, nevertheless, there are other features in this prophecy which do not apply to Romanism, and which compel us to look elsewhere for the complete and final fulfilment. We single out but two of these.
In Rev. 17:5 Babylon is termed "
the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth". Is this an accurate description of Romanism? Were there no "harlot" systems before her? Is the Papacy the
mother of the "abominations of the earth"? Let scripture be allowed to interpret scripture. In 1 Kings 11:50-7 we read of "Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites...then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that was before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon"! The Papacy had not come into existence when John wrote the Revelation, so that she cannot be held responsible for all the "abominations" which preceded her. Again; in Rev. 17:2 we read of "the great Whore" that "the kings of the earth have committed fornication" with her. Is that applicable in its fullness to Rome? Have the kings of Asia and the kings of Africa committed fornication with the Papacy? It is true that the Italian pontiffs have ruled over a wide territory, yet it is also true that there are many lands which have remained untouched by their religious influence.
It is evident from these two points alone that we have to go back to something which long antedates the rise of the Papacy, and to something which has exerted a far wider influence than has any of the popes. What, then, is this something? and where shall we look for it? The answer is not hard to find: the word "Babylon" supplies us with the needed key. Babylon takes us back not merely to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, but to the time of Nimrod. It was in the days of the son of Cush that "Babylon" began. And from the Plain of Shinar has flown that dark stream whose tributaries have reached to every part of the earth. It was then, and there, that idolatry began. In his work on "The Two Babylon"[8] Dr. Hislop has proven conclusively that all the idolatrous systems of the nations had their origin in what was founded by that mighty Rebel, the beginning of whose kingdom was Babel (Gen. 10:10). But into this we cannot now enter at length. We refer the reader back to our comments on Nimrod in chapter 13. Babylon was founded in rebellion against God. The very name Nimrod gave to his city, proves him to have been an idolator - the first mentioned in Scripture - for Bab-El signified "the gate of God"; thus he, like his anti-type, determined to exalt himself above all that is called God (2 Thess. 2:4). This, then, was the source and origin of all idolatry. Pagan Rome, afterwards Papal Rome, was only one of the polluted streams from this corrupt source - one of the filthy "daughters" of this unclean Mother of Harlots. But to return to Rev. 17.
In v. 5 we read, "And upon her forehead was a name written - mystery: Babylon the great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth". We believe that the English translators have misled many by printing (on their own authority) the word "mystery" in large capital letters, thus making it appear that this was a part of "the woman's name. This we are assured is a mistake. That the "mystery" is connected with the "Woman" herself and not with her "name" is clear from v. 7, where the angel says unto John, "I will tell thee the mystery of the Woman, and of the Beast which carrieth her".
The word "mystery" is used in the New Testament in two ways. First, as a secret, unfathomable by man but explained by God: see Matt. 13:11; Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:3,6 etc. Second, the word "mystery" signifies a sign or symbol. Such is its meaning in Eph. 5:32, where we are told that a man who is joined to his wife so that the two become "one flesh" is a "great mystery, (that is, a great sign or symbol) of Christ and the Church". So, again, in Rev. 1:20 we read of "the mystery (sign or symbol) of the seven stars", etc.
As we have seen, the term "mystery" has two significations in its New Testament usage, and we believe it has a double meaning in Rev. 17:5, where it is connected with the "Woman". It signifies both a symbol and a secret, that is, something not previously revealed. It should also be noted that, in keeping with this, the name given to the Woman is a dual one - "Babylon the great", and "the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth". Who, then, is symbolized by the Woman with this dual name? V. 18 tells us, "And the Woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth". Now to get the force of this it is essential that we should bear in mind that, in the Apocalypse, the words "is" and "are" almost always (in the symbolical sections) signify "represent". Thus, in 1:20 "the seven stars are the seven churches" means "the seven stars represent the seven churches"; and "the seven candlesticks are the seven churches", signifies, "the seven candlesticks represent the seven churches". So in 17:9 "the seven heads are (represent) seven mountains"; 17:12 "the ten horns are (represent) ten kings"; 17:15 "the waters...are (represent) peoples", etc. So in 17:18 "the woman which thou sawest is that great city" must mean, "the woman represents that great city". What, then, is signified by the "great city"?
In keeping with what we have just said above, namely, that the term "mystery" in Rev. 17:5 has a two-fold significance, and that the woman has a dual name, so we believe "that Great City" has a double force and application. First, it signifies a
literal city, which shall yet be built in the Land of Shinar, on the banks of the Euphrates. Proof of this was furnished in our last chapter so that we need not pause here to submit the evidence. Six times (significant number!) is "Babylon" referred to in the Apocalypse, and nowhere is there a hint that the name is not to be understood literally. In the second place, the "great city" (unnamed) signifies an
idolatrous system - "mother of harlots" a system of idolatry which originated in the Babylon of Nimrod's day, and a system which is to culminate and terminate in another Babylon in a day soon to come. This we think is clear and on the surface. What, then, is the secret here disclosed, which had hitherto been so closely guarded?
In seeking the answer to our last question it is important to note that there is another "Woman" in the Revelation, between whom and this one in chapter 17 there are some striking comparisons and some vivid contrasts. Let us note a few of them. First, in Rev. 12:1 we read of "a Woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars", which symbolically signifies that she occupies a position of authority and rule (cf Gen. 37:9); so also the Woman of chapter 17 is pictured as "ruling over the kings of the earth" (v. 18). Second, this Woman of Rev. 12 is a mother, for she gives birth to the Man-child who shall rule all nations (v. 5); so the Woman of chapter 17 is "the Mother of harlots". Third, in 12:3 we read of a great red Dragon "having seven heads and ten horns", and he persecutes the Woman (v. 14); but in striking contrast, the Woman of chapter 17 is seen supported by a scarlet-coloured Beast "having seven heads and ten horns" (v. 3). Fourth, in Rev. 19:7 the Woman of chapter 12 is termed the Lamb's Wife (v. 7); whereas the Woman of chapter 17 is the Devil's Whore. Fifth, the Wife of Rev. 19 is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white" (v. 8); but the Whore of chapter 19 is arrayed in purple and scarlet, and has in her hand a golden cup "full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication" (v. 4). Sixth, the Lamb's Wife is also inseparably connected with a great city, even the holy Jerusalem (21:10); so the Whore of Rev. 17 is connected with a great city, even Babylon. Seventh, the chaste Woman shall dwell with the Lamb forever; the Whore shall suffer endless torment in the Lake of Fire.
Once we learn who is symbolized by the chaste Woman, we are in the position to identify the corrupt Woman, who is compared and contrasted with her. As to whom is signified by the former, there is surely little room for doubt - it is the faithful portion of Israel. She is the one who gave birth to the Man-child - i.e. Judah, in contrast from the unfaithful ten tribes, who because of idolatry were, at the time of the Incarnation, is captivity. So in Rev. 19 and 21 there are a number of things which show clearly (to any unprejudiced mind) that the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, is redeemed Israel, and not the Church. For example, in Rev. 19:6,7, when praise bursts forth because the marriage of the Lamb is come, a great multitude cry, "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him for the marriage of the Lamb is come". "Alleluia (which occurs nowhere in the New Testament but in this chapter) is a peculiarly Hebrew expression, meaning "Praise the Lord". In the second place, the word for "marriage" (gamos) or "wedding-feast" is the same as is used in Matt. 22:2,3,8,11,12, where, surely, it is Israel that is in view. In the third place, note that we are told "His wife hath made herself ready" (v. 7). Contrast this with Eph. 5:26, where we learn that Christ will make the Church ready - see Matt. 23:39 for Israel making herself ready. In the fourth place, in 19:8 we read, "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints". The Church will have been arrayed years before the time contemplated here. In the fifth place, note it is said that "the marriage of the Lamb is come" (v. 7), just as He is on the point of leaving heaven for earth (v. 11; but the Church will have been with Him in the Father's house for at least seven years (probably forty years, or more) when that hour strikes. In the sixth place, in Rev. 21;9,10 the Lamb's Wife is inseparably connected with that great city, the holy Jerusalem, and in the description which follows we are told that on the twelve gates of the city were written "the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" (v. 12)! Surely that is conclusive evidence that it is not the Church which is in view. In the seventh place, in Rev. 21:14 we are told that in the twelve foundations of the City's wall were "the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (cf Matt. 19:28!). Is it thinkable that the name of the apostle Paul would have been omitted if the Church were there symbolically portrayed?[9]
If, then, the Chaste Woman of Rev. 12,19,21, symbolizes faithful Israel, must not the Corrupt Woman (who is compared and contrasted with the former) represent faithless Israel? But if so, why connect her so intimately with Babylon, the great city? It will help us here to remember that the Chaste Woman of the Apocalypse is also indissolubly united to a city. In Rev. 21;9 we read that one of the seven angels said to John, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's Wife". And immediately following we read, "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God". Thus, though separate, the two are intimately connected. The Bride will dwell in the holy Jerusalem. So here in Rev. 17, though distinct, the Whore is intimately related to the City, Babylon. One of the many proofs related to the Harlot of Rev. 17 is apostate Israel is found in Isa. 1, where we read, "How is the faithful city become an harlot"! (v. 21). In the verses which follow it will be seen that the Lord of hosts is addressing Israel, and describing conditions which will prevail in the End-time. After indicting Israel for her sins, the Lord declares, "I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies". Clearly, this has reference to the Tribulation period. Then the Lord continues, "And I will turn, Mine hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross", etc., and then He adds, "Afterwards thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city". How clear it is then that God calls Israel "an harlot" for her unfaithfulness. For further proofs see Jer. 2:20; 3:6,8; Ezek. 16:15; 20:30; 43:8, 9; Hosea 2:5, etc.
We would next call attention to some of the scriptures which prove that there will be Israelites dwelling in Babylon and the land of Assyria at the End-time. In Jer. 50:4-7 we read, "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten", etc. Clearly these verses treat of the closing days of the time of "Jacob's trouble". Immediately following we read, "Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans" (v. 8). Then, in the next verse, a reason is given, showing the urgency of this call for the faithful Jews in Babylon to come out: "For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken" (v. 9). Again, in Jer. 51:44, the Lord says, "And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall". And then follows the Call for the faithful Jews to separate themselves from the mass of their apostate brethren in Babylon - "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord". Isa. 11:11; 27:13; Micah 4:10, all show that Israel will be intimately connected with Babylon in the End-time.
It was of incalculable help to students of the past when they discovered that Israel is the key which unlocks prophecy, and that the Nations are referred to only as they affect the fortunes of Jacob's descendants. There were other mighty peoples of old besides the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, but the holy Spirit has passed them by, because their history had no bearing on that of the chosen Nation. The same reason explains why the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, do occupy such a prominent notice in the book of Daniel - they were the enemies into whose hands God delivered His wayward people. These principles have received wide recognition by prophetic students, and therefore it is the more strange that so few have applied them in their study of the final prophetic book. Israel is the key to the Revelation, and the Nations are only mentioned therein as they immediately affect Israel's fortunes. The ultimate design of the Apocalypse is not to take notice of such men as Nero and Charlemagne and Napoleon, nor such systems as Mohammedanism and the Papacy. Nor would so much be said about Babylon unless this "great city" was yet to be the home of apostate Israel. After these preliminary considerations, which though length were necessary, we are now prepared to examine a few of the details supplied by Rev. 17 and 18. Nor can we now do more than offer a bare outline, and even that will require a further chapter on Rev. 18.
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication" (Rev. 17:1,2). The "great whore", in the final accomplishment of this prophecy, describes apostate Israel in the End-time - i.e. Daniel's seventieth week. The figure of an unfaithful woman to represent apostate Israel is a common one in the Scriptures: see Jer. 2:20; 3:6; Ezek. 16:15; 20:30; 43:8,9; Hosea 2:5, etc. She is here termed "the great whore" for two reasons: first, because (as we shall show later) she will, at the end, worship Mammon as she never has in the past; second, because of her idolatrous alliance with the Beast. The apostle is here shown her "judgment". This is in contrast from what we have in Rev. 12, where we learn that the chaste "Woman" will be preserved. That apostate Israel will yet sit "upon many waters" ("peoples", etc., v. 15), and that the kings of the earth will commit fornication with her, we reserve for consideration in the next chapter.
"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured Beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication" (vv. 3 and 4 ). The Woman seated on the Beast does not signify that she will rule over him, but intimates that he will support her. The ultimate reference here is to the Devil's imitation of the Millennium, when the Jews (even now rapidly coming into prominence) shall no longer be the tail of the Nations, but the head. How the Devil will bring this about will appear when we examine Rev. 18. As the result of the Beast's support (v. 3), apostate Israel will be lifted to heights of worldly power and glory (v. 4).
"And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (v. 5). In a re-built Babylon will culminate the various systems of idolatry which had their source in the first Babylon of Nimrod's day. It is in this city that the most influential Jews will congregate at the Time of the End. From there, Jewish financiers will control the governments of earth. That apostate Israel, in Babylon, should be clothed in "purple and scarlet" (emblems of royalty and earthly glory) before the Kingdom of Messiah is set up, was indeed a "mystery" (secret) disclosed by none of the Prophets, but now made known in the Revelation.
"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder" (v. 6, R.V.) The final reference is, again, to apostate Israel in the End-time. The most relentless enemies of the godly Jews will be their own apostate brethren - cf our notes on Luke 18 in chapter 9. The second half of v. 6, correctly rendered in the R.V., "And when I saw her I wondered with a great wonder", ought to show us that it is not Romanism which is here in view. Why should John, who was himself then suffering from the hatred of Rom (Pagan) wonder at Rome (Papal) being clothed with governmental power and glory, and drunken with the blood of saints? But that the kings of the earth (her worst enemies for three thousand years) should commit fornication with Israel, and that the apostate portion of the Nation should be drunken with the blood of their own brethren according to the flesh, was well calculated to fill him with amazement.
"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the Beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns" (v. 7). It should be noted that in the interpretation which follows, far more is said about "the Beast" than about "the Woman". We believe the chief reason for this is because the 18th verse tells us the Woman represents "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth", and the City receives fuller notice in the chapter that follows - Rev. 18.
"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" (vv. 9-11). Here is the mind which hath wisdom (v. 9): "This repetition of 13:18 identifies and connects these two chapters. The word rendered "mind" in 17:9 and `understanding' in 13:18 is the same. This `wisdom' is, to understand that, though a "Beast" is seen in the vision, it is not a wild beast that is meant, but one great final super-human personality; namely, a man energized by satanic power" (Dr. E.W. Bullinger).
The 9th verse should end with the word "wisdom": what follows belongs to v. 10. The R.V., which in this verse follows a number of reliable translations, renders thus: "The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings". This at once disposes of the popular interpretation which regards these seven mountains s referring to the seven hills on which the city of Rome was built. The Holy Spirit expressly tells us that the seven mountains are (represent) seven kings. Of these seven kings it is said, "five are fallen, and one is (i.e. the sixth existed when John wrote the Apocalypse), and the other (the seventh) is yet to come: he must continue a short space". And then in v. 11 we read, "And the Beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition". Upon those verses we cannot do better than give extracts from Mr. Newton's "Thoughts on the Apocalypse".
"This passage is evidently intended to direct our thoughts to the various forms of executive government or kingship which have existed, or shall exist in the prophetic earth, until the hour when the sovereignty of the world shall become the sovereignty of the Lord and of His Christ. We might expect to find such a reference in a chapter which professedly treats of him who is to close the history of human government by the introduction of a new and marvellous form of power - a form new as to its mode of administration and development, yet not unconnected with the past, for it will be constructed upon principles drawn from the experience of preceding ages, and will have the foundations of its greatness laid by the primeval efforts of mankind. He will be the eighth; but he is of (ek) the seven.
"The native energy and intrepidity of him who is said to have been a mighty hunter before the Lord - an energy essential to men who were setting in a forlorn and unsubdued earth, surrounded by beasts of the forest and countless other difficulties and dangers, very naturally gave the first form to kingship, and hence its parentage may be said to spring. "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel". The supremacy of Nimrod was not derived from any previously existing system. He neither inherited his power from others, nor did he, like Nebuchadnezzar afterwards, receive it as a gift from God. He earned it for himself, by the force of his own individual character - but it was without God. Great progress was made in the kingdom which he founded in the land of Shinar, in civilization and refinement; for we early read of the godly Babylonish garment, and of the s kill and learning of the Chaldees; but their domination was repressed and kept, as it were, in abeyance by the hand of God, until the trial of Israel, His people, had been fully made, that it might be seen whether they would prove themselves worthy of supremacy in the earth.
"The form of government in Israel was a theocracy; as was seen in the reigns of David and Solomon, who were types (imperfect types indeed) of Him that is to come. The monarch was independent of and uncontrolled by those whom he governed, but he was dependent upon God, who dwelt in the temple, ever near to be consulted, and whose law was given as the final standard of appeal. He stood between God and the people, not to be their functionary and slave - not to be the expression of their judgments, and the reflection of their will; but as set over them by principles which he himself had received from above. But the possession of power like this, held in companionship with God, required a holiness that was not found in man in the flesh, and therefore it was soon forfeited. Divine sanction, however, has many times since been coveted, and the name of `the Lord's anointed' assumed. The last great king of the Gentiles, indeed, will do more than this, for he will take the place of Divinity itself, and sit upon the mount of the congregation on the sides of the north, saying he is like the Most High. But all this is unauthorized assumption.
"The third form is developed when the Gentile dynasty was formally constituted by God in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. He, like the monarchs of Israel, had absolute sovereignty granted to him - but God was not with him in it. He and his successors received it as delegated power to be exercised according to their own pleasure, though in final responsibility to God. It is not necessary here to pursue the painful history of the Gentiles. It is sufficient to say, as regards the history of power, that the Gentile monarchs from the beginning, not knowing God so as to lean upon Him, and too weak to stand alone; exposed to the jealousy and hatred of those whom they governed - a jealousy not infrequently earned by their own evil, found it necessary to lean upon something inferior to themselves: and thus the character of power has been deteriorated from age to age, until at last the monarchy of these latter days has consented not only to own the people as the basis and source of its power, but has also submitted to be directed in the exercise of that power by given rules prescribed by its subjects.
"The native monarchy of Nimrod, the theocracy of Israel, the despotic authority of Nebuchadnezzar, the aristocratic monarchy of Persia, and the military monarchy of Alexander and his successors, had all passed away when John beheld this vision. All these methods had been tried - none had been found to answer even the purposes of man; and now another had arisen, the half military, half popular monarchy of the Caesars, - the iron empire of Rome. `Five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a little space".
"That other (though it cannot yet be said to have come so as to fulfil this verse)[10] (we are rather inclined to believe that the "seventh" is commercialism, that is, the moneyed-interests in control - A.W.P.) and, with one brief exception, the last form that is to be exhibited before the end shall come, and it is under this form that the system of Babylon is matured. It is obvious that a monarchy, guided not by the people numerically, but by certain classes of the people, and those classes determined by the possession of property, must be the form adapted for the accumulation of wealth, and the growth of commercial power; for it gives (which pure democracy has ever failed to do), the best security fro property without unduly fettering the liberty of individual enterprise".
For lack of space we are obliged to pass over the intervening verses now, and in closing this chapter we offer a brief word on v. 18. "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth". This verse tells us that the Whore represents a City. This city is named in 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2; 10, 21; and it is surely significant that it is thus named in the Apocalypse six times - the number of man; whereas the new Jerusalem is referred to three times (3:12; 21:2; 10) the Divine number. Babylon, must therefore be understood literally, otherwise we should have the anomaly of a figure representing a figure. But from the very fact that we are here told the Woman represents the City, we learn that she is not literal, but figurative. In the next chapter we shall further review Rev. 17 and offer some comments on Rev. 18.
In our last chapter we sought to show that in Rev. 17 "the great Whore", and "Babylon the great", though intimately connected, are yet distinct; the former being the representative of the latter. While allowing, yea insisting upon it, that many features of the symbolic prophecy contained in Rev. 17 have had a striking fulfilment already, still that in which all its varied terms are to find their complete realization is yet future. We also reminded our readers that Israel supplies the solution to most of the problems of prophecy, and this is becoming more and more evident as the last prophetic book in the Bible is receiving wider and closer study. Fifty years ago the majority of the commentators "spiritualised" the first half of Rev. 7 and made the twelve tribes of Israel, there mentioned, to refer to the Church. But this has long since been discredited. So, the popular interpretation of Rev. 12 which had the "woman" there a figure of the Church has also been abandoned by many. An increasing number of Bible students are recognizing the fact that "the Lamb's Wife," "the Bride" of Rev. 19 and 21 also contemplates Israel rather than the Church. That the Church is the Bride (a statement nowhere affirmed in Scripture) has been sedulously proclaimed by the Papacy for over a thousand years, and the tradition has been echoed throughout Protestantism. But, as we have said, there is a steadily increasing number who seriously question this, yea, who are bold to repudiate it, and declare in its stead that the new Israel, saved Israel, will be "the Bride". As this truth becomes more clearly discerned, we believe it will also be apparent that the great Whore is not the apostate church but apostate Israel.
The future of Israel is a wide subject, for numerous are the scriptures which treat of it. It is, moreover, a subject of profound interest, the more so because what is now prophetic is so soon to become historic. The Zionist movement of the last twenty-five years is something more than the impracticable ideal of a few visionaries; it is steadily preparing the way for the re-establishment of the Jews in Palestine. It is true that the Zionists have been frowned upon by many in Jewry, and that, for a very good reason. God's time is not yet fully ripe, and He has permitted the mercenary spirit of many of Jacob's descendants to hold it, temporarily, in check. The millions of Jews now comfortably settled and prospering in this land, and in the capitals of the leading European countries, are satisfied with their present lot. The love of money outweighs sentimental considerations. Zionism has made no appeal to their avarice. To leave the markets and marts of New York, London, Paris, and Berlin in order to become farmers in Palestine is not sufficiently alluring. Mammon is now the god of the vast majority of the descendants of those who, of old, worshipped the golden calf.
At present, it is (with few exceptions) only those who are oppressed in greater Russia, Hungary, etc. who are really anxious to be settled in Palestine. But soon there will be a change of attitude. Even now there are faint indications of it. As Palestine becomes more thickly populated, as the prospects of security from Turkish and Arabian depredations grow brighter, as the country is developed and the possibilities of commercial aggrandizement loom on the horizon, the better class of Jews will be quick to see and seize the golden opportunity. Few American Jews are anxious to emigrate to Palestine when there is nothing more than a spade and a hoe at the end of the journey. But as hospitals, colleges, universities, banking houses are opened, and all the commercial adjuncts of civilization find a place in the land of David, then rapidly increasing numbers of David's descendants will turn their faces thither ward. High finance is the magnet which will draw the covetous Hebrews.
Once Palestine becomes a thorough Jewish State it is not difficult to forecast the logical corollary. We quote from the excellent exposition on Zechariah by Mr. David Baron - his comments on the fifth chapter.[11] Without any spirit of dogmatism, and without entering at this place into the question of the identity and significance of the Babylon in the Revelation - whether mystical or actual - we would express our conviction that there are scriptures which cannot, according to our judgment, be satisfactorily explained except on the supposition of a revival and yet future judgment of literal Babylon, which for a time will be the centre and embodiment of all the elements of our godless civilization, and which especially will become the chief entrepot of commerce in the world.
"To this conviction we are led chiefly by the fact that there are prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the literal Babylon which have never in the past been exhaustively fulfilled, and that Scripture usually connects the final overthrow of Babylon with the yet future restoration and blessing of Israel.
"And it is very striking to the close observer of the signs of the times how things at the present day are rapidly developing on the very lines which are forecast in the prophetic scriptures. "The fears and hopes of the world - political, commercial, and religious, writes one in a monthly journal which lies before me, are at the present day being increasingly centred upon the home of the human race - Mesopotamia...As the country from which the father of the Jewish nation emigrated to the land of promise, it is also occupying the thoughts and aspirations of the Jews'.
"Whatever may be the outcome of the negotiations which have been carried on recently with the Turkish Government by the Jewish Territorialists for the establishment of a Jewish autonomous State in this very region, in which many Zionists and other Jews were ready to join, there is so much truth in the words of another writer that when once a considerable number of such a commercial people as the Jews are re-established in Palestine,
` the Euphrates would be to them as necessary as the Thames to London or the Rhine to Germany. It would be Israel's great channel of communication with the Indian seas, not to speak of the commerce which would flow towards the Tigris and the Euphrates from the central and northern districts of Asia! It would be strange, therefore, if no city should arise on its banks of which it might be said that her merchants were the great men of the earth'"
Zech. 5 is most intimately connected with Rev. 18, and a grasp of the former is of such importance in studying the latter that we must here give it a brief consideration. But first let us outline in the fewest possible words the contents of the first four chapters of Zechariah. After a brief introduction we learn, first, that God's eye is ever upon Israel (1:7-17). Second, that His eye is also upon her enemies and desolators (1:18-21). Third, assurance is given of her future blessing (2) and of her cleansing (3). Fourth, we learn of the blessings which shall follow her restoration (4). Fifth, we are taken back to behold the punishment of apostate Israel: the "flying roll" symbolizes the destruction of wicked Jews (5:1-4). Then follows the vision of "the Ephah" in 5:5-11 - let the reader please turn to it.
We cannot do more than now call attention to the prominent features in this vision. First, the prophet sees as "ephah" (or bath) which was the largest measure for dry goods among the Jews. It would, therefore, be the natural symbol for Commerce. Next, we note that twice over it is said that the ephah "goeth forth" (vv. 5,6). As the whole of the preceding visions concern Jerusalem and her people, this can only mean that the center of Jewish commerce is to be transferred from Palestine elsewhere. Next, we are told that there was a "woman" concealed in the midst of the ephah (v. 7). We say "concealed", for in vv. 5 and 6 the "woman" is not seen - the leaden cover (cf v.8) had to be lifted before she could be beholden. The writer is satisfied that this hidden woman in the ephah is "the Woman" which is fully revealed in Revelation 17 and 18. Next, we are told that "wickedness" (lawlessness) was cast into the ephah, before its cover was closed again. Then, in what follows, we are shown this ephah, with the "woman' and "wickedness" shut up therein, being rapidly conveyed from Palestine to "the land of Shinar" (v. 11). The purpose for this is stated to be, "to build a house", i.e. a settled habitation. Finally, we are assured, "it shall be established, and set there (in the land of Shinar) upon her own base". This vision or prophecy contains the germ which is afterwards expanded and developed in such detail in Rev. 17 and 18, where it is shown that "the house" which is established for this system of commerce is "Babylon the great". Let it be remembered that this vision is found in the midst of a series of prophecies which have to do with, first the faithful, and then the faithless in Israel, and we have another clear and independent proof that the Corrupt Woman of the Apocalypse is none other than apostate Israel!
In his helpful and illuminative work on the Babylon of the future, the late Mr. Newton devoted a separate chapter to Zech. 5. His remarks are so excellent that we cannot forbear from making an extract: "If human energy is to be permitted again to make the Euphrtean regions the scene of its operation - if prosperity is to be allowed for a brief moment to re-visit the Land of Babylon, it might be expected that the Scriptures would somewhere allude, and that definitely, to such an event. And we find it to be so. The Scripture does speak of an event yet unaccomplished, of which the scene is to be the Land of Babylon. The passage to which I refer is at the close of the fifth chapter of Zechariah.
"That the event predicted in this remarkable passage remains still unaccomplished, is sufficiently evident from the fact of Zechariah's having prophesied after Babylon had received that blow under which it has gradually waned. Zechariah lived after Babylon had passed into the hands of the Persians, and since that time, it is admitted by all, that declination - not establishment - has marked its history. From that hour to the present moment there has been no preparation of an house, no establishment of anything - much less of an Ephah in the Land of Shinar. But an Ephah is to be established there, and a house to be built for it there, and there it is to be set firmly upon its base.
"An Ephah is the emblem of commerce. It is the symbol of the merchants. In the passage before us the Ephah is described as "going forth", that is, its sovereign influence is to pervade the nations, and to imprint on them a character derived from itself, as the formative power of their institutions. In other words, commerce is for a season to reign. It will determine the arrangements, and fix the manners of Israel, and of the prophetic earth. The appearance of every nation that falls under its control is to be mercantile. He said, moreover, this is their appearance (or aspect) throughout all the earth."
The theme is of deep interest, and we are tempted to enter at length into details. But that is scarcely necessary. Every one who has a general knowledge of the past, and who is at all in touch with political conditions in the world today, knows full well the radical change which the last two or three centuries have witnessed. For a thousand years the Church (the professing church) controlled the governments of Europe. Following the Reformation, the aristocracy (the nobility) held the reins. During the first half of last century democratic principles obtained more widely. But in the last two or three generations the governmental machines of this country and of the leading European lands have been run by the Capitalists. Of late, Labor has sought to check this, but thus far with little success. In the light of Zech. 5 and Rev. 18 present-day conditions are profoundly significant. It is commerce which is more and more dominating the policies and destinies of what is known as the civilized world. "If we turn our eyes abroad upon the world, we shall find that the one great object before the nations of the earth today is this image of commerce, drawing them with all the seductive influence a siren woman might exercise upon the heart of men. The one great aim on the part of each is to win the favour of this mighty mistress. The world powers are engaged in a Titanic struggle for commercial supremacy. To this end mills are build, factories founded, forests felled, lands sown, harvests reaped, and ships launched. Because of this struggle for mastery of the world's market the nations reach out and extend their borders" (Dr. Haldeman). The recent war was caused by commercial jealousies. The root trouble behind the "reparation" question, the "Strait's" problem the cancellation or demanding repayment of United States loans to Europe, each go back to commercial considerations.
Sixty years ago it was asked, Is not commerce the sovereign influence of the day? If we were asked to inscribe on the banners of the leading nations of the earth, an emblem characteristically expressive of their condition, could we fix on any device more appropriate than an ephah?" With how much greater pertinency may this be said today! And how this is preparing the way for and will shortly head up in what is portrayed in Rev. 18, it is not difficult to see. There we read, " Thy merchants were the great men of the earth" (v. 23). This was not true four hundred years ago: for then the ecclesiastics were "the great men of the earth". Now was it true one hundred years ago, for then the nobility were "the great men of the earth". But today. Ah! Ask the man on the street to name half a dozen of the great men now alive, and whom would he select? And who are behind and yet one with the "merchants"? Is it not the financiers? And who are the leading ones among them? Who are the ones that are more and more controlling the great banking systems of the world? And, as every well-informed person knows, the answer is, Jews. How profoundly significant, then, that the head on the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (which symbolized the Babylon Empire) should be of gold, and that the final Babylon should be denominated "the golden city" (Isa. 14:4). And how all of this serves, again, to confirm our interpretation of Rev. 17, namely, that "the great Whore" with "the golden cup in her hand" (17:4) is apostate Israel, whose final home shall be that "great city", soon to be built on the banks of the Euphrates. Not yet is it fully evident that the wealth of the world is rapidly filling Hebrew coffers - only a glimpse of the "woman" in "the midst of the Ephah" was obtained before it became established in the Land of Shinar. But it cannot be long before this will become apparent. At the End-time it will fully appear that "the woman...is (represents) that great city" (17:18). This explains the words of Rev. 17:5, where we learn that the words "Babylon the great" are written upon "her forehead" - it will be obvious then to all! Apostate Israel, then controlling the wealth of the world, will personify Babylon.
And what part will the Antichrist play in connection with this? What will be his relation to Babylon and apostate Israel? The Word of God is not silent on these questions, and to it we now turn for the Divine answer. As to Antichrist's relation to Babylon, Scripture is very explicit. He will be "the King of Babylon" (Isa. 14:4); the "King of Assyria" (Isa. 10:12). As to his relation to apostate Israel, that is a more intricate matter and will require more detailed consideration. We shall therefore devote a separate chapter (the next one) to this interesting branch of our subject. Here we shall deal briefly with what Rev. 17 and 18 say thereon.
Rev. 17 presents the relation of apostate Israel to the Antichrist in three aspects. First, she is supported by him. This is brought before us in 17:3, where we are shown the corrupt Woman seated upon the scarlet-coloured Beast. This, we believe, is parallel with Dan. 9:27, which tells us that "the Prince that shall come" will make a Covenant with Israel. This covenant, league, or treaty, will insure her protection. It is significant that Dan. 9:27 tells us the covenant is made by the one who is then at the head of the revived Roman Empire, which corresponds with the fact that Rev. 17:3 depicts him as a "scarlet coloured Beast...having seven heads and ten horns". It is the Antichrist no longer in his "little horn" character, but as one that has now attained earthly glory and dominion. As such, he will, for a time, uphold the Jews and protect their interests.
Second, Rev. 17 depicts apostate Israel as intriguing with "the kings of the earth". In v. 2 we read that the kings of the earth shall commit fornication with her. Note how this, as an item of importance, is repeated in 18:3. This, we believe, is what serves to explain 17:16 which, in the corrected rendering of the R.V. reads, "And the ten horns which thou sawest and the Beast, these shall hate the Harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire". What it is which causes the Beast to turn against the Harlot and hate and destroy her is her unfaithfulness to Him. Not content with enjoying the protection the Beast gives to her, apostate Israel will aspire to a position of rivalry with the one over the ten horns. That she succeeds in this we learn from the last verse of the chapter - "And the woman which thou sawest is (represents) that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth". As to how apostate Israel will yet reign over the kings of the earth we hope to show in the next chapter.
Third, Rev. 17 makes it known that apostate Israel will ultimately be hated by the Beast and his ten horns "(v. 16). The 12th verse tells us that the ten horns are "ten kings". This has presented a real difficulty to many. In 17:16 it says that the ten horns (kings) and the Beast hate the Whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh (that is, appropriate to themselves her substance, her riches), and burn her with fire; whereas in 18:9 we read, "The kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning". Yet the solution of this difficulty is very simple. The difficulty is created by confusing "the kings of the earth" with the "ten horns", whose kingdoms are within the limits of the old Roman Empire (see Dan. 7:7). The "kings of the earth" is a much wider expression, and includes such kingdoms as North and South America, China and Japan, Germany and Russia, etc., all in fact, outside the bounds of the old Roman Empire. It is the intriguing of apostate Israel with "the kings of the earth" which brings down upon her the hatred of the Beast and
his "ten kings".
In closing this chapter we wish to call attention to some of the many and striking verbal correspondences between Rev. 17 and 18 and the Old Testament Prophets: -
1. In Rev. 17:1 we are told the great Whore "sitteth upon many waters".
In Jer. 51:13 Babylon (see previous verse) is addressed as follows: "O thou that dwellest upon many waters".
2. In Rev. 17:2 it is said that, "The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication".
In Jer. 51:7 we read, "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine".
3. In Rev. 17:4 the great Whore has "a golden cup in her hand".
In Jer. 51:7 Babylon is termed "a golden cup in the Lord's hand".
4. In Rev. 17:15 we are told, "The waters which thou sawest, where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues".
In Jer. 51:13 we read, "O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures".
5. Rev. 17:16 tells us that Babylon shall be burned with fire - cf 18:8.
So in Jer. 51:58 we read, "The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire".
6. In Rev. 17:18 we are told that the woman who represents the great city "reigneth over the kings of the earth".
In Isa. 47:5 Babylon is denominated "the lady of kingdoms".
7. Rev. 18:2 tells us that after her fall, Babylon becomes "the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird".
Isa. 13:21 says, "But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there".
8. Rev. 18:4 records God's call to the faithful Jews - "Come out of her My people".
In Jer. 51:45 God also says, "My people, go ye out of the midst of her".
9. In Rev. 18:5 it is said, "Her sins have reached unto heaven".
In Jer. 51:9 it reads, "For her judgment reacheth unto heaven".
10. In Rev. 18:6 we read, "Reward her as she rewarded you".
In Jer. 50:15 it says, "Take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her".
11. In Rev. 18:7 we find Babylon saying in her heart, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow".
In Isa. 47:8 we also read that Babylon says in her heart, "I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children".
12. In Rev. 18:8 we read, "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day".
Isa. 47:9 declares, "But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day".
13. In Rev. 18:21 we read, "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and be found no more at all".
So in Jer. 51:63, 64 we are told, "And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I bring upon her".
14. In Rev. 18:23 we read, "And the light of the candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee".
In Isa. 24:8,10 it is said of Babylon, "The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the heart ceaseth...the City of Confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in...all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone".
15. In Rev. 18:24 we read, "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth".
In Jer. 51:49 we read, "As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth".
These parallelisms are so plain they need no comments from us. If the reader still insists that the Babylon of Rev. 17 and 18 is the ultimate development of the Papacy as it envelopes apostate Christendom, it is useless to discuss the subject any farther. But we believe that the great majority of our readers - who have no traditions to uphold - will be satisfied that the Babylon of the Apocalypse is the Babylon of Old Testament prophecy, namely, a literal, re-built city in "the land of Nimrod" (Micah 5:6), a city which shall be the production of covetousness ("which is
idolatry" - Col. 3:5), and a city which shall yet be the home of apostate Israel.
It is a ground for thanksgiving that during the last three or four generations the people of God have given considerable attention to the prophecies of Scripture which treat of the future of Israel. The old method of "spiritualizing" these predictions, and making them apply to the Church of the present dispensation, has been discarded by the great majority of pre-millenarians. With a steadily increasing number of Bible students it is now a settled question that Israel, as a nation, shall be saved (Rom. 11:26), and that the promises of God to the fathers will be literally fulfilled under the Messianic reign of the Lord Jesus (Rom. 9:4). Jerusalem, which for so many centuries has been a by-word in the earth, will then be known as "the city of the great King" (Matt. 5:35). His throne shall be established there, and it shall be the gathering point for all nations (Zech. 8:23; 14:16-21). Then shall the despised descendants of Jacob be "the head" of the nations, and no longer the tail (Deut. 28:13); then shall the people of Jehovah's ancient choice be the centre of His earthly government; then shall the Fig Tree, so long barren, "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Isa. 27:6). All of this is common knowledge among those who are in any-wise acquainted with dispensational truth.
But the same Word of Prophecy which announces the glorious future awaiting the children of Israel, also contains another chapter in the history of this peculiar people; a chapter yet unfulfilled, setting forth a period in their history darker and sadder than any of their past experiences. Both the Old and New Testaments plainly tell of a season of suffering for the Jews which will be far more acute than even their afflictions of old. Dan. 12:1 says, "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time". And in Matt. 24:21,22 we read, "For there shall be a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved".
The reasons or causes of this future suffering of Israel are as follows. First, God has not fully visited upon Israel's children the sins of their fathers. "When Solomon and her kings had by transgression lost their blessings, and the glory of the reign of Solomon had faded away, the supremacy, which was taken from them, was given to certain Gentile nations, who were successively to arise and bear rule in the earth, during the whole period of Israel's rejection. The first of these was the Chaldean Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. The period termed by our Lord the "Times of the Gentiles", commences with the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It is a period coincident from its beginning to its close, with the treading down of Jerusalem. `Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled'. Nebuchadnezzar therefore, and the Gentile empires which have succeeded him, have only received their pre-eminence in consequence of Jerusalem's sin; and the reason why they were endowed with that pre-eminence was, that they might chasten Jerusalem; and when they shall have fulfilled that purpose, they shall themselves be set aside and be made, because of their own evil, "like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors'. In this we have another evidence that the earthly dispensations of God revolve around the Jews as their centre" (B.W.Newton).
A further reason or cause of the future sufferings of Israel lies in the rejection of their Messiah. First and foremost Christ was "a Minister of the Circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers" (Rom. 15:8). He was sent "but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24). And in marvellous grace He tabernacled among them. But He was not wanted. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). Not only did they receive Him not, they "despised and rejected Him"; they "hated Him without a cause". So intense was their enmity against Him that with one voice they cried, "Away with Him, crucify Him". And not until His holy blood had been shed, and He had died the death of the accursed, was their awful malice against Him appeased. And for this they have yet to answer to God. Vengeance is His, and He will repay. Not yet has the murder of God's Son been fully avenged.[12] It could not be during this "Day of Salvation". But the Day of Salvation will soon be over, and it shall be followed by "the great Day of His Wrath" (Rev. 6:17; Joel 2:11). Then will God visit the earth with His sore judgments, and though the Nations shall by no means escape the righteous retribution due them for their part in the crucifixion of Christ, yet, the ones who will be punished the most severely will be they who took the lead in that crime of crimes.
The form which God's judgment will take upon the Jews is to be in full accord with the unchanging law of recompense - what they have sown, that shall they also reap. This was expressly affirmed by our Lord Jesus: "I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43). Because they rejected God's Christ, Israel shall receive the Antichrist. The same thing is stated in 2 Thess. 2:7 - "For this cause (i.e. because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved) God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe the Lie". The immediate reference here, we believe, is to the Jews, though the principle enumerated will also have its wider application to apostate Christendom. The chief reason why God suffers the Man of Sin to come on the scene and run his awful course, is in order to inflict punishment upon guilty Israel. This is clearly taught in Isa. 10:5, where of the Antichrist God says, "O Assyrian, the rod (the instrument of chastisement) of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the street", and cf our brief comments on Jer. 6:26,27 and 15:8 in chapter 9.
It must be borne in mind that the Jews are to return to Palestine and there re-assume a national standing whilst yet unconverted. There are a number of passages which establish this beyond question. For example, in Ezek. 22:19-22 we are told, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof". The first six verses of Isa. 18 describe how the Lord will gather the Jews to Jerusalem, there to be the prey of "fowls and beasts". The closing chapters of Zechariah lead to the inevitable conclusion that the Jews return to their land in unbelief, for if their national conversion takes place in Jerusalem (Zech. 12:10), they must have returned to it unconverted.
When the Antichrist is manifested, great companies of the Jews will already be in Palestine, and in a flourishing condition. What, then, will be his relations with them? It is by no means easy to furnish a detailed answer to this question, and at best we can reply but tentatively. Doubtless, there are many particulars respecting this and all other related subjects, which will not be cleared up until the prophecies concerning them have been fulfilled. We, today, occupy much the same position with regard to the predictions concerning the Antichrist, as the old Testament saints did to the many passages which foretold the coming of the Christ. Their difficulty was to arrange those passages in the order they were to be fulfilled, and to distinguish between those which spoke of Him in humiliation and those which foretold His coming glory. A similar perplexity confronts us. To ascertain the sequence of the prophecies relating to the Antichrist is a real problem. Even when we confine ourselves to those passages which speak of him in his connections with Israel, we have to distinguish between those which concern only the godly remnant, and those which relate to the great apostate mass of the Nation; and, too, we have to separate between those prophecies which concern the time when Antichrist is posing as the true Christ, and those which portray him in the final stage of his career, after he has thrown off his mask of religious pretension.
It would appear that the first thing revealed in prophecy concerning the Antichrist's dealings with Israel is the entering into a "covenant" with them. This is mentioned in Dan. 9:27: "And he shall confirm the covenant (make a firm covenant, R.V.) with many for one week" i.e. seven years. The many here can be none other than the mass of the Jewish people, for they are the principal subjects of the prophecy. The one who makes this covenant is the "Prince that shall come" of the previous verse, the Head of the restored Roman Empire. Thus the relations between this Prince, the Antichrist, and the mass of the Jews shall, at the first, be relations of apparent friendship and public alliance. That this covenant is not forced upon Israel, but rather is entered into voluntarily by them, as seeking Antichrist's patronage, is clear from Isa. 28:18, where we find God, in indignation, addressing them as follows - "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it". And this, we believe, supplies the key to Dan. 2:43.
Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image and the interpretation given to Daniel, outlines the governmental history of the earth as it relates to Palestine, further details being supplied in the other visions found in the book of Daniel. "The earthly dispensations of God revolve around Jerusalem as their centre. The method which it hath pleased God to adopt in giving the prophetic history of these nations, is in strict accord with this principle. As soon as they arose into supremacy and supplanted Jerusalem, prophets were commissioned, especially Daniel, to delineate their course. We might perhaps, have expected that their history would have been given minutely and consecutively from its beginning to its close. But instead of this, it is only given in its connection with Jerusalem; and as soon as Jerusalem was finally crushed by the Romans and ceased to retain a national position, all detailed history of the Gentile Empires is suspended. many a personage most important in the world's history has since arisen. Charlemagne has lived, and Napoleon - many a monarch, and many a conqueror - battles have been fought, kingdoms raised and kingdoms subverted - yet Scripture passes silently over these things, however great in the annals of the Gentiles. Because Jerusalem has nationally ceased to be, 1800 years ago, the detail of Gentile history was suspended- it is suspended still, nor will it be resumed until Jerusalem re-assumes a national position. Then the history of the Gentiles is again minutely given, and the glory and dominion of their last great King described. He is found to be especially connected with Jerusalem and the Land...The subject of the book of Daniel as a whole, is the indignation of God directed through the instrumentality of the Gentile Empires upon Jerusalem" (B.W. Newton "Aids to Prophetic Enquiry", first Series).
The method which the Holy Spirit has followed in the book of Daniel is to give us, a general outline of Gentile dominion over Jerusalem, and this is found in the vision of the Image in chapter 2; and second, to fill in this outline, which is given in the last six chapters of that book. It is with the former we are now more particularly concerned. Much of the prophetic vision of Dan. 2 has already become history. The golden head (Babylon), the silver breast and arms (Medo-Persia), the brazen belly and thighs (Greece), the iron legs (Rome), have already appeared before men. But the feet of the Image, "part of iron and part of clay", have to do with a time yet future. The break between the legs and feet corresponds with the break between the sixty-ninth and seventieth "weeks" of Dan. 9:24-27. The present dispensation comes in as a parenthesis during the time that Israel is outside the Land, dispersed among the Gentiles.
What, then, is represented by the "iron and the clay" toes of the feet of the Image? If we bear in mind that this portion of the Image exactly corresponds to the seventieth week, we have an important key to the interpretation. Dan. 9:26,27 treats of the seventieth week - the "one week" yet remaining. These verses speak of the Prince (of the restored Roman Empire) making a seven years' Covenant with the Jews. Thus the prophecy concerning the seventieth week presents to us two prominent subjects - the Romans, at whose head is the Antichrist, and apostate Israel, with whom the Covenant is made. Returning now to Dan. 2 we find that when interpreting the king's dream about the Image, the prophet declares that the "iron" is the symbol for the "fourth kingdom" (v. 40), which was Rome, who succeeded Babylon, Persia, and Greece; the "feet" with their ten toes forecasting this Empire in its final form. Thus, we have Divine authority for saying that the "iron" in the feet of the Image represent the peoples who shall yet occupy the territory controlled by the old Roman Empire. In a word, the "iron" symbolizes the Gentiles - specifically those found in the lands which shall be ruled over by the "ten kings".
Who, then, is symbolized by "the clay"? Here we are obliged to part company with the commentators, who unanimously take the clay to be the figure of democracy. So far as we are aware none of them has offered a single proof text in support of their interpretation, and as the Word is the only authority, to it we must look. Assured that Scripture is its own interpretor, we turn to the concordance to find out what the "clay" signifies elsewhere, when used symbolically. In Isa. 64, which records the Cry of the Remnant at the End-time, we find them saying, "But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we are all the work of Thy hand". Again, in Jer. 18 the same figure is employed. There the prophet is commanded to go down to the potter's house, where he beheld him manufacturing a vessel. The vessel was marred in the hands of the potter, so he "made it again another vessel". Clearly, this is a picture of Israel in the past and in the future. The interpretation is expressly fixed in v. 6: "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel". How clear it is then that "clay" is God's symbol for Israel.
[13]
In its final form, then, the revived Roman Empire - the kingdom of Antichrist - will be partly Gentilish and partly Jewish. And is not this what we must expect? Will not that be the character of the kingdom of that One which the Antichrist will counterfeit? Such scriptures as Psa. 2:6-8; Isa. 11:10; 42:6; Rev. 11:15, etc., make plain the dual character of the kingdom over which our Lord will reign during the Millennium. That the Antichrist will be intimately related to both Jews and the Gentiles we have proven again and again in the previous chapters - Rev. 9:11 is quite sufficient to establish the point. Therefore, we should not be surprised to find that that part of the Image which specifically depicts the kingdom over which the Man of Sin shall reign, should be composed of both "iron" and "clay". It would be passing strange were it otherwise. It is indeed striking to note that the "clay" is mentioned in Dan. 2 just nine times - the number of judgment!
In Dan. 2:43 we read, "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay" - a verse that has sorely puzzled the expositors. We believe that the reference is to the coming intimacy between Jews and Gentiles. The apostate Jews (members of the Corrupt Woman) shall "mingle themselves with the seed of men" - the Gentiles. This is amplified in Rev. 17, where we read of the great Whore, "with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication". "But they shall not cleave one to another" (Dan. 2:43) is explained in Rev. 17:16 - "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the Whore, and shall make her desolate and naked", etc.! There is a remarkable verse in Hab. 2 which confirms our remarks above, and connects the Antichrist himself with the "clay". The passage begins with the third verse, which, from its quotation in Heb. 10:37,38 we know, treats of the period immediately preceding our Lord's return. In vv. 4 and 5 we have a description of the Antichrist, and then in v. 6 we read, "Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay". The reference is clearly to this "proud Man's" fellowship with apostate Israel. We are satisfied that Hab. 2;6-8 is parallel with Isa. 14:9-12. Isa. 14 gives us a glimpse of the Antichrist being scoffed at in Hell, by the "chief ones of the earth" because he, too, was unable to escape their awful fate. So in Hab. 2, after stating that he "gathereth unto him all nations" (v. 5) the prophet goes on to say "Shall not all these take up a taunting proverb against him". The taunt is, that though he had leagued himself with the mass of Israel (laden himself with thick clay), yet it will be "the remnant" of this same people that shall "spoil" him (v. 8).
Another scripture which shows that in the End-time apostate Israel will no longer be divided from and hated by the Gentiles is found in Isa. 2, where we are told, "They strike hands with the children of strangers" (v. 6 R.V.). As the context here is of such deep interest, and as the whole chapter supplies us with a most vivid picture of the Jews in Palestine just before the Millennium, we shall stop to give it a brief consideration. The first five verses present to us a millennial scene, and then, as is so frequently the case in the prophecies of Isaiah, we are taken back to be shown something of the conditions which shall precede the establishing of the Lord's house in the top of the mountains. This is clear from the twelfth verse, which defines this period, preceding the Millennium as "the Day of the Lord". The section, then, which describes the conditions which are to obtain in Palestine immediately before the Day of the Lord dawns, begins with v. 6. We there quote from v. 5 to the end of v. 10: -
"For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Palestines, and they strike hands with the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end to their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty". This most interesting passage shows us that apostate Israel will be on terms of intimacy with the Gentiles; that she will be the mistress of vast wealth; that she will be given up to idolatry. Their moral condition is described in vv. 11 to 17 - note the repeated references to "lofty looks", "haughtiness of men", "high and lifted up", etc.
If Zech. 5 be read after Isa. 2:6-9 we have the connecting link between it and Rev. 17. Isa. 2 shows us the Jews as the owners of fabulous wealth, as being in guilty fellowship with "strangers", and as universally given to idolatry. Zech. 5 reveals the emigration of apostate Israel )the woman in the midst of the Ephah) and the transference of her wealth to the land of Shinar. Rev. 17 and 18 give the ultimate outcome of this. Here we see apostate Israel in all her corrupt glory. She is pictured, first, as sitting upon many waters (v. 1), which signified "peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues" (v. 15). These will support her by contributing to her revenues. The huge bond issues made by the nations to obtain loans, are rapidly finding their way into Jewish hands; and doubtless it is the steadily accumulating interest from these which will soon make them the wealthiest nation of the world. That which has half bankrupted Europe will soon be used to array the Woman in purple and scarlet color and gold and precious stones and pearls (v. 4).
Second, the Woman is seen sitting upon the Beast (v. 3), which means that the Antichrist will use his great governmental power to insure her protection. How this harmonizes with Dan. 9:27, where we read of him making a seven-year Covenant with them, needs not to be pointed out. Then will poor blinded Israel believe that the Millennium has come. No longer the people of the weary foot and homeless stranger, but mistress of the greatest city in the world. No longer poor and needy, but possessor of the wealth of the earth. No longer the "tail" of the nations, but reigning over them as their financial Creditor and Dictator. No longer despised by the great and mighty, but sought after by the kings of the earth. Nothing withheld that the flesh can desire. The false Prince of Peace their benefactor. Yes, blinded Israel will verily conclude that at long last the millennial era has arrived, and such will be the Devil's imitation of that blessed time which shall be ushered in by the return of God's Son to this earth.
But not for long shall this satanic spell be enjoyed. Rudely shall it be broken. For, third, Rev. 17 shows us the ten horns and the Beast turning against the Whore, stripping her of her wealth, and despoiling her of her glory (v. 6). This, too, corresponds with Old testament prophecy, for there we read of the Antichrist breaking his Covenant with Israel! As we are told in Psa. 55:20, "He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he has broken his covenant", cf Isa. 33:8. And this very breaking of the Covenant is but the fulfilment of the Divine counsels. Thousands of years ago, Jehovah addressed Himself through Isaiah to apostate Israel, saying, "And your Covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it".
Concerning Antichrist's relations with the godly Jewish Remnant, that has already been discussed in previous chapters, as also his final attack upon Jerusalem and his defeat and overthrow in the Valley of Armageddon. Apostate Israel, the Beast, and all his Gentile followers shall be destroyed. The faithful remnant of Israel, and those Gentiles who befriend them in the hour of their need, shall have their part in the millennial kingdom of David's Son and Lord (Matt. 25). Thus has God been pleased to unveil the future and make known to us the things which "must shortly come to pass". May it be ours to reverently search the more sure Word of Prophecy with increasing interest, and may an ever-deepening gratitude fill our hearts and be expressed by our lips, because all who are now saved by grace through faith shall be with our blessed Lord in the Father's House, when the Great Tribulation with all its attendant horrors shall come upon the world.
Conclusion
In bringing to a close this book on the Antichrist, we are conscious that "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (John 13:1). We have sought to present as comprehensive an outline of the subject as our present light and somewhat limited space would permit. But little more than an outline has been given. Abundant scope is still left for the interested reader and student to work out and fill in the details for himself. This, we trust, is what many will do. The subject, though solemn, is one full of interest.
No doubt the subject is new, and hence, mysterious to some of our readers. These we would ask to turn back to the first chapter, and re-read the whole book. That God will yet permit the Devil to bring forth his satanic Masterpiece, who shall defy God and persecute His people, should scarcely be surprising. In each succeeding age there has been a Cain for every Abel; a Jannes and Jambres for every Moses and every John the Baptist. It has been so during this dispension: the sowing of the Wheat, was followed by the sowing of the Tares. It will be so in the Tribulation period: not only will there be a faithful remnant of Israel, but there shall be an unfaithful company of that people, too. And just before the Christ of God returns to this earth to set up His kingdom, God will suffer His arch-enemy to bring forth the false Christ, who will establish his kingdom.
And God's hour for this is not far distant. It was when "the iniquity of the Amorites" was come to the "full" (Gen. 15:16) that God gave orders for their extermination (Deut. 7:1,2). And Israel's transgressions (Dan. 8:23) and the transgressions of Christendom (2 Thess. 2:11,12), will only have come to "the full" when those who rejected the Christ of God, shall have received the christ of Satan. Then, shall God say to His avenging angel, "Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time has come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (Rev. 14:15). It is this which makes the subject so solemn.
What God has been pleased to make known concerning the Antichrist is not revealed in order to gratify carnal curiosity, but is of great moment for our daily lives. In the first place, a proper apprehension of these things should cause us to seriously search our hearts, and to examine carefully the foundation upon which our hopes are built, to discover whether or not they rest on the solid Rock Christ Jesus, or whether they stand upon nothing more stable than the shifting sands of human feelings, human resolutions, human efforts after self-improvement. Incalculably serious is the issue at stake, and we cannot afford to be uncertain about it. A mere "hope I am saved" is not sufficient. Nothing short of the full assurance of faith ought to suffice.
Unspeakable solemn is what we read of in 2 Thess. 2:8-12: "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the Lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness".
There are three points in the above verses by which the writer and the reader may test himself. First, have I
"believed the Truth"?
"Thy Word is the Truth". Have I set to my seal that God is true? Have I applied the Word of God to
myself, and taken it to
my own heart? Have I
personally received the Saviour that it reveals?
Second, do I have
"pleasure in unrighteousness"? There is a vast difference between doing an act of unrighteousness, and having "pleasure" therein. Scripture speaks of Moses "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy
the pleasure of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25). And again, it speaks of some who "knowing the judgment of God that they who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Rom. 1:32). So it is here in the passage before us. They who "believe not the Truth", have "pleasure in unrighteousness". And here is one of the vital differences between an unbeliever and a genuine believer. The latter may be overtaken by a fault, his communion with Christ may be broken, he may sin grievously, but if he does, he will have no "pleasure" therein! Instead, he will hate the very unrighteousness into which he has fallen, and mourn bitterly for having done that which was so dishonouring to his Saviour.
Third, have I "received the love of the Truth"? Do I read God's Word daily, not simply as a duty, but as a delight; not merely to satisfy conscience, but because it rejoices my heart; not simply to gratify an idle curiosity, that I may acquire some knowledge of its contents, but because I desire above everything else to become better acquainted with its Author. Can I say with the Psalmist, "I will delight myself in Thy statutes...Thy commandments are my delights" (Psa. 119:16,143). The wicked love the darkness; but God's people love the light!
Here, then, are three tests by which we earnestly entreat every reader to honestly examine himself, and see whether he be in the faith. Awful beyond words is the only alternative, for Scripture declares of those who have "believed not the Truth", who have "pleasure in unrighteousness", and who have "received not the love of the Truth", that "for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the Lie:
that they all might be damned".
Again; if we diligently search the Scriptures to discover what they teach concerning the Antichrist - his personality, his career, his ways, etc. - the more we are informed about him the better shall we be prepared to detect the many antichrists who are in the world today, now preparing the way for the appearing and career of the Man of Sin. There is no reason why we should be ignorant of Satan's devices. There is no valid excuse if we are deceived by his "false apostles", who transform themselves into the apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 11:13). Christians ought not to be misled by the many false prophets who are gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). Nor will they be, if they study diligently those things which God has recorded for our enlightenment and to safeguard us against the subtle deceptions of the great Enemy.
Again; as we give diligent heed to the prophetic Word, as we take its solemn warnings
to heart, the effect must be that we shall
separate ourselves from everything which is anti-Christian. "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6:14-17).
This call is not directed toward Christians separating themselves from their fellow-Christians. How could it be? Scripture does not contradict itself. God's Word explicitly says, "Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25). But the same Word which tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, commands us to have
"no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph. 5:11). God forbid that His people should be found helping forward the plans of the Prince of Darkness.
Finally, as we read prayerfully the teaching of Scripture concerning this Coming One, who shall embark upon the most awful course that has ever been run on their earth; as we learn of how he will ascend the Throne of the World, and be the director and dictator of human affairs; as we discover how he will employ the mighty power, with which Satan invests him, to openly defy God and everything which bears His name; and, as we are made aware of the unspeakably dreadful judgments which God will pour upon the world at that time, and the fearful doom which shall overtake the Antichrist and all his followers; our heart will be stirred within us, and we shall not hesitate to lift up our voices in warning. The world is in complete ignorance of what awaits it. The nations know not what is in store for them. Even Israel discern not the dark night which lies before them. But as God instructs us concerning what He is about to do, it is positively criminal to remain silent. The voices of all whom God has been pleased to enlighten ought to be raised in solemn and united testimony to the things which God has declared
"must shortly come to pass".
THE END [1] A monthly magazine, true to its title. Each issue contains two or three lengthy articles by the writer. $1.00 per year. Address Studies in the Scriptures, Swengel, Pa.
[2] Erroneous in the sense that it is but a shadowy and secondary fulfillment, rather than the ultimate and primary.
[3] See also the chapter on Satan's Origin in the writer's "Satan and his Gospel" obtainable from the Bible Truth Depot, Swengel, Pa. at 20 cents.
[4] It is the Man of Sin who is to be the last great Caesar: this will be made clear in our study of the Antichrist in the Revelation.
[5] Psa. 78:49 speaks of God using "evil angels" (those mentioned in Rev. 12:7) in His judgments on Egypt.
[6] It is remarkable that just three times (the number of resurrection) the healing of the Antichrist's wound of death is referred to here in Rev. 13 - see vv. 3,12,14!
[7] There is no room for a quibble about the meaning of "Babylon", for v. 19 expressly terms it "The beauty of the Chaldees' Excellency".
[8] A book of intense interest for the antiquarian, but dull and wearisome for the average reader.
[9] He that hath the Bride (John 3:29), spoken by John the Baptist - the "friend of the Bridegroom" - demonstrates that "the Bride" was in view during our Lord's ministry unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The believing Remnant who "received" Him, form the nucleus and were representative of redeemed Israel, millennial Israel, the Bride of the Lamb.
[10] It will not have come in the sense of this verse, until it pervades the Roman world. When all the ten kingdoms have been constitutionalized, it may be said to have come.
[11] Mr. Baron is probably the ablest and most widely known and esteemed Hebrew Christian alive today.
[12] What they suffered in A.D. 70 was, first, for the sins of their fathers, see Luke 11:50; and second, for the murder of Christ, see Matt. 22:7.
[13] That the Hebrew word for "clay" in these passages is a different one from that employed in Dan. 2 is exactly what a reflecting mind would naturally expect. Isa. 64 and Jer. 18 treat of the Israel that shall be restored, whereas Dan. 2 speaks of the apostate portion of Israel, irrevocablly given up to judgment. In striking accord with this, we may add, that the word used in Isa. 64 and Jer. 18 refers to clay in its native and mouldable stage; but the word in Dan. 2 signifies "burnt clay" which denotes its final condition: here, as always, "burning" tells of Divine judgment!