“A Fourth Beast, Dreadful And Terrible”

Daniel 7

Traditionally the four beasts of Daniel 7 have been expounded with reference to the four “world empires” of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. This is, of course, perfectly correct. And yet, at the same time, it can be — and has been — misleading. The tendency has been to put emphasis on them as world powers, whereas they were hardly that. They did not even dominate the known civilization of their time. Babylon never expanded as far as Lydia and Greece; it gained only a temporary foothold in Egypt, which was as much the centre of civilization as Babylon itself was. Persia failed to conquer Greece and never touched other centres of Mediterranean culture. Alexander’s empire only lasted as long as Alexander. And even though the might of Rome went as far as the north of Scotland, in the east it stopped at the Euphrates, and only for short periods was it effective so far.

But in a Biblical sense these four great powers were all-important, for all of them in turn controlled the fortunes of God’s Land and People. It is from this point of view, and from this view only, that Rome “devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it.” Normally this was not the character of Roman conquest. The legions did not conquer in order to destroy but in order to civilize. Wherever Rome went, law and order followed —the pax Romana. In this respect the Land of Israel was an outstanding exception. The Jews did not want any Roman peace. So at last, against all normal Roman policy, that troublesome country was “broken in pieces, and stamped with the feet of it.”

ISRAEL AND THE EMPIRES

This view of Daniel’s four beasts has good, but much neglected, Biblical support: “Their (Israel’s) heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself” (Hosea 13: 6-9).

There is good evidence in Daniel chapter 9 alone that the prophet was in the habit of poring over the Scriptures already written, and that his Bible included at least the Books of Moses, Psalms, Isaiah and Jeremiah. So it is not unreasonable to believe that he had also pondered this passage in Hosea and that the revelation of God’s continuing retribution against his wayward people was made in terms of what he was already familiar with. This Hosea passage describes the great powers as raised up for the punishment of Israel. The extent of their dominion over the centuries is a matter of little importance—so little, in fact, that it is not mentioned once throughout Daniel 7 (verse 23 is not the exception to this which it appears to be). No wonder then, that the vision of an everlasting kingdom “given to the people of the saints of the most High” left Daniel not reassured or elated but “much troubled” and with “changed countenance” (v. 28); for he saw clearly that this long sequence of ravagers boded much ill for Israel before peace should come to Jerusalem.

In this view of chapter 7 — and of the prophecy as a whole — there becomes evident the reason for the long gap which exists in all of Daniel’s prophecies (see “The Last Days”, chapter 3). These revelations take no account of the long period during which Israel have been scattered from their land. They all resume in the Last Days when Israel are back in the land preparatory to the setting up of Messiah’s kingdom.

TEN KINGDOMS

This concept helps considerably to impart unification and coherence to the various prophecies in Daniel. The ten toes (ch. 2) and the ten horns (ch. 7) belong to the Last Days, and not to the long period from the decay of Rome to the twentieth century. They are to be equated with the ten kings of Revelation 17 who make war with the Lamb and are overcome by him. For the stone smashes the feet of the image. The horns also are ten powers in the Last Days and not before, for they are there when “the Ancient of Days came.” The strange leaps in the visions at 8: 23 and 11: 40 (or is it 11: 36?) from prophecies long fulfilled to the Last Days are also now readily accounted for.

But one further conclusion follows. The revelation regarding the little horn of the fourth beast will have its true and detailed fulfilment in the days to come. In “The Last Days,” chapters 4, 5, a variety of additional reasons were given for this view. The incompleteness and partial character of the “Papal” interpretation may be summarized in the following brief statements:

1. The usual application assigned to the three uprooted horns is so woefully insignificant as to condemn itself. Why should the transfer to Papal authority of three obscure little provinces (little more than counties) in Italy, be the subject of one of the most powerful Old Testament prophecies of the Kingdom of God?
2. “Made war with the saints.” What saints? Anyone who has read the systematized creeds of Waldenses, Abigenses and Huguenots will hesitate to apply the prophecy to such. The Book of Daniel applies this Hebrew word to Israel (8: 24 and 12: 7; same word—and see Psalm 79: 2), and also to angels (8:13). Obviously, in chapter 7, the former is the proper reference.
3. “prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came ...”. The persecuting power of the Papacy stopped long before the manifestation of Messiah.
4. “they (the saints) shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Even granting, for the sake of argument, the “year for a day” principle (although there is no hint of it in Daniel^[13]), the fact still has to be faced that long before 1868-70 (the standard termination date) the Pope had lost all persecuting power, and has been without it now for nearly two centuries. Yet the prophecy strongly implies a sudden change from the persecuting horn of the everlasting kingdom of the most High.
5. Does the Pope “speak great words against the most High?” At least, he honours Christ, after a fashion—a thing that is hardly to be said about the Jews at any time in their history or about modern scientific rationalism (a much greater enemy to the Truth than the Pope can ever be).

A GAP

It is suggested, instead, that the Last Day interpretation calls for a gap in the prophecy (as in chs. 2, 8, 9, 11), and read the details of the little horn as having reference to the Last Days when Israel are back in their land. It is known from such Scriptures as Zechariah 14: 2, 3 that before the coming of the Messiah, the state of Israel is to be smashed to pieces by assembled enemies. Daniel 7 gives a vivid picture of the final and most terrible oppression in the land, lasting for three and a half years. This tyrant “shall be diverse from the former,” that is, from Rome, Greece, Persia and Babylon, who were all Gentiles and blatantly imperialist. By contrast this persecutor will be himself an Arab son of Abraham seeking revenge rather than power, or he will be a Gentile co-ordinator of Arab hostility. He will speak great words against the most High by taunting the Jews regarding their vaunted national destiny.

It is useful to note that every period of three and a half years traceable in Scripture describes a period of increasing tribulation for men of God, culminating in vindication and triumph.^[14] Elijah’s exile in Zidon during three and a half years of drought ended on mount Carmel. Antiochus Epiphanes’ desecration of the temple had Maccabees rebellion and triumph as its climax. The ministry of Jesus was followed by his resurrection and ascension. The forty-two stages of Israel’s pilgrimage in the wilderness (Numbers 33) led to the Land of Promise. The forty-two generations from Abraham (Matthew 1: 17) brought the birth of Messiah. Here in Daniel 7 is perhaps the most striking example of all.

DANIEL AND REVELATION

In Revelation 13 the very phrases used in Daniel 7 to describe the persecuting horn are applied to the Beast of the sea (vv. 5, 6, 7) which heads up the ten kings who make war with the Lamb (17: 14) and are overcome by him. The oppression of the “saints” — God’s holy people, Israel — described in Revelation 13 is evidently an apocalyptic expansion of the corresponding details in Daniel 7. The language is highly appropriate to Israel: “He that leadeth (Israel) into captivity shall (himself) go into captivity” — where does the Bible ever speak of saints in Christ going into captivity? — “Here is the patience and faith of the saints,” i.e. this especially is when God’s people will need patience, as three and a half bitter years drag their weary course.

This last-day Antichrist has as his “high-priest” one who is described as a lamb-like “beast of the earth,” called also in 19: 20 “the false prophet.” Again the Old Testament helps towards identification. One of Ezekiel’s prophecies of the restoration of Israel has these details: “And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely (Ezekiel 38: 11!) in the wilderness and sleep in the woods (i.e. in open country — without walls, having neither bars nor gates) ... And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the earth (Revelation 13: 11) devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid” (Ezekiel 34: 24, 25, 28).

There is much that is difficult about the details of Revelation 13,^[15] but in conjunction with Daniel 7 it appears to teach fairly plainly that its grim picture of oppression and blasphemy will find ultimate fulfilment in the terrible sufferings of Israel through three and a half years of ghastly horror when their state is overrun by Arab enemies headed up in a Power or a Man (Revelation 13: 18).

The ready harmonization of these prophecies with others of a similar tenor, already expounded, will not be lost on the reader.

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[13] Not even in the Seventy weeks prophecy, when attention is given to the proper meaning of the Hebrew for “week.”
[14] If this view is justified, what about the “papal” application concluding in 1868?
[15] Inevitably so, once it is agreed that the detailed fulfilment of this part of the vision lies in the future.

 

The Valley Of Jehoshaphat

Joel 3

The concluding section of Joel’s prophecy is mainly concerned with a more detailed expansion of the threat of divine judgement against the inveterate enemies of Israel, a judgement that has already been pronounced in chapter 2: 20, 30, 31. The reason for this anger is given with detail and indignant emphasis. Israel has been ravished by a host of enemies—Tyre and Zidon, Philistia, Egypt, Edom (vv. 4, 19). Neither the mighty Assyrian nor the barbarian northern tribes are hinted at, but only those names, which represent the Arab nations, round the state of Israel in the twentieth century.

The picture is one of savage inhuman treatment meted out to Land and people alike. The Land is divided up amongst the invaders (v. 2) and ruthlessly plundered (v. 5), the people are exported to far-off lands as slave labour1^[9] (vv. 6, 8) and are even used as currency to purchase self-indulgence (“they have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine”)—and all this to work off a grudge and a spite against the Jews. Yet this sanctification of a Holy War (v. 9) is really an attempt at reprisal against God: “will ye repay a deed of mine?”(v. 4) It was God who brought Israel back to their land. Then how can Arabs hope to set themselves against the plan of the Almighty?

AN ANCIENT DFLIVERANCE

God in His indignation will bring these adversaries into “the valley of Jehoshaphat,” the valley where Jehovah is One who metes out judgement. It is a mistake to seek a geographical identification of this valley, even though there are plenty of maps, which confidently, though for no good reason, place it to the east or south of Jerusalem. The allusion is to God’s marvellous deliverance of His people in the days of king Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20). On that occasion a great confederacy from Ammon, Moab and Edom (v. 22) came against a king and people who abandoned all trust in themselves and who instead leaned for help on the God of their fathers. So the “Lord sent liers in wait” against the enemy, and there was a great overthrow. These “liers in wait” were evidently angels who, unseen, set the invaders against one another (v. 23), as in the day of Midian (Judges 7: 22; Isaiah 9: 4).

This will happen again. In response to the prayer: “Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord,” God will send not only His Gabriel (the Mighty One of God) but also His Messiah—El Gibbor (Isaiah 9: 6).

The ensuing judgement of the nations is pictured in graphic language. There are “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” This Hebrew word translated “decision” is the same as “consumption” in Isaiah 28: 21, 22 which foretells a time of divine intervention when God will “do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act ... for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.”

GRIM HARVEST

The Isaiah and Joel passages have another link, for the word “act” is used in the same context to signify “labour in agriculture.” Accordingly the Joel prophecy proceeds: “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down (or, perhaps, tread ye the grapes), for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” The Septuagint version here suggests that two separate harvests of judgement are foretold, for the word “sickle” is plural. This is the interpretation given in Revelation 14 where “one like unto the Son of man” (that is, according to a familiar Bible idiom, one who is the Son of man), wearing a golden crown and carrying a sharp sickle, is seen coming on a white cloud—the radiant Cloud of the Shekinah Glory. This divine Being—the Messiah—is urged by an eager angel of glory to begin his work of judgement: “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Immediately after this an angel similarly equipped with a sickle, is bidden: “Thrust in thy sharp sickle (as the Son of man has done), and gather the clusters of the vine of the land.” When this is done, and the winepress is trodden “without the city (of Jerusalem),” the blood flows forth “even unto the horse bridles” which are “holy to the Lord” (Zechariah 14: 20, 21), “as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” Here is a ghastly River of Death, to contrast with the loveliness of the River of Water of Life, which is to proceed from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1 and Joel 3:18). Its dire effects carry through a distance of two hundred miles, almost exactly the length of the land from Lebanon to Kadesh, as it is described in a powerful Psalm of Judgement (29: 6, 8; compare also Ezekiel 47: 15, 19).

It is a time not only of wrath but also of deliverance. “The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem”—the judgements of Revelation 14 are the seven thunders, each introduced by “an angel with a great voice” whose shout is “as a lion roareth”; “and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people (the saints), and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”

PUNISHMENT AND BLESSING

This double element of retribution and redemption is well suggested also by the promise: “a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” Here, once again, it would be a mistake to seek a merely geographical meaning. The valley of Shittim was where Israel committed fornication with the women of Moab to the honour of Baal-peor (Numbers 25). That iniquity — and all such sins of apostasy in Israel — is to be washed away, as it was by the water that came from the smitten rock after the idolatry of the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:21). Shittim was also the scene of vengeance against these Moabite (Arab) enemies of Israel. The Land will be washed clean of all the defilement, which they have brought in.

And not only Moab: “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.” It is impossible to believe that in the last days Egypt and Edom will be punished for their spiteful treatment of Israel thousands of years earlier. This “violence against the children of Judah” must be something recent and specially vile. It is not clear whether the words: “because they have shed innocent blood in their land” refers to what these Arab enemies have done or to what the Jews have done. If the latter—and all Biblical associations of the phrase “innocent blood” point to this interpretation—then the sin referred to is the crucifixion of Jesus. “His blood be upon us and upon our children” is a prophecy, which must continue to be fulfilled until Jewry acknowledges its guilt. But as soon as that repentance is shewn (compare the parable of the prodigal son), “I will cleanse (hold as innocent: RVm) their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”

The prophecy could have no finer climax.

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[9] Compare here the comment made on page 24, on Isaiah 19:18, 20.

 

The Locusts Of The Lord

Joel 1, 2

The greater part of the first fifty verses of the prophecy of Joel is taken up with an awe-inspiring prophecy of doom and of Israel’s ultimate rescue from disaster. The symbolism takes the form of a description, powerful and portentous, of a locust invasion. Some go so far as to say that nothing more than a plague of locusts is being described and that to see anything else in the prophecy is to go beyond what the language warrants. Not improbably the basis in the prophet’s own day may have been some national calamity of that character, but it is blameworthy carelessness to overlook such phrases as: “a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number” (1: 6); “spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them” (2: 17); “I will remove far off from you the northern army” (2: 20) — in the days when locusts used to make their inroads into Palestine they certainly did not come from the north!

A fair amount of Bible evidence can be assembled to support the conclusion that the original “locust” invasion described by Joel was the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib. The verbal contacts with the early chapters of Isaiah and with the history of Hezekiah’s reign are very striking. Just as Isaiah so frequently ranges forward from the calamity and deliverance of his own days to the time of Messiah’s kingdom, so also, undoubtedly, does Joel. It is this latter aspect of the prophecy that now engages attention.


IRRESISTIBEE INVADER

This mighty invasion is described as “the day of the Lord ... a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness ... there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it.” These words suggest — indeed, require — equation with Daniel’s “time of trouble such as never was,” and the Lord’s “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”1^[6] “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” In other words, it is “as it was in the days of Sodom,” for Sodom was “as the garden of the Lord” (Genesis 13: 10), but it ended in a sea of flame.

The picture builds up through a long vivid paragraph (2: 4-11). This is an army countless in its numbers, remorseless and eager in its pressing forward for conquest, irresistible in its power. All attempts to withstand the unceasing pressure and to stem the onward rush are as futile as King Canute with the tide at his feet.

Mention of “the northern army” (v. 20) has led many to equate this prophecy with the Gog-Magog invasion, “from the uttermost parts of the north,” described in Ezekiel 38. But in chapter 18 hereof reasons are advanced for setting the fulfilment of that Scripture after the coming of the Lord, whereas this in Joel must necessarily be before his return. Also, if the figure of a locust army is to be given its due force, it must be remembered that locusts never come “from the uttermost part of the north” but (in Palestine) from the desert. With an obviousness, which almost shouts, the figure of locusts describes an Arab invasion. The interpretation, once popular, which takes Joel 2 as a description of immortal saints advancing remorselessly against the enemies of the Lord, is fairly clearly disallowed by Nahum 3: 15-17.

INEVITABLE DESOLATION

The northern invader of Ezekiel 38 goes into Israel because he sees something desirable to be appropriated — “to take a spoil and to take a prey” — but with these locusts “the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” Today every one knows that when the Arabs do overrun Israel, they will go in to smash and to destroy, for the sheer joy of doing this to the long-hated enemy. That which now blossoms as a rose they will turn into desert.

But if this prophecy describes Arab desolation of the Land, why is the attacker described as “the northern army” (v. 20)? Probably, it is suggested, because the inspiration and real strength of the attack is northern. The whole world knows that without Russian arms and technical skill, Russian
encouragement and Russian chess-playing subtlety, the Arabs could never mount a successful onslaught on Israel.

One result of the complete military defeat suffered by Israel will be a wave of utter despair and wretchedness through all the survivors of that time of horror. There will be no powerful friend to come to their aid. Britain, now bereft of all real influence in world affairs, will not dare to interfere. America will wish to do so, but will write off Israel as expendable in face of the risk of escalation to nuclear war.

In such dire circumstances Israeli survivors will be called upon to endure such horrors of implacable remorseless Arab savagery as will make them sigh for the comforts and kindnesses of Auschwitz and Belsen. The only thing, which might ameliorate the terrors of this time of trouble, will be the prayers of those with the Hope of Israel in their souls who intercede as Abraham did for Sodom. In the hearts of all

who read these words should be the earnest inclination to pray without ceasing that Jerusalem and its people may be at peace with their God. This is the real meaning of the words of Psalm 122.

REPENTANCE

Accordingly, in Joel 2 there follows a long-sustained appeal to Israel to manifest a repentance long overdue:

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him (Joel 2:12-14).

The moving five-fold appeal is matched by an even more moving five-fold reason emphasizing the graciousness of the God they have acknowledged with centuries-long indifference. This appeal is most probably the call to repentance to be made by the Elijah-prophet whom God has promised to raise up in the Last Days.^[7] His name ( = “The Lord my God”) has its counterpart in Joel’s repeated: “Turn unto the Lord your God.”

Another detail of special interest comes in here. The call to repentance becomes peremptory: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” This is the language of the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (the only God-appointed fast in the Jewish year: Leviticus 16: 31). Then can it be inferred that this appeal to call in the aid and forgiveness of God will be made at that time of the year — in other words, that the final defeat of Israel will take place in late September? In an earlier study of the prophetic periods of Daniel^[8] it was pointed out that if, applying them literally, and not on the year-for-a-day principle, they are made to begin at the Feast of Trumpets, they conclude at Passover and Pentecost — the times of deliverance (Joel 2: 32) and of outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2: 28).

HELP FROM GOD

The heavenly response to this change of heart in the Chosen People will be immediate and drastic: “Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people ... Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith (what connection here with the Third Seal?): and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.” Such language can only mean that this is the final desolation of the Land of Israel (compare the even more emphatic language of Ezekiel 36: 12-15). “And my people shall never be ashamed” (Joel 2: 27).

The divine intervention is even more drastic against Israel’s enemy: “I will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the eastern sea (the Dead Sea), and his hinder part toward the western sea (the Mediterranean).” This intimates, as plainly as anything can, a flight of invaders from Jerusalem, the city newly wrested from Jews who themselves proudly celebrated in June 1967 that Jerusalem was nevermore to be “trodden down of the Gentiles” (an irony of history, this, which has deceived many a Christadelphian also).

The prophet does not indicate what will bring about this rout of a triumphant enemy, but the most obvious explanation available is: the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory of God in His Messiah, suddenly appearing at Jerusalem. Zechariah 14: 1-4 explains: All nations (round about) are gathered against Jerusalem, the city is taken, then the Lord goes forth, his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives — “and the earth shines with his glory” (Ezekiel 43: 2). It will be the Glory of God, more than the earthquakes, which will rid Jerusalem of its enemies.

SYMBOLIC? LITERAL?

However, it is not to be assumed that this great deliverance will take place as soon as Jerusalem comes under the heel of the invader. The mission of Elijah is significantly mentioned as being three and a half years (Luke 4:25; James 5: 17; but where in the O.T.?). During that period, “I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars (literally: palm trees) of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

Here, by any scheme of interpretation, is a picture of drastic dramatic happenings to terrify the hearts of the bravest. Of course the words cannot be taken literally, but it seems not at all unlikely that they describe some mysterious phenomena in that time of chaos. The symbolism of Bible prophecy has a marvellous knack of taking on something approaching literal fulfilment as well. These, then, are the “fearful sights and great signs from heaven” which Jesus spoke about along with “wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes” on a scale never known before. That phrase “palm trees of smoke” is especially ominous, for who can read it without conjuring up in the mind the grim picture of a radioactive mushroom cloud filling the sky? And since, in Scripture, palm trees appear to have symbolic association with Gentiles, there is perhaps added reason here for regarding this section of the prophecy as a description of God’s retribution on the Gentiles also.

The repentance of Israel will bring immediately the lifting up of God’s countenance upon them: “I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” In the Law of Moses it was specifically prohibited that “upon man’s flesh (i.e. a layman, one not consecrated to the priesthood) shall the holy anointing oil not be poured” (Exodus 30:32). But now such distinction will be swept away when Israel at last begins to fulfil its true destiny by becoming “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19: 6). This will also be the fulfilment of the great Elijah prophecy in Malachi 4. The hearts of the fathers shall become as little children, and the hearts of the children shall be changed to be like that of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (an impressive contrast with Isaiah 3: 5).

This “calling on the name of the Lord” will bring spiritual and physical deliverance, “for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be those that escape, as the Lord hath said (when Joel wrote, it already stood written in Isaiah 4:3), and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”

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[6] Comparison of Joel 2:2 with Exodus 10:14 provides another clear proof that Joel is not describing literal locusts.
[7] It is a serious error, surely, to apply Malachi 4 to the conversion of the Gentiles. Every phrase in the context shouts for application to Israel. And John the Baptist the prototype of this Elijah-prophet, certainly preached to none but Jews, Edomite Herod being the dishonourable exception.
[8] “The Last Days” chapter 6.

 

The Burden Of Egypt

Isaiah 19

The shape of this prophecy is distinctive and clear-cut. The first fifteen verses form a poetic pronouncement of woe upon the land of Egypt; then follows a prose appendix, which five times repeats the characteristic prophetic phrase: “in that day.”

“Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud ... and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.” Both expressions allude to Israel’s earlier deliverance from Egypt, when the angel of the Lord looked forth from a pillar of cloud and fire, and when judgement was executed against all the gods of Egypt (Exodus 14: 24 and 12: 12). Just as, in ancient days, Egypt reeled under a long series of hammer blows against its people, its economy and its religion, so once again the entire land and nation is to be brought to nought — this as a necessary prelude to its conversion and restoration “in that day.”

The policy of the rulers will be proved to be worthless and ineffective: “Surely the princes of Zoan are fools ... the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof”; compare the way in which the shattering defeat in the 1967 campaign was transformed into an occasion for great rejoicing by the mobs because their blundering leader had decided not to relinquish the reins of power after all!

The nation itself will be reduced to anarchy: “they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour” — a state of affairs which 1967 did not produce; that campaign only served to increase national solidarity. The prophecy goes on to imply that out of the chaos will emerge a new iron dictator, though whether of themselves or imposed by superior power from elsewhere is not clear. The phrasing seems to favour the latter possibility. Is this the “king of fierce countenance” foretold in Daniel 8:23 “in the latter time of their kingdom”? One can only conclude that an even greater humiliation is in store for Egypt than any which has yet been experienced.

WATERS DRIED UP

Especially impressive is the long and detailed prophecy of the drying up of the waters of Egypt. The word that seems to be used exclusively with reference to the Nile and its delta streams comes into this prophecy over and over again. “The Nile shall be wasted and dried up ... the meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile, shall become dry;” and as a result, “the fishers also shall mourn ... and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish;” also, “they that work in fine flax, and they that weave cotton shall be confounded.” It is a picture of complete economic dereliction.

Probably these pictures of the drying up of the Nile waters are to be taken symbolically, as indicating an overthrow of all Egyptian political and economic influence. But so often have symbolic prophecies turned out to have an unexpected foundation in literal fact that such a possibility is not to be ruled out in this place also. Perhaps there is reference here to the stagnation of the Suez Canal which today is every bit as important to Egypt’s economy as the Nile itself. The military destruction of Nile dams is another possibility.

ISRAEL IN EGYPT

The appendix to this prophecy of woe and dereliction has a feature which does not appear in any other place in the Bible: “In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.” The last phrase here could read “the city of the sun,” i.e. Heliopolis; but the Septuagint reading is “city of righteousness.” Such a puzzling prophecy must surely be linked with the last verse of Deuteronomy 28, which — so far as is known — has never yet received fulfilment. And, since it comes as the climax to the catalogue of curses laid upon Israel, there is fair justification for the view that this is something yet to happen in the not distant future: “And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you” (Deuteronomy 28: 68).

This interpretation gains support from ensuing details in Isaiah 19: “For they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them” (Isaiah 19: 20b).

Here is indication that these Jewish communities in Egypt are there as slaves who are to be delivered as in the time of Moses (the Hebrew text makes a significant play on the name of Moses); this Saviour is a “great one” like unto Moses.

Here, then, is the repentance of Israel, which must be manifest before their Messiah can be given to them. When this “spirit of grace and supplications” turns to God for help in the hour of greatest need, then “there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt” — not a massive Egyptian-style temple, but one of contrite hearts; not an altar with smoking reeking sacrifices, but One who is the gracious fulfilment of all such fore-shadowings.

It is not difficult to envisage how this prophecy may come to pass. In the final down-treading of Israel in their Land, a bitter experience is still in store. Zechariah 14: 2 says explicitly that in the great invasion of the Land before Messiah’s return, “the city shall be taken ... and half the city (that is, half of the population of the city) shall go into captivity.” It will doubtless be a great delight to the Egyptian nation to have enormous labour camps of Jewish prisoners to build their dams and irrigate their fields. And in such circumstances of hardship and hopelessness the Jews may be driven to turn to the God they have managed without for so long a time.

A MOSES AND A JOSEPH

The Saviour promised in this Scripture turns out to be not only a Moses for Israel but also a Joseph for the Egyptians: “And the Lord shall smite Egypt, he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them” (Isaiah 19:22). “Intreat the Lord for me,” Pharaoh had cried to Moses, and had not truly meant it. But now an Egypt filled to the top with ignorance, squalor and hate will turn in submission to the God of their captives, and will be healed.

“And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it” (Isaiah 19:21). Contrast here the many times that Pharaoh vowed to release God’s people, and then went back on his promise! Instead there is to be a true change of heart. From that day forward “the Egyptians shall serve (God) with the Assyrians”—all the ancient enemies will come gladly acknowledging that the God of the hated Jew is the God of all the earth. It is possible that for “serve” the Hebrew text should read “passover” — i.e. on the highway which there shall be out of Egypt (v. 23). If this reading be accepted, then, in effect, the text reads “the Egyptians shall Hebrew with the Assyrians” — it is a picture of Gentile nations having become Jews to the glory of the God of Israel.

The Rapture Of The Saints

Chapter 12 - The Rapture Of The Saints

The word is not well-chosen, for its normal usage denotes a burst of irrepressible joy, like the “first wild careless rapture” of the dawn chorus in early Spring. But there is also the idea, suggested by the Latin original, of being snatched away — that of sudden bodily transportation. In this sense the word has become part of the jargon of some of the sects with a strong eschatological bent, and inasmuch as there is no obvious alternative available, it must be put up with.[14]

The most commonly held idea is that Christ comes, gathers the saints together, and takes them away to heaven whence (by a most unscrupulous man-handling of a very plain Scripture) they are to be “kings and priests, and reign over the earth’’[15] (Revelation 5:10). A basis for this grossly mistaken notion is sought in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and John 14:3.

The first of these speaks of the saints as “caught up with them (the dead, now risen) in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord”.

But there is no mention of heaven here, only of the air. And since this extends, according to the scientists, a mere sixty miles or so above the earth’s surface, there is here at best only a possible suspension of Christ and the saints in orbit above the earth — a thing which no one has any intention of believing.

The verse calls for re-translation with the phrases in a different order: “caught away in clouds (for the purpose of meeting the Lord) into the air”. The meeting place is not specified in this passage, but it is clearly enough established elsewhere by the Scriptures which make it plain that Christ comes to sit on the throne of David and to reign in Jerusalem. If the saints are to be “ever with the Lord”, then they too must be on earth, and not in heaven.

“I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also” (John 14:3). Again the words are made to prove more than they say. The context: “I come again” and the abundant Bible evidence that Jesus is to come to the earth and is to reign on the earth should settle once and for all the destiny of those whom he blesses with his eternal presence and fellowship.

But having set aside the various wrong interpretations of the famous words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the question still remains: What exactly did Paul mean?

“Caught up in clouds into the air” has been taken to mean, “snatched away in groups” to be “exalted in the Aerial”.
Here the Greek verb is correctly translated, inasmuch as there is no suggestion of upward movement, but only that of being taken suddenly (and perhaps forcibly) away (e.g. Acts 8:39). Then the interpretation moves into the realm of the figurative. “Clouds” are taken to be metaphorical “clouds of witnesses”, and “the air” is first replaced by a synonym (?) “heaven”, which is then also given a figurative meaning: “a condition of political exaltation or power” (equivalent to being “kings and priests reigning on the earth”).

There are several unsatisfactory features about an interpretation of this nature:

1. There is nothing in the context to suggest a figurative meaning. Indeed when some verses further on, Paul does moves into the realm of figure and type, he says so plainly: “as a thief in the night . . . as travail upon a woman with child”
2. The only place where “clouds” is used as a metaphor, the Greek word is a different one (Hebrews 12:1). The word used here always means a literal cloud.
3. The Bible evidence for “air” being taken as symbolic is, to put it mildly, hardly conclusive. To quote such a dubious passage as “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) is in itself an open admission of a weak case. And Revelation 16:17 is no help at all, since no one can be sure that he has his finger on the precisely correct interpretation of the details of the Seventh Vial. The context of wickedness and divine wrath in both of these supporting passages is anything but helpful or appropriate to 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
4. What special purpose is there, conceivably, behind the transportation of the saints in “clouds” or groups? If a first-Century preacher of the gospel can be thus transported individually (see Acts 8:39) why not a twentieth-Century preacher? And, further, what of those who may be isolated from their nearest brethren in the Faith by hundreds of miles?
5. Lastly, this figurative interpretation is self-condemned by the length of time it takes to explain it, and by the dim comprehension of those who have had it thus explained to them. This is written out of experience of many personal discussions on the matter.

A better alternative, it is submitted, is to let the words mean precisely what they say, namely, that the saints will be literally caught up in literal clouds, into the literal air, to meet the Lord who has come to Jerusalem.

To adopt this simple and adequate point of view is to remove at a stroke many tortuosities of uneasy exegesis and to prepare the way for a quite delightful and wholly satisfactory extension of a familiar Biblical theme. The last paragraph carefully and deliberately used the words “literal clouds”. But these, it is now suggested, will not be ordinary clouds.

When Israel were delivered from Egypt, they were protected from their enemies by “a cloud and darkness” which came between the two hosts, and yet gave Israel light by night. This pillar of cloud was the sign of God’s Presence with them. By it He guided them through the wilderness, and brought them to the Land of Promise.

The same cloud of the Shekinah Glory is traceable through the history of Israel, and then becomes a feature of the New Testament narrative. This Cloud, called “The Glory”, appeared associated with Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration, but in the course of that incident it transferred itself from the Law and the Prophets and instead it overshadowed Jesus and the Apostles (Luke 9:30-34). It is demonstrable that this Fiery Cloud was also manifested at the crucifixion. It was this Cloud which “received Jesus out of their sight” above the mount of Olives, and it will be in this same Shekinah Glory that Jesus will return: “Behold, he cometh with clouds . . . coming on the clouds of heaven . . . in the glory of His Father” (Revelation 1:7; Matthew 26:64 and 16:27).

Then what more appropriate than that the saints who are to be heirs with Christ in his exaltation and majesty should have the same divine and royal entourage in their progress to the Holy City? Could anything be more fitting?

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[14] The more readily, one hopes, since our own community has also shewn a flair for coining its own jargon. What about disfellowship, responsibility, immortal emergence?
[15] It is perhaps worthwhile to point out that the same Greek phrase comes many times in Revelation (e.g. 6:10 and 11:10) always as "on the earth".

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The Sign Of The Son Of Man In Heaven

 

Chapter 9 - The Sign Of The Son Of Man In Heaven

Jesus plainly asserted that at the time of his coming again there will be “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations”. The words in the first part of this quotation are usually (and rightly) given a figurative application, but the conjunction with words, which are starkly literal, is somewhat startling. And when it is considered how the element of literality has so often obtruded itself in the fulfilment of figurative prophecies (see for example, 2 Peter 3:10), the student can hardly refrain from wondering if there will not be a literal as well as figurative fulfilment here also. Modern developments in rocket science make sensational phenomena in the sky not so much a possibility as a probability.

The words of Jesus in Matthew 24 continue: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (v. 30).

This sign of the Son of man in heaven has provoked many widely differing speculations. The one, which has most recommended itself, is the idea that this sign is the return of the Jews to Palestine. The parable of the fig tree coming two verses later is doubtless a recommendation in this direction. But why should this sign in particular be labelled the sign of the Son of man? For could it not be argued that every sign which heralds his coming is a sign of the Son of man? Again, how is the return of the Jew to Zion a sign in heaven? To explain this figurative element has to be imported once again, and somewhat awkwardly here. The rest of the verse is literal enough. Also it may be asked: Where or what is the connection with the rest of the passage if it is the Jewish sign which is alluded to?

These are not insuperable obstacles, but it must be granted that an interpretation which avoids these snags, and which takes the words as meaning just what they say, and which ties all the phrases of the context together has much more to recommend it.

It is worthwhile, then, to recall that when Jesus came the first time there was a sign of the Son of man in heaven—the star seen by the wise men. It was a literal sign in the literal sky. This immediately suggests a similar appearance in the day (or night) when he comes again.

It is useful also to observe that whilst that first sign is called a “star” it was not literally a star but was so called because of the similarity to a star and because “star” afforded the best brief description of it. The fact may have eluded the notice of readers that since this “star” came and “stood over where the young child was” (Matthew 2:9) it could not possibly have been any normal heavenly body. The star, which appears to be directly over my chimney-pot at 9 p.m., also appears to be directly over my friend’s chimneypot five miles away, at the same moment.

This “star”, then, must have been quite low in the sky—as low, probably lower, than the altitude of a modern aeroplane. The guess may be hazarded that it was a manifestation of the cherubim of glory, “the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof”.

Yet when the angels announced the royal birth to the shepherds their word was: “And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger”. To them the sign was to be Christ himself—but, let it be noted—not a Christ in royal splendour but one wrapped and surrounded by all the signs of human weakness and destitution —swaddling clothes, appropriate to the nature which he then bore.

The two ideas, combined together, are readily transferable back to Matthew 24:30. The sign of the Son of man will be a literal sight in the sky. The sign will be the Son of man himself as he comes to the earth. But whereas he came before with all the symbols of our pathetic fallen nature, he will come this second time “in power and great glory” appropriate to his royal dignity. He will come “on the clouds of heaven”—not ordinary nimbus or cumulus clouds, but in the Cloud of the Shekinah Glory which shepherded Israel out of Egypt, the Cloud which was transferred from Moses and Elijah to himself and his disciples on the mount of Transfiguration, the Cloud which received him when he ascended to the Father’s right hand. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that there is no Biblical warrant for taking “clouds of heaven” to mean “clouds of people”. Hebrews 12:1 uses a different Greek word. And in any case Jesus does not come with his glorified ones, but to them.

In short, then, the sign will be Jesus himself coming in the vivid visible Glory of God, and seen in the sky by all the world as he comes to his inheritance.

This topic of the actual coming of Christ has been much befogged by strange nebulous ideas of a two-fold manifestation—first, in secret to his saints, and then in full power and majesty to his enemies. This is another notion, which can hardly be too strongly reprobated. The only Bible evidence one ever hears cited in support of it is: “The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Yet the very next words make it plain that to those who are prepared and watchful the second advent will be in no sense thief-like. The same figure of the thief in the Letter to Sardis makes it clear that it will only be the unprepared who find the Lord’s coming a nasty shock.

The Lord’s own words elsewhere refute utterly and completely the idea of a stealthy or secret advent: “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert (of Sinai!!?); go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:26, 27). It would be difficult to find more explicit words than these. Lightning is unmistakeably lightning; it has never been mistaken for a house on fire or even for a photo flash bulb. The coming of Christ will be clear, impressive, majestic, seen by all, but understood only by a few.

“The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels” (Matthew I6: 27). “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God . . .” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8).

Such passages speak for themselves. They are reinforced by Matthew 24:30 “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they (the tribes of the earth) shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”.

Yet another phenomenon will add to the awe-inspiring grandeur of this majestic visitation. Some prophecies suggest that the day of the Lord’s coming will be a time of unnatural darkness comparable with that, which was experienced on the day of crucifixion.

The preceding words, if to be taken literally have this very idea: “the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven . . .”

In strange mysterious language Zechariah 14 hints at the same thing: “His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light” (w. 4, 6, 7).

Joel describes the day of the Lord as “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness” (2:2).

Zephaniah has almost identical language: “The great day of the Lord is near . . . a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (1:14, 15). Passages in Amos and Isaiah carry the same idea.

If this comes to pass literally the effect on the nations of the world will be electric. Imagine the entire globe wrapped in gloom. As Jesus approaches the earth in radiant splendour, the visible manifestation of the Shekinah Glory, all—literally all—the peoples of the world will witness this unique mysterious, startling spectacle. Only a few will know the meaning of this, which they behold. To them it is “the sign of the Son of man in heaven”. The rest will stare in amazement and terror: “then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the Clouds of heaven with power and great glory”.

The Two Witnesses

 

Chapter 8 - The Two Witnesses

It is with reluctance that the writer has to begin by an assertion of belief that the standard Christadelphian expositions of Revelation 11 are inadequate. “The second woe (about the two witnesses) is past; and behold, the third woe (which is explicitly about the resurrection and the kingdom) cometh quickly” (v. 14). Such language requires that the vision of the two witnesses have reference to the Last Days. Any other interpretation is at best only a partial or anticipatory fulfilment.

Here, as in all the rest of Revelation, the safest principle of interpretation to follow is to seek the guidance afforded by allowing Scripture to explain Scripture, rather than by exploring the byways of religious and political history for an adequate set of correspondences. Throughout this chapter the method will be that of Biblical exposition, although only in a sketchy fashion, for what Eureka II, chapter 11, spends half a million words on, the present allocation is two thousand.

The vision begins with instructions to measure the temple of God. It is a spiritual temple composed of men and women, as the words “even them that worship therein” plainly imply. “But the court which is without the temple leave out (i.e. excommunicate; see RVm) . . . for it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot”. These words connect so directly with the familiar words of Jesus that the meaning is plain: “and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

There is here, then, a symbolic picture of Israel cast off and the new temple of Jesus Christ appointed in place of that which has been given over to destruction.

The “forty and two months”, which is the exact equivalent of the 3½ “times” mentioned elsewhere in Daniel and Revelation is now seen to represent “the times of the Gentiles”. Whatever chronological application may be assigned to these words through history, the present writer is persuaded (see chapter 5) that this “forty and two months” also indicates a literal period of 3½ years in the Last Days during which the great crises of human and divine purposes will be resolved.

It is during this period of 1260 days (v. 3) that the two witnesses do their prophesying. The identification of these witnesses as the people of Israel will be fully established from Biblical evidence as this study proceeds. For the present it will be sufficient to remind readers of the familiar words in Isaiah 43 “Bring . . . forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf people that have ears . . . Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant (Israel) whom I have chosen” (vv. 8, 10). Blind in reading their own Scriptures, and deaf to the claims of their own Messiah, through long centuries Israel has continued as God’s unmistakeable testimony to the world.

Why two witnesses? To represent Law and Prophets surely — as the ensuing verses also require — so as to emphasize that the chief witness of this blind and deaf nation has been through the Word of Light and Truth of which they have been the custodians. Also, it is “at the mouth of two or three witnesses that every word (of God, as well as of man) shall be established”.

The reference in verse 4 to “two olive trees and candlesticks standing before the God of the Land” takes the reader back to Zechariah 4, where (in its primary meaning) the vision spoke of the beginnings of a new temple about to be raised in Jerusalem when Israel were returned from captivity. This pointedly suggests that the witnesses signify Israel returned to the Land from another captivity, soon to rise to the glory of God a new spiritual temple.

The signs, which accompany their witnessing, are designed to suggest Moses and Elijah. Fire out of their mouth,[5] devouring their enemies and the restraining of the rain of heaven for 32 years both echo the ministry of Elijah (2 Kings 1:10, 12; James 5:16, 17). Turning water into blood, and smiting the earth with all its plagues was, of course, the work of Moses.

But it is not to be assumed that these signs and judgements are to be brought literally upon their enemies by the Jews in the Last Days (though indeed a good case could be made for taking this as representing Israel’s power over Arab enemies in recent wars). Preferably the words should be taken as indicating God’s judgements on the persecutors of Israel on the basis of the principle: “Him that curseth thee, I will curse”. Such passages as the following chime in with this view: “Therefore I have hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth” (Hosea 6:5); “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to plant and to build” (Jeremiah 1 10); “Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them” (Jeremiah 5: 14).

The beast which makes war with the witnesses and kills them (v. 7) may safely be interpreted as the great enemy of Israel in the Last Days by whom the Land is invaded. Revelation 17:11-14 may suggest (but here one moves warily and without dogmatism) Arab confederacy with Russian leadership and inspiration. Certainly the rest of this vision harmonizes well with such a conclusion.

The dead body of the witnesses lying in the street of the great city for 3½ days must indicate the utter desolation, over a period of 3½ years, of the new National Home so laboriously re-established by Jewry.

Every detail here, by its Biblical associations, points to such a conclusion. The “great city where also their Lord was crucified” identifies Jerusalem. And an impressive array of Scriptures (Isaiah 1:9, 10 and 3: 8, 9; Jeremiah 23: 14; Deuteronomy 32:32; Ezekiel 23: 3, 4, 8, 19) connects both Sodom and Egypt with the spiritual character of God’s own people “called Sodom and Egypt”.

How appropriate is the close correspondence between the experiences of the witnesses, as described here, and the experience of Jesus whom the Jews still reject. Both have their witness ignored or rejected. For both there is violent death in Jerusalem, to the great rejoicing of their enemies. Both experience a resurrection at a time of earthquake and also ascension to heaven in the Shekinah Cloud of Glory.

As already suggested, the 32 days’ exposure of the bodies probably represents a period of 3½ years—not so much because “a year for a day” is an established principle in Bible prophecy, though there are two clear-cut examples of it available: Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:5, 6; but because this 3½ year period has entered into the prophecy twice already (w. 2, 3), and also because to have said “they shall see their dead bodies three years and a half” would have been to import into the prophecy too big an element of unreality.
What dead bodies would lie exposed anywhere for 32 years?

To disallow the entombment of a dead body is the height of indignity and insult. Thus is suggested the contumely and wretchedness, which is to come upon Israel in what, more than at any period in their history, will be “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. “And they that dwell in the Land (i.e. their bitter Arab enemies) shall rejoice over them and make merry, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt in the Land’’[6] (v. 10).

Ishmael was ever a mocker of Isaac, especially in times of misfortune, and since recent history has made the Jews more than ever a smoke in the nose and a thorn in the side of every Arab in and around Palestine, this vindictiveness will know no limit when for the last time Arab gloats over Jew. It is now appropriate to bring together an astonishing series of allusions made in Revelation 11 to Psalm 79:

Psalm 79	Revelation 11
v. 1 The heathen (Gentiles) are come into thine inheritance, thy holy city have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.	v. 2 The court without the temple is given to the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot.
v. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of heaven.	v. 8 And their dead body shall lie in the street of the great city.
v. 2 the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.	v. 7 the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them.
v. 3 and there was none to bury them.	v. 9 and they shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
v. 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.	v. 10 And they that dwell in the Land shall rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another.
v. 6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen. v. 12 Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom.	v. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come . . . and shouldest destroy them that destroy the Land (by the Seven Vials— “all plagues” v. 6).
v. 13 So we thy people the sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever.	v. 17 We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty . . . because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned.

From a correspondence so plainly established, certain conclusions follow:

1. The two witnesses represent the nation of Israel in the Land (yet more confirmatory evidence for this conclusion is available).
2. The death of the witnesses represents (temporary) extinction of Israel as an organized nation, but not an utter end of all the Jews in the Land: “Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee”—and compare verse 4. Readers may care to trace the half-dozen resemblances between Lamentations 2 and Revelation 11 and find the above conclusions reinforced.

The most striking point of all now follows: “And after three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet” (v. 11). What is this but a repetition of the familiar “Valley of Dry Bones” prophecy? — “So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath (v. 5: breath of Life: LXX[7]) came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezekiel 37 :10). The verbal coincidences with the Septuagint text are very striking. And since there is no argument about the reference of Ezekiel 37 to the people of Israel (see v. 11 there), ought not the same conclusion to be equally secure in Revelation 11?

The ascension of the witnesses is, of course, not to be understood literally. It probably symbolizes the repentance of Israel, as shattered by the destruction of all their hopes centred in their national home, they respond in desperation to the appeals and exhortations of Messiah’s forerunner, the “Elijah” of Malachi 4:5.

At different times much study of the Book of Revelation has been befogged by a mistaken insistence that “heaven” means “political ascendancy”, whereas the constant testimony of Revelation itself is that what is seen or described as taking place in “heaven” concerns those who hold covenant-relation with God, and are associated with the heavenly sanctuary described in chapters 4, 5. Events concerning those not in the divine covenant appear as taking place on the earth. Such passages as 15 :l, 2and 19:1 and7:15 and6:4, 8, 9,10,13,14 become very luminous when studied from this point of view. There are many other examples.

Appropriately, then, in Revelation 11 the witnesses represent at first the Jews in their condition of unbelief and therefore on the “earth”. The inbreathing of the spirit or breath of God means their spiritual re-awakening and therefore, again appropriately, they are now transferred to the heavenly sphere.

“What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead” wrote Paul. Accordingly the third woe — a woe to their enemies — “cometh quickly”. This seventh trumpet is the last trump, which announces resurrection and the transfer of the kingdoms of men to our Lord and his Christ. When, and
only when, Israel say: “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”, will they see him whom they pierced.

Thus the entire vision, when interpreted by the Bible rather than by history, is seen to harmonize with—and indeed to summarize—the main conclusion reached in earlier chapters in the present series.

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[5] The singular indicates a community and not two individuals. So also does the singular "carcase" (not carcases) in the Greek text of v. 8.
[6] In both Old Testament and New Testament the word for "earth" also means "land"; and vice versa.
[7] LXX=Septuagint version.

A Neglected Feature Of Daniel’s Prophecies

 

Chapter 3 - A Neglected Feature Of Daniel’s Prophecies

The Book of Daniel contains five separate visions or prophecies. These, on careful examination, are found to have several characteristics in common. For instance, in the brief explanatory passages they are all given a “continuous historical” fulfilment. Also, they are all Messianic—they all find their great climax in the appearance of Messiah the Prince. Yet another feature, which they have in common, is this — they all include a long gap or break in the continuity of the fulfilment.

All students of the prophecy have noticed this in chapter 11. Early in that chapter the vision merges into a long sequence of literal historical detail.[2]

This impressive sequence of detail continues to the period of the Maccabees, and then all at once the reader finds himself transported to the Last Days — “a time of trouble such as never was”, and the day of resurrection (ch. 12:1, 2—the continuity into chapter 12 is undeniable).

Somewhere, then, the continuous character of the revelation breaks off, and at a leap one is taken to the end of the age. Students of prophecy have been unanimous in their recognition of this fact. Some put the break at the end of verse 35, most at the end of verse 39; but all are agreed that the gap is there.

The ram and he-goat vision of chapter 8 is almost as explicit in making similar requirements. The explanation of the prophecy begins at verse 19: “I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation”. Then for three verses the exposition of the details proceeds in a “continuous historic” fashion presenting little difficulty.

Then, “in the latter time of their kingdom (i.e. of the four Greek kingdoms), a king of fierce countenance shall stand up”. At first, the student may be inclined to apply this to Rome, which power certainly destroyed “the holy people” and “the Prince of princes” himself. But this interpretation is vetoed by the words: “but he shall be broken without hand” (i.e. by divine power; compare chapter 2:34). This fact, combined with the clear assurance that “the vision belongeth to the time of the end” (v. 17 RV), requires that this “king of fierce countenance” be looked for in the Last Days—though doubtless Antiochus Epiphancs (vv. 9-12) or the hard power of Rome provide a vivid prototype.

It would seem then that the true exposition of verse 25 will equate this ruthless king with the Beast of Revelation 17 who, with his ten allies, is to make war with the Lamb and suffer destruction at his hands (Revelation 17:14). But whether this equation be correct or not, the gap in the prophecy is certainly there.

The same approach is now seen to provide a much more realistic view of Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

The commonly accepted interpretation has the following scheme (roughly):

Gold	Babylon	70 years (approx.)
Silver	Persia	200 “ “
Brass	Greece	180 “ “
Iron	Rome	600 “ “
Iron/clay	Divided Kingdoms	1500 “ “

With the first four items here, there can be no quarrel. But the fifth is hardly so satisfactory, since in the vision the feet with their ten toes are to be destroyed by the Stone, the Messiah, whereas throughout the long period indicated they have been vigorously engaged in destroying one another.

It is more reasonable, surely, to regard the ten toes as representing the ten kingdoms in existence at the time of Messiah’s coming. Once again, as in chapter 8, there is an equation with the ten kings who give their power and strength unto the Beast (Revelation 17: 14). Read thus, Daniel 2 provides the ten kings and Daniel 8 foretells the Beast—the two visions are complementary here.

If this alternative interpretation be accepted—and it is to be noted that it also avoids the anomaly of having the least important part of the metallic anatomy represent by far the longest period—then once again the gap in the continuity of the historical fulfilment is plainly there, between the iron representing Rome and the mixed iron and clay representing the discrete powers of the time of the end.

The problem of Daniel 7 is more complex and calls for more detailed treatment than this chapter will allow. All that can be said at the moment is that probably the familiar “Papacy” interpretation of the little horn is at best only a partial or preliminary fulfilment. An impressive case can be made for the view that the little horn represents a power which will oppress the Jews (the “saints”, the holy people; Daniel 8:24) in the Last Days immediately before the coming of their Messiah—in other words, that the little horn and the other ten correspond to the Beast and ten Kings of Revelation 17:12-14.

If this were so, then once again there appears a noteworthy gap in the prophetic sequence of Daniel 7 between the fourth kingdom (Rome) and the sensational developments of the Last Days.

To sum up so far—it may be taken as almost certain that the prophecies of Daniel 11 and 8 require a gap in the historical fulfilment, that of Daniel 2 probably has the same feature, whilst Daniel 7, even if it does not require a similar view, at any rate lends itself readily to the same scheme of interpretation. To put the matter thus is probably to understate the case.

Students of the Olivet prophecy will already have recognized that what is being argued for here is the existence in Daniel’s prophecies of the same gap which exists so markedly in the words of Jesus there: “and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”. This is A.D. 70, and its ghastly consequences. The next words transport the reader to the day of Christ’s return: “And there shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity . . .”. Would any first-century student of the words of Jesus have even the smallest reason for suspecting the existence of a 1900-year gap between those two sentences?

Now back to Daniel. An examination of the famous “Seventy Weeks” prophecy in chapter 9 reveals the possible existence of the same kind of gap. The precise dating of the fulfilment does not affect the issue under consideration. The prophecy is explicit that “in the midst of the (seventieth) seven he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease” (Daniel 9:27). This can only mean that the cutting off of “Messiah the Prince” was to correspond to a time of 37~ years from the end of the full period of 490 years.

The question promptly thrusts itself forward: What is the significance of the remaining 3½ years?

The usual answer that this leads on to the death of Stephen and the conversion of Paul simply will not do. It is too obviously make-shift — for the following reasons:

1. This prophecy is about “Messiah the Prince” and his great work. To have the climax of the prophecy concerned with one of his disciples is bathos, even though that disciple be Stephen or Paul.
2. There is absolutely no evidence available to demonstrate that Stephen died or that Saul was converted precisely 3½ years after the crucifixion. The guesses of the “experts” about the dating of the events mentioned range from one to ten years after the death of Christ.
3. The climax of the “seventy weeks” is to be to “finish transgression (in ‘thy people’ and ‘thy holy city’), to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24). Is this language appropriate to the death of Stephen?

Is it possible, then, that the prophetic gap already clearly discernible in several other revelations is asserting itself here also, and that the outstanding 3½ years represent a deferment to the Last Days when the words of verse 24 just quoted will receive an abundant literal fulfilment in connection with the people of Israel and “the holy city”?

Such a possibility opens up the way to sensational re-interpretation of a number of Bible prophecies. It is proposed to explore some of these in later studies.

Bible Prophecy Jew And Arab

 

Jew And Arab

It is the purpose of this chapter to suggest that, contrary to common expectation, the last great conflict before the coming of the Lord will be between Jew and Arab, and not (as is often thought) between Jew and Russian. Just as there are weaknesses (pointed out in chapter 1) in the hypothesis of a Gog-Magog invasion of Israel before the coming of the Lord, so there is a corresponding strength about the repeated emphasis in the prophets on an Arab victory over the Jews. Whilst many students of prophecy have lately found anticipations in Scripture of the present Arab-Jew antagonism, few seem to have taken these prophetic foreshadowings to their logical conclusion. The evidence — Biblical, not political — calls for re-examination.

First, it is taken as a conclusion requiring no proof that the prophecies of the last days concerning Edom are about the Arabs since so many of the Arab tribes are descended from Esau and because ancient Edom is unquestionably Arab territory today.

The first of these prophecies calling for attention is Ezekiel 35, 36. The words here are remarkably explicit: “I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast said, These two nations (i.e. Edom and Israel) and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there: therefore as I live, saith the Lord, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thine hatred against them; an d I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee” (Ezekiel 35:9-11).

A careful consideration of these words shews that certain events are clearly implied:

1. The annexation of Israel by Arab foes.
2. A divine judgement on these boastful enemies to be followed immediately by
3. The manifestation of divine glory among the Jews.

Almost every verse in the chapter reinforces these conclusions.

Ezekiel 36 is, if anything, even more emphatic. There, Edom is pictured as gloating over a recent triumph: “Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession” (v. 2). For this, divine judgement is pronounced “against all Edom, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart” (v. 5).

But, by contrast, there is to be re-gathering and blessing for Israel: “But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come” (v. 8).

What is specially impressive is that this Arab desolation of the Land is represented as Israel’s last agony before the fulfilment of all their ancient hopes: “Thou (land of Israel) shalt devour men no more . . . neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou hear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to call any more” (vv. 14, 15).

The logical conclusion seems to be that the Arab conquest of Israel will be the last that it will experience.

The prophecy of Obadiah “concerning Edom”, has exactly the same shape, so that reinforcement of this conclusion just reached is only to be evaded by denying altogether a last-day application of the prophecy. “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever” (v. 10).

There is the same emphasis on the unlawful possession of Israel’s territory: “Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity” (v. 13).

Therefore judgement from the Lord must inevitably follow: “For the day of the Lord is upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually . . . they shall be as though they had not been” (vv. 15, 16).

Nevertheless Israel will be delivered: “Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions” (v. 17).

The ensuing verses (vv.18, 19) indicate that the whole of the Land promised to Abraham will be restored
“and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s” (v. 21).

Thus, again, Israel’s final tribulation appears to come from Arab enemies.

Many as a prophecy of Israel’s calamity also have read psalm 83 in the Last Days. Doubtless it had its origin in the historical circumstances of the reign of Hezekiah or Jehoshaphat, but few readers of these words would limit its reference to such a time, any more than they would insist on the application of Psalm 72 to Solomon only.

Psalm 83, then, describes a highly successful confederacy against the people of God: “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel be no more in remembrance” (vv. 3, 4). Then follows a long and impressive list of names of the hostile peoples—all of them Arab peoples, or modern Arab territories: Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyre, Asshur, the children of Lot (vv. 6-8). And the plea for divine succour (vv. 9-11) is based not, as is so commonly the case elsewhere, on God’s mighty deliverance from Egypt under Moses, but on His rescue of His people from Arab oppressions—Sisera and Jabin, the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna. And the Psalm ends with the words: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth”. Such words require reference to the end of this era.

Further evidence may be adduced from Jeremiah 30, 31. “The time of Jacob’s trouble” (30: 7) is one out of which he is to be saved, so that “strangers shall no more serve themselves of him; but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king (the Messiah: ch. 23:5, 6), whom I will raise up unto them” (30:8, 9). The Hebrew word here-translated “trouble” is the same as that used in Genesis 32:7: “Thy brother Esau cometh to meet thee and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed “. In the ensuing prophecy in Jeremiah 31: 7-22 about the re-gathering of Israel phrase after phrase goes back to the Genesis narrative of Jacob’s return to the Land in fear because of Syrian foes behind him and Edomite foes coming to meet him. About twenty of these allusions are traceable. The obvious intention is to represent that return of Israel the patriarch as a type of the return of Israel the nation.

Read thus the prophecy carries a strong implication that in the great “time of Jacob’s trouble”, it will be Arab (Esau) hostility and opposition, which must be feared rather than Russian.

The familiar details of Zechariah 14 harmonize with this view . . . “and the city shall be taken . . . and half the city (i.e. half of the population of the city) shall go forth into captivity . . . Then shall the Lord go forth . . .” (Zechariah 14:2, 3).

It is not unreasonable to identify this “captivity” of Israel in the Last Days with that described in Joel 3 :1-8. If this equation is correct, then the gathering of the hostile nations for retribution in “the valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel 3 :2) is highly appropriate also inasmuch as the great deliverance in King Jehoshaphat’s time was from a fearsome invasion by “Ammon and Moab, and mount Seir (Edom)” (2 Chronicles 20:10).

This prophecy of Joel concludes with the words: “Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land” (3:19).

From the foregoing accumulation of Bible evidence it can be justly claimed that a fair case is to be made out for believing that the great climax of Israel’s history is to come not with the crushing of a tiny Jewish state by a Russian steam-roller, but by the fulfilment of the great historic types of Genesis— Ishmael against Isaac, Esau against Jacob. The ultimate outcome of this clash is assured, both in type and prophecy. But first Israel must learn, through the bitterest experience of all, to abandon all reliance on working out its own salvation. As yet the Jews shew no sign whatever of assimilating the vital lesson that cleverness and industry can never be any substitute for humble faith in the God of their fathers.

The Gog-Magog Invasion. When?

 The Last Days

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Chapter 1 - The Gog-Magog Invasion. When?

For many years it has been almost a dogma among Christadelphian students of Bible prophecy that World War III, the great conflict, which is to herald, the coming of the Lord, will begin with a Russian invasion of Palestine. This, of course, on the basis of Ezekiel 38. Yet, whilst there is nothing known to the present writer which is decisive in favour of such a conclusion, there are certain considerations which suggest that that familiar Ezekiel prophecy be fulfilled after Christ is enthroned in Zion.

For instance, the sequence of the chapters (Ezekiel 37 to 40) points strongly towards such a conclusion. Chapter 37 has the “resurrection” of Israel and their re-establishment in the land of their fathers. Next, there is a picture of “David my servant” ruling over them in righteousness. It is a spiritual, as well as a national, revival of Israel. Then chapter 38 continues with its vigorous portrayal of an invasion which meets with due retribution, as the fuller picture of Ezekiel 39 shews. After this, appropriately, is the detailed picture of Zion as the centre of worship—”a house of prayer for all nations”. [1]

To put the northern invasion before the coming of the Messiah is to seriously dislocate this sequence. On the other hand, to accept the order of events suggested by the order of the chapters means at once the elimination of certain long-standing difficulties. The motive for the invasion is given thus: “to take a spoil, and to take a prey . . . against the people that have gotten cattle and goods . . . Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?”

The efforts of prophetic expositors (including the present writer on more than one occasion) in an attempt to impart reality to these words in the wrong framework have varied from the ingenious to the ludicrous. Perhaps the favourite device has been to read the words “goods” as meaning “oil” especially. But this will hardly do, for there is almost no oil in Israel. The best supplies of oil are in an altogether different direction. If Gog goes into Israel for oil, he has lost his bearings!

Alternatively, emphasis is put on the immense value of Palestine as the strategically important land bridge between the continents. This is doubtless true, though now of less and less importance as the powers become more and more committed to nuclear war. But in any case this, if valid, is a vastly different consideration from that intimated in the words just cited. The prophecy does not say: “I will go to the land of unwalled villages because I covet its geography”.

Instead of these shifts it is manifestly much more satisfactory to accept the sequence which Ezekiel himself supplies and to take his chapter 38 as having a fulfilment after the Lord has come to be King of the Jews’ and after he has already raised his people to a pitch of prosperity (see Isaiah 60) such as would make chapter 38 the natural and inevitable sequel of chapter 37.

Yet another difficulty evaporates with the one just discussed. The invaded people are described as being “at rest, dwelling safely (RV securely), all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates”.

Under the domination of the old hypothesis, the best that the present; writer used to be able to make of these words was to read them as a contrast between the realization of Jewish nationalism as it is today in their proud little state of Israel, and the ancient terror and restriction of the ghetto life which
Jews have had to put up with for the best part of two milleniums.

Yet this is at best an exegete’s expedient. A glance at any newspaper published since 1948 will provide evidence that Israel, ringed round by implacable Arab foes, will never be “at rest”, will never “dwell securely”, will never abandon their “bars and gates” (their defensive armaments), until the ancient hostility between Esau and Jacob has been finally ended by the lasting acceptance by Esau of Jacob’s right to the Land (as in Genesis 33 and 36).

There is also a purely Biblical argument of considerable force, which seems to have suffered from quite unwarrantable neglect. Revelation 19 has a vivid symbolic picture of the Word of God going forth against nations whom he is to “rule with a rod of iron”. He rides at the head of the armies of heaven in the character of King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. At this time an angel cries to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven: “Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of the mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them . . .” (Revelation 19:13-18). What is this but the culmination of the destruction described in Ezekiel 39? “Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come . . . Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth” (Ezekiel 39:17, 18).

These passages are the only two places in Scripture where such an idea and such phrases meet the reader. If the principle of interpretation of Scripture by Scripture is worth anything, one of two conclusions seems to be inescapable — either that Ezekiel 39 is to be fulfilled after the Lord’s coming in glory, or that immediately before and after his coming two similar divine judgements are to be visited upon the warring enemies of Jehovah. Of the two the former is obviously the more preferable and the more likely.

In conclusion, the question may be asked: Over against the arguments adduced in this study, what points of positive evidence are available in support of the more usual assumption that Ezekiel 38, 39 are to be fulfilled before the Lord comes.

Are there any?

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[1] How many are aware that in Eureka II 557, and III 405, 602 precisely this interpretation is given to Ezekiel 38?