A Systematic Theology for the 21st Century – Vol 11 Eschatology

A Systematic Theology for the 21^st Century – Vol 11 Eschatology

Dr. Edward Rice

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Preface

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As a USAF retired systems engineer turned Baptist Preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and armed with a staunch belief in the preserved accuracy of the inspired Scriptures, I praise the Lord that he has provided me the unique opportunity to assemble “A Systematic Theology for the 21^st Century.”

As a systems engineer for thirty years (since 1972), I focused on systems analysis. Systematic theology has intrigued me ever since my first Bible institute course in 1975. I have amassed multiple systematic theology books and never found one that is wholly Biblical. In 2013 my seminary work at Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, under Dr. Steven Pettey, assigned me to read and analyze six volumes of “Systematic Theology” by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder and previous president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Initial critique of this neo-evangelical's voluminous, wordy, often unorganized work, answered the question, “Is there not a cause?” A Systematic Theology for the 21st Century is indeed a valid need. It cried out to be written and it was a work that I was privileged to endeavor.

God says he built man with an inner knowledge of the Creator's eternal power and Godhead. Further, God reveals from heaven, to every man, his wrath against all ungodliness. This true Light “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The Bible says the righteous God, The LORD of hosts, tries the reins and the heart of every man. The prophet Jeremiah writes of God, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” The psalmist says, “my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” With his tugs on the reins of your heart, you have come far in your studies, be sure that you have come to a knowledge and submissive acceptance of God's only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The beloved Apostle John wrote, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Every Bible student is encouraged to follow through a list of Bible verses called by some the Romans road to heaven. The believing Bible student is encouraged to memorize them. That quintessential list of verses is John 3:16-19, 36, 5:24, Romans 3:10, 23, 5:8, 12, 18-19, 6:23, and 10:9-13. That last reference is God's formal acceptance policy for your receiving his free gift of salvation and eternal life. Got life? The beloved Apostle John writes, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Selah! It is Hebrew for “go-figure”, and it intends that you pause, meditate, and consider what you just read.

After due consideration of the sole source of a systematic theology in Volume 01 – Prolegomena and a Volume 02 – Bibliology, an appropriate course of study would entail the study of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That is the course of study for Volume 03 – Theology, Volume 04 – Christology and Volume 05 – Pneumatology. Such a discipline establishes a foundation for the other studies of this systematic theology. Volume 06 through 08 pursue the plight and salvation of man with titles Anthropology, Hamartiology, and Soteriology, and finally Volume 09 through 11 pursue the doctrines of the church, angels, and last things, in titles Ecclesiology, Angelology, and Eschatology. The set concludes with a Volume 12 – Epilogue.

Information in this volume on eschatology, the doctrine of last things, was extracted from notes and slides of a “Hunt for the Last October Bible Prophecy Conference” preached annually by this author for twenty-two years. Each October service at Good Samaritan Baptist Church, Dresden NY, addressed prophecies about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Slides of that conference are published at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/last_oct .

When I began work on my Ph.D. in 2014 I set a goal to finish this Systematic Theology for the 21^st Century in a five year period. When I finished my Ph.D. in 2017, I reestablished the same goal. This year, after publishing at least a draft of all twelve volumes in 2019, the goal remains. My plea for critique and correction also remains the same. I prefer friendly and constructive critique, but have found the hostile ones to be enlightening and beneficial for rounding out a stronger defense of truth. Feel free to engage in this effort, the many inputs I have received have strengthened the cause.

There is a cause.

Volume 11 Eschatology – The Doctrine of Last Things

The Holy Bible, as “Thus saith the LORD”, in visions, in dreams, and in the Revelation of Jesus Christ portrays the past, the present and the future; that is all the past of this universe, all the present of our circumstance, and all the future through eternity. Ezekiel 37 gives a superb example:

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

We are embarked on a quest to understand the doctrine of last things, what is called from the Greek eschatology. Twenty-four hundred years ago the prophet Ezekiel was in the throws of the same quest, God was his teacher, and when his teacher asks him about something that was impossible, inconceivable , and unfathomable, Ezekiel gives the right answer, “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”

As we look through the impossible, inconceivable, and unfathomable revelations that are to occur after the closing of this present dispensation of grace, our response needs to echo Ezekiel's. The impossible that is revealed to Ezekiel, and thus to us, is not about “dem-bones, dem-bones, dem-dry bones,...” it is that “the whole house of Israel,” one day to “know that I am the LORD,” and, “ I shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live,” and “I shall place you in your own land.” This has not been fulfilled for the twelve tribes of Israel, i.e. the “whole house.” It will be. God said so. In God's prophetic Word, it is no that “seeing is believing”, it is more that “believing is seeing”. Keep an eye out for the whole house of Israel in your study of eschatology. It will shape your understanding of last things.

The “one nation gathered into the promised land” prophecy continues in Ezekiel 37,

15 ¶ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations,

22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

The impossible, inconceivable, and unfathomable is prophesied, promised, and assured in this chapter. Never dismiss the nation of Israel from your eschatology. Never suppose, with the Roman Catholics, the Protestant Catholics, and John Calvin's Presbyters, that God discarded the Jews! They suppose that a Catholic Church is the new elect of God, and that it replaces Israel in this prophecy! No, No, No. They completely dismiss the millennial reign of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, they suppose we are presently in the tribulation period, and completely dismiss the dispensational teachings of the Holy Bible. The impossible, inconceivable, and unfathomable, continues with this promise of “David my servant” sitting on the throne, if you one perceive who that “servant” is:

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

We heathen, born-again-saved by the grace of God through faith in his Son, must never “be wise in our own conceits” and dismiss the LORD's sanctified Israel. God has promised to save them in the “last days.” As the New Testament also confirms:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Rom 11:25-27, emphasis added).

Chapter 1 Eschatology Preliminary Essays

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)¹

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes” (Matthew 24:15-18).

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.... He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:16-17,20)

Eschatology is the study of last things. Coming from the Greek, “But many that are first shall be last (escatos – eschatos) and the last (escatos – eschatos) first” (Mark 10:31), and “ology”², which is a word, a discourse, a doctrine, a teaching. There is no greater testimony of intimate friendship than when one reveals all their future plans and aspirations to their friend. Jesus said it this way, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). The Lord Jesus Christ materialized this intimacy in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and believers on an intimate basis with Christ can read its pages with an ear to hear.³

Never has the study of eschatology been more pertinent for the Bible believer. America is on the very edge a global ruin of Biblical proportions and Christians need to be students of Bible Prophecy as never before. The question on the minds of unbelievers, and professed believers alike is, “Is this the end?” An honest believer, having the lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, as the way, the truth and the life, needs a clear answer to the question in his presentation of the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Two premises must be highlighted in a Biblical study of eschatology. First, and foremost throughout, is that Biblical prophecy about the end times is more about Israel than it is about the Church. The Roman Catholic indoctrination of Christendom supposed that the catholic church replaces Israel in God's plans and promises. That is to be contended throughout this volume. Satan has concocted that great Roman Catholic lie.

In Clemens and Scofield's book “The Jewish Question” the problem is addressed succinctly,

The eleventh chapter in the great Epistle to the Romans is perhaps the least studied of all in this Epistle of our salvation. It contains not alone deeply interesting truths, but is of great importance and puts before us most solemn facts. The Holy Spirit unfolds here the purposes of God concerning the Jewish race. The knowledge of Israel's place and position in God's revealed plan is of incalculable importance. All the confusion in doctrine and practice we see about us, is more or less the result of a deplorable ignorance which exists throughout Christendom concerning Israel's place and future. The carnalizing of the professing church has been the result of this ignorance. All Christendom attends to Israel's earthly calling, and not only fails in it most misera- bly, but also dishonors God and His Word.

If it were possible to straighten out the confusion existing about us in the professing church, the proper starting point would be, no doubt, to teach God's purposes concerning Israel.⁴

A second premise to be highlighted in a Biblical study of eschatology is that just as Biblical prophecy was literally fulfilled in the past, even so, it is to be fulfilled in prophecies concerning the last days. The allegorical method of Biblical interpretation⁵ is to have no place in understanding Biblical prophecy, nor any other Bible doctrine. There are a myriad of Old Testament examples of prophecy literally fulfilled. Let's examine an applicable one from Amos.

At the zenith of its power Israel, being the ten northern tribes separated from Judah, installed a second Jeraboam as its king (2Kings 14:23-29) and God raised up a herdman of Tekoa to prophecy what was to happen in Israel, and in the “house of Jacob” (Amos 1:1).

“And (Amos) said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither” (Amos 1:2). C. I. Scofield details in his introduction to Amos, “Nothing could seem more improbable than the fulfillment of Amos' warnings yet within fifty years the kingdom was utterly destroyed.”⁶

In Amos 7 God begins a judgment against Israel, “Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth...” (Amos 7:1).

Amos intercedes, “And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small” (7:2).

Curiously the LORD God responds, “The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD” (7:3).

Here is an instance where judgment is promised, judgment is justified and well deserved, and yet when Amos intercedes God repents of what he was allowing in Israel.

Next, “Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part” (7:4).

Again Amos, the prophet of God, intercedes, “Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small” (7:5).

Again, the LORD God honors the intercession of his prophet Amos. The Bible says, “The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD” (7.6).

The Holy Bible, as the infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired revelation from God, not only tells what happened in the past, it tells us what happens. An authentic believer, indwelt by the Comforter who leads them into truth, reading Amos 7, learns some things about the Lord his God.

Amos' intercessions had twice delayed God's judgment , and now God gets out a plum line so that Amos can see how very crocked the nation of Israel has become:

And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword (Amos 7:8-9)

It still takes God fifty years of long suffering and prophetic warning before he brings the sword against Israel. The prophets Joel, and Obadiah had previously given Israel ample warning of upcoming destruction. Hosea, contemporary with Amos, writes a book full of God's justification for Israel's complete destruction. The prophecies made by Isaiah all through Israel's demise under the Assyrian sword, were thorough, were fulfilled to the letter, literally, not alegorically.

Consequently America does not need a prophet to stand up and say,

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD (Amos 5:16-17).

America does not get such a heralding prophet because she has sixty-six books written by twenty-seven authors over 1,592⁷ years. The Holy Bible is her herald; it gives God's modus operandi, as it were, when dealing with sin filled nations. America has discarded the message, and in the twenty-first century it is about ready to stone its messengers. A student of Bible prophecy, if he is a believer, is not just enlightened by God's word, he is ennobled by it. Not to prophecy gloom and doom, but to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to every creature. (Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke, John 20:21, Acts 1:8)

And so America has ample prophetic warnings. In following this pattern of Amos, twice God has repented of a judgment that had begun. In 2001, on 9/11 Islamic Jihadists struck at what they called “The Great Satan” trying to bring the United States of America to its knees. America revived in an anthem of “God Bless America” and “The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD” (Amos 7:3).

In 2008 newly elected President Barack Hussein Obama went to Egypt, apologized to the Muslim world, promised an Arab Spring, and called Israel “occupiers of Palestinian land.” After his 2012 reelection, a group of Muslims declared themselves a Caliphate, purposed to once again pursue the Islamic goal of taking over the world. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) with the self declared Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared its intentions to rule the world in 2014.

The left wing President Barack Hussein Obama's despise for Israel, socialized medicine, failed economy, and radical, subversive foreign and global policies had America lined up for destruction. Again, however, the LORD God honors the intercession of his people. The Bible says, “The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD” (7.6).

In 2016 America voted for a “Make America Great” agenda with Donald Trump for president. And in October of 2019 the ISIS Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was dead and their whole effort was brought to complete ruin under relentless attacks directed by President Donald Trump. In his four years President Donald Trump rebuilt America's economy, foreign policies, and Israeli relations with a new embassy in Jerusalem and a revolutionary Middle East peace accord.

In 2020 however, when God's plumb-line was held up to America's corruption, she is found crooked and overdue for God's judgment. There exists a brazen hatred and rebellion against every conservative move that was made in President Trump's four years.

In 2020 Marxists college students trained by leftist college professors, aided and abetted by MSNBC, CNN, a trove of left wing news media, and financed by elitist big tech billionaires, have declared their intentions to burn this constitutional democracy to the ground and initiate socialism and Marxist communism in the United States of America. The left wing liberal Democrats, joined by radical leftists, made league with the anarchists in an effort to overthrow their arch nemesis who was draining their swamp.

All eyes are presently on the Bible prophecies of the end times.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt 24:6-8).

The promises that God made in his inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired Holy Bible are going to be completely fulfilled. Jesus called this “jot and tittle fulfillment”;

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.... And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail (Mt 5:18, Lu 16:17).

Further, important in the study of Biblical prophecy of last things, the scriptures that portray, foreshadow, depict and predict a significant future event will be fulfilled in the same “jot and tittle fulfillment.”⁸

Making a grand study of all those extremely accurate insights, depictions and prophetic events is quite like assembling a jig-saw puzzle. Such puzzles are best assembled by assembling the frame first, then sorting individual pieces into the areas where they seem to fit in the best. Get the framework of Biblical prophecy right and other pieces start falling into place and the big picture starts coming into view.

The Catholic Church, Roman or Protestant, teaches that we are presently in the tribulation period, and that they, as the replacement of God's chosen people Israel, will usher in the kingdom age and rule the world with Christ. They have the big picture completely amiss. They have not assembled the framework for an accurate Biblical prophecy, thus they despise the teaching of the rapture and removal of the church, and the regathering and salvation of Israel. Clearly the great tribulation comes after the removal of Christ's church, then there is coming a time of “Jacobs Trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).

Study and know the truth of the end times. It is predominately about the regathering and restoration of God's chosen and elect people Israel. In this study of eschatology be a careful student of the Word of God, there are many deceived, and deceivers out there. Our Lord Jesus Christ said it would be so. Jesus also said that the scriptures in the book of Daniel are key, and the starting point for those who would understand his second coming.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:... And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!... For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matt 24:14-16, 19, 21)

Daniel became God's “greatly beloved prophet” and he sent the angel Gabriel to him to clarify the grand outline and full timing of Christ's first and second coming. For the Bible believer, Daniel 9 is a treasure trove for understanding the doctrine of last things. Again, Jesus said so. Here is what the angel Gabriel says to Daniel,

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy (Daniel 9:24).

A diligent Bible student should take careful note and fully comprehend the six things that will be complete in the seventy weeks called out here for Israel's future. Further noting that Gabriel goes on to detail how the first sixty-nine weeks unfold, and that the making an end of sins, the reconciliation for iniquity, the bringing of everlasting righteousness, and the sealing of vision and prophecy all occur after the seventieth week.

So when Gabriel tells Daniel seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city, and it is a day for a year; after four-hundred and ninety years, sins will be ended and reconciliation for iniquity will be made! Praise His holy name! Glory Hallelujah! How is that going to work?

What happened that this prophecy is not already fully completed? It seems that it should have been completed just seven years after the Messiah was cut-off (Daniel 9:25-26⁹). It is obvious that there was a great unseen valley lying between these two mountain peak prophecies, Christ the crucified servant, and Christ the reigning King. That mysterious span of time is called the dispensation of grace in Ephesians 3. It is the time of the Gentiles, and it is not accounted in this seventy week timing laid out for Daniel's people and Daniel's holy city. That Jewish time cycle will begin again when the dispensation of grace comes to a close, and there is still that seventieth week, that seven year period, yet to unfold.

That is the very best, most Biblically accurate framework for understanding the doctrine of last things. It is the framework expounded in this dissertation. It is dispensational. It reproves the gross errors and assumptions of Roman Catholic doctrine about the role of the Holy Catholic Church for their bringing in a non-millennial reign of Christ. It offends Protestant theologians who hold to covenant and replacement theology. But it is the clearest fit to a thorough jot and tittle fulfillment of all the Bible prophecies of the end times. Baptists who want to include a little of John Calvin's horrid Covenant and Replacement Theology in their doctrine, have no place to stand in the study of Biblical Prophecy of the end times. Further, when one rejects Covenant Theology and its evil twin, Replacement Theology, there is no footing for any mid-tribulation or post-tribulation rapture of the church. Those positions are framed and held by Protestants who want to hold onto their Covenant and Replacement Theology. With a clear understanding of God's dispensations, the study of Biblical prophecy of the end times is enlightening, ennobling and edifying. It is straight up Bible.

This substantial framework for understanding the doctrine of last things is so foreign to all Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholic teachings that its defense in this volume might seem overbearing. Ergo this introduction will include four detailed examinations of Biblical prophecies pertinent to these end time teachings. Carefully examine here 1) The Trumpet Calls, 2) The 70^th Week of Daniel 9:24, 3) The End of the Dispensation of Grace, and 4) The Time of Jacob's Trouble. They will build a strong baseline for understanding all the end time prophecies of the Bible.

The Feasts of the LORD are Prophetic

When studying eschatology, the doctrine of last things, we love to ask with the disciples, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt 24:3), but such a study should begin with a larger look at God's prophetic portrayals depicting both Christ's first advent and Christ's second advent. Christ came to die, first advent, he is coming to reign, second advent, and the two advents are succinctly portrayed in seven holy feasts and their seven holy convocations. It is important that a diligent Bible student focus on the larger framework before delving into where and how individual pieces of prophetic revelation fit in.

The LORD God uses seven feasts to show upcoming events in his redemptive plan for mankind. These seven feasts are thus prophetic of upcoming events and worthy of study in eschatology. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts (Lev 23:1-2).

The study of Biblical prophecy is necessarily the larger part of studying the Biblical prophecies of last things, and a short study of the seven feasts unfolds a tremendous insight of the big picture. Four of the holy convocations have already been fulfilled in Christ, the last three holy convocations, contained in the feast of trumpets on the 1^st, 10^th , and 15^th of the Hebrew's seventh month, have not yet been fulfilled. These last three feasts prophetically point to the complete regathering and restoration of Israel in God's promised land, to dwell in perfect peace, safety, and righteousness, as God's Messiah (Hebrew), or Christ (Greek), reigns from God's “holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2:6). Such a fulfilled promise is boldly spoken of by the Apostle Paul in Romans 11.

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. … And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Rom. 11:1, 26-27).

The feasts that the LORD God established for Israel all portray, foreshadow, depict, and predict a significant event in Christ's advents. The seven feasts and their holy convocations are called out in Leviticus 23 and four of them have already had their foreshadowed depiction portrayed in Christ. These four unfolded make excellent example of how the latter three foreshadow and predict upcoming events in his second advent.

Each of these feasts has a holy convocation and a sabbath day associated with them. A convocation is an assembly assembled by a summons, and these are holy convocations. A sabbath is a day of rest, and these are holy sabbaths. The feast day sabbaths fall on a day of the month, not on a particular day of the week. Leviticus 23:3 first details the weekly sabbath because of this common confusion. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (vr. 3). It is important to understand that the feast day high sabbaths may occur on any Sunday through Saturday day of the week, they align with a date on the calendar, not on a day of the week.¹⁰

Let us examine all seven of these feasts. “These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons” (Lev. 23:4). As has been stated and will herein be shown, the first four have already been fulfilled in Christ.

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread (Lev 23:5-6)

The Apostle Paul makes clear how Christ is the fulfillment of these two foreshadowed depictions.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1Cor. 5:7-8).

Do not be confused about this effect of leaven. Remember Jesus' rebuke to his disciples when they misconstrued, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees... and the leaven of Herod” (Matt 16:6, Mark 8:15).¹¹

This analysis will barely scratch the surface of Christ our passover lamb. He was selected and separated from the flock on the tenth of Abib, in the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday, and slain on the fourteenth day, on a cross of Calvary, exactly as required for the passover lamb in Exodus 12. But it must suffice here only to shew that the first two feasts called out in Leviticus 23 are completely fulfilled in Christ.

The Feast of First Fruits

The third feast for the Hebrews we call the feast of first fruits.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Lev 23:10-11).

Again the Apostle Paul clarifies how this fits Christ prophetically.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (1Cor. 15:20-26).

C. I. Scofield correctly states it “This feast is typical of resurrection – first of Christ, then 'Them that are Christ's at his coming.”¹²

Pentecost

The fourth feast, already fulfilled in type by the Lord Jesus Christ, is that of Pentecost.

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD (Lev 23:15-17).

Again an insightful observation on this Penticostal fulfillment is made by C. I. Scofield:

The anti-type is the descent of the Holy Spirit to form the church... The wave loaves were offered fifty days after the wave sheaf. This is precisely the period between the resurrection of Christ and the formation of the church at Pentecost by Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 1Cor 12:12,13). … With the wave sheaf no leaven was offered, for there was no evil in Christ; but the wave-loaves, typifying the church, are “baken with leaven,” for in the church there is still evil (Matt 13:33, leaven in the kingdom of heaven, Acts 5:1, 10, Ananias and Sapphira, 15:1 Certain men taught the brethren and said “Except ye be circumcised ye cannot be saved.)

Thus four of the seven feasts that the LORD God established pointed to, typifies, foreshadowed, and depicted events fulfilled in Christ. It is most certainly expected that the remaining three do as well.

The Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles

The feast of trumpets is all about the future and final regathering of long dispersed Israel. This final regathering of the twelve tribes is a hallmark of Bible prophecy. It was absolutely denied by the Holy Roman Catholic Church (which was not holy or catholic). It is denied by Protestant /Reformed theologians who hold to Covenant Theology, supposing that the Catholic Church, has replaced Israel and all their promises, must be allegorically applied to the church (which is called Replacement Theology). Yet the regathering and restoration of Israel, in holiness, is literally and absolutely God's everlasting covenant for the twelve tribes. (Jer 31:33-40). It is promised by God as sure as there is night and day (33:20-22)!

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Romans 11:26-27).

As was said, the future and final regathering and restoration of long dispersed Israel is a hallmark of end time prophecy. Those who dismiss it are destined to completely confuse all end time Biblical prophecy. The Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles are all situate in the seventh month of the Hebrew year to prophetically point out, to Christians and to Jews, that there is coming a regathering, a restoration, and a salvation to the Jews.

The Hebrew memorial of blowing of trumpets entailed three holy convocations (a group gathered in response to a summons). On the first day of the seventh month, called a memorial of blowing of trumpets, there was a sabbath, and a holy convocation (Lev 23:24-25). On the tenth day of their seventh month, on the day of atonement, there was a sabbath, and a holy convocation (vr. 27, 32). And on the fifteenth day of their seventh month, the feast of tabernacles, there was a sabbath, and a holy convocation (vr.34-35).

The Feast of Trumpets gets its name from Leviticus 23:23-25.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD (Lev 23:23-25).

Two trumpets were was used to summon an assembly. “Make thee two trumpets of silver; ... that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps”(Num 10:2). After the two trumpets sound, “all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (vr. 3)¹³.

The “memorial for the blowing of trumpets” is all about the gatherings of Israel, and the feast of trumpets on the first day of their seventh month is indicative of the final regathering, and restoration of Israel at Christ's second advent.

C. I. Scofield says of this feast

The feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:23-25. This feast is a prophetical type and refers to the future regathering of long-dispersed Israel. A long interval elapses between Pentecost and Trumpets, answering to the long period occupied in the pentecostal work of the Holy Spirit in the present dispensation. Study carefully ; Isaiah 18:3; 27:13 (with contexts); Isaiah 58:1-14 (entire chapter), and ; Joel 2:1-3:21; in connection with the "trumpets," and it will be seen that these trumpets, always symbols of testimony, are connected with the regathering and repentance of Israel after the church, or pentecostal period is ended. This feast is immediately followed by the day of atonement.¹⁴

The Feast of the LORD: the Day of Atonement is referenced in Leviticus 23:26-28.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God ...It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath (Lev 23:26-28, 32).

The atonement in this feast is all about the salvation of Israel and is indicative of the day when God is “to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness” (Dan 9:24). That is the full fulfillment of atonement. In the dispensation of grace the believers' sins are atoned for (Rom 5:11, “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”), but this Day of Atonement is indicative of an even larger fulfillment, it is a salvation out of Jacob's trouble (Jer 30:7).

C. I. Scofield says of this feast

The day of Atonement, Leviticus 23:26-32. The day is the same described in Lev. 16., but here the stress is laid upon the sorrow and repentance of Israel. In other words, the prophetical feature is made prominent, and that looks forward to the repentance of Israel after her regathering under the Palestinian Covenant, Deuteronomy 30:1-10 preparatory to the second advent of Messiah and the establishment of the kingdom. See the connection between the "trumpet" in Joel 2:1 and the mourning which follows in verses Joel 2:11-15.

Also Zechariah 12:10-13 in connection with the atonement of Zechariah 13:1. Historically the "fountain" of Zechariah 13:1 was opened at the crucifixion, but rejected by the Jews of that and the succeeding centuries. After the regathering of Israel the fountain will be efficaciously "opened" to Israel.¹⁵

The Feast of the Tabernacles is depicted in Leviticus 23:33-43.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein....42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 23:22-36, 42-43)

Israel's dwelling in booths, earning this feast the title, Feast of Tabernacles, states for us “This world is not my home, I'm only passing through.” It was meant to clarify that for Israel as well; for them, there is coming a permanent dwelling place.

C. I. Scofield says of this feast

The feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23:34-44 is (like the Lord's Supper for the church) both memorial and prophetic --memorial as to redemption out of Egypt Leviticus 23:43 prophetic as to the kingdom-rest of Israel after her regathering and restoration, when the feast again becomes memorial, not for Israel alone, but for all nations. Zechariah 14:16-21. ¹⁶

Although the prophetic portrayals in these last three feasts are all about the restoration and salvation of Israel in the promised land, around and under the throne of David, occupied by their Messiah and situate in God's holy hill of Zion, they do reveal some things about believers in this dispensation of grace. Events that unfold for the congregation of Israel very often depict and picture those in a believers life. We are tabernacled in flesh, have had an atonement, and will have a holy convocation announced with a trumpet. These are spiritual fulfillments, mirrored fulfillments or foreshadowed fulfillments of these upcoming events. Our Lord declared to his disciples that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), but that does not disavow the actual upcoming Millennial Kingdom age; it is a spiritual fulfillment of a grander, more complete, final fulfillment.

Prophecy always has a final and complete fulfillment. The promised regathering of Israel is the final target and complete fulfillment of these three feast days. Prophecy has a near fulfillment that aligns with, and resonates with this far term fulfillment. However sporadically Israel observed these feasts, then and now, they point to a final regathering, salvation and restoration Israel. There are near term and partial fulfillment's of their regathering and, further, prophecy has what one might call a mirrored fulfillment, or a shadowed fulfillment¹⁷, but never let these eclipse the upcoming, complete, primary, jot-and-tittle fulfillment that the Bible is depicting.

Consequently, these three holy prophetic feast days are mirrored in this age of grace wherein Bible believers listen for a trumpet; we long for a holy convocation in the clouds when the Bridegroom calls for his Bride with a trumpet voice that says “come up hither”; we see in scripture a holy convocation at the Bema Seat of Christ; and we know of a holy convocation at the wedding table with Christ as we began our forever tabernacling with Christ in reality.

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.... Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober (1Thes 5:1,6).

Israel should certainly be listening for a trumpet, commemorated in these three feasts. But Bible Christians are also listening for a trumpet that will call us out of this world. Keep your nose to the ground, your eye on the clouds and your ear toward the heavens listening for the trumpet. The ecclesia will have such a trio of holy convocations.

This mirrored fulfillment, or shadowed similarity, must never take away from the complete and final fulfillment of a prophecy. Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. … The Roman Catholic and Reformed Covenant theologians have tried to deny and erase God's final and promised regathering and restoration of the nation of Israel. That leaven has seeped into their ecclessiology and eschatology. Buyer beware, is the caveat emptor in contract law. As stated previous, the Lord Jesus Christ materialized the “friend speaking to a friend” intimacy in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and only those believers on such an intimate basis with Christ can read its pages with an ear to hear. Consequentially, what one grasps in the study of eschatology is a good indicator of their standing in the intimacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christendom on a whole has failed this test of intimacy, and the Catholic Church, whether Roman or Reformed, Episcopal, Methodist or Pentecostal, is herein and on this ground shown to be apostate in its grasp of eschatology.

And so the LORD God concludes the chapter on his feasts, “And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD” (Lev 23:44). These feasts, holy convocations, and holy sabbaths are given to Israel to prophetically display what God was going to do in his redemptive work. The first four feasts, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost, have been fulfilled in Christ, the last three, the Memorial of Trumpets, Atonement , and Tabernacles are looming in Israel's future. When we understand these prophetic portrayals we can better understand what is looming in our future as well.

The 70^th Week of Daniel 9:24

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Matthew 24:15.

Jesus said that Daniel is a key starting point for those who would understand his second coming (Matt 24:15). Daniel became God's “greatly beloved prophet” and he sent the archangel Gabriel to him to clarify the grand outline and full timing of Christ's first and second coming. For the Bible believer Daniel 9 is a treasure trove for understanding the doctrine of last things. Again, Jesus said so.

Gabriel says to Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Dan 9:24). A Bible student should carefully comprehend the six things that will be complete in seventy weeks. 1. finish the transgression, 2. and to make an end of sins, 3. and to make reconciliation for iniquity, 4. and to bring in everlasting righteousness, 5. and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and 6. to anoint the most Holy.

When Israel sent twelve spies into God's promised land and only Caleb and Joshua believed God, God sentenced Israel to forty years of death in the wilderness; a day for a year (Num 14:34¹⁸). When Ezekiel lay on his side for four-hundred and thirty days to portray the siege of Jerusalem, it was a day for a year (Ezekiel 4:6¹⁹). When the Angel Gabriel tells Daniel seventy weeks are determined for thy people and thy holy city, it is a day for a year. Seventy, seven day weeks “to finish the transgression”, that is four-hundred and ninety years. And then comes “an end of sins”. Thus, a mere four-hundred and ninety years are required “to make reconciliation for iniquity.” Gabriel breaks it out for Daniel as sixty-nine weeks till Messiah's first advent, and then one more week, i.e. a seven seven year period, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Thus there should be, and was, four-hundred and eighty-three years till Messiah is cut off, and then just seven more years to seal up the vision and prophecy. That is just four-hundred and ninety years of the Jews dwelling in God's promised land, and then God would anoint the most Holy as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Praise His holy name! Glory Hallelujah! How is that going to work?

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Daniel 9:25-27

This timing pertained to the Jews, not the Gentiles. It is to, and for, Daniel's people and Daniel's holy city. Seven weeks to build Jerusalem, sixty-two weeks to bring in, and cut off Messiah, and then in one final remaining week, one seven year period, “to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity...” (Dan 9:24-27). That, oh sincere Bible student, will be “a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world” (Matt 24:21). Again, “Whoso readeth, let him understand.”

For Gentiles, the dispensation of grace or the church age is a parenthesis in this four-hundred and ninety year schema. It has lasted almost two-thousand years now. It will end very abruptly before the horsemen of Revelation 6 begin to ride. Don't set dates, but two-thousand years after the cross of Christ, will be 2030 A.D. Allowing this week of transition, and believers should be getting antsy in 2023 as Donald Trump's second term would have drawn to a close, and now socialist / Marxist communism begins to overtake the USA. An ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times!” This Marxist turn of America could very well be the beginning of the end, given that one day all nations will be aligned against Israel, … God said so. What leftist socialists have done to get rid of their arch-nemesis is vile and deceitful, but Christians are still commanded, “In everything give thanks.... Rejoice evermore.”

It is left as an exercise for the Bible student to explore this seventieth week more fully, but three things are certainly clarified in such a study. First, in defiance of all the Roman, Orthodox, Protestant, Reformed, and Modernist teachings, and lack of teachings, about the end times, despite their development and heavy reliance on Covenant Theology and Replacement Theology, Israel, not a holy or wholly catholic church, plays the predominate role in eschatology. The promises made to Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel, promises yet to be fulfilled with jot-and-tittle literal accuracy, promises clarified, solidified, and put into the Hebrew calendar in Daniel 9:24, must be the major ingredient of a Biblical eschatology.

Second, Daniel 9:24-27 reveals an upcoming seven year period called out as the seventieth week. In Gabriel's accounting there are sixty-nine weeks leading up to the first advent of Christ (vr 25-26). Those sixty-nine weeks unfold in four-hundred and eighty-three years of already fulfilled prophecy, which aligns with other scripture (both Num 14:34 and Ezek 4:6) making a day for a year representation legitimate and reasonable, and the seventieth week is yet to be fulfilled. The seven year period yet to unfold in the timing and promise revealed in Daniel fits like a glove around the other sevens revealed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In that seven years of upcoming tribulation there is a trio of sevens that unfold; there are seven seals on the book, seals that are, one by one peeled off the book … “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see” (Rev 6:1); there are seven trumpets, trumpets that, one by one sound a warning of the wrath to come … “And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. … 6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” (Rev 8:2,6); and there are seven vials of the wrath of God, vials that, one by one, are poured out, … “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth” (Rev 16:1).

The seventieth week, the seven year period yet to be fulfilled in the promise and timing given to Daniel, a revelation and promise about his people (Hebrews) and his holy city (Jerusalem), will thus be fulfilled in a great tribulation period. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt 24:21).

The third obvious observation from the study of Daniel 9:24-27 is that the seventieth week is to be divided in the midst. In the midst of that week, there will be “the overspreading of abominations... even until the consummation” (vr. 27). That division in the midst is clearly revealed in other scriptures to be at the three-and-a-half year center point of a seven year tribulation period.

Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days (6 years, 4 months, 20 days²⁰); then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Daniel 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (3 years, 7 months).

Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (3 years, 8 ½ months).

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days (3 years, 6 months), clothed in sackcloth.

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (3 years, 6 months).

Anyone who has observed Easter bouncing around on our spring calendar knows that the Hebrew lunar calendar does not regularly align with our Gregorian solar calendar; Easter is always the Sunday after the Hebrew Passover that falls on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month Abib, now called Nissan. Nor does the fall Hebrew holy day Yom Kippur always fall in the last week of September on our solar calendar. To keep the Hebrew lunar calendar, which has twelve 30 day months, in sync with the solar year, they add a month every seven years (approximately). This month addition is seen in Daniel 12 in the last half of the seven year tribulation period, and in Daniel 12:12 there is an additional month and a half buffer added. Don't let “scholars” who try to use misappropriations of the Hebrew's 360 day year, or wave their hands over the additional thirty days in Daniel 12's time-line jerk you around.

The half of the a seven year tribulation period, or 3 ½ years, is also represented as a year, a couple years, and a half a year in the following scriptures.

… it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished... And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Dan 12:7, Rev 12:14).

Also if one should divide the 404 verses of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the midst, at verse 202, they would find Revelation 12:8. Therein one would find more evidence about “the midst” of Daniel's seventieth week; “and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he ('the prince that shall come') shall make it desolate,...” It is not a coincidence that this center section of the Revelation of Jesus Christ states that:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Rev 12:7,8,9).

This marks the center of the Revelation and the center of the great tribulation. It is when the Beast is revealed, when Hebrews should flee from Jerusalem. Observe C. I. Scofield's insightful note about the Beast that is herein revealed:

The Beast, Summary: This "Beast" is the "little horn" of Daniel 7:24-26 and "desolator" of Daniel 9:27 the "abomination of desolation" of Matthew 24:15 the "man of sin" of 2 Thessalonians 2:4-8 earth's last and most awful tyrant, Satan's fell instrument of wrath and hatred against God and the Jewish saints. He is, perhaps, identical with the rider on the white horse of Revelation 6:2 who begins by the peaceful conquest of three of the ten kingdoms into which the former Roman empire will then be divided, but who soon establishes the ecclesiastical and governmental tyranny described in Dan. 7., 9., 11.; Re 13. To him Satan gives the power which he offered to Christ. ; Matt 4:8; Matt 4:9; Revelation 13:4. See "The great tribulation," Psalms 2:5.²¹

The certainty of the seven year period contained in the seventieth week of Daniel 9 is clearly divided in its midst. In Biblical prophecy of the end times Jesus spoke of the “abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” and in Daniel that “Beast” comes in the “midst of the week.” Thus, the seven years are divided into two 3 ½ year periods. “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” The visions and dreams of Daniel the prophet are key to unlocking the doctrine of last things, and the clock and calendar of those things tics and clicks on Daniel 9:24.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24.

The Bible Student who would understand eschatology needs to,

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2Tim 2:15.

The End of the Dispensation of Grace

The Apostle Paul specifically names two dispensations when he writes to the saints which are at Ephesus. “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him (Eph 1:10). This dispensation, the “dispensation of the fullness of times”, is called out in Paul's introduction, and is obviously the last dispensation. In the dispensation of the fullness of times all the stewardship tests for all of mankind are completed. Remember that “stewardship” and “dispensation” are synonymous, coming from the same Greek root word. The last of the seven dispensations, this ending dispensation of the fullness of times must include an “end of sins, and reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness...” as promised to God's beloved prophet Daniel (Dan 9:24). Jesus references this dispensation as the kingdom, and we know it includes the King of kings setting on the throne of David in God's holy hill of Zion.

The Apostle Paul also calls out a “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:1-3). The marvelous intent of this dispensation of grace, which was previously a mystery (vr.3,9), a mystery now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (vr.5), a dispensational age wherein “the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (vr.6),...²² the marvelous intent is stated as, “that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (vr.10). God clearly calls out this intent for his church in the previous chapter (2:6-7)²³.

Make no catholic mistake here, this dispensation of grace will come to an end, and the next dispensation of the fullness of times will begin. It will end in troublous times, as it was in the days of Noah (Matt 24:37-39, Luke 17:26-27),... as it was in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-30). The study of how our present dispensation of grace ends, and how the next dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times, is ushered in is a critical study because Roman Catholic and Protestant teachings, with their Covenant Theology, completely deny both dispensations, and acknowledge no transition! The Biblical transition, between these two dispensations, begins with the rapture of the church, proceeds through seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials of the wrath of God, and finally comes to a close with a battle of Armageddon. That battle ushers in the last dispensation, the Kingdom age. The Bible student must keep his inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired Holy Bible open and this larger picture in view. Don't settle for any catholic allegorical interpretation of scripture, Jesus teaches “jot and tiddle” fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. Don't settle for an ecumenical, modernist, copyright bible that represents what ecumenical modernists think God meant to say. Remember they are required to have sixty-thousand “major deviations” for each succeeding copyright!

All this, in a detailed study of Biblical prophecy, is called the study of end times, eschatology in Greek. Troublous times are arising in America. Being a student of the end times is to be a great comfort to Christians, as Paul explicates in 1Thes. 4:18, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

The seven year transition period between the dispensation of Grace, that we are presently in, and the dispensation of the fullness of times, where Christ sits on the throne of David for 1,000 years, causes great consternation for catholic Christendom. It is, however, in perfect accord with Bible prophecy. Recall that the Holy Roman Catholic Church, which is not holy, nor catholic, has taught for 1,721 years that it replaces Israel and ushers in a kingdom reign of Christ through its Vatican City. In their Roman Catholic teachings there is no rapture of the church, no seven year tribulation period, and no transition to the next dispensation, because they recognize no Bible dispensations, and suppose we are presently in the great tribulation. They teach no salvation of the literal Jews, no literal millennial reign of Christ, and no coming likeness to the days of Noah or Sodom. They teach only that their infallible pope, ruling from their impeccable Vatican City, will usher in a kingdom and hand the keys back to Christ at his return.

Three things further that a Bible student of prophecy needs to consider, a good Roman Catholic who attends a church or reads a book that might believe and propagate these Bible truths, must go to his priest and confess this as a sin. Just as troubling know that the majority of the world believes Roman Catholicism is Christianity. And even more troubling know that all Protestant main line denominations carry this gross error around in their covenant theology. These are troubling because the student that would pursue Bible truth, must continually buck against the majority, against mainline denominations, against “orthodoxy”,and against men in long black dresses and long degrees who call themselves “clergy”. Could every Protestant theologian, clinging to his covenant theology, and his replacement theology be wrong and the Holy Bible be right? Jesus said it would be so. Jesus said it would be worth it.

In the Bible, big picture, the two dispensations called out by the Apostle Paul fit very succinctly into five previous stewardship tests and covenant theologians are only covering up for blunders in Roman Catholic theology. Yea verily, if a Bible student is going to comprehend Bible prophecy of the end times, they must set aside Catholic teachings completely, consciously trash covenant theology, consciously reject all replacement theology, and be a student of the Bible and its seven dispensations, i.e. periods of stewardships given to prove mankind depraved in seven ways.

Some will not be able to clear that hurdle. When one has swallowed misinformation all their life, it is dreadfully hard to let it go. But the Holy Bible is a powerful enlightener when it comes to the doctrine of last things. In fact it claims to be an all powerful living book (Heb 4:12, 2Tim 3:16-17).

Again let's review seven dispensations depicted in the Bible. One cannot account for a thorough coverage of Biblical eschatology (or anthropology, or ecclesiology) without a consideration of the great stages of stewardship wherewith mankind has been and will be tested. A systematic review of the whole of Scripture discovers seven distinct stewardship tests for man.

C. I. Scofield (1843-1921), genius Bible scholar and one of the founders of Christian fundamentalism, is not the founder of dispensationalism, as Catholics and Calvinists contend. Nor is the founder John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), the Anglo-Irish Bible teacher and renowned Plymouth Brethren theologian. These men popularized, advanced and defended the clear Bible teachings of dispensationalism, but Bible doctrine does not have human founders.

Scofield documents dispensationalism very clearly. The seven dispensations that the Bible portrays are A. Innocence (Gen. 1:28), B. Conscious (Gen.3:23), C. Human Government (Gen. 8:20), D. Promise (Gen. 12:1), E. Law (Exod. 19:8), F. Grace (John 1:17, Eph. 3:1-6), and G. Kingdom (Eph. 1:10).

In each of these dispensations man is given a set of rules or expectations from his Creator, and given a period of time wherein he is held accountable. Each dispensation ends in mans utter failure; Innocence – the Fall, Conscience – the first born man becomes the first first degree murderer and “the imaginations and thoughts of (man's) heart” brought about the world flood, Human Government – The Tower of Babel, Promise – Israel's bondage in Egypt, Law – The crucifixion of our Lord, Grace – As it was in the days of Sodom, and Kingdom – After the thousand years, Satan is loosed and quickly deceives the nations which rise up against Christ's throne.

The dispensations as distinguished, exhibit the majestic, progressive order of the divine dealings of God with humanity. They show 'the increasing purpose' which runs through and links together the ages, from the beginning of the life of man to the end in eternity.²⁴ These distinct dispensations are important for one who would,

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”(2Tim 2:15).

The Lord Jesus Christ does not step in to be the salvation of Israel, as stated in Romans 11, through the church in the time of the Gentiles. This church age, the age of grace, this present dispensation, comes to a close with the rapture of the church (1Thes 4, 1Cor 15), the judging of the saints (1Cor 3:12-15) at the Bema seat judgment, and the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9).

As those things take place in heaven things degrade here on earth as the seven seals are removed, one by one, from the seven sealed book. The seventh seal reveals seven angels (Rev 8:1-2) that announce and give a foretaste of the wrath to come. The seventh angel sounds his trumpet and announces, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Through all of this the church is not the witness here on earth as it was in the times of the Gentiles. Instead there are a hundred-and-forty-four thousand virgin male Jews, and two ordained and indestructible witnesses in Jerusalem.

Some covenant theologians, in blatant error but in the majority in Christendom and in “Orthodoxy” (i.e. of Roman Catholic roots), try to muddy the water with a post-tribulation rapture or a mid-tribulation rapture, but the Bible clearly depicts that the church age saints, born-again, indwelt saints, differ markedly from tribulation saints. The latter enduring to the end for a physical salvation; the former with an Acts 2021 conversion and quickened inside them eternal salvation. And the ordained witnesses during the tribulation period are from the twelve tribes of Israel, not from nations of Gentiles.

The nations of Gentiles are about to be judged with the wrath of God poured out of seven vials, the then led into the Battle of Armageddon and destroyed. Then, and only then is the final dispensation ushered in. It is after all nations pit themselves against Israel, and our Lord Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords, comes riding in on a white horse and “saves” Israel, that the final dispensation, the Kingdom Age, is established with Christ on the throne of David in God's holy hill of Zion for 1,000 years.

If a Bible student does not keep the big picture in view, he will get lost in the details and mislead by the false teachers. “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” is purposefully repeated by Christ seven times (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22).

This dispensation will end, the next dispensation will be usherd in. Israel will be saved, and Christ will sit on the throne of David in God's holy hill of Zion. There will be an end of sins, and everlasting righteousness will be ushered in. Praise the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Time of Jacob's Trouble

“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: It is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7)

The seven year tribulation, revealed to be the seventieth week of Daniel 9:24, is herein called “the time of Jacob's trouble.” The main point of this article is just that, the seven year tribulation period is not Israel's trouble, not Judah's trouble, not Gentile's trouble, and not the Church's trouble, it is indeed the time of Jacob's trouble. Notice also that “he (Jacob) shall be saved out of it.” In fact, one could tag the language of the Apostle Paul right onto that revelation, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27).

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, had his name changed to Israel, “And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). And again,

“And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land” (35:9-12).

In an annual read trhough the Bible it is insightful to see how God carefully distinguishes these two names. In God's Word there is a lot in a name. Jacob, because he came from the womb holding Esau's heel, means supplanter or one who wrongfully seizes the place of another. That name is used to emphasize the humanity, the flesh, the carnality and/or physical quality of Abraham's grandson.

Israel, has its meaning given in the verse above, and that name is used to emphasize the spiritual and sanctified quality of Jacob. This contrast of these names can be better understood by contrasting the Bible's 603 uses of “children of Israel” (39 in prophets, 14 in NT) with the three uses of “children of Jacob.” So too in the four uses of “Sons of Israel” with the eleven uses of “sons of Jacob.” That comparison is left as an exercise for the Bible student.

In the text before us it is “the time of Jacob's trouble” indicative of the flesh and carnality of the whole nation of Israel, i.e. all twelve tribes, and in Romans 11 it is “all Israel shall be saved:” and the Deliverer, “shall turn away the ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant with them when I shall take away their sins.”

When will this prophecy take place? When will God take away the ungodliness from Jacob and remove their sins? Clearly it did not happen when God brought Judah (and only Judah) out of the Babylonian captivity and established them back in God's promised land. And just as clearly, it is to happen when God finishes the transgression, makes an end of sins, makes reconciliation for iniquity, brings in everlasting righteousness, seals up the vision and prophecy, and anoints the most Holy, exactly as prophesied in Daniel 9:24. The “jot and tittle” fulfillment of these revelations will be in that as yet unaccounted for seventieth week of Daniel 9:24, wherein the seven day week represents the seven year period.²⁵ In that week the great tribulation will unfold.

The opening of the seven sealed book in the Revelation of Jesus Christ has everything to do with the judgment of nations and their dealings with God's chosen nation, Israel, and nothing to do with the church. After the Lamb opens the seven seals, after the silence in heaven is broken by seven warning trumpets, and after the “great and marvelous” seven last plagues are poured upon the earth, as men “gnaw their tongue for pain and blaspheme the God of heaven and repent not of their deeds”, God gathers them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue “Armageddon!”

The seventieth week of Daniel is the time of Jacob's trouble. It has ntothing to do with the church, nor the church age, and everthing to do with “he (Jacob) shall be saved out of it” and “there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer...” Pay close attention to this larger picture. It is completely obscured by the Replacement Theology of the “Holy” Roman “Catholic” church. Luther, Zwingly, Calvin and other Protestants never protested this gross error and their blundering around with Covenant Theology now protests the rapture, the seven year tribulation period, and the millenial reign of Christ, just like their mother did. They try to appease and engulf unsuspecting Baptist (non-Protestants) with compromised talk of a post-tribulation or mid-tribulation rapture. Don't be drawn in. The time of Jacob's trouble is “Jacob's trouble”, the church has been caught away out, and is attending a Bema judgment (1Cor 3) and a marriage supper (Rev 19:9).

Consider next the end of this time of Jacob's trouble and the salvation of all Israel in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

The Battle of Armageddon

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.... And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelation 14:14-20, 16:16)

After the rapture of the church, their “Bema Seat” judgment and marriage supper of the Lamb; after the seven seals are removed from the book written within and on the backside, after the seven trumpets break the silence of heaven, after the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stood in the holy place, and lashed out to destroy Israel and after the seven vials of the wrath of God are poured out on the world, then, and not until then, the time of Jacob's trouble is culminated and the physical and literal salvation of Israel is accomplished in the Battle of Armageddon.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)

The division of the 2^nd coming of Christ into two phases, one where he comes for his saints, and one where he comes with his saints, one where he meets us in the air, and one where his foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, causes consternation in catholics, but it is in perfect harmony with the revelations found in the Holy Bible. This well rehearsed verse verse, wherein our Lord Jesus Christ comes riding in on a white horse, marks the beginning of the Battle of Armageddon, and the end of “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time.” The Bible says:

Behold the day of the LORD cometh... For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; … Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations,... And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which shall cleave in the midst thereof..., and there shll be a very great valley. (Zech 14:1-9).

Armageddon is the culmination of the week of tribulation, and ushers in the kingdom age where Christ is indeed, literally and physically present, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

In the Old Testament God builds a Temple for his people, in the New Testament God builds his people for a Temble, and at the rapture of the Church that presence of the Holy Spirit of God is caught up out of this world.

The Apostle Paul reveals to the church of the Thessalonians,

And now ye know what withholdeth that he,... the man of sin,... the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God, … ye know what witholdeth that he might be revealed in his time... only he (the Holy Spirit of God) who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 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. (2Thes 2:6, 3,4,7,8).

Paul goes on with revelation about this son of perdition,

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. (2:9-10)

It is appropriate right here to stop and closely examine that revelation, “they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved”. It is possible that someone reading this article might not be saved. A vain curiosity about the Battle of Armageddon may have brought you to this page. Or, perhaps, one reading this is with an unsaved individual, and they need to rehearse this gospel truth out loud.

Jesus said, and caused to be recorded in the Holy Bible, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17). You need to be saved.... Saved from what? Saved from condemnation! “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (3:18).

There are only two kind of people in this world, SAVED, and UNSAVED. Which are you, and how certain are you? The SAVED have everlasting life. Those not SAVED from their condemnation have the wrath of God hanging over their head, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (3:36).

Jesus goes on with great emphasis on this truth, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (5:24).

If you have not ben passed from death unto life you are still under condemnation and trudging a path towards the wrath of God You need to be saved from that condemnation.

Paul lays out this plight of mankind in a letter toall that be in Rome and it clarifies that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; … But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 3:23, 5:8). And how Christ has the power to reconcile you to your Creator,

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:... Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.(5:12,18-19).

Understand here, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (6:23).

Now if I got my sweet wife a dozen roses and a box of Russel Stovers, and said, “I have a gift for you, because I love you so, I will give it to you if you weed two rows of my garden and clean out my garage...” It isn't really a gift any more is it. Religions ask us to do something to receive salvation, but there is no penance, or bead counting, or prayers to graven statues that can get us into the kingdom of God! No good works, of any kind can “purchase” the gift, else it is not a free gift. It is only the acceptance of the gift that is required and the formal acceptance is given by God as,

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom 10:9-10).

The importance of ones salvation is hammered home with Paul's next revelation to the church of the Thessalonians, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thes 2:11-12)

It has never been easier to be saved than it is right now, one should be saved before the strong delusion depicted in this verse comes, and before the man of sin, depicted earlier, is revealed.

Satan wants to destroy Israel (Rev 12:12-13), and to be like the most high God (Isa 14:14). He sets up his own trinity as it were, in the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (Rev 16:13). He has his own kingdom with armies, his own church called Mystery Babylon (which looks remarkably like the Roman Vatican), and his own City of Babylon. Babylon and Mystery Babylon are destroyed leading up to Armageddon, and the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and the armies marching against Jerusalem, the city of God, are all destroyed in the Battle of Armageddon.

In this great battle, concluding the seven year tribulation period, wherein the last vial of the wrath of God is poured out (Rev 16:16-17²⁶), the nations of the earth are gathered together (Zeph 3:8, Zech 14:2²⁷), the blood rises even unto the horses bridle (Rev 14:20²⁸), the Beast and False Prophet are defeated (Rev 19:19-20²⁹), the remnant that had the mark of the beast are slain (Rev 19:21³⁰), and the dragon, that old Serpant, which is the Devil, and Satan, is bound for the 1,000 years of the millennial kingdom reign of Christ (Rev 20:1-3³¹).

And so, Armageddon, the ancient hill and valley of Megiddo, west of Jordan in the plain of Jezreel, is the appointed place for the beginning of the great battle in which the Lord at his coming in glory, will deliver the Jewish remnant beseiged by the Gentile world powers under the beast and false prophet (Rev 16:13-15, Zech 12:1-9).

Apparently the besieging hosts, whose approach to Jerusalem is described in Isaiah 10:28-32, are alarmed by the sign which proceeds the Lord's coming (Matt 24:29-30), and have fallen back to Megiddo after the events of Zech 14:2. This is where their destruction begins, a destruction consummated in Moab and in the plains of Idumea (Isa 63:1-6). This battle is the first event in the “day of Jehovah” (Isa 2:12), and is the fulfillment of the smiting stone prophecy of Daniel 2:35.

That is a lot of information given as an introduction to eschatology. It is intended to seal the big picture in the mind of the Bible student who will further explore the incredible details revealed for our learning and for our comfort.

In “Prophecy Made Plain” C. I. Scofield calls the study of prophecy “ennobling”:

“And when he had spoken unto me I was strengthened” (Dan. 10. 19). That is the statement of Daniel as to the effect upon him of a prophetic communication. Daniel knowing, as he says, “from books” (probably from the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel) that the time for the deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity was near at hand set himself – by confession and prayer, confessing his sins and the sins of his people, and seeking the face of the Lord – to know more definitely the things concerning the future of Israel, and he describes, in the words of the text, the effect upon himself of the revelation received. An angel was sent to enlighten him as to the subject about which he desired to know, and the effect of it was that he was strengthened. There was, then, a direct result, an effect upon the man himself.

Our theme then is the influence upon character and conduct of prophetic truth.... There is a great deal of the study of prophetic truth, and a great deal of the hearing of the exposition of prophetic truth, which has no effect upon conduct or character, simply because it is heard or studied without faith. We bring to it a sort of vulgar curiosity. We desire to know what all these images, and beasts, and horns signify, believing in a way that there is in them some unfolding of that which is to come to pass if one can but hit upon the right interpretation. We may come to the study of prophetic truth with that mind and derive no profit whatever. It is therefore a believing understanding of prophetic truth which has an influence upon either character or conduct. …

It is peculiarly the prophetic part of Scriptures which brings us into intimacy with God. … nothing brings us into such moulding intimacy with God as the believing study of prophecy. ...

Think again how the knowledge acquired in this peculiar intimacy is inconceivably large and ennobling; think what the prophetic student is occupied with; think of the vastness of the subject with which the prophetic Word deals; think what a pageant that is which passes before the eye of the student of prophecy.

We open the pages of the prophetic Word, and we see passing before us the magnificent panorama of the future of the nations. Our God unfolds to us that which He is doing here and there in this world; and not only that, He lifts the veil and shows us that which He is going to do in the future. Through the prophetic Word, and through that alone, we look over into the great hereafter, and see that which is to be. We look into an open Heaven with all its joys and glories, the goal of our own desire; and we look into an open Hell. All this is in the prophetic Word. The mightiest subjects, the greatest thoughts that can possibly fill the mind are those with which the prophetic Word is occupied. Think of it! We are permitted to see in prophecy the unfolding of God's majestic purposes as regards His ancient people. We are permitted to look to the end or our own age, the Church age. We see the kingdom age unfolding beyond the Church age. We are permitted to see the establishment upon this earth of a universal monarchy under the rule and reign of the Son of God Himself. Why, if it is possible for any kind of knowledge to lift us up above ignoble things, to give us that breadth of vision and of thought which certainly are essential to all noble character, it is the prophetic Word which will do it, and the prophetic Word only.³²

May God bless your study of eschatology, the doctrine of last things.

Chapter 2 The Things Seen, Which Are, and Which Shall Be

When our Lord Jesus Christ gave his Apostle John his Revelation he commanded, “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev 1:19). The latter of these three is eschatology. The first is, of course, what John wrote in his gospel record and in his three epistles, i.e. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it...)” (1John 1:1-2a). That constitutes, for the Apostle John, “The things which thou hast seen.”

“The things which are;” were written by the Apostle John when he wrote the seven messages to the seven churches. When John, the last living Apostle, wrote in the end of the first century A.D. the “things which are,” they consisted of the local independent autonomous churches. The fact that there were seven messages to seven churches emphasizes both independence and completeness. Ergo the church is not “catholic” and specific time periods for this present age, i.e. the church age, are revealed in these seven messages. Thus the first chapter of Revelation is relegated to Jesus' first category, “The things that thou hast seen;” the second and third chapters are relegated to “the things which are;” and chapters four through twenty two “the things which shall be hereafter.” The latter being a major part of the eschatology that is to be examined in this volume.

Before correlating those nineteen chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ with the doctrine of the last things, it needs to be said that the seven messages to the seven churches correlates to the church history that we have seen transpire in the last two thousand years. Ergo, the seven messages are prophetic of what was to unfold in time, and might well be considered in an eschatology work. Their unfolding in history is not a coincidence and a thorough exposition of that correlation can be found in this work in Volume 9, “Ecclesiology – The Doctrine of the Church.” In that that unfolding of church history has already occurred and we are presently in a Laodicean Church Age, it will suffice here only to carefully examine C. I. Scofield's note about the seven churches:

The messages to the seven churches have a fourfold application:

(1) Local, to the churches actually addressed;

(2) admonitory, to all churches in all time as tests by which they may discern their true spiritual state in the sight of God;

(3) personal, in the exhortations to him "that hath an ear," and in the promise "to him that overcometh";

(4) prophetic, as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual history of the church from, say, A.D. 96 to the end. It is incredible that in a prophecy covering the church period, there should be no such foreview. These messages must contain that foreview if it is in the book at all, for the church does not appear after Revelation 3:22. Again, these messages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned. Most conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church, and in this precise order. Ephesus gives the general state at the date of the writing; Smyrna, the period of the great persecutions; Pergamos, the church settled down in the world, "where Satan's throne is," after the conversion of Constantine, say A.D. 316. Thyatira is the Papacy, developed out of the Pergamos state: Balaamism (worldliness) and Nicolaitanism (priestly assumption) having conquered. As Jezebel brought idolatry into Israel, so Romanism weds Christian doctrine to pagan ceremonies. Sardis is the Protestant Reformation, whose works were not "fulfilled." Philadelphia is whatever bears clear testimony to the Word and the Name in the time of self-satisfied profession represented by Laodicea.³³

The real key in understanding what Christ has revealed in the last nineteen chapters of his revelation, i.e. eschatology, only comes when one understands that God works with man in seven distinct dispensations. Christ gives to the Apostle John three distinct time divisions to write down. When John wrote “what he had seen,” i.e. Jesus before his ascension, he recorded the transition period between the dispensation of law and the dispensation of grace. When he recorded “the things which are,” i.e. the seven messages to the seven churches (Rev 2-3), he wrote about the dispensation of grace. When the Apostle John wrote “the things which shall be hereafter” he recorded the transition period after the dispensation of grace and before the dispensation of the kingdom (Rev 4-19), then the kingdom (Rev 20), and then the new heaven and the new earth (Rev 21-22). If one does not rightly divide God's seven dispensations they cannot rightly divide the word of truth, and they certainly cannot construct a Biblical eschatology.

If one does not clearly distinguish and delineate the seven year transition period between grace and kingdom dispensations, the period where the seven sealed book of judgment is being unsealed, trumpeted, and then vialed out, the period where the 144 thousand Jews are the gospel witnesses because the church has been raptured out, well then there will be great confusion throughout every aspect of their eschatology. It is quite like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, wherein, in wisdom, one puts the frame together first. Again Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant denominations reject dispensational doctrine and cling to a Covenant and Replacement Theology. They have no framework for their eschatology because they consider it to be “the completion of the Church” with no consideration of the redemption of Israel. Concerning eschatology and the second advent in particular Charles Hodge(1797-1878), a Presbyterian Minister, Princeton Theologian, and Father of Printed Systematic Theologies, confesses a great shortcoming concerning Biblical prophecy:

“This is a very comprehensive and very difficult subject. ... This task cannot be satisfactorily accomplished by any one who has not made the study of the prophecies a specialty. The author, knowing that he has no such qualifications for the work, purposes to confine himself in a great measure to a historical survey of the different schemes of interpreting the Scriptural prophecies relating to this subject.”³⁴

In other words Charles Hodge, the Father of Systematic Theologies, the genius, author, communicator, Presbyterian Theologian Extraordinaire, did not have a clue about the last nineteen chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ! He bows out to a supposed “prophecy specialist”! Protestants did not protest nor break away from the errant teachings of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (which was neither holy nor catholic). They carried on, and still carry on, a rejection of the millennial reign of Christ, a rejection of the dispensational teachings of scripture, and a rejection of the pre-millennial, pre-tribulational rapture of the church. Charles Hodge was at a loss of words in his eschatology, … Charles Hodge D.D., principal of Princeton Theological Seminary, at a loss for words.

Even Augustus Strong (1836-1921), American Baptist Pastor & Theologian, supposes with Schleiermacher that “Eschatology is essentially prophetic; and is therefore vague and indefinite, like all unfulfilled prophecy.”³⁵ Those who reject dispensationalism cannot discern Bible eschatology.

Thus, in this introduction to a Biblical eschatology, we need to clearly outline the seven dispensations and review the transition periods between each. We also need to examine the Covenant Theology and Replacement Theology which keeps Roman Catholicism and Protestant Reformers from the truth of dispensationalism. One can safely say that all of “Christendom” is pursuing this false teaching. The Roman Church conceived it, John Calvin constructed it, the Protestant Church pursued it, and Reformed Theology embraces it. Ergo every mainline denomination of Christendom is tainted by Covenant Theology. Further every false cult of Christianity sprang from this wild root of apostate error. Consequently, this introduction must also briefly survey some of the foolish gangling that comes from Covenant Theology. First examine the clear dispensations outlined in God's Word.

Chapter 3 Good Eschatology Requires Good Dispensationalism

One cannot account for a thorough coverage of Biblical eschatology without a consideration of the great stages of stewardship wherewith mankind has been and will be tested. A systematic review of the whole of Scripture discovers seven distinct stewardship tests for man. Since the concept of the progressive testing of man in these stewardship phases, properly called dispensations, insults and assaults Roman Catholic Church doctrine, and that of its Protestant offspring, the Biblical basis for this teaching needs careful development up front.

A preliminary development of dispensationalism was given in the study of anthropology because of the stewardship of man that it captures. Another development of dispensationalism is pursued in the doctrine of the church, Volume 09 Eecclesiology, because the church age has a beginning and a closing. In order to understand the doctrine of last things, because one cannot understand the second coming of Christ without discerning the transition from the dispensation of grace into the last dispensation, “the dispensation of the the fullness of times,” called the Kingdom Age. For that reason a solid understanding of the seven dispensations is vital to a Biblical eschatology. That understanding can be achieved by going through Chapter 5 of the Anthropology volume and/or Chapter 2 of the Ecclesiology volume. A brief outline of these seven dispensations is included below:

Eschatology Chapter 3 God's Seven Dispensations Outlined

The First Dispensation – Innocence (Gen 1:28 Scofield Note)

The Second Dispensation – Conscience (Gen 3:23 Scof. Note)

The Third Dispensation – Government (Gen 8:21 Scof. Note)

The Fourth Dispensation – Promise (Gen 12:1 Scof. Note)

The Fifth Dispensation – Law (Exod 19:8 Scof. Note)

The Sixth Dispensation – Grace and Truth (John 1:17, Eph 3:1-6)

The Seventh Dispensation – The Kingdom (Eph 1:10 Scof. Note )

Much more needs to be said about these dispensations. It is necessary to be systematically aware of their presence in the big picture. Mankind is given thorough and complete testing and opportunity in seven distinct phases, covering seven thousand years, and is repeatedly found lacking in each stewardship and dispensation. Dispensationalism is key to comprehending the larger picture of all of Scripture.

An understanding of dispensations is best introduced starting in the book of Genesis. So is an understanding of God, an understanding of man, and an understanding of redemption. But presuming some understanding of those three, let us focus on the very first dispensation, which is often called “Innocence.” Most simply, a dispensation is a period of time where stewardship is tested.

The First Dispensation – Innocence

God placed man in the Garden of Eden with a specific requirement of obedience. He was left in that testing for a period of time to “see” how he would fare. He fared poorly, and was consequently removed from the Garden. There were consequences for his failure and that period of testing, for all mankind, was abruptly ended. Now a new set of guidelines must be determined, a new testing of mankind would be pursued.

In that scenario there is a general set of guidelines which define a dispensation (Greek - oikonomia – oikonomia translated in English “dispensation,” four times and “stewardship,” three times). It is defined in the lexicon, the management, oversight, or administration of a household or of other property- usually owned by another. A dispensation contains 1) a set of rules, guidelines or expectations given by God, 2) a period of time wherein man is tried or tested under the guidelines, and 3) a distinct ending of the testing period wherein (it shall be seen as the pattern develops) man fails to live up to the guideline. The word dispensation is used four times in the Holy Bible (1Cor 9:17, Eph 1:10, 3:2, and Col 1:25). Additionally it is translated stewardship three times (Luke 16:2, 3, 4). The understanding of stewardship might better refine what a dispensation is because as a steward one is left in charge of what belongs to another, there is a period of time where they are accountable, and there is a definite ending wherein “the Lord of the vineyard” returns (cf Matt 21:33-46). The first dispensation, innocence in the Garden of Eden, illustrates well these three concepts of a dispensation.

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the first dispensation:

4(1:28, heading) A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture. (See Scofield "Genesis 1:28") , note 5.

5(1:28 And God blessed them...) The First Dispensation: Innocency. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man deliberately. 1 Timothy 2:14 God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion Genesis 3:24³⁶

The Second Dispensation – Conscience

What were the rules after man was removed from the Garden of Eden? C. I. Scofield labeled the second dispensation “Conscience.” Therein man did what was right in his own mind. In the dispensation of conscience the first born man became the first first-degree murderer. Note particularly in that murder report that man was not to take vengeance or retribution on Cain for his act of murder. Instead man had to answer for himself before a Holy God. Note also that a blood sacrifice was required in this age of conscience. Even if the learned scholar cannot find it in Genesis chapter four, the Bible believer knows the principle well from Hebrews 9:22, “And almost all things are by law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission (of sin).”

How did this dispensation of conscience end?

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart (Gen 6:5-6).

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the second dispensation:

2(3:23 Therefore the Lord God...) The Second Dispensation: Conscience. By disobedience man came to a personal and experimental knowledge of good and evil--of good as obedience, of evil as disobedience to the known will of God. Through that knowledge conscience awoke. Expelled from Eden and placed under the second, or ADAMIC COVENANT, man was responsible to do all known good, to abstain from all known evil, and to approach God through sacrifice. The result of this second testing of man is stated in Genesis 6:5 and the dispensation ended in the judgment of the Flood. Apparently "the east of the garden" Genesis 3:24 where were the cherubims and the flame, remained the place of worship through this second dispensation.³⁷

The flood brought the second dispensation to an expedient end. A new dispensation would now begin.

The Third Dispensation – Government

When man's conscience before God was unable to keep him from evil, God installed a dispensation wherein man was accountable to man to curb him from evil. C. I. Scofield labeled the third dispensation “Government.” Human government has three primary responsibilities in this endeavor, 1) to promote the good, 2) to punish the bad, and 3) to protect the innocent. These primary functions of a government are carried to our current day. It is intended to keep a restraint on man's depravity, iniquity and evil. It finds its root and basis in God's command,

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man (Gen 9:5-6).

Of course much more could be said about this dispensation, but consider that it did have other provisions, like shortened life spans, the eating of meat, and its tower of Babble consequence (Gen 6:3, 9:3, 11:3). Note also that this dispensation did not formally end, it just got dispersed to all the nations of the world when they dispersed with confounded languages. In that sense the role and principles of human government continue until today.

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the third dispensation:

1(Gen 8:21 ...the Lord said in heart...) The Third Dispensation: Human Government. Under Conscience, as in Innocency, man utterly failed, and the judgment of the Flood marks the end of the second dispensation and the beginning of the third. The declaration of the Noahic Covenant subjects humanity to a new test. Its distinctive feature is the institution, for the first time, of human government--the government of man by man. The highest function of government is the judicial taking of life. All other governmental powers are implied in that. It follows that the third dispensation is distinctively that of human government. Man is responsible to govern the world for God. That responsibility rested upon the whole race, Jew and Gentile, until the failure of Israel under the Palestinian Covenant (Deu 28.-30:1-10) brought the judgment of the Captivities, when "the times of the Gentiles" (See) ; Luke 21:24; Revelation 16:14 began, and the government of the world passed exclusively into Gentile hands ; Daniel 2:36-45; Luke 21:24; Acts 15:14-17. That both Israel and the Gentiles have governed for self, not God, is sadly apparent. The judgment of the confusion of tongues ended the racial testing; that of the captivities the Jewish; while the Gentile testing will end in the smiting of the Image (Da 2.) and the judgment of the nations Matthew 25:31-46.³⁸

Anyone can see this third dispensations initial, and then repeated failures on man's part. In any event there was a failure of government to restrain man's evil and God moves on to a new trial. The first three dispensations are applicable to all of mankind. The next two are applicable to a select group, God's chosen.

The Fourth Dispensation – Promise

With the failure of nations in curbing man from iniquity God chooses to construct one particular and peculiar nation and calls Abram as the father of this chosen nation. He gives Abram profound promises and Abram believes God. C. I. Scofield labeled the fourth dispensation “Promise.” Much more could be said about this dispensation of promise but suffice it to say some of the promises were unconditional and are yet to be fulfilled, i.e. Israel will occupy all of the promised land in peace and safety. The dispensation closes with the seed of Abraham still holding the promises. They have divided into twelve tribes of Israel, but they are in bondage in Egypt.

Dispensations are divinely ordered stewardships by which God reveals himself, reveals man's depravity, and reveals his longsuffering. It becomes increasingly apparent that every stewardship testing of man ends in man's failure. The fact that there are seven such stewardship tests emphasizes that God is giving man every opportunity to do right. Yet each dispensation ends in the abject failure of man.

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the fourth dispensation:

1(Gen 12:1 Now the Lord ...) The Fourth Dispensation: Promise. For Abraham, and his descendants it is evident that the Abrahamic Covenant (See Scofield "Genesis 15:18") made a great change. They became distinctively the heirs of promise. That covenant is wholly gracious and unconditional. The descendants of Abraham had but to abide in their own land to inherit every blessing. In Egypt they lost their blessings, but not their covenant. The Dispensation of Promise ended when Israel rashly accepted the law Exodus 19:8. Grace had prepared a deliverer (Moses), provided a sacrifice for the guilty, and by divine power brought them out of bondage Exodus 19:4 but at Sinai they exchanged grace for law. The Dispensation of Promise extends from Genesis 12:1 to Exodus 19:8, and was exclusively Israelitish. The dispensation must be distinguished from the covenant. The former is a mode of testing; the latter is everlasting because unconditional. The law did not abrogate the Abrahamic Covenant Galatians 3:15-18 but was an intermediate disciplinary dealing "till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made" ; Galatians 3:19-29; 4:1-7. Only the dispensation, as a testing of Israel, ended at the giving of the law.³⁹

Of all the failed dispensations, the failure under this one, Promise, may have been more providentially driven than depravity driven, but it still depicts a failure. The failed Innocence dispensation brought death, The failed Conscience dispensations brought the destroying flood, the failed Government dispensation brought Babble, and the failed Promise dispensation ends in Israel's bondage. In the fifth dispensation God would lay down the law for his chosen nation Israel.

The Fifth Dispensation – Law

The promised seed of Abraham, which were to inherit God's promised land, were redeemed from bondage in Egypt and read the Law of God by God himself. This began the dispensation called Law. The children of Israel agreed to obey all the laws of God. God agreed to bless them and give them all the promised land if they did. A quick read through the book of Judges confirms that they did not, and thus he did not.

It needs to be clarified that the law was only given to the promised seed of Abraham, i.e. the twelve tribes of Israel. It was not given to Gentile nations. It was not given as a model law for Gentile nations to pattern their laws after, and it was not given as a model law for the Christians, or the pious, or the religious. It was given to keep Israel a holy and a peculiar people in all the earth (Exo 19:5, Deut 14:2, 26:18, Psalm 135:4). The severe penalties of death by stoning were given so that this holy, peculiar people could “put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (Deut 21:21, cf 17:17, 19:19, 22:21, 24:7).

Consternation is dolled out to Christians who do not understand the dispensations, this dispensation particularly, and this purpose of the law. First because many religionists and “Clergy”⁴⁰ construct some form of works salvation where they pick a few choice laws and disregard others. Second because Christians themselves are confused and troubled about God having a man stoned because he picked up sticks on a Sabbath (Num 15:32-36). And third because the world mocks the Christian because he does not know how to explain the conflict between law and grace. Such consternation is relieved when one understands the realities of the dispensation of law. It is for Israel's peculiarity and for Gentiles learning (Gal 3:24-25⁴¹).

Although the law, given to God's chosen nation Israel, is not set as a model for other nations to follow there are many moral principles and civil laws which are exemplary models for other Gentile nations. Many of our US laws are based on God's laws for Israel. Our Creator's requirements for moral right and wrong are discernible. Criminal laws for murder and manslaughter, civil laws for stealing, property damage and restitution can certainly find a place in our legal systems. But the death penalty punishments and the eye for an eye consideration must be left in their context for the dispensation of law and their focus on Israel's peculiarity. All of Israel's dietary laws, ceremonial laws, and other laws designed to keep Israel a peculiar people must be kept in their proper context, in order to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

And so Israel was given a myriad of laws to keep her a holy people, a peculiar people, and a chosen nation of God. Israel failed, but God's promises remain centered on his chosen people. After her chastisements only one tribe remained. The Hebrews are now called Jews, because the only tribe left in Israel at the coming of her Messiah was Judah. The only begotten Son of God came as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to be the king of the Jews. But after being under law for fifteen hundred years (BC 1492 – 30 AD) the lawyers, scribes and Pharisees of the Jews rejected their king. Indeed they had the Romans crucify him under Roman law fulfilling many Bible prophecies about the Messiah (Greek Christ).

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the fifth dispensation:

1(Exodus 19:8 ...we will do...) The Fifth Dispensation: Law. This dispensation extends from Sinai to Calvary--from Exodus to the Cross. The history of Israel in the wilderness and in the land is one long record of the violation of the law. The testing of the nation by law ended in the judgment of the Captivities, but the dispensation itself ended at the Cross.⁴²

Although the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and King, their King did not reject them. The promise of God is emphatic, the Christ will sit on the throne of David and rule and reign the twelve tribes of Israel as he said. But after they rejected him as their king, he goes to the Gentiles, and temporarily the Gentiles become his people. That makes for a separate and distinct dispensation, the dispensation of grace, the age of the church.

The Sixth Dispensation – Grace and Truth

“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt 21:43).... “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

In the sixth dispensation the promises that were made to the Jews are temporarily set aside and God's grace was extended to all people. “For by grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph 2:8a) is the hallmark of this dispensation. The salvation available in this dispensation differs from any other: individual's are Converted – Justified – Quickened – Indwelt – and Immersed-in-Christ. They are consequently sealed by the Holy Spirit of God and that new-birth, salvation, conversion, cannot be undone. It has been said, “In the Old Testament God made a temple for the people, in the New Testament God makes a people for his temple⁴³. A whole volume of this systematic theology deals with soteriology. Suffice it to say here that it has never been easier for man to be in a right relationship with his Creator, Jehovah God, and yet this dispensation of Grace and Truth (John 1:17) is destined to end “as it was in the days of Noe,... as it was in the days of Lot...” (Luke 17:26, 28).

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the sixth dispensation:

1,2,3(John 1:17 Grace. Summary)

(1) Grace is "the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man. . . not by works of righteousness which we have done" Titus 3:4; Titus 3:5.

It is, therefore, constantly set in contrast to law, under which God demands righteousness from man, as, under grace, he gives righteousness to man Rom 3:21; Rom 3:22; 8:4; Philemon 3:9. Law is connected with Moses and works; grace with Christ and faith ; John 1:17; Romans 10:4-10. Law blesses the good; grace saves the bad ; Exodus 19:5; Ephesians 2:1-9. Law demands that blessings be earned; grace is a free gift ; Deuteronomy 28:1-6; Ephesians 2:8; Rom 4:4; Rom 4:5.

(2) As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ Romans 3:24-26 Rom 4:24; Rom 4:25. The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation, ; John 1:12; John 1:13; 3:36; Matthew 21:37; 22:24; John 15:22; John 15:25; Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 5:10-12. The immediate result of this testing was the rejection of Christ by the Jews, and His crucifixion by Jew and Gentile Acts 4:27. The predicted end of the testing of man under grace is the apostasy of the professing church: See "Apostasy" (See Scofield "2 Timothy 3:1") 2 Timothy 3:1-8 and the resultant apocalyptic judgments.

(3) Grace has a twofold manifestation: in salvation Romans 3:24 and in the walk and service of the saved Romans 6:15. ⁴⁴

The dispensation of grace will come to an end, and it will end in a failure of mankind. It is man's failure in accepting God's simple plan of salvation (Heb 2:3). The ending of the sixth dispensation and the beginning of the seventh and final dispensation is really the beginning of a Biblical eschatology. The doctrine of last things includes the closing of the Church age, or the dispensation of Grace and Truth, and the ushering in of the last dispensation.

The Seventh Dispensation – The Kingdom

“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31-33). “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev 11:15). “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev 19:16).

It has been resoundingly promised that the Jewish Messiah (Greek Christ) would be the King of the Jews, i.e. the King of Israel, who sits on the throne of David. That fact is hated by Satan and refuted with tenacity by the Roman Church and her children. The despise of that fact has freely flowed into the doctrine of the Roman reformers. The persistence of the denial has caused the rejection of all dispensational teaching in the wide gate and broad path of Christendom. That broad path is called “supersessionism” and it is unfortunate that so many Baptists are ignorant of its devices.

A study of Biblical eschatology will center on the fact that this kingdom will be ushered in at the second advent of Christ. It will last for the thousand years that Christ promised in Revelation chapter twenty, so it is called the “Millennial Kingdom.” It will be preceded by a judgment of the nations which will end “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) and be called the seven year tribulation and the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan 9:24). This Great Tribulation has 144 thousand, from the twelve tribes of Israel, preaching the gospel. It will not be the Church preaching the gospel during this seven year transition period, it will be these 144 thousand virgin male followers of the Lamb (Rev 14:4). The Church is removed in a pretribulation rapture, else they would be in competition with the 144 thousand Jews. Again the whole key to understanding “the things which shall be hereafter” requires that one believe in the Millennial Reign of Christ as the seventh dispensation of the Holy Bible.

C. I. Scofield provides this concise explanation of the seventh dispensation:

3(Eph 1:10 ...dispensation of the fullness of times...) The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This, the seventh and last of the ordered ages which condition human life on the earth, is identical with the kingdom covenanted to David. 2 Samuel 7:8-17; Zechariah 12:8

Summary;

Luke 1:31-33; 1 Corinthians 15:24, and gathers into itself under Christ all past "times":

(1) The time of oppression and misrule ends by Christ taking His kingdom. Isa 11:3; Isa 11:4.

(2) The time of testimony and divine forbearance ends in judgment. Matthew 25:31-46; Acts 17:30; Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:7-15.

(3) The time of toil ends in rest and reward. 2Thess 1:6; 2Thess 1:7.

(4) The time of suffering ends in glory. Rom 8:17; Rom 8:18.

(5) The time of Israel's blindness and chastisement ends in restoration and conversion. Romans 11:25-27; Ezekiel 39:25-29.

(6) The times of the Gentiles end in the smiting of the image and the setting up of the kingdom of the heavens. Dan 2:34; Dan 2:35; Revelation 19:15-21.

(7) The time of creation's thraldom ends in deliverance at the manifestation of the sons of God. Genesis 3:17; Isaiah 11:6-8; Romans 8:19-21.⁴⁵

But even the Kingdom age, where Christ physically rules and reigns over the whole world, ends with an insurrection . That insurgence is short lived and mankind steps off into eternity and streets of gold. This short survey of the seven dispensations builds the framework for the study the stewardships of man in anthropology, the study of the church age in ecclesiology, and the study of last things in eschatology. Christendom's many misunderstandings of the Bible and its end times comes from those who have rejected dispensationalism and embraced supersessionism, i.e. Replacement Theology, and Covenant Theology. Be careful to rightly divide the Word of Truth in these areas, and dispensationalism is key to the divisions.

As was stated previous, grasping these dispensations, these great spiritual divides in God's dealings with man, these stewardship tests of mankind, is key to rightly dividing the word of truth. It is paramount for comprehending anthropology, ecclesiology and eschatology in ones systematic theology. It is, consequentially, covered in Volume 8 Anthropology, Volume 9 Ecclesiology, and Volume 11 Eschatology. May God richly bless the student of Scripture that comprehends these great divides.

Chapter 4 Cambron's Bible Doctrine - Eschatology

To this point much has been said to give Biblical eschatology strong legs to stand on. With adequate warning that orthodoxy is dangerous in this field we can proceed to a good Bible doctrine of it. A solid Biblical Doctrine must form the basis and starting point for a systematic theology and there is no truer, or more thorough, published, Baptist, and Biblical doctrine than that of Dr. Mark G. Cambron.⁴⁶ His teachings at Tennessee Temple Bible School establish a solid doctrine essential for building a solid systematic theology. His book, Bible Doctrines⁴⁷ will, with the permission of the Cambron Institute⁴⁸, be given in block quotes throughout this effort. The book is readily available through http://www.thecambroninstitute.org, and it forms a strong foundation for this Systematic Theology.⁴⁹

Believing in the verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures and believing that every single word is directly chosen by God, it is important to preserve and defend the doctrines extracted from Scripture and presented by Dr. Cambron. Below, in a block quote of his book, is his extensive analysis of Eschatology:[block quote of Dr. Cambron's Bible Doctrines block quote pg 205-238, Zondervan page 249-288]

Cambron's Chap IX Eschatology - The Doctrine of Last Things

Pg 205-207

Outline For Chap IX Eschatology

Page 208

- Chap IX ESCHATOLOGY Eschatology is the doctrine of last things.

I. Physical Death

The Bible always gives sufficient information for the faith of the believer. The Bible was never proposed merely for his curiosity. God teaches finite beings to walk by faith in the unexplained infinite.

A. Death Is Not a Cessation of Being.

Thirty-five hundred years ago Job asked, “If a man die, shall he live again?” This question has been asked for millenniums. It is still a universal question. It is a subject of perennial interest. That those whom we love should die and be buried does not seem right; and it is not! God never made man to die; He created him to live and to have fellowship with Himself. But sin brought death and the grave, thus separation from God.

Should the Lord tarry, everyone reading these words, the author included, shall die, for death has passed upon all men (Rom. 5:12).

A poem lasts longer than the poet; the voice on the recording tape can be heard years after the recording artist is dead; pictures of dead loved ones remain, even after the loved ones are gone.

Things on this earth are not equal. The rich have always oppressed the poor; the wicked have always prospered over the righteous. Human justice demands an equalization of all things in a life after death. We are living in a changing world. The robins build their nests, even as they did in the garden of Eden, and animals possess the same characteristics as they did at the beginning. However, man does not live as he used to, even as he did twenty-five years ago. Although this be true, the inquiring mind of man remains the same, still asking the question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” There is a universal belief in a life after death. If you go to the darkest part of Africa, where Christ has never been preached, you find that people there believe in a life after death. Why do some heathens burn their wives? Why do some bury food with the corpse? They believe that the departed one must have a companion and food on his journey beyond the grave. The Egyptians furnished a charter, a book for the journey, and placed it with the corpse. Why do the birds fly south? Instinct in them proves there is a southland.

The heart of man, and his inward instinct are proofs that there is a life hereafter. Both physiology and philosophy maintain there must be a life after death. pg209

There are two great reservations:

1. Reservation for the Christian. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . hath begotten us . . . to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:4). In Philippians 1:23 the Apostle Paul used the word “depart” as describing death. By this he did not mean that he would cease to exist. Depart means “to depart.” Did he mean to depart to the grave with Christ? Of course not, for Christ is not in the grave; He is in heaven. II Corinthians 5:8 makes the meaning of departure even clearer when it says, “We are confident . . . and willing ... to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” The word “present” means “to be at home with.” The death of a Christian, therefore, is pictured as a ship pulling up anchor and setting sail for home; in other words, the death of a Christian means “going home.”

2. Reservation for the Ungodly. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (II Peter 2:9).

B. Death Is Not Soul Sleep.

The word “sleep” in Scripture, concerning the dead in Christ, means “rest.” It does not mean “unconsciousness.” The body may die, but the soul and spirit will never die. In the resurrection it is the body that is raised, not the soul and spirit. The Scriptures clearly state that the soul is absent from the body, present with the Lord; and that the souls and spirits are fully awake and aware of things round about them. A perfect illustration of the above truth is found in Revelation 6:9, 10: “When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Here we see the disembodied souls, alive, and reasoning with God.

The Apostle Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). “To live” meant that Paul had perfect fellowship with the living Christ. If death were the end, why would Paul say, “and to die is gain?”

C. Death Means Separation.

Death in Scripture always means “separation.” Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the eternal, complete, final separation from God (Rev. 21:8).

Life means “union” (John 3:16). Death means “separation” (Rom. 8:35-39). The ego, the “I,” lives in the house of flesh. You are not a body, having a soul and spirit, but you are a soul and spirit possessing a body. Scientists used to tell us that the bodies in which we live change every seven years; now they say that they change every seven days. Our bodies may change, but we ourselves, that is, our ego, never changes. People cannot see us, pg210 the ego, but only the house, or tent, in which we dwell. Death is the departure from this house (II Peter 1:13,14; Phil. 1:21,24; Gal. 2:20; II Cor. 5:6,7; Job 19:26; Luke 16:26; II Tim. 4:6; II Cor. 12:2). People have been burying bodies for six thousand years; just the bodies, not the persons.

The soul is the seat of feeling and appetite; from Scripture we believe it is the exact counterpart of the body. The spirit is the seat of man’s intelligence. When Samuel was called up by the request of Saul, it was his spirit that appeared, not his body. Death, then, is not a circle, or a square. We shall not be formless if we depart this life, but our souls and spirits shall be fully conscious, existing in the same form and shape as our bodies.

Memory may be seated in the brain, but the brain is not the source of thought. We may remember things that happened ten years ago, but we do not have the same brain that we had ten years ago. I possess a brain, but the brain is not I. Death simply means, “I have departed”; I am separated from my body.

II. The Bodily Resurrection.

A. The Fact of the Resurrection.

1. Anticipated in the Old Testament. Such terms as “in the latter days,” “awake and live,” are indications of a resurrection. The Old Testament contains many types of the resurrection. Joseph was counted dead, but he came back to his father; Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, and then was released; Daniel was placed in the lion’s den, a place of death, but came out alive; Israel died in the wilderness, and a new Israel went in Canaan. All of these are figures of the resurrection. The following Scriptures verify the resurrection. “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Is. 26:19). See also Job 19:26, 27; Psalm 16:9, 11; Daniel 6:23; 12:2; Matthew 12:40.

2. Revealed In the New Testament. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Cor. 15:22). “I have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). See also Matthew 22:30-32; Luke 14:13, 14; 20:35, 36; John 5:28, 29; 6:39, 40, 44, 54; I Thessalonians 4:14-16: II Timothy 1:10. Christ did not come to save my soul only, but all of me: my soul, spirit, and body. All of me is to be saved.

B. The Nature of the Resurrection.

Death is never set forth as the hope of the believer. In Corinth (I Cor. 15) some had declared that there was no bodily resurrection, but in the above chapter Paul rebukes them for this false doctrine and proves to them that there is a resurrection (by Christ’s own resurrection): if one does not believe in man’s resurrection, then it is impossible to believe in Christ’s resurrection; and if Christ had no resurrection, there is no Gospel, and if no Gospel, we are not saved. pg211

Satan has always been against the Word, and he has many weapons trained on it. The revelation he most despises is that of the resurrection. Materialism denies the resurrection altogether. Spiritualism denies the bodily resurrection. We are never to doubt the resurrection. “I forgot God when I said, How can this be?” Whether man believes, or understands the resurrection means little; it is true, nevertheless.

Some people cannot believe that flesh and bones shall be perfect. When speaking of Christ’s resurrection, they maintain that it was a spiritual resurrection. We know by this statement that they do not know what they are talking about. Jesus Christ’s spirit was not put in the tomb; only His body was. The Roman soldiers were not stationed at the sepulcher to guard His spirit, but to guard His body. It was His body they guarded; it was His body which arose from the dead! One Scripture used by those who believe only in a spiritual resurrection is I Corinthians 15:44: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” Notice that the verse does not say “a spirit body,” but “a spiritual body.” The natural body is controlled by the soul; the spiritual body shall be controlled by the Spirit; hence, a spiritual body.

1. Theories Proposed.

a. Germ Theory. This is an old Jewish belief found in the Talmud. According to it, in man there is a little bone, called a “luz,” which death can not destroy, and out of that germ the body will be resurrected. Some Christians hold to this theory, using I Corinthians 15:36, 37 for support.

b. Identity Theory. This is the belief that the body in the resurrection will be raised just as it was buried. A body buried with an arm missing, will be raised with an arm missing; an infant buried will be an infant raised; a lunatic buried, a lunatic raised. The Mohammedans hold to this theory. If this be true, we will not be like Jesus.

c. Reincarnation Theory. This idea supposes that when a man dies he goes immediately into another body. If this should occur, we would not be “at home” with the Lord. When a person dies, he is not a complete human being; he can only be so by a bodily resurrection (I Thess. 5:23).

d. Intermediate Body Theory. This theory contends that the believer receives his resurrected body immediately upon his death. It is based on II Corinthians 5:1-4: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” But the above Scripture refers only to those believers who are living when Christ comes.

2. Truth Believed. The resurrection is by Divine Power! “God giveth a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body” (I Cor. 15:38). Jesus Christ’s own resurrected body was proved to be flesh and bone. When Christ appeared unto the disciples, pg212 He remarked, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39). Christ did not say that there were no spirits, but that a spirit does not have flesh and bones. Ezekiel 37 pictures the resurrection of Israel; flesh, bones and spirit are mentioned, but no blood.

The law demanded the shedding of blood, and Christ shed his blood to pay for that demand. In the resurrection, all will be raised without blood; life will be in the spirit of man.

“[The Lord Jesus Christ] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20, 21). Our bodies, the same ones that may be planted in death, will pass under a great transformation and be raised. If we should plant a lily, a lily will come up; if we plant wheat, wheat will come up; if we plant tares, tares will come up; if we plant human bodies, glorified human bodies will come up. God looks upon the cemeteries as nothing but harvest fields. The seeds in these harvest fields are the bodies of the dead, and the harvest is the resurrection.

“And we shall be changed” (I Cor. 15:52c). Yes, a great transformation will take place, but it will be the same body, for the resurrected body of Christ proves that it will be the same body, as He bore in His resurrected body the print of the nails.

I Corinthians 15:42-44 describes fully the resurrection of the just (God tells nothing of the bodies of the damned in their resurrection): “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.” A dead body is a corruptible body. A live body is a mortal body. Nothing is ever said in Scripture of planting a mortal body. A corruptible body is subject to decay and dust, but one day it will be raised in incorruption, a body fit for heaven, that can never be subject to corruption again. “It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory.” These vile bodies have been dishonored by sin, but one day they will be raised in glory like unto the glorious body of our Lord. “It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” Sin has made us weak, also. The weakest thing in the world is a dead body. In order for a dead man to move, he must be moved. He has eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear; he makes no protest about being put in a coffin and placed in a grave. There is no resistance in a dead body. These same weak bodies shall be raised with great power.

Notice what man can do for the eyes today, but think what God will do. The resurrected believer will be able to see spiritual beings. Mortal man has the microscope and telescope, but, oh, what eyesight our new bodies will have! Today we have limits of speed, but in the resurrection there will be no limit. Do not make present standards the limit of our future standards. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” The natural body is our animated body, containing flesh, bones and blood. Our resurrected spiritual bodies shall not be spirit-bodies, but spiritual; they will be bodies composed of only flesh and bone, no blood, dominated by our spirits.

C. The Time of the Resurrection.

“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Cor. 15:22). All men shall be raised from the dead, but not all at the same time. The Scriptures plainly declare pg213 that there are two resurrections, and not a general resurrection. They are the first, and the last resurrection (Rev. 20:5, 6).

1. The First Resurrection. The first resurrection includes Christ, and all believers of all ages. Their resurrection occurs at different intervals. Christ at one time; the Church at the Rapture (before the Tribulation); and the Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints after the Tribulation.

a. Christ the Firstfruits. “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20). The firstfruits was God’s pledge that the entire harvest would come later. Christ’s being the Firstfruits is God’s pledge that the harvest will be coming later. “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19b). There are records of others being raised from the dead, but these were “resuscitations,” or restorations; they died again. Christ liveth to die no more! “Behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:18b).

b. The Saints at Christ’s Resurrection. “The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matt. 27:52, 53). On one occasion, the Lord Jesus said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Christ did die and was planted as a corn of wheat, but when He was raised from the dead, He brought forth much fruit with Him.

This fruit was the saints who arose immediately after His resurrection. We do not know how many were raised, nor do we know where they went. They may have gone up to heaven with him, for remember, he was the Firstfruits, and we know that in the Feast of Firstfruits, a sheaf of the wave offering was waved before the Lord. There was more than one grain in the sheaf. Thus, we are led to believe that there were more people in the firstfruits to go to heaven than just Christ.

c. The Body of Christ (The Church). The Church will have a resurrection of its own.

“The dead in Christ shall rise first” (I Thess. 4:16). The Church was never known in the Old Testament (See Chapter VII). Therefore, the Old Testament prophets saw nothing of its Spiritual baptism, rapture, resurrection and transformation. The Church was a mystery hid in God; it was first revealed to the Apostle Paul (Eph. 3:1-9). However, the old Testament saints did know of their own resurrection, which shall occur after the Tribulation (Dan. 12:2, 13).

The resurrection of the Church was revealed to the Apostle Paul; it will occur before the Tribulation. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10). See also I Thessalonians 1:10.

There has been over nineteen hundred years since Christ the Firstfruits has been raised.

The time of the resurrection of the Church is not known.

d. Old Testament and Tribulation Saints. This phase of the first resurrection takes place after the Tribulation, at least seven years after the Church is raised. It includes all saints who do not belong to the Body of Christ. “Go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Dan. 12:13). See also Daniel 12:1,2.

2. The Last Resurrection. The last (or second) resurrection occurs after the pg214 Millennium, and shall include all the wicked dead. They shall be raised to stand before the Great White Throne. “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:5, 6).

III. The Intermediate State.

Where are the dead? is the question on the lips of all mankind. The only true and correct answer is given by the Word of God. Other answers, such as those given by spiritualism, are nothing but a babel of voices. Various cults have preyed upon unsuspecting souls, taking them captive at the Devil’s will.

The following are things to remember as we explain the intermediate state, the state of man between death and resurrection: Death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. The soul and spirit are together in death. The soul is the seat of the appetite, and the spirit is the seat of knowledge, and they both function in death, as shown by the example of the rich man in Hades. He was in torment; he had feelings. He reasoned; thus, his spirit and soul were together.

The word “Sheol” and the word “Hades” are the same. “Sheol” is the Old Testament Hebrew word. “Hades” is the New Testament Greek word. We know they are the same, for the Apostle Peter, at Pentecost, quoted from Psalm 16, saying, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [hades], neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:27). Psalm 16 uses the word “Sheol” for hell (Hades). Thus, Hades and Sheol are the same. This is the place of departed souls and spirits. The mistranslation⁵⁰ of the words “Sheol” and “Hades” by the King James translators has caused much trouble in the Church today. They translated these words to mean hell (the place of everlasting punishment), grave, pit, and the like. The wrong translation has led people to believe that the grave is the only hell. Sheol and Hades are the names of the same place for the departed spirits of man.

1. These words are never found in the plural.

2. Sheol and Hades are never located on the face of the earth.

3. The Bible never speaks of an individual’s Sheol.

4. Man never puts anyone in it, as the grave.

5. Man never digs or makes a Sheol, or Hades.

6. The Bible never speaks of a man touching Sheol.

7. The Bible never speaks of a body going into Sheol, but with one exception, and the exception proves the rule. Korah (Num. 16:28-33) defied the leadership of Moses and the pg215 priesthood of Aaron, and influenced many in Israel against them. God showed His displeasure by causing the earth to open up its jaws and swallow Korah and his family.

The King James Version says that he went down alive into the pit, which should be translated “Sheol”⁵¹ (Num. 16:33).

In Luke 16:19-31 we have the true account of Lazarus and the rich man both dying and existing in the intermediate state. There are some who claim that this story was only a parable. The Word does not so state. In all of His parables, the Lord never mentioned proper names, as He does here. If it were a parable, it would be true, for every parable that He spoke was built upon the truth (Matt. 13:3).

The following is a common interpretation of this so-called parable: Rich man — the Jewish nation, rich in what God has given him.

Lazarus — the Gentiles — poor at the door of the rich man.

Both died — end of the dispensation, when both are blessed by the Gospel.

Why say this refers to Jew and Gentile, when the Scriptures do not say so? Why did the Lord use the rich man in picturing the Jewish nation, when in the preceding passages he was warning the rich? The idea of the Jews ever requesting aid of the Gentiles is far-fetched.

There is no gulf between the Jew and the Gentile. No Gentile nation has ever begged from the Jews as Lazarus begged bread from the rich man.

If the Jewish nation died (pictured by the rich man), who were the five brethren who were left? We still contend that this is a true account of two men who died and went to Hades.

A. Before the Cross.

The Cross is the dividing line of many Scriptural truths. We shall discuss the question, where did men go at death before Christ died upon the Cross? We shall show that they all went to the same place — Hades (Sheol) — but in different parts.

From Numbers 16:33 we learn that Sheol, or Hades, is somewhere inside the earth.

“They, and all that appertained to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.” From Luke 16:19-31 we see that Hades was in two compartments: Abraham’s Bosom, the place of the departed righteous, where Lazarus went; and the place of torment, where the rich man went. A great gulf separated these two sections.

Since we know that Sheol (Hades) is somewhere in the earth, and that it is composed of two compartments, we turn to the Lord Himself to find the exact location. “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt.12:40). Ephesians 4:9, 10 makes this clearer still. “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the pg216 lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.” Philippians 2:9, 10 says, “God . . . hath highly exalted him . . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” This speaks of the future adoration of Christ by all creation. However, we want to call attention to the above underlined words. To go “under the earth” means to submerge, as a submarine which goes under water. Thus, we conclude that Sheol (Hades) is in the heart of the earth, composed of two sections, one part for the righteous dead and the other for the unrighteous dead, with a great gulf fixed between them. By the Lord’s revelation of the rich man and Lazarus, which occurred before He died on the Cross, we see where all men, whether righteous, or unrighteous, went after death, before the Cross.

B. At the Time of the Cross.

Under this heading we shall deal with only two persons, the Lord Jesus, and the penitent thief. Upon death, the Lord Jesus went to Hades. We know this from Psalm 16:10, which says, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol⁵²; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” The Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, quoted from this same passage, but, of course, he used the Greek word “Hades,” instead of “Sheol.” These words describe the resurrection of Christ, while fully stating that he went to Hades. We see this by the use of the word “leave.” The Holy Ghost would not have employed the word “leave” if he had not gone there. As to the thief on the cross, he went to Hades with Jesus, into the compartment reserved for the righteous dead. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23: 43b). How many days was Jesus in Hades? Three days. On the first of the three days, the thief was to be with Jesus in paradise; therefore, we learn that paradise was another name given to Abraham’s Bosom, which was the place of the righteous dead.

C. After the Cross.

Now where do the departed go at death? The unrighteous still go to Sheol (Hades), awaiting the last judgment.

The righteous, praise the Lord, go at once to heaven to be with the Lord. “We are confident . . . and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:8). When Christ arose from the dead “he led captivity captive” (Eph.

4:8). Christ emptied Hades (Sheol) of all the righteous, and took them and paradise with him to glory. Paradise was, at one time, in the heart of the earth; now it is in the third heavens. “I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter” (II Cor. 12:2-4).

pg 217

IV. The Second Coming Of Christ.

A. The Importance of the Doctrine.

It is said that one out of every twenty-five verses of the New Testament speaks of the Second Coming, while in the Old Testament there are eight verses concerning the Second Coming to every verse concerning the First Coming. In the promise of a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15), the Second Coming is mentioned before the First Coming. “It shall bruise thy head [occurs at the Second Coming], and thou shalt bruise his heel [occurred at the First Coming, upon the Cross].”

1. Testimony of Our Lord. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). See also Matthew 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21.

2. Testimony of Angels. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

3. Testimony of Peter. “He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you” (Acts 3:20). See also I Peter 5:4; II Peter 1:16.

4. Testimony of Paul. “I thank my God always on your behalf . . . that in every thing ye are enriched by him . . . so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 1:4-7). See also Romans 11:26: I Corinthians 15:23; II Corinthians 5; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:4; I Thessalonians (all); II Thessalonians 1:7, 10; I Timothy 6:14; II Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:28.

5. Testimony of James. The prophets, quoted by James, represent the Lord as saying, “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16). See also James 5:7.

6. Testimony of John. “Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2). See also I John 2:28, and the Book of Revelation.

7. Testimony of Jude. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 14).

B. The Meaning of the Second Coming.

1. Negative.

a. It Is Not Death. Death is the departing of the saint, not the coming of the Lord. The Lord will come, but death may never come. pg218

b. It Is Not the Fall of Jerusalem. Luke 21:20-24, and I Thessalonians 4:13-18 did not occur when Jerusalem fell. The second coming of Christ is connected with the gathering of Israel, not the scattering.

c. It Is Not the Coming of the Holy Spirit. Christ said that He would send another (John 14:16). I Thessalonians 4: 13-18 did not occur when the Holy Spirit came. Notice that all of the Epistles which speak of the Second Coming were written after Pentecost.

d. It Is Not the Conversion of a Sinner. If this is true, He has come millions of times.

According to I Corinthians 15:51-57, the dead would have to be raised every time a soul was saved, and then get back into the grave, waiting for another to be saved.

e. It Is Not the Diffusion of Christianity. By this some mean the spreading of the Gospel. But remember, this same Jesus, a personal Christ, is to come again.

f. It Is Not the End of the World. When Christ comes, the world will not be destroyed, for He will reign a thousand years after He appears.

2. Positive.

a. It Will Be a Personal Coming. John 14:3 says, “I will come.” We are not to expect a spirit, but a Spirit in a body. I Thessalonians 4:16, 17 uses the word “himself.” Acts 1:11 declares “this same Jesus”; not some other person or thing is expected, but Christ Himself.

b. It Will Be a Visible Coming. “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” (Matt. 24:27). See also Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7.

c. Meaning of the Words Used.

(1) Parousia. This means the personal presence, the coming presence. It is spoken not only of the coming of the Lord, but of the coming of other men (I Cor. 16:17; II Cor. 7:6,7; Philippians 1:26). Concerning the coming of the Lord, it is at that moment, when absence ceases and presence begins (Matt. 24:3, 27; I Cor. 15:23; I Thess. 2:9; Jas. 5:8).

(2) Epiphaneia. This simply means “appearing.” It is used of both advents (II Tim. 1:10; II Thess. 2:8; I Tim. 6:14; II Tim. 4:1,8; Titus 2:13).

(3) Apokalupsis. The literal meaning is “unveiling revelation.” It emphasizes the visibility of the Lord’s return (II Thess. 1:7; I Peter 1:7, 13; 4:13. It is used also for men: Romans 8:19; II Thessalonians 2:3,6, 8).

d. It Is a Coming in Two Phases.

(1) When Christ Comes for His Saints in the Air. “We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him” (II Thess. 2:1).

The promise of Christ’s return of Acts 1:9-20 was given before the Rapture was revealed.

Hebrews 9:28 has nothing to do with the Rapture.

(2) When Christ Comes with His Saints to Earth. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 14).

(3) These Two Phases Are Vastly Different.

(a) Different in Character. “For His people” is an act of faith; “with His people” is an act of judgment.

(b) Different in Manner. One is secret, the other is a manifestation.

(c) Different in Place. “For His people” — in the air (I Thess. 4:17); “with His people” — to the earth (Zech. 14:14). pg219

(d) Different as to Time. “For His people” occurs before the Tribulation (Jacob’s trouble); “with His people” occurs after the Tribulation (Jacob’s trouble). We are never told in Scripture to look for signs preceding His coming for His saints, but men are told to look for signs before He comes with His saints (Compare II Thess. 2:1-3 with Is. 13: 6-9).

(e) Different as to Dispensations. Coming “for His saints” occurs at the beginning of the dispensation of Tribulation; coming “with His saints” occurs at the beginning of the dispensation of the Millennium.

(f) Different as to Purpose. Coming “for His saints” fulfills His promise to gather His people (John 14:3); coming “with His saints” as a man of war, His promise to overthrow His enemies (Jude 14).

(g) Different as to Relation. “For His saints” is the adoption of the children of God; “with His saints” the time that the sons of God are manifested to the world. (Rom. 8:19,23).

C. The Events of the Second Coming in Relation to the Body of Christ.

As we deal with the Rapture of the Church, we recognize the fact that the word “rapture” is not a Scriptural word. The Rapture is, however, a Scriptural fact.

1. The Resurrection of the Dead in Christ. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (I Thess. 4:16). The very first thing that happens is the resurrection of the body of Christ. Certainly this will include all who die before reaching the age of accountability, such as babes, the mentally retarded, and the like. If Christ does not come, there will be no resurrection, and if no resurrection, then man shall be an eternal spirit. If diamonds can be made from soot, sapphire from clay, and opals from sand, what will God make out of our bodies? It will be wonderful, will it not? 2. The Renovation of the Living in Christ. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. . . . and we shall be changed. . . . And this mortal must put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:51-53). The Christian is one who is not looking for death, but for the conqueror of death. The words “we shall not all sleep” mean “we shall not all die.” What a glorious hope this is! What a shout that will be that day! “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (I Cor. 15:55). Isn’t it a blessed hope that it is possible for us to go without dying? No man, not even a Christian, wants to die.

That is natural. The Christian, however, is one who is not afraid to die. The Christian is the only person who has a hope of never seeing death. Yes, we know the Scripture says, “It is appointed unto men once to die.” But the Scripture does not only say all men! The changing of us who are alive and remain at His coming is not death, for we shall not all die! 3. The Rapture of All in Christ. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind . . . as that the day of the Lord is at hand” (II Thess. 2:1, 2). The above Scripture, and the phrase, “we all shall be changed,” eliminates the possibility of a partial rapture.

The entire Body of Christ will be raptured (caught up); it will be a rapture, and not a pg220 rupture. The Body of Christ will be complete. No member of His Body will be left to go through the Tribulation. Some say, “How can this be?” God took Elijah up without death; He can take a million, or ten million up just as easily.

The Rapture of the Church will cause a great separation. All unbelievers will be left here to go through the Tribulation. The Rapture of the Church will be the means of a great reunion. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:17). What a great word is “together”; all of our loved ones in Christ “together” once more.

“We should live soberly, righteously, and godly . . . looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). What do we mean by “looking for Christ”? It does not mean that we believe that He may come at any moment⁵³, but that we are looking for Him to come. Are you looking for Him today? Are you looking for Him tonight? That is what the Scripture means by “looking for Him.”

V. The Antichrist.

“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). While this verse speaks of Christ as the seed of the woman, it also prophetically declares the Antichrist as being the seed of the serpent. The seed of the serpent, the Antichrist, is mentioned first in the first book of the Bible, and described fully in the last book of the Bible; it can be traced in between as well. This is very significant.

A. His Person.

The Early Church taught that Nero was the Antichrist, and that when he died he would be raised from the dead. In the eleventh century the Waldenses, Hussites and Wycliffites declared that the Roman Catholic Church was the Antichrist. The Roman Catholic Church, in turn, declared that Napoleon was the Antichrist. During World War I Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was thought to be the Man of Sin. Many men will be proposed for this office, but it is useless to speculate, for he will not be revealed until after the Rapture of the Church (II Thess. 2:1-12).

He Is a Man! “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six” (Rev. 13:18). Notice the Scripture says he has the number of a man. Man’s number is 6.

God says his number is 6-6-6: he is a man; he is a man; he is a man! He is not the Roman Catholic Church; he is not a system; he is a man. He will rule in Jerusalem, and not in Rome.

1. He Will Be a Jew. “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers” (Dan. 11:37a).

“God of his fathers” means Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “I am come in my Father’s name, pg221 and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43). The word “another” implies “another Jew.” The name Antichrist is a Jewish title, and the Jews will not accept a Gentile as their Messiah.

2. He Will Be a Genius. He will be the most remarkable man the world has ever seen apart from Jesus Christ.

a. An Intellectual Genius. “In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up” (Dan. 8:23). See also Ezekiel 28:3.

b. An Oratorical Genius. “He shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries” (Dan. 11:21b). He shall be a mockery and an imitation of Him of whom it is said. “Never man spake like this man.”

c. A Governmental Genius. He rises from obscurity to power. He is the “little horn” spoken of in Daniel 7 and 8, and the “beast” of Revelation 13 and 14. All kings will give their power to him.

d. A Commercial Genius. No one will be able to buy or sell without his seal. “No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Rev. 13:17).

e. A Military Genius. “I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer” (Rev. 6:2). “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:4b).

f. A Religious Genius. He demands to be worshiped as God. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (II Thess. 2:4).

g. A Financial Genius. “He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps” (Dan. 11:43). See also Ezekiel 28:4,5.

B. His Titles.

1. Man of Sin. This is the most important and most terrible of all his titles. All the sins of man will be embodied and headed up in him. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (II Thess. 2:3).

2. Son of Perdition. The above Scripture declares him to be the son of perdition, also (II Thess. 2:3).

3. The Lawless One. “Then shall that Wicked [lawless one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (II Thess. 2:8). Christ is the righteous one; the Antichrist is the lawless one.

4. The Lie. “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a [the] lie” (II Thess. 2:11). Jesus Christ is the Truth; the Antichrist is the Lie. John 8:44 says that the Devil is a liar “and the father of it.” “It” refers to “the lie.” pg222

5. The Antichrist. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I John 2:18).

6. King of Babylon. Babylon is always the seat of Satan. Babylon shall be revived in the last days, and the Antichrist shall reign over it (Rev. 17 and 18).

7. The Little Horn. “Out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. . .

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up” (Dan. 8:9, 23). See also Daniel 7:8.

8. The Willful King. “The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done” (Dan. 11:36).

9. The Assyrian. “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation” (Is. 10:5). See also Isaiah 10:12, 24.

10. The Beast. (Rev. 13, 17, 19).

C. His Forerunners.

Some are seen in the Scriptures, and some out of the Scriptures.

1. Cain. He denied the blood and was a liar and murderer (I John 3:12).

2. Nimrod. His history preceded the calling of Abraham to the Promised Land. The Antichrist will precede the call of the seed of Abraham and enter into the Promised Land the second time. Nimrod means “rebel,” While the Scriptures speak of him as being a mighty hunter, in reality he was not a hunter of animals, but a hunter of souls. He was “a mighty man against the Lord.” So the Antichrist will be.

3. Saul. This king of Israel was demanded by the people, but he was against the anointed of the Lord. The Antichrist will be the choice of the people also, and he will be against God’s anointed.

4. Absalom. Absalom means “father of peace”; yet he denied his father. He posed as a man of peace and tried to steal the kingdom. So will the Antichrist.

pg223

ABSALOM ANTICHRIST.

1. A Man of Beauty 1. The same.

2. Tried to gain the kingdom by flatteries. 2. The same.

3. Set up a pillar to himself. 3. The same.

4. Came to a violent end. 4. The same.

5. Nebuchadnezzar. He was the first world ruler, who became the forerunner of the last world ruler.

6. Antiochus Epiphanes. He was the mad man who sacked Jerusalem, killing four hundred thousand Jews. He took a sow and burned it upon the altar. The Antichrist, too, shall profane the altar.

7. Alexander the Great. He was known as the “Unsatisfier.” He was a military genius who never suffered defeat. He sought to be worshiped as the Son of God. The same will be true of the Antichrist.

8. Caias Caligula. This Roman Emperor was considered mad. No doubt he was possessed by a demon. The Antichrist shall be fully possessed by the Devil.

9. Nero. During his life he was thought to be the Antichrist by the early Christians.

Many believed that when he died he would be raised from the dead. The Antichrist shall be raised from the dead.

10. Charlemagne. This man was considered a great warrior and statesman. The Antichrist shall he considered the same.

11. Napoleon. He thought to revive the Holy Roman Empire. This figurative empire is considered to comprise those countries whose lands are washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Napoleon planned a new Jewish kingdom and Sanhedrin. The Antichrist will accomplish many of these same plans.

12. Kaiser Wilhelm. This leader of the German Empire had the same objective as Napoleon. It is said that every general carried a map of the Holy Roman Empire.

13. Mussolini. There were no doubts as to the objectives of this man. At one time he made a map of the old Roman Empire and included England in it. England protested, but the map remained. The Antichrist will not only make a map, but he will make a kingdom with all empires in it.

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D. His Work.

His work shall be motivated by Satan, ruling the world and trying to destroy the Jew (Is. 10:12-27).

E. His Career.

Remember, this is the mocker and mimic of Christ. He shall claim a reincarnation. His birth shall be obscure; he will begin as a mere man in world affairs; but he will be rapidly promoted until he becomes ruler of the entire world. Daniel 9:27 states that he will “confirm the covenant” with the Jews. “Confirm” means to “recognize.” What covenant is Israel interested in? The Mosaic Covenant. For the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation the Jews will be allowed to worship in their new temple. This would have been hard to believe a hundred years ago, for then only a handful of Jews lived in Palestine. But look at Israel today. She is recognized as a nation; she has a government, an army, an air force; she is doing business with the rest of the world. There are literally hundreds of thousands of Jews back in the land. Here is Israel as a nation; why do they so exist? Is this the last regathering? Are they waiting for the Messiah? No. For the most part, Israel has returned to the land in unbelief. They do not even believe the God of their fathers, much less in their rejected Messiah. What, then, is Israel waiting for? She is waiting for the rise of the Antichrist, although she knows it not. He is to confirm the covenant. Therefore, there must be a nation with which the Antichrist can confirm the covenant. Here is Israel waiting for the Antichrist.

“I saw one of his heads as it was wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Rev. 13:3). According to this Scripture and Revelation 17, we see that the Antichrist shall suffer death, that he shall die. The words “deadly wound” are better translated “death stroke.” Revelation 13:12 has the phrase, “whose deadly wound was healed,” which describes fully the death and resurrection of the Antichrist. See also Revelation 13:14. No wonder the world will wonder after him and say, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:4).

He shall be the seventh of seven kings who shall be world rulers. When he dies and is resurrected he becomes the eighth ruler of the world. The world shall be divided into ten kingdoms, overlorded by ten rulers, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:13).

No doubt he comes to the ascendancy of world rule in the seventieth week of Daniel. He demands to be worshiped as God at this time, and thus he marks the beginning of The Day of the LORD.

F. His Time.

He has not yet been revealed, but it is possible in the light of present-day events, that somewhere in the world he is alive today. He will not appear as the Antichrist until the old Roman Empire is revived, composed of the ten-toed kingdom of Daniel 2 and the ten pg225 horned beast of Revelation 13 and 17. Another thing that must come to pass before he is revealed is the Rapture of the Church.

G. His Appearance.

He shall be a Jew by birth, a Roman by citizenship, and a Syrian by nationality. “Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land” (Dan. 8:9). He marches on to conquer the nations of the south, and the east, and the west, He does not conquer the north, for that is where he shall come from — Syria!

H. His End.

“Then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (II Thess. 2:8). See also Revelation 19:20.

VI. The Tribulation.

There are three distinct tribulations in the Scriptures, and unless they are distinguished from each other, confusion will result. While the Word says that the Body of Christ is enduring tribulation, it also says that Israel shall have tribulation. Then there shall be three and one-half years of great tribulation, such as the world has never seen. At this point many get confused — by the combination of these three into one tribulation. They are distinctly separate, however. First, there is the Tribulation of the Church, which is for the Body of Christ and is now present. Second, there is the Tribulation known as Jacob’s Trouble, which lasts seven years and is future. Finally, there is the Great Tribulation, which commences in the midst of Jacob’s Trouble and lasts for three and one-half years.

The first Tribulation is for the Church and is brought about by Satan. The second Tribulation is upon Israel and is brought by God. The Great Tribulation is pronounced upon Israel and the world and is brought by God through Satan.

A. The Tribulation of the Body of Christ.

There is no denying that the Church is enduring tribulation. “For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know” (I Thess. 3:4). “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3:12). It is the nature of the Church to suffer. The world lieth in the hands of the wicked one; we being of heavenly origin, are bound to be persecuted by Satan and his cohorts. The Church is a Body; as it is natural for it to suffer, one member may be suffering while the others are not; yet, one member cannot be hurt without the entire body suffering.

Paul, in speaking to the Colossians, said, “[I] now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). Notice that the word “afflictions” is the Greek word pg226 thlipsis, meaning tribulation. This is the same word that is used of the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation. Also, we call attention to the words “afflictions of Christ”: the definite article should appear before “Christ,” making it read “the afflictions of the Christ.” Thus, it is the Tribulation of the Christ, or the Body of Christ, the Church. As it is natural for the Body to suffer, and as the Colossians were not suffering, Paul had to make up for what was lacking on the part of the Colossians. He so states in this verse. If this were not so, how could he be suffering for the Colossians? He had never been there; he only knew a few of the Christians there; he was in Rome, hundreds of miles away from them, How could his suffering in Rome be effective for them in Colosse? The only answer is that he had to make up for the lack of suffering on the part of the Colossians. In Colossians 1:13 Paul speaks of the Church as being the kingdom of God’s dear Son, and then in verse 24 he emphasizes its sufferings, or tribulation.

John states the same thing in Revelation 1:9 (R.V.⁵⁴): “I John, your brother and partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Verily, the Church is enduring tribulation — it is the Tribulation of the Christ.

B. The Tribulation of Israel.

A more familiar term is “Jacob’s Trouble.” “Alas! for that day is great. so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer. 30:7).

This period lasts for seven years, and is known as the 70th week of Daniel. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week” (Dan. 9:24-27).

By these verses we learn that seventy weeks, four hundred and ninety years, were determined for Daniel’s people, the Jews. From the time that the command came to rebuild Jerusalem to the time when Messiah (Christ) was cut off, was sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years. Between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week is a gap, known as the Church Age, which Daniel knew nothing about, nor did any other Old Testament prophets (Eph. 3:5). We know that these seventy weeks have to do with Israel alone. The years during the Church period have, we must confess, been lean years for the Jews. It seems that God has forsaken them, but He has not. After this Church Age is completed, known as the “fulness of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:25), the Church will be raptured, and the Lord shall give full attention to the Jews (Israel) again. This will be the pg227 seventieth week, known as the Tribulation, which lasts seven years.

The Church will not go through any part of this seven-year Tribulation. The fourth and fifth chapters of Revelation fully describe the Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation. Chapters six through nineteen then deal with the Tribulation. The Tribulation is identified when the Antichrist confirms the covenant with the Jews. It is concluded with the revelation of Christ in judgment.

C. The Great Tribulation.

While it is still Jacob’s Trouble, judgment shall be intensified the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation. It is marked by the breaking of the covenant by the Antichrist, and by the revelation of the Antichrist as the Lie. “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan. 9:27). The Lord Jesus re-emphasized this truth when He added some details to the above quoted Scripture: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. . . . For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:15, 16, 21). From the words of Daniel and the Lord Jesus we learn that in the middle of the Tribulation the Antichrist breaks his covenant with the Jews, causes the revived sacrificial rites to come to an end, and places himself in the holy place, which is described as the abomination of desolation. II Thessalonians 2:4 describes this event in added detail: the Antichrist “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” During this last three and one-half years, when the Antichrist shall demand to be worshiped as God, man will not be able to buy or sell without his mark (Rev. 13:17).

Many times the question is asked, “Will anyone be saved during the Tribulation (including the Great Tribulation)?” Yes, people will be saved, even during the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation. The departure of the saints will convince many unbelievers of the truth of the Gospel; however, these believers will not be part of the Body of Christ. Some may question these statements by using the following verses: “Then shall that lawless one 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 a [the] lie: that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:8-12).

The above verses seem to teach that if one has rejected Christ before the Rapture he will not be able to be saved during the Tribulation. But we call attention to the fact that God pg228 causes them to believe the Lie, and they will not be able to believe the Lie until the middle of the Tribulation period, as the Antichrist will not be revealed, as such, until then. Therefore, we are led to believe that the invitation will still be given men to be saved during the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation. But if they reject Christ during this time, God shall give them strong delusions to believe the Lie, and it will be impossible for them to be saved during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation.

The natural question then arises, “Will anyone be saved during the last three and one-half years?” Revelation 7 declares emphatically that there shall be countless numbers of Jews and Gentiles saved during this period, known as the Great Tribulation. Those saved during the Great Tribulation will be those who have never heard the Gospel and have not taken the mark of the beast. Their salvation will be brought about by the preaching of a great evangelistic movement, which will be composed, we believe, of the 144,000 Israelites (Rev. 7:4-8).

You may ask, “How, then, will it be possible for them to be saved when the Holy Spirit has been taken up out of the world?” Let us turn to Moffatt’s translation and read: “For the secret force of lawlessness is at work already; only, it cannot be revealed till he who at present restrains it is removed” (II Thess. 2:7). The Holy Spirit will not be taken up out of the earth, but will take His restraining hand off sinful man and give him up fully to his sin. The Holy Spirit will still be here, for He is omnipresent. He will not manifest himself during the Great Tribulation as He did before the dispensation of grace. Again we remind you that the Great Tribulation ends with the coming of Christ to this earth.

VII. The Battle Of Armageddon.

Whenever a great battle is fought, people fear that it is the Battle of Armageddon. In order clearly to understand this battle, let us find out first what it is not, and then what it is.

A. What It Is Not.

1. It Is Not World Wars I and II.

2. It Is Not the First Battle of Gog and Magog. This battle is composed of the forces of the Northern confederacy (Russia and her allies). It is not much of a battle, but God rains fire and brimstone upon the armies and country. This occurs at the beginning of the Tribulation.

3. It Is Not the War in Heaven. This battle is described in Revelation 12:7-17. It concerns the forces of Satan being defeated by Michael and his army.

4. It Is Not the Second Battle of Gog and Magog. This is the concluding battle of all battles, whether physical or spiritual. It is fought after the Millennium, when Satan is loosed for a season and deceives the Gentile peoples (Rev. 20:7-9). Fire comes down pg229 from heaven and destroys them.

B. What It Is.

1. The Participants. “I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Rev. 19:19). This is the seed of the serpent fighting against the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). It is the conflict between Christ and the Antichrist.

2. The Place. The plain of Esdraelon is the place of this battle. It is an ancient battleground. Gideon fought there; Saul and Jonathan were killed there; Josiah was killed by Pharaoh there; the Greeks and Romans battled there; and Napoleon suffered his first defeat there.

3. The Time. The battle occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation, just before the Millennium begins.

4. The End. The end of this battle results in the complete annihilation of the Antichrist’s army. The Antichrist and the False Prophet are then cast alive into Hell. “The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev. 19:20).

VIII. The Millennium.

The Millennium is the thousand-year reign of Christ immediately following the Great Tribulation. Millennium is not a Scriptural word, but it is a Scriptural truth.

A. The Fact of the Millennium.

1. The Lord Has Decreed It (Ps. 2).

2. Christ Taught It (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).

3. The Scriptures Teach It (Is. 2, 11).

4. The Psalmist Described It (Ps. 72).

5. The Angels Declared It (Luke 1).

6. The Transfiguration Pictures It (Matt. 16:28; 17:1).

7. A Gospel Outlines It (Mark 6:45-56).

8. The Apostles Preached It (Acts 2, 3). pg230

9. Nature Longs For It. (Rom. 8).

B. The Description of the Millennium.

1. The Thousand Years (Rev. 21:1-7).

2. The Age to Come (Eph. 1:21).

3. The Day of the LORD (Rev. 6:12-17; Joel 2:10, 11,30, 31; Hag. 2:6,7; Matt. 24; Zech. 14:1-5).

4. In That Day (Is. 4:2; 2:11, 17, 20, 21; 11:11).

5. The Restitution of All Things. “(The Lord] shall send Jesus Christ. . . . whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:20, 21). Some use this verse as meaning the restitution of Christ-rejecting sinners, and even the Devil. But notice that the above verse says, “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.” The prophets say nothing of the restitution of the Devil and sinners.

a. Israel to the Promised Land (Is. 11:10-12).

b. Repentance of the Nations to Jehovah (Zech. 12: 10-14).

c. The Removal of the Band of Iniquity (Zech. 3:9).

d. Restoration of Rain (Joel 2:23-29).

e. Re-engraving of Jehovah’s Law (Jer. 31:28-37).

f. Redistribution of the Land (Ezek. 48).

g. Reconstruction of Jerusalem (Is. 62; Ezek. 40).

h. Restitution From Bondage of Fear (Is. 14:1-3; Jer. 33:14-16).

i. Restitution of Jehovah’s Love (Zeph. 3:16-20).

6. The Regeneration of All Things (Matt. 19:18; Is. 32).

7. The Falling Stone (Dan. 2).

C. The Types of the Millennium.

1. The Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25).

2. The Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23).

3. The Sabbath. It is that rest to come.

4. The Kingdom of Israel Under Solomon’s Reign. This was an absolute reign of peace.

D. The Conditions During the Millennium. pg231

1. The Church, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him we also shall live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us” (II Tim. 2:11, 12). Wherever the Lord shall be, there we shall be with Him (I Thess. 4:17). We shall reign, and we shall judge over angels and the world. I Corinthians 6:2, 3 says, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world. . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?”

2. Satan. Satan shall be sealed and bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-7). The Antichrist is cast into the lake of fire before that (Rev. 19:20).

3. Israel. She shall become the head of all nations again, and will not remain the tail as she is today (Is. 2:1-4; 11:3, 4; 61:5; Zech. 8:23; Deut. 28:13).

4. The Nations of the World. All nations will have to come up to Jerusalem year by year and worship Jehovah there. If they do not keep the yearly Feast of Tabernacles, God will cause no rain to fall upon that nation (Zech. 14:16; Is. 2).

5. Mankind.

a. Spiritual Condition. Some have been led to think that there will be no sin during the Millennium, but there will be. Human nature has never changed from one dispensation to another. There will be universal adoration of Christ (Heb. 8:11; 2:14; Phil. 2:10, 11), but it will be feigned obedience upon the part of many. For example, many in prison obey their warden, not because they love him, but because they must.

Where will these sinners come from, as the Millennium begins with only born-again believers? They will be born of saved parents who came out of the Tribulation alive.

b. Physical Condition. Human life will be lengthened. Some will be able to live throughout the Millennium. There shall be death during this reign of Christ, also — death, not to the believer, but to the unbeliever. No babes or children shall die. When the sinner becomes one hundred years old and still rejects Christ, he shall be cut off by death.

“There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed [cut off]” (Is. 65:20).

c. Moral Condition. This will not be a period of absolute perfection. However, sin will not be allowed to raise its head. Christ shall rule with a rod of iron (Ps. 46:9; Is. 2:4).

Sin, nevertheless, will be committed in the hearts of men.

6. Creation.

a. Physical. When Adam fell, the earth was cursed (Rom. 8:18-23). Man has accomplished wonders with his irrigation systems, and the like, but look what God will do! “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose” (Is. 35:1). See also Isaiah 55:13. Creation shall be restored completely; no more earthquakes; no more storms, famines and pestilences (Joel 2).

b. Animal Creation. Before man sinned, God had put the fear of man in the animals.

They ate the grass of the fields. During the Millennium they shall revert back to the same pg232 order which He had intended for them (Is. 11:6-9). “And a little child shall lead them” (Is. 11:6) means that a child, during the Millennium, shall literally lead animals around. It is not speaking about children leading sinners to the Lord.

IX. The Judgments.

The Bible does not teach a general judgment. Instead, it informs us that there are many judgments, some past, some present and some future. For example, there is the past judgment upon Sodom and there is the future judgment upon Babylon.

A. Judgments of the Christian.

1. Judgment on Sin. When did this occur? For the Christian this is a past judgment, for all of our sins were judged at Calvary. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (I Peter 3:18). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24). See also Galatians 3:13; John 3:16; Isaiah 53:5,6.

2. Judgment on Christian Service. No Christian will have to be judged for his sins; they have already been judged upon the Cross of Calvary. The Christian will have to answer to God for his works. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (II Cor. 5:10). Yes, the Christian has escaped the future judgment of the wicked (“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life” —John 5:24, R.V.⁵⁵), but he shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive rewards for the deeds done in the body. The words, “judgment seat,” are from the Greek word “Bema,” better translated “Rewarding Stand.” This will be set up when Christ comes. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12).

There are several crowns that the Christian may achieve:

a. The Crown of Life. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (Jas. 1:12). See also Revelation 2:10. This is rewarded for faithfulness, even unto death.

b. An Incorruptible Crown. “Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (I Cor. 9:25). This is a reward for those who live separated lives unto the Lord.

c. Crown of Rejoicing. “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (I Thess. 2: 19). This is the soul-winner’s crown.

d. Crown of Glory. “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (I Peter 5:2-4). pg233 This is the shepherds’, pastors’, or ministers’ reward.

e. Crown of Righteousness. “There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” This crown goes to all who love His second coming.

If you love His appearing, you will talk about it. All doctrines are headed up by the Second Coming.

B. Judgment of the Nations.

This takes place at the beginning of the Millennium, the thousand year reign (Matt. 25:31-46). A better name for “nations” is “Gentiles.” This is the judgment of all Gentiles who come out of the Tribulation alive. There are three classes of people mentioned: sheep, goats and brethren. The brethren are the Jews; the sheep are the righteous; and the goats are the unrighteous.

The righteous (sheep, Gentiles) go into the kingdom, then on to eternal life. The unrighteous (goats, Gentiles) are sent immediately to the lake of fire; therefore, they will not be judged at the Great White Throne. They go there a thousand years sooner than the wicked dead.

There are those who contend that this is a judgment of works and that men go to heaven or hell on the basis of their works; for, they say, the Scriptures state that this judgment is based upon the words “inasmuch as ye have done it, or inasmuch as ye did it not.” However, we will show that it is still a judgment based upon faith. The Lord, here, is the judge, and He does mete out judgment on the basis of the words “inasmuch as . . . But let us ask, What prompted the sheep nations to minister to the brethren, the Jews, during the Tribulation? They did it because they accepted the brethren’s preaching. Do you think that they would have visited, clothed, fed and ministered to the brethren during the Tribulation if they had not believed? Remember, the Tribulation is going to be a time of peril. Man will not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. The sheep (Gentiles) defy this order, reject the mark of the beast, and accept what the brethren preach. We know they accept Christ, for the Lord has said, “He that receiveth you receiveth me” (Matt. 10:40). Again we emphasize that the sheep (Gentiles) are saved because of their faith in Christ, for Revelation 7:14 declares it so: “He said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [the Great Tribulation], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The unrighteous nations (goats, Gentiles) are cast into hell because of their unbelief.

They rejected the brethren, thus rejecting Christ.

C. Judgment at the Great White Throne.

This great judgment is found in Revelation 20:11-15: “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead pg234 were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.” It is the judgment only of the wicked dead who have been raised at the last resurrection. No born-again believer shall appear here. The wicked dead are not to be tried as to whether they are going to heaven or hell; it has already been determined that they are going to hell, for they died condemned (John 3:18). This judgment is to determine the degrees of punishment, “according to their works” (Rev. 20:13).

There are two witnesses against them: The Book, and the Books; that is, the Book of Life, and the Book of Works. We do not know what the different degrees of punishment will be.

X. After The Millennium.

“When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breath of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:7-9).

This is the war that ends all war. It is the final conflict of the universe.

A. Satan Loosed.

As he is loosed for a short time, he tries one more thrust at God.

B. Nations Gathered.

We ask ourselves, Who could Satan organize among the Gentiles to fight against God? None other but those unsaved who are ninety-nine years old and younger, who have been born during the last century of the Millennium.

Notice that no army has gathered against them.

C. Army Destroyed.

Fire comes down from heaven and destroys them.

D. Satan Doomed.

He is then cast into the lake of fire prepared for him and his angels.

XI. The Future Of The Wicked.

It is not hard to think of everlasting life, but it is hard to think of an eternity in hell; nevertheless, it is true. pg235

A. The Scriptural Teaching.

1. There Will Be a Day of Judgment (Acts 17:30, 31).

2. Every Man Will Be Judged for His Works (Rom. 2:16; Rev. 20:12).

3. It Is Eternal (Mark 9:43-48). See also Matt. 13.

4. There Will Be Degrees of Punishment (Rev. 20:12; Rom. 2:5, 6).

5. There Will Be a Resurrection of the Unjust As Well As of the Just (John 5:29).

6. Language Describes It (Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:45-48; John 3:36).

7. All Is Based Upon the Character of God as Righteous.

B. The Terms Used.

The following are the places where wicked human beings and angels are, or shall be sent to:

1. Sheol. This is the Old Testament word describing the place of the departed wicked.

2. Hades. This is the New Testament Greek word, describing the immediate state of the wicked dead; it is the same as Sheol. There is nothing in the Bible that speaks of an eternal Hades, or Sheol.

3. Tartarus. This is the place where the wicked angels are chained; it is a place of darkness.

4. Gehenna. Gehenna was the city dump outside of Jerusalem, whose fire never went out. The Lord Himself likened hell unto it, describing the fires of hell that shall always burn: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44).

5. Tophet. “Tophet” is the Old Testament Hebrew word meaning the same as Gehenna.

6. Abyss. This is the place of fallen angels, human beings are never placed here (Rom. 10:7).

7. Lake of Fire. This is found only in the Book of the Revelation. Its meaning is the same as Gehenna.

8. Eternal. Sometimes this word is translated “everlasting.” The meaning is the same.

The punishment of the wicked is eternal. pg236

a. First Interpretation. Thayer translates it to mean “without beginning and without end.”

b. Second Interpretation. This states that “eternal” means “without beginning.”

c. Third Interpretation. This holds that “eternal” means “without ending.” We agree with all three. We do not hold to the interpretation that it means only “age lasting.” Some would have us believe that the wicked will endure hell for just an age. But the word “eternal” describing hell is the same word which describes eternal life (John 3:16), and the everlasting God (Rom. 16:26), and the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ (II Peter 1:11).

C. The Theories Proposed.

1. Universalism. This is the belief that all will finally be saved, including the Devil.

What would the words “judge” and “judgments” mean if they did not mean judge or judgment. When God speaks about eternal judgment, He means eternal judgment (Acts 3:21-24; I Cor. 15:22; Matt. 18:9; John 3:36).

2. Conditionalism. This false teaching was not found in the Early Church, but it first made its appearance in the nineteenth century. It was reasoned that eternal life is based upon the acceptance of Jesus Christ. If one accepts Him, he has eternal life. If he does not accept Him, he will never live; non-acceptance in this life will result in non-existence in the future life. There is no Scriptural foundation for this theory.

3. Everlasting Punishment. This is based upon Biblical truth, which connects sin with punishment. All sins committed are committed against eternity. He who sins by rejecting Jesus Christ shall endure eternal punishment.

XII. Heaven.

The Scriptures teach that there are three heavens:

A. First Heaven. This is the region of the clouds where the birds fly, the atmospheric heaven.

B. Second Heaven. This is the stellar heaven, where the stars are located.

C. Third Heaven. This is the place where God lives; it is the place where Jesus came from.

The Lord Jesus went through the first and second heaven to get to the third heaven.

“Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14, R.V.⁵⁶).

Heaven is just as real as the clouds and stars. It is the place where Stephen saw God; the place to which John was caught up by the Spirit. The first thing he saw, was the Lord Jesus. He is the heart of heaven (Rev. 1, Heb. 9:24). Paul, too, was caught up to the third pg237 heaven (II Cor. 12:2). Where is heaven? Does the Bible make it clear? Heaven is always in the north. “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). See also Isaiah 14:12-14; Psalm 82:1; 48:2.

Is heaven foursquare? Is it a cube? What will man have for his future home? Will it be a small cubby hole in a square city? Is heaven only fifteen hundred miles square? While the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21,22) is foursquare, this is only a city of heaven, which descends as a present for the Bride.

Those who go there will live in perfect peace and perfect love for all time and eternity.

“Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Heb. 12:22). ⁵⁷

Chapter 5 Ironside's Lectures on Revelation

A work on eschatology would be remiss if it did not include H. A. Ironside's 1920, hundred year old, “Lectures on the Book of Revelation.” Henry Allen Ironside (1876 Toronto Canada, 1951 New Zealand) lived through two world wars (WWI 1914-1918, and WWII 1939-1945) and understood from God's Word that no Catholic Church was going to bring peace on earth or usher in a kingdom age. Ironside was a gifted Bible expositor and orator of the 20^th century; a genuine dispensationalist. Ironside removes all Catholic and Protestant allegorical interpretation of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and rightly divides the Word of Truth.

Ironside's excellent exposé was written in the face of a preponderance of religious Amillennialism and Replacement Theology. Further Ironside's insights are remarkable because they came after The Great War when many turned focus on the end of the world, and they were revisited after WWII when another such awakening revisited eschatology. In his Preface to the 1930 Edition Ironside said in essence, “I need not change a thing”, as rehearsed below:

The eleven years that have elapsed since these lectures were first issued in printed form, have but given added proof that the system of interpretation followed is the Scriptural one. The word of prophecy is confirmed by the passing of the years. Everything in the Church, in Jewry, and in the world, moves on exactly as predicted in the Holy Scriptures.

It is a matter of sincere gratification to the author, that, in preparing a new edition, in response to the ever-increasing demand for this unpretentious volume, there has not been an interpretation to discard nor a matter of any importance to alter. A few typographical errors have been corrected; an occasional sentence has been recast; here and there an entire paragraph has been altered; but only to make the teaching less ambiguous, or to change awkward expressions so as to clarify the whole. Otherwise this edition is practically the same as that of 1919.

May GOD continue to use it to the awakening of believers to the imminence of the Lord's return, and to the arousing of the unsaved that they may come to CHRIST ere the door of grace be closed.

H. A. Ironside

Chicago, 1l Sept. 1930.

Henry Allen Ironside's “Lectures on the Book of Revelation” is public domain and made available in its entirety on our site www.GSBaptistChurch.com/theology; every Bible student should have a copy of his lectures. This chapter contains his Lectures 1 & 2, and Lectures 5 – 22 (Lectures 3 & 4 are found in the Ecclesiology volume of this effort). Open your Bible's and absorb the truths expounded in Ironside's Lectures.

Lecture 1 The Introduction

(Revelation 1:1-8)

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IT is certainly cause for deep regret that to so many Christians the Book of Revelation seems to be what God never intended it should be - a sealed book. The book of Daniel was to be sealed till the time of the end (Daniel 12:9), but of Revelation it is written: “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand” (Chap. 22:10). It is clearly evident that this portion of Holy Scripture was given for our instruction and edification, but thousands of the Lord’s people permit themselves to be robbed of blessing by it.

Significantly enough, it is the one book of the Bible which begins and ends with a blessing pronounced on those who read and keep what is written therein (Chap. 1:3; 2:7). Surely God did not mean to mock us by promising a blessing on all who keep what they cannot hope to understand! It is only unbelief that would so reason. Faith delights to appropriate every part of the sacred record, and finds that “they are all clear to him that understandeth.” (Prov 8:9).

The true title is given us in the opening verse. It is, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” not” The Revelation of St. John the Divine.” There is no authority for this latter designation, and it shows all too plainly how far some early editor had slipped away from first principles. John was a saint as all believers are saints. He was not a divine! Such a title would have amazed him beyond measure. Nor is the book the revelation of John or of any other servant of God. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself.

The word rendered “revelation,” and sometimes “ apocalypse,” means literally an unveiling, or manifestation. So this book is the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is its one great theme. It presents Him as the Son of Man in the midst of the churches during the present dispensation: and as the Judge and the King in the dispensations to come. If you would learn to appreciate Christ more, read this book, frequently and prayerfully. It reveals Him as the Lamb rejected, soon to reign in glory the Lamb on the. throne!

And observe the title is not in the plural. People often speak of the book of Revelations. There is no such book in the Bible. It is the Revelation - one blessed, continuous manifestation of God’s unique Son, the anointed Prophet, Priest and King. Revelation is the crowning book of the Bible. It is like the Head-stone of Zechariah 4:7 that completes and crowns the whole wondrous pyramid of truth.

Of this vast pyramid the Pentateuch of Moses forms the broad, solid foundation. Upon this is built up the Covenant History. Then the Psalms and Poetical Books. Then the Prophetic Series of the Old Testament. Higher up we have the Gospels and the Acts. Then the Epistles with their deep spiritual instruction; and to complete the glorious structure, this last, solemn, but exceedingly precious book, the Revelation, linking all the rest with the soon-to-be-manifested glory of God.

Or if you think of Holy Scripture as forming a great golden circle of truth, we start with Genesis, the book of beginnings, and go on through the Testaments until we come to Revelation - the book of the last things; and, lo, we find it dovetails exactly into the book of Genesis, and thus perfects the inspired ring! The Word of God is one absolutely perfect, unbroken, and unbreakable circle.

A comparison of Genesis and Revelation will readily make this plain, and show how we have the types in Genesis and the completion of the truth in Revelation: - in the one book the beginning, in the other the consummation.

Genesis gives us the creation of the heavens and the earth. Revelation presents a new heaven and a new earth.

Genesis shows us the earthly paradise, with the tree of life and the river of blessing, lost through sin. Revelation gives us the Paradise of God with the Tree of Life and the pure river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb - Paradise regained through Christ’s atonement.

In Genesis we see the first man and his wife set over all God’s creation. In Revelation we behold the Second Man and His Bride ruling over a redeemed world.

In Genesis we are told of the first typical sacrificial lamb. In Revelation the Lamb once slain is in the midst of the throne.

In Genesis we learn of the beginning of sin, when the serpent first entered the garden of delight to beguile Adam and Eve with his sophistries. In Revelation that old Serpent called the devil and Satan is cast into the lake of fire.

In Genesis we have the first murderer, the first polygamist, the first rebel, the first drunkard. etc.

In Revelation all such, who refuse to accept God’s grace in Christ Jesus, are banished from His presence forever.

In Genesis we view the rise of Babel, or Babylon. In Revelation we are called to contemplate its doom.

In Genesis we see man’s city; in Revelation the city of God.

Genesis shows us how sorrow, death, pain and tears, the inevitable accompaniments of sin and rebellion, came into the world. Revelation does not close until we have seen God wiping away all tears, and welcoming His redeemed into a home where sin, death, pain and sorrow never come.

And so we might go on for an hour, contrasting and comparing these two books, but enough has been cited, I trust, to stir each interested believer to study for himself. What we get ourselves out of our Bibles is, in the presence of God, worth far more than all that another passes on to us. We may learn from each other, but it is best to take nothing for granted; but, like Ruth the Moabitess, to “beat out that she had gleaned”(Ruth 2:17) through meditation and prayer.

But before we examine with some degree of care the opening verses of this remarkable book, it may be well to point out that there are three very distinct views of Revelation presented by those who seek to comment upon, or expound it. They are generally known as the Preterist, Historical, and Futurist. Each of the three systems of interpretation might be subdivided into various, conflicting schools, but the names give the main point of view in each case.

As a rule, the preterists see very little in the book beyond a weird religio-political document supposedly written by some unknown person who took the name of John in order to give acceptance to his writings, or else some other John than the apostle of that name, whose real object was to comfort his Christian brethren in a time of great persecution under one of the Roman Emperors by portraying the final outcome of the stern conflict as a great victory for the saints, resulting in the overthrow of paganism and the recognition of a glorious city of God in its place.

Scholars of The historical school believe they see in the momentous events of the last nineteen hundred years, the fulfillment of the seals, trumpets and vials, and the other special visions of the book. According to this, there can be no possible understanding of Revelation apart from a thorough knowledge of the history of the nations comprising Christendom - the sphere where Christ’s authority is nominally owned. Many and varied are the schools of interpretation founded on this supposition or hypothesis.

Generally speaking, The futurists as a rule consider that the largest part of the book applies to a period still future, and that only the first three chapters refer to the present Church dispensation. Some extreme futurists even relegate these chapters to the end-times also, and so do not see the Church in Revelation at all.

As we go on with our attempt to expound the book, our own position will be seen to coincide with that of the futurists first mentioned, but we reserve for a later lecture the ground upon which this view is based.

Turning again to the text, we note, in verse one, that the Revelation of Jesus Christ was given by the Father to the Son, as David revealed to Solomon All his plans in connection with the building of the future temple. God is represented as being in counsel with our Lord Jesus Christ concerning “things which must shortly come to pass,” and which it is the joy of His heart to communicate to His servants. An angel becomes the medium to make all known to the beloved apostle John, who, in this sense, is to tarry in the Church till the coming of the Lord - that is, his line of ministry carries us on to that blessed event. Note then the order through which the revelation came down to us. God gave it to Jesus Christ, who sent it by His angel to His servant John to show unto His servants the coming things.

He is said to have signified it; that is, He made it known by signs or symbols. It is important to bear this in mind. This book is a book of symbols. But the careful student of the Word need not exercise his own ingenuity in order to think out the meanings of the symbols. It may be laid down as a principle of first importance that every symbol used in Revelation is explained or alluded to somewhere else in the Bible. Therefore, he who would get God’s mind as to this portion of His Word must study with earnest and prayerful attention every other part of Holy Scripture. Undoubtedly this is why so great a blessing is in store for those who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things written therein (ver. 3).

Verses 4 to 8 comprise the salutation. The book is particularly addressed, as a great general epistle, to “the seven churches in Asia.” By the term Asia we are not to understand the continent that now bears that name, nor yet what we speak of as Asia Minor, but a Roman proconsular province which of old was distinctively denominated “Asia.” In John’s day there were many Christian churches already established in that province, and of these, seven are selected to be especially addressed. If any ask why these seven were selected in preference to others (as for instance Colosse and Hierapolis, in both of which were important churches), my answer is that the geographical position of these churches was in keeping with the vision presented in verses 12 to 18. They formed a rough circle in the midst of which Christ was beheld by the seer, standing in His priestly garb, taking note of all that was going on.

But there was more than this: the internal conditions prevailing in these churches were suited to portray the state of the whole sphere of Christian profession in seven distinct periods, from the apostolic days to the close of the church’s testimony on earth. Even the very names of the seven cities, when interpreted, help to make this plain; they become, so to speak, keys to the different periods to which they apply. But the proof of this must be reserved for the next three addresses.

Observe how the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are linked together in the salutation. “He who is, and who was, and who is to come,” is the Lord Jehovah. This is the literal meaning of the mystic name communicated to Moses.

“Jehovah” is a compound formed from three words: - The first meaning He is, - The second, He was, - The third, He will be, or He will come. Jehovah is the triune God, hence the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are alike called by this name. But in the present passage it is clearly God the Father who is in view. The Spirit comes before us in the next clause, “and from the seven Spirits that are before His throne.” If it is hard to understand how the one, eternal Holy Spirit can be so pictured, turn to Isaiah 11:1, 2. There we read of the seven Spirits who rest upon the Branch of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note the order given.

1. The Spirit of the Lord.

2. The Spirit of Wisdom.

3. The Spirit of Understanding.

4. The Spirit of Counsel.

5. The Spirit of Might.

6. The Spirit of Knowledge.

7. The Spirit of Fear of the Lord.

In this passage, we see the one Spirit in the seven-fold plenitude of His power. Seven, mentioned so frequently in this book, is the number of perfection, and is so used here. Then, with the Father and the Spirit, we have Jesus Christ as “the faithful Witness” when here on earth, “the First-begotten of the dead” in resurrection glory, and “the Prince of the kings of the earth” when He comes again to reign.

No wonder an outburst of praise and worship follows at this full revelation of His glories: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” John’s heart was full and could hold in no longer. Adoration and praise were the spontaneous result of contemplation of Christ’s person and offices as Prophet, Priest and King.

Then John heralds the glad news of His coming again. He is going to return - not as a babe, born of woman, but the glorified One descending from heaven; and by a stupendous miracle, every eye shall see Him, while “all the tribes of the earth shall mourn” because of Him. This, I am persuaded, is the true meaning, and refers to Zechariah 12, where all the tribes of restored Israel are seen by the prophet mourning over their past rejection of Christ, and lament their folly, while awaiting His return. John speaks for all the church when he cries with rapture, “Even so. Amen!” Does your heart take up the same glad welcoming shout; or can it be that you are unready to meet Him, and would dread His return?

In the 8th. verse it is the Son who speaks, and now He declares Himself to be Jehovah also, One eternally with the Father. He is the Alpha and Omega - the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - the beginning and the ending: He created all things; He will wind up all things, and bring in the new heavens and the new earth. He is, and was, and is the coming One, El Shaddai who of old appeared to Abraham - the Almighty. May our hearts be occupied with Himself, and His return be ever for us “that blessed Hope!” (Titus 2:13) ~

end of Lecture 1 ~ ***

Lecture 2 The First Vision

(Revelation 1:9-20)

IN our study of the first chapter last week, we got down to the first Vision of the book. The apostle John tells us that for the Name’s sake of the Lord Jesus Christ he was a prisoner banished to “the isle called Patmos”- a little rocky island in the Mediterranean Sea. There, shut away from all Christian fellowship, God had a greater mission for him than he had ever known in the past.

You remember on the occasion when the Lord Jesus restored Peter’s soul after his fall, He told him how when he was old another would gird him and lead him whither he would not, thus signifying by what death he should glorify God. Then Jesus said, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, and said, “Lord, what shall this man do?” The Lord answered, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” You will notice that in that sentence the Lord Jesus very clearly sets forth two things that are often confounded by some Christian teachers - death and the second coming of Christ. He says, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” and He clearly puts “tarry till I come” in contrast with Peter’s dying before He comes. There is no place in Scripture where death and our Lord’s second coming are confounded. For death, instead of being the second coming of the Lord, is that which is to be swallowed up in victory at that second coming. But, you know, most of us are extremists, so when the Lord said to Peter, “If I will that he tarry till I come,” we are told that this saying went abroad among the disciples that “that disciple should not die”; but Jesus said not that he should not die, but “If I will that he tarry till I come.” And, of course, time proved that their hasty conclusion was incorrect.

And John also died, long years ago; but some years before the end of his earthly life, while on that desolate island of Patmos, where he was banished for his faithfulness, he had a wonderful vision unfolded before him, of truth connected with our Lord Jesus’ second coming, by means of which his ministry abides with us until Christ shall come again. John is absent from the body, but present with the Lord - has been for over 1800 years; but through the ministry given to us in this wonderful book of Revelation, John abides still until Jesus comes, throwing light upon all the complex problems that God’s people would have to meet in this present dispensation, and gives us to understand, as no other ministry does, the great program that God Himself is soon going to carry out.

So we see that the devil really over-reached himself when Domitian banished John to the isle of Patmos; for if he had remained ministering the Word to the saints and preaching to the unsaved, he might not have been able to write the book of Revelation and we might not have the visions this book gives us. But there, shut off from all his service, on that lonely isle, the veil was rolled back, and he was enabled to give us this wonderful record of the unveiling of Jesus Christ.

John tells us he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” The Lord’s Day is a divinely given designation for the first day of the week. I know there are those who tell us the Lord’s Day here is the Jewish Sabbath, which in the Old Testament is called the Sabbath of the Lord; and they tell us that inasmuch as nowhere in the New Testament is the Jewish Sabbath done away with, it should still be observed. But, in answer to that, we may notice that nowhere in all the New Testament, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, do we ever have any special honor paid to the seventh day - Israel’s Sabbath. On that day, the Lord lay in the tomb. On the morning of the first day of the week, “when the Sabbaths were past”- as the 28th of Matthew puts it, that is, when the Jewish Sabbaths were ended - the Lord rose in triumph from the dead, and that new day became distinctly the Lord’s Day.

You find in the Word of God that “on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread”; on the first day of the week the Lord met with His own in the upper room. In connection with their gathering thus together, see the 16th chapter of I Corinthians, 2nd verse: “Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” Thus Christian giving and the weekly remembrance of the Lord are linked together. It is safe to say that if Christians everywhere carried this out, there would be no “financial problem” in the church of God to-day.

The first day of the week is preeminently the day for Christians. Whenever the earliest Christian writers refer to the term “Lord’s Day,” they speak of it as the first day of the week; the day after the Jewish Sabbath; the day we Christians call “the Lord’s Day.” I venture to say that people who lived from fifty to two hundred years after the apostle John were far more likely to know what was meant by the term “Lord’s Day” than people who live 1800 years after. I know there are some prophetic students who confuse the Lord’s Day with the “great day of the Lord,” but there is a decided difference in the two terms. The Lord’s Day is not in the possessive case in the Hebrew. The word translated “Lord’s” is an adjective. If it were permissible to say the Lordian day, you would have the exact meaning of this word. Such an adjective has been formed from the word Christ. We say a “Christian spirit,” etc. So the Lordian or Lordly Day is the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ broke the bonds of death asunder and rose, never more to die; and we Christians love to keep this day in memory of Him.

On that day, John says, “I was in the Spirit.” John was far away from any Christian assembly, but he found his pleasure in the things of God. Some Christians you know go to meeting every Lord’s day when at home, but when on their vacations, or away from town, the Lord’s day is just like any other day because nobody knows them. But John, shut away from any Christian association, was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” It is good to see a Christian take his Bible with him when on a vacation, and have daily intercourse with the Lord, or look up someone who does not know Jesus Christ and seek to make Him known to that needy one. See to it that you are in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.

Being “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day, John had a glorious vision of the Lord Himself. First he heard a voice, then he saw a form. He heard a voice saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. What thou seest, write in a book,” etc. “And being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks [lampstands].” If I understand it aright, these were not like the candlesticks in the temple and in the tabernacle. Those were seven-branched; six sidebranches, and the central shaft made the seven. But John saw seven separate lampstands. Christ is represented by the seven-branched candlestick in the holy place, and the Spirit of God is represented by the seven lamps upon it. But during His absence - during the time of His priesthood up there in heaven, His people are to be lights for Him in this world. So John sees in this first vision not one candlestick with seven branches, but seven distinct lampstands in the form of a circle, and in the midst of them he sees One like unto the Son of Man girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. It is the Lord judging in the midst of His assemblies.

Then we learn what these lampstands symbolize. They are the seven churches situated in the Roman proconsular province of Asia, and these seven were selected from all the assemblies of God, in order that they might picture for us the whole course of the church’s history until the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His absence, the church of God is responsible to keep a light burning in the midst of the darkness. You remember He said. while here on earth, “I am the Light of the world,” etc., and before He went away, He said to His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world.” He has gone up to the glory, and we and all the members of His church are to shine for Him here.

What kind of light are you giving out for Jesus? Do your next-door neighbors appreciate your Christianity? Do the people that you do business with think much of it? What about the tradesmen and your business associates - all these folks with whom you have to do so much of the time? I would rather get the testimony of the people with whom you have to do than of those you meet in the public assemblies. When a man is really converted, it changes him through and through.

The church of God and individual assemblies of Christians are in this world to shine for Christ. We are here not merely to enjoy the things of Christ ourselves, but to hold up Christ to the world. Speaking of the Lord’s Supper, the apostle says, in I Corinthians 11:26: “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” The word translated “shew” in that passage is the same word that is used elsewhere for preaching; “you preach the Lord’s death.” It is a testimony to sinners, as well as something for the church to enjoy. The church of God is here to shine for Christ, and we shine for Him as He is exalted in our gatherings and manifested in our lives.

“I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man.” In many respects He seemed different from what John remembered Him, except when on the Mount of Transfiguration. But he knew who He was - “One like unto the Son of Man.” John had known Him well on earth, and he knew Him the moment He appeared in that glorious vision.

Note how He is described, “clothed with a garment down to the foot” - the priestly garment. He is there in the long, white garments of the high priest, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. The girdle speaks of service. We read of the servant girding himself and waiting upon the table. Here it is a high-priestly service. Our blessed Lord is now serving us at God’s right hand. Looking back to the cross where Jesus hung in sacrifice for us, we rejoice to remember His dying words, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Nothing can be added to, and nothing taken away from, that completed work. But there is another work He is now carrying on for His people. Although up there in the glory, He is serving us still. His people need His help all along the way. The moment you belong to the Lord Jesus, you are brought into living union with our great High Priest at God’s right hand. “He is able to save to the uttermost” all those who come to God through faith by Him, seeing “He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). He does not ask you to go in your own strength. Trust Him as Saviour, and let Him fill your heart and control your life. He will live His life in you, to His praise and glory. We are to come boldly to a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find seasonable help. The girdle is a golden one, and Christ’s service is in full accord with God’s holy and righteous ways.

Notice the 14th verse: “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire.” I said last Sunday night that every figure, every symbol, found in this book is explained somewhere else in the Bible. Turn now to Daniel 7:9-13. There we read of the Ancient of Days and of the Son of Man. Now observe John said that the One in the midst of the seven lampstands was “like unto the Son of Man.” He was undoubtedly linking that up with the seventh chapter of Daniel. He goes on to describe Him as one “whose hair is white as snow.” He had all the appearance of great age, though the Lord Jesus was cut off at the age of thirty-three.

Observe again the 7th of Daniel, verse 9, “And the Ancient of Days did sit, and the hair of his head as pure wool,” etc. Who is the Ancient of Days? In the 7th of Daniel He is the Jehovah of Israel, and to Him the Son of Man comes. But we learn that the Son of Man is Himself the Ancient of Days. In other words, the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament. Christ is Himself “God manifest in the flesh.”

Turn to Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Who is the Saviour born in Bethlehem? He is the One “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the Ancient of Days, and this is one of the truths that Christians are called to contend for in these times of apostasy. Ministers are telling people that we are all sons of God. They deny Christ’s virgin birth and deity, and say that He is simply the greatest of all teachers sent from God. But that is not enough for the Christian. Christ is God, or we and those in heaven are idolaters, for it is He who is worshiped there, and here. The Unitarian believes in God the Father, but not in the Son; he says, “Don’t draw the lines too straight - Jesus is only a creature.” If that Unitarian is right, I am an idolater, for I am worshiping Jesus Christ. I worship, not Buddha, not Brahma, but Jesus, and own Him as God. Yet some would tell me that it does not make any difference! It makes a tremendous difference, for both time and eternity. It is going to mean all the difference between heaven and hell. For the Lord Jesus says, “Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come.” We confess Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh, the Only-begotten Son of God, the anointed One who came in grace to save lost, guilty sinners. Are you trusting Him as your Saviour?

So we see that this One in the midst is the Son of Man, yet God Himself. The Lord Jesus has that double character, and His place is always in the midst. Jesus in the midst! No company of believers deserves to be called a Christian company that does not give Him that place. But, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name,” He says, “there am I in the midst.” You remember when He hung on that cross, between two thieves, He saved one of them who turned to Him in faith. When He rose from the dead, and His disciples were gathered together in the upper room, “Then came Jesus and stood in the midst.” In the 5th chapter of the Revelation, John looked and saw the Lamb “in the midst of the throne, in the midst of the elders, and in the midst of the living creatures.” This is the place that ever belongs to the Lord Jesus - the central place, the preeminent place. God must have Jesus in the midst.

But let us turn back to our chapter. “His eyes were as a flame of fire.” John did not know Him in that way on earth, except perhaps as He rebuked the Pharisees; but remember that all who do not accept Him now are going to see His eyes like a flame of fire.

There will be nothing hid from those eyes. They will discern everything that you would fain hide. All will be out in the light, and brought into judgment. Oh, have everything out with Him now. Do you realize that the first time you meet God, you must meet Him with all your sins upon your soul? Have you had a meeting with Him yet? If the first time you meet Him is at the day of judgment, it will be too late. You can have your first meeting with Him in this world. You can meet Him by faith. Do not try to improve or to make yourself better. Come just as you are, without one plea, but that He is the sinner’s Saviour and invites you to come; you will find that those eyes, that are as a flame of fire and look into the depths of your soul, will become filled with tenderest love, and will draw you to Himself.

But John’s description goes on to say: “His feet (were) like unto fine brass.” Brass in the Old Testament is the symbol of judgment. The brazen altar which stood before the tabernacle was that on which the fire of God’s judgment was burning continually. It was of brass, * because brass could stand the fire. You will find throughout Scripture it is a symbol of judgment. And here He has feet like brass; for His ways are in righteousness unyielding. The day is coming when He shall put His feet on everything contrary to truth and righteousness. Everything unholy will be stamped out in divine judgment.

* The peculiar metal referred to was really a very hard copper alloy; but I use the word “brass” as employed in our English Bible.

His voice is as the sound of many waters. When you stand on the cliff by the seaside and hear the sound of many waters, you are awed by their power. Yon ship, which looks so large and strong at the docks, what a helpless thing it is when the ocean rouses itself in furious anger. His voice is as the sound of the billows of the sea - a voice of power. That power, - Put forth in grace, means your salvation; - Put forth in judgment, it means your eternal damnation! You may pass from death into life by hearing His voice now. He can speak to your poor soul, and in a moment create your heart anew. Here is what He says: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25 emphasis added) Hearing His voice, believing His word, you live! Have you heard that voice of power? Soon, His people will hear that same mighty voice calling them from earth away, “for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,” and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and the living saints shall be changed. Sometimes Christians become discouraged, but when that voice, like the sound of many waters, says from heaven, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song 2:10,13), we will be caught up in a moment to meet Him in the air.

“He had in His right hand seven stars.” The stars speak of ministry committed to His saints, as responsible to shine by His light and for Him in this world. “They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3). He holds the stars in His right hand. “Out of His mouth went forth a sharp two-edged sword.” It is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). Men are trifling with that two-edged sword, but they will find out soon that it is powerful, irresistible.

“His countenance was as the sun shining in his strength.” Malachi 4:2; “But unto you that fear my Name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” When Saul of Tarsus was stricken down, remember what he saw - a light above the brightness of the sun. It was the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. It was this that John saw, and he fell at His feet. But He laid His right hand upon John, and said, “Fear not, I am the First and the Last. I am he that Liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.”

What is death? It is the body without the spirit: “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). There is no such thing in the Bible as soul-sleeping. The spirit of the man is not in the grave. The body goes down to the grave. But the spirit is in the unseen world. Hades is the condition of the spirit without the body. Christ has the keys of both death and Hades.

In the 19th verse we get the three-fold division of the Book of the Revelation: “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter”- or, “after these things.” “The things which thou hast seen” are the things of chapter one - the first division of the Book of the Revelation.

“The things which are” follow in the next two chapters and make the second division. “The things which are” have to do with the present dispensation. The seven churches give us a picture of the whole professing church’s history from the apostolic period to the coming of the Lord Jesus. These two chapters portray the condition of the church on earth, in seven distinct periods. The church’s history ends at the rapture, when Jesus comes as the Bright and Morning Star. That event closes the present dispensation.

“The things which shall be hereafter,” chapters 4 to the end, make the third and last division of the book - the things which shall take place after the church’s history ends - the great tribulation, the kingdom, and the eternal state.

But our time is up and I must close for to-night.

~ end of Lecture 2 ~ ***

Ironside's Lectures 3 and 4 are presented in their entirety in Volume 9 – Ecclesiology – Chapter 4 The Prophetic History of The True Church, pg 69.

Lecture 5 The First Vision of Heaven

(Revelation 4)

As we turn from chapter 3 to chapter 4, how different the scenes! We are no longer occupied with the professing church in the place of testimony, nor with events on the earth at all; but a door is opened in heaven, and, escorted by the beloved apostle John, if I may so speak, we are carried far above the shifting scenes of this poor world, and permitted to gaze with awe-struck eyes upon a scene of glory indescribable, and to hear things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

The opening verse begins the third great division of this book - “I will shew thee things which must be hereafter”; the stirring panorama of wonders, both heavenly and earthly, which must take place after the church’s history is ended.

From the close of chapter 3, we never see the church on earth again through all the rest of this solemn book. We read of “saints,” but they are distinct altogether from the church of the present dispensation. Israel comes into view and a great multitude of spared Gentiles, saved out of the great tribulation; but no church, no body of Christ, no bride of the Lamb any more upon the earth!

The fact is patent enough for every careful reader to notice it. What is the explanation of it? Simply this, I believe: we must understand the rapture, of I Thessalonians 4:16, 17, as transpiring between chapter 3 and chapter 4. Of this the rapture of the apostle is the symbol. He sees the door opened in heaven. His attention is turned from earth to glory. He is, in spirit, caught up, and far above all the mists of this lower scene he beholds a “throne set in heaven,” and a Thronesitter upon it. The likeness of this august Being he cannot even attempt to portray. He only tells us he beheld a Presence whose glory was like a jasper and a sardius.

The jasper of the Revelation is not the opaque stone we know by that name. It is later described as clear as crystal (chap. 21:11). It is probably the diamond, the most brilliant of all the precious jewels. The other stone is blood-red, and may really be the ruby. Thus the two together give the idea of glory and of sacrifice. Remembering that many of the first readers of the Revelation were converted Jews, we might ask, What would these stones suggest to them? Surely every instructed Hebrew would instantly recall that they were the first and last stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:17- 20). As these stones bore the names of the tribes of Israel, arranged according to the births of the twelve patriarchs, the one would suggest at once the name Reuben, “Behold a Son,” and the other Benjamin, “Son of my right hand.” It is Christ enthroned; the Son about to reign in power who is before the Seer’s vision. Round about the throne a rainbow, like an emerald, the stone of Judah (“Praise”) is seen, suggesting the perpetuity of the Noahic covenant, and God’s unchanging goodness, despite all man’s failure, folly and wickedness.

But now the fourth verse brings before us a sight never beheld in heaven on any previous occasion: twenty-four thrones (not merely “seats”) surrounding the central throne, and upon them twenty-four elders seated with victors’ crowns (not diadems) upon their heads, and clothed in priestly robes of purest white. Who are these favored ones gathered around the glorious central Being? I do not think we need be in any doubt as to their identity, if we compare Scripture with Scripture and distrust our own imagination, which can but lead us astray.

In I Chronicles, chapter 24, we read of something very similar; and again I would remind you that many of John’s first readers were Hebrews, thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament. Can we question for a moment that every Jewish believer would instantly remember the twenty-four elders appointed by King David to represent the entire Levitical priesthood? He divided the priests into twenty-four courses, each course to serve for two weeks at a time in the temple which Solomon was to build. The same arrangement was in force when our Lord’s forerunner was announced. Zacharias was “of the course of Abiah,” the eighth in order (Luke 1:5).

The priests were many thousands in number; they could not all come together at one time, but when the twenty-four elders met in the temple precincts in Jerusalem, the whole priestly house was represented. And this is the explanation, I submit, of the symbol here. The elders in heaven represent the whole heavenly priesthood - that is, all the redeemed who have died in the past, or who shall be living at the Lord’s return. In vision they were seen - not as a multitudinous host of millions of saved worshipers, but just twenty-four elders, symbolizing the entire company. The church of the present age and Old Testament saints are alike included. All are priests. All worship. There were twelve patriarchs in Israel, and twelve apostles introducing the new dispensation. The two together would give the complete four and twenty.

Then, observe further: these persons are not angels. They are redeemed men who have overcome in the conflict with Satan and the world, for they wear victors’ wreaths upon their brows. Angels are never said to be “crowned,” nor have they known redemption.

There are two kinds of crowns mentioned in this book: - The victor’s crown, and - The ruler’s diadem. The former is the word here used. It refers to the wreath, of laurel or of pine, bound about the brow of the victor in the Greek games; it is the same word so often used in the New Testament when reward for service is the theme. And now, note carefully: no saints will ever be crowned until the apostle Paul receives that crown of righteousness which the Lord revealed to him as his reward. In II Timothy 4:8, he says: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love (or, have loved) His appearing.” The expression “at that day” refers to the day of Christ, when He shall come for His own, and they will all be manifested before His judgment-seat. He says: “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). Surely it follows then that no rewards are given out till He returns for His saints. Therefore there can be no crowned elders in heaven till after the rapture.

This, I believe, is a point of greatest importance to-day; for many are being troubled by the thought that perhaps the great tribulation, of which so large a part of this book treats, has already begun. But all such fears are set at rest when the facts I have been emphasizing are kept in mind. But as I want to dwell a little on this in the next lecture, I forbear further comment now. Only I trust it is clear to all that the elders are the heavenly saints, surrounding the Lord in glory, God the Son sitting on the central throne.

There are circumstances connected with that throne which make it clear that a dreadful storm is about to burst on that world below, from which they are viewed as having so lately come. Lightnings, thunderings, and voices tell of this; and as we go on in the study of the book, we shall see more added from time to time as conditions become increasingly solemn.

Following out the symbolism of the tabernacle, seven lamps of fire are seen burning before the throne, as the seven-branched lampstand burned just outside the veil, before God’s throne on earth - the ark of old. These lamps are said to be “the seven Spirits of God,” a figure which we have already seen (in chapter 1:4) sets forth, not seven distinct Spirits, but the one Holy Spirit in the seven-fold plenitude of His power.

The sea of glass of verse five calls to mind the sea of brass in Solomon’s temple. That sea symbolized, like the laver, the Word of God, for it contained the water used for priestly cleansing, and we are sanctified and cleansed by “the washing of water by the Word.” But this sea is not for cleansing, so it is as crystal, and later, we find the martyred tribulation-saints standing on it. It is the Word of God still, but no longer needed for cleansing, because desert experiences are viewed here as forever passed. But the Word abides, stable and sure forevermore - a glassy sea filled with crystal - firm and glorious, on which the people of God can stand eternally.

The four “beasts”, or “living ones” are in the midst of the throne, where only Deity can dwell, and they are linked with it round about. They represent the attributes of the living God.

- The lion is the well-known symbol of divine majesty.

- The young ox, the divine strength graciously serving man.

- The face of a man indicates intelligence and purpose; it tells us that Deity is no mere blind force, nor the “Great First Cause” or impersonal Law simply.

- The eagle suggests swiftness in detecting evil and executing judgment.

Six-winged and full of eyes they speak of incessant activity and omniscience. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” They cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come,” for all God’s attributes glorify the Eternal Son.

The elders bow in worship at this announcement, and cast their crowns at the feet of Him that sits upon the throne, adoring Him as Creator, saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” A higher note is struck in chapter five, but the blessed truth is here proclaimed, that He who died on the cross is worshiped by all the redeemed in heaven. There can be no mistake as to the Person. If John chap. I, Colossians I and Hebrews I are all carefully compared with this closing verse, it makes it perfectly clear that it is Christ Jesus, the Son, who created all things. Without Him was nothing made. All things are by Him and for Him. So He it is who fills the throne and is the center of the worship here described.

In a day such as ours, when His glory as the Eternal Son is so often denied, when His true Deity, His virgin-birth, His sinless humanity are all alike flouted by apostate teachers as so much traditional lore to be rejected at will, how refreshing to the soul to turn from earth to heaven and contemplate the glory displayed there as His and the unhindered adoration of His own as they prostrate themselves before His throne. If He be not God, then heaven will be filled with idolaters, for it is written: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

But we need not for a moment enter such an “if.” He is “God over all, blessed forever,” and He is also Man. God the Son in grace was born of the virgin, and He it is who fills the throne above. Nor will He ever abdicate that throne, even though He shall soon descend to gather His own to Himself, and to reign over all the earth as Son of Man, sitting on the throne of His father David. Both thrones are His, for all glory belongs to Him by the Father’s firm decree. Thus shall all men eventually honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

I add a further word as to the living creatures.

- In chapter 4 we see them linked peculiarly with the throne.

- In chapter 5 they are most particularly linked with the elders.

We have suggested that they represent the divine attributes. During the present age and ere the Lamb takes the book of judgment these are largely seen in angelic ministry. But “Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world [age] to come.” In that day God will work through His redeemed ones, hence the living ones join in the New Song, voicing the joy of the saints in whom the divine glory will be displayed. The living creatures of Ezekiel’s vision and the cherubim on the mercy-seat tell the same story.

~ end of Lecture 5 ~ ***

Lecture 6 The Seven Sealed Book

(Revelation 5:1 - 6:8)

LAST Friday evening our subject was the 4th chapter - the redeemed gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb in heaven. We noticed that the four and twenty elders, seen by John in vision sitting around the throne, represent all the heavenly saints of this and past dispensations. I cannot reiterate, except to remind you that the symbol is evidently taken from the twenty-four elders of the priesthood of Israel. We can see how aptly the entire heavenly company would be represented by these heads of the Levitical priesthood. In heaven there is no special sacerdotal family. All of God’s people are priests.

In the 5th chapter we are still occupied with the same vision as in chapter 4. There we saw the Lord Jesus Christ worshiped as Creator. Here a higher glory is His - He is worshiped as Redeemer. “ ‘Twas great to speak a world from nought; ‘twas greater to redeem.”

The first thing that attracts our attention is what is said of the seven-sealed book in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. We have already seen in our review of chapter 4 that the Son is on that throne; but we must not forget that it is likewise the throne of God the Father. And so here we have in the Father’s right hand a book written within and on the backside, and sealed with seven seals. When we read of a “book” we must not think of a volume such as we are familiar with, but rather of a roll of parchment. The ancient books of Israel were generally sheepskin rolls; and when we are told that this book was sealed with seven seals, we are to understand that the book was rolled up to a certain point, and there a seal was put upon the edge, so that it could not be opened until that seal was broken. It was rolled up a little farther and another seal put on, and so on, until there were six seals on the edge of the book and one seal closing the entire scroll. When the first seal was opened a certain portion of the book was exposed to view, and so with each one following. When the seventh was broken then the entire book would be unrolled.

What is this sealed book? I will again remind you of a principle which I want to keep before you in all of these lectures, and that is, in studying the Book of the Revelation it is never necessary to fall back on our own imagination as to what a particular symbol means. Every symbol is explained, or alluded to, somewhere else in the Bible. Turn to the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah lived in a day just previous to the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar. He had been telling the people of Israel that they were going to be carried captives to Babylon. For seventy years they would be in captivity; but, at the end of that time, they would be restored, and would build again the waste places (ch. 29:10). Hanameel, Jeremiah’s cousin, who had a piece of ground, knew well that it was soon to be absolutely worthless. and he was anxious to get it off his hands and realize what he could from it. He concluded to try to sell it to his prophetcousin who was in prison at the time for the truth’s sake. The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Buy the field.” He was commanded to accept it as though it were really worth having, because the time was coming when it would be worth having; for just as surely as God’s people were going down into Babylon, so surely were they coming back again. That land would be worth far more in that day, and he would have it in his family.

So we are told, in chap. 32:8, that Hanameel came and besought him to buy the field. Jeremiah acquiesced. The title-deeds were made out and sealed and hidden away. The land was purchased by Jeremiah, but he was not going to enter into possession of it. He, too, was to be driven out - to be rejected and set to one side; but some day that sealed roll would be of great value, when the restoration took place. He gave it to his secretary to hide away with a view of making known to his heirs where the deed was which was to give them the title to the land. The sealed book was the title deed to Jeremiah’s inheritance, and when the people of Israel came back from Babylon there would be a man who could go into court and say, “This deed belongs to me. I am Jeremiah’s heir. I have the right to break the seals and take the property.”

With this illustration from the Old Testament before us, we have no difficulty in seeing what the seven-sealed book in Revelation means. The book that John saw in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne is the title-deed to this world; and when God says, “Who is worthy to take the book and to loose the seals thereof?” it is just another way of saying, Who is the rightful heir? Who can say, “I have title to break those seals, title to claim that world, it belongs to me?” Who is worthy to take possession of that world and subject it to himself?

Adam, what about you? Wasn’t that world given to you? When God created you and placed you in the Garden of Eden, did He not say that all of this was yours? Why do you not come forward and take this title-deed and claim your property? Adam says, “I forfeited my inheritance because of sin. It was mine, but I sinned it away. The devil cheated me out of it, and I have no longer any title to it.”

Is there any angel who can step up and take the book? No, not an angel among all the serried ranks of heaven’s hosts can say, “I have title to that world.” Not a man in all God’s universe can say, “ It is mine.” And John says, “I wept much, because no one was found worthy.” But as he was weeping, one of the elders said, “Weep not, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to take the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” And John looked for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the majestic roaring King of Beasts, ready to spring upon the prey; but he beheld a Lamb.

Why, the Lamb is the Lion! The Lamb of God is the Lion of Judah’s tribe. The lamb that speaks of innocence, of meekness, of gentleness and sacrifice, is the One who is to go forth as the mighty conqueror and claim this world as His own, and drive all His enemies from before His face. I like the paraphrase from Weymouth where he says, “I saw in the midst of the throne a lamb that looked as though it had been offered in sacrifice” - the Lamb in the very glory of God that will have through all eternity the marks of death upon His glorified body! It is right to sing as we sometimes do,

“I shall know Him, I shall know Him,

As redeemed by His side I shall stand;

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,

By the print of the nails in His hand.”

When He came forth from the tomb the print of the nails was there. When John saw Him many years after in vision up there in glory, he saw a Lamb that looked as though it had once been offered in sacrifice; and when we get home to heaven we will never make any mistake in identifying Him. We will never be found worshiping Gabriel instead of Christ; we will not mistake so loving an apostle as John even for his Lord. We will have only eyes for the Lamb upon whose body will be for all eternity the marks that tell of our redemption. Ah, what a sight that will be for God’s beloved people - when we look upon His face, feel His gentle touch, behold the print of the nails in His hands and feet, and see the mark left by the Roman spear in His side!

The prophet Habakkuk describes Him as having “bright beams coming out of His side, and there was the hiding of His power” (Habakkuk 3:4, literal trans.) . There, where the cruel spear pierced Him, is the hiding of His power.

“Oh, the Lamb, the bleeding Lamb,

The Lamb of Calvary;

The Lamb that was slain, that liveth again,

To intercede for me.”

Do you know this blessed Lamb of God? Are you acquainted with Him? Is He your own Saviour? Have you cast yourself on His mercies?

It says that the Lamb in the midst of the throne had seven horns. Horns speak of power. In the Old Testament we read of the “strong bulls of Bashan,” of great heads, thick necks, and powerful horns. Israel would thus be accustomed to connect the thought of power with the horns. But it is not a mighty bull that is seen, but a lamb, and the diminutive form of the word, “a little lamb” with seven horns! Just as horns speak of power, seven speaks of perfection. Perfect power belongs to the Lamb of God. And we are told He had seven eyes, which is interpreted as meaning seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the world, which we have connected with Isaiah 11:1, 2. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. “In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” All spiritual graces are His. He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, and He it is who gives the Holy Spirit to us.

He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. What right had He thus to act? Because He went to the cross in infinite grace to pay the great debt of sin, thus to redeem this forfeited inheritance and free it from Satan’s domination. The Lamb has title to the book! The Lamb can claim the title-deed to this world because when He died on Calvary’s cross He purchased the entire world to be His own - in which the glory of God is to be displayed through a thousand wondrous years. It was His because He treated it. He gave it to man, but man forfeited it through sin; and the Lord Jesus Christ bought it all back when He hung on Golgotha’s tree; but for 1900 years He has been waiting patiently up there in the glory until the appointed time for claiming His inheritance. So the book of the title-deeds has been sealed. In this interval, men have been having pretty much their own way down here; the devil has been running things to suit himself, but in a little while Christ is coming again. He is going to put everything right, but He will have to act in judgment to do so. For the very world in which the Lord Jesus died is going to be the sphere in which the glory of God will be displayed, and that not only in the Millennium, but afterward in the new earth, as well as in the new heaven.

The moment that the Lamb takes the book, in verse 8, the four living ones and the four and twenty elders fall down before Him, having every one of them harps, and golden bowls full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. You know, I am very sentimental about the harp. I love it. I always think when I hear the harp being played that it is the instrument I am going to play in heaven. It is a figure, of course, but a very lovely one.

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (vers. 9, 10).

It is not merely of themselves they sing, but of all the redeemed; so the living ones, the divine attributes, join in it, too.

And note the great throng suggested by the words of the song. Far more people will be in heaven than will ever be lost in hell! All the babes that died in infancy will be there. What a throng will fill that Home! And oh, how wonderful the fellowship! We shall have the society of all the pure and holy, made pure by the blood of Jesus. But notice carefully what they sing up there. They ascribe their redemption entirely to the Lamb and His work. Those are the saints of God. Then you find another company in the next two verses, but they are angels. You will notice that you have an inner circle composed of sinners that were redeemed. That will be the glory of heaven.

You often hear of the angels singing; but it is remarkable that when you go to the Bible there is only one place where you read of angels singing; it is in the 38th chapter of the Book of Job. The morning stars there are angels, and they sang together when this world in its pristine beauty sprang from God’s hand. But that ancient song was stilled. Sin came in and marred that beautiful creation, and from the time that sin came in we never read again that angels sang. At the birth of our Lord Jesus a multitude of the heavenly hosts praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the Highest,” but we do not read that they sang. It is the redeemed that sing, and they sing “a new song.” It is the song of redemption. Will you be able to sing that song? Angels will praise the Lamb, truly, though it does not say they will sing.

Let me read the passage, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living ones and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”

What a host! You would think that God had enough without us. Old John Bunyan says, “Oh, this Lamb of God! He had a whole heaven to Himself, myriads of angels to do His pleasure, but this could not satisfy Him. He must have sinners to share it with Him!” If you are ever going to sing up there you will have to start in down here. Can you say, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed me by Thy blood”?

The angels stand in an outer circle. In other words, the angels stand off and look on and say, “The Lamb deserves all the honor He is receiving.” Then there is a third company, a third circle, embracing all creation. John looks throughout the universe, and he sees every creature extolling the Lamb. The day is coming when all created intelligences will join in saying, “Glory to the Lamb.”

And now the Lamb, having taken the book, proceeds to open the seals. Here I want to pause for a moment in the course of the exposition. Many have come to me since the great world-war began and said, “Don’t you think that, perhaps, the Great Tribulation has already commenced? There have been events following one another in the last few years which so nearly answer to this opening part of the Book of the Revelation that one would be justified in believing we are already in the throes of the Tribulation.” My answer is this: There can be no period of tribulation such as is depicted here until the Lamb breaks the seals of the seven-sealed book. But the Lamb does not break the first seal of this book until the redeemed are seen crowned in heaven; and no redeemed one will ever get his crown until they are taken up at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the air, and the setting up of the judgment-seat. All the crowns are going to be given out at the judgment-seat of Christ before the Lamb takes the book, and before the seals, are broken.

A lady said to me, “But, dear brother, what tribulation could be worse?” Well, conditions are certainly terrible, but there has never been a war in which the organizations that profess to stand for righteousness have done so much for the soldiers, and the relatives, and the afflicted, as in this awful conflict. Consider the Red Cross, for instance. It was the spirit of sacrifice that caused people to start the society, and many of the founders of it were devoted to Christ; wherever the red cross was seen it was the reminder of the cross of Christ. There will be no Red Cross in the Great Tribulation. The cross of Christ will be so hated then that it will never be seen anywhere. Then look at the Y. M. C. A. I know all about the criticisms, and I have had to speak plainly myself, but the Y. M. C. A. movement was started by a man of God, and its original objective; was to bring men to Christ. Much of their recent work is indeed open to just criticism; it is a shame that it has added to and detracted from its original purpose, yet we can thank God for the New Testament and the comforts it has brought to millions of men. Take the work of the Salvation Army: I have heard scores testify about the Salvation Army preaching the gospel of God in the trenches. Now think of a greater war than this (and it is in the future), a war in which there will be no Salvation Army, no Y. M. C. A., no Red Cross, no Bible Societies, no Christian workers - absolutely no spiritual ministry of any kind to alleviate the awful conditions that will then prevail. The thought is unspeakably terrible, but such a war is predicted in this Book.

But, I repeat, that tribulation time cannot begin until the redeemed are gathered around the Lord in the glory and crowned there. And it cannot be emphasized too much that no saints in heaven now have crowns. The apostle says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord . . . shall give to me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” “That day” when the saints are gathered around the judgment-seat of Christ: that is the day when they will get their crowns.

Well then, after the church has gone, what is going to take place in the world? When I get to this chapter, I always like to view it this way: that we are in heaven already, the rapture having taken place. Look at it with me from that standpoint. Let us suppose that last night, while things were going on in the ordinary way, suddenly there was a heartening shout heard from the glory and every redeemed one responded to the trump of God: and in a moment the graves were opened, and in every place where the believing dead were resting, the bodies were raised and the living saints were changed. We found ourselves caught away, and we entered with Him into the Father’s house, and gathered around the throne and fell down to worship. We will say that we have had twenty-four hours in heaven. O sinner, you wouldn’t be there. It is saved people I am talking about. At first our hearts would just be too full of Christ to think of anything else. But He, Himself, stirs us at last to think of what He is about to do. We say to ourselves, What is going to be the next thing in that world we have left behind? We look down to that poor scene where we lived yesterday. Men are going on much as before, only in great excitement. Look at the streets of the great cities. We can see the newsboys shouting, “Extra! Extra! a great number of people have disappeared!” There is a rush to get the newspapers to find out all about this strange event. Throngs are crowding the popular churches to hear the Rev. Dr. Ananias and his like give their explanation of the great disappearance of so many people.

I believe there will be lots of church-going for a little while after the rapture of God’s people; they will be crowding into the churches as never before. I think I see the Rev. Mr. Smooth-things standing in his pulpit, with pale, wan face, as he looks at scores of parishioners he hasn’t seen for many years, and thinking to himself, “Now, I see I have got to explain to these people. I have been telling them for twenty years that this talk of the Second Coming is false.”

People who believed in the Second Coming were looked upon as idiotic ranters who didn’t know what they were talking about. I think I hear mutterings down in the congregation: “We trusted our souls to you. You had been to the colleges, seminaries and universities, read a whole library of books, and we believed you when you told us the old idea of salvation by the blood of Christ was all worn out, and that we could save ourselves by culture. We believed you when you said Christ’s second coming was only a fantastic notion; now explain this to us.”

Another cries, “What about my grandmother? She believed in her Bible to the last. She was reading just the other day, ‘In an hour when ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.’ Now Grandmother is gone, and I am here. Now, Doctor, explain all this.”

Oh, there are going to be some wonderful meetings after the Lord has come! There is that world seething with corruption, men’s hearts failing them for fear. Christian statesmen will have gone; Christian business men, people of all ranks who knew Christ will have disappeared. Cities and communities will be in turmoil. What are they going to do? Let’s look at the Book and see.

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come! And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”

We behold the Lamb as He breaks the first seal, and John hears a noise as of thunder. Thunder speaks of a coming storm, though the scene seems peaceful enough. What is this? A warrior comes forth on a white horse, and a bow is in his hand.

A bow speaks of distant warfare. Horses, as in Zechariah 1, symbolize providential movements.

This rider on the white horse evidently pictures man’s last effort to bring in a reign of order and peace while Christ is still rejected. It will be the world’s greatest attempt to pull things together after the church is gone. It will be the devil’s cunning scheme for bringing in a mock millennium without Christ. How long will it last?

“And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come! And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

He opens the second seal, and a red horse appears. Anarchy, a bloody warfare! “When they shall say, Peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them.” The first effort, down in the world we are supposed to have left, will be to bring in universal peace, apart from Christ; but it will end in universal, bloody warfare, greater far than has ever been known. The rider on the blood-red horse has a sword; it speaks of warfare of a different type altogether from that of the bow: man wrestling with man, nation with nation. Internal strife, class-wars, civil wars, the breaking up of all established order is here set forth.

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come! And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

Very naturally, when he had opened the third seal, a black horse appears, with his rider holding a pair of balances. We have that which inevitably follows world-wide war - world-wide famine. I don’t wonder that people think they have seen all this in the last four years. An effort to bring in universal peace, but almost universal war; and famine in many parts of the world. But, by and by it is going to be all over the world. We know a little better now what this means than when these things were first opened up by men of God. We have had our food sold to us by measure, and we have known much of the high cost of living, but, in this coming day, conditions will be so dreadful that it will be a measure of wheat for a denarius, or three measures of barley for the same amount. The word translated “measure” means just enough wheat to make a man one meal, and the denarius was a full day’s wages. Enough food for one meal for a whole day’s wages! That is, if one is going to eat wheat. Now if they will take barley they will get three meals for a day’s work. What hard conditions! We thought war prices exorbitant, but they are going to be unprecedented in those days of the tribulation.

“But see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” The oil and the wine are put in contrast with the wheat and the barley. The wheat and barley are the food of the poor - almost out of reach; but the food of the rich, or the luxuries, are not touched.

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come! And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

And now he opens the fourth seal, and a pale horse ridden by Death appears. The word rendered pale means green, chrome. We might call it a livid horse, in the sense of being the color of a corpse. Of what is it a picture? Of pestilence, which always follows war and famine. We have known something of that in this last year, but the complete fulfillment awaits a not far-distant day. * * I thought at first of recasting this lecture, as it seemed somewhat too colloquial and localized.

But I concluded to let it remain largely as given. The reader will understand it was delivered during the armistice year, and while the influenza plague was still in progress.

~ end of Lecture 6 ***

Lecture 7 The Fifth and Sixth Seals

(Revelation 6:9-17)

BEFORE examining what is written concerning the breaking of the fifth and sixth seals, it is necessary to say something as to God’s dispensational dealings with His earthly people Israel, and to endeavor to show how the book we are studying links up with the older prophecy of Daniel.

For fifteen hundred years before the Cross, God was dealing in covenant-relationship with this one people which He had chosen to be peculiarly His own, in accordance with His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He separated them to Himself, giving them the land of Canaan as their inheritance, so long as they remained faithful to Him as their unseen King. He gave them His holy law, and declared that if they obeyed His voice they should be the head of all nations and His witnesses to the ends of the earth. On the other hand, He warned them that, if they Were disobedient to Him, if they did not keep His testimonies, if they broke His commandments, if they turned to the false gods of the surrounding nations, He would no longer protect them from their enemies, but would give them up to desolation and scattering, until they judged themselves and turned from their sins, when He would remember His covenant with their fathers, and would restore them to their own land and fulfil all His promises.

They completely broke down under every test; and in accordance with His word ten tribes were carried away by the king of Assyria and a little later the remaining two tribes were deported to Babylon, where they remained in bondage for seventy years. Upon the expiration of this prophetic period they were permitted to return to their own land, that they might be there to welcome their promised Messiah when He should be manifested. Only a remnant of the Jews availed themselves of this privilege, and it was their descendants who were living in Palestine when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the fulness of time, only to be rejected by the very nation that had waited for Him so long.

The time of His coming had been very definitely foretold in the book of Daniel. In the ninth chapter we are told that a heavenly messenger brought the word to the prophet that God had appointed seventy weeks to His people and their holy city. These are not to be understood as weeks of days, but sevens of years. The term “weeks” might be simply explained as sevens. Seventy times seven years would be 490 years. It is an appointed period in the course of time, and has to do especially with the Jews and Jerusalem.

This period was divided into three parts,- 7 weeks, or 49 years, in which the streets and the wall of the city were to be re-built. Then, 62 weeks, or 434 years, immediately following the completion of this work, unto the appearing and cutting off of Messiah the Prince. Then, one final week, or 7 years, to complete the cycle, at the end of which the King would be reigning in the holy city and all prophecy fulfilled by the establishment of the kingdom so long foretold. The starting-point is clearly defined as, “The going forth of a commandment to restore and build Jerusalem,” which is the decree of Artaxerxes as recorded in Nehemiah, chap. 2. During the next 49 years the city was rebuilt. Then434 years later, our Lord rode into Jerusalem and was acclaimed by the multitudes as King, the Son of David, but a few days later was rejected and crucified. Thus Messiah was cut off and had nothing.

What then of the last week? Has it been fulfilled? It has not. When His Son was cast out, God cast off the nation, and that week will not be fulfilled till a future day, when He takes up Israel again.

The angel-revealer said to Daniel, “Until the END of the war; desolations are determined.” This gives the whole history of Palestine for the past 1900 years. It has been a great battleground and a scene of almost unparalleled desolation, because Israel knew not the time of their visitation. Their times are not in progress now. God is doing another work. While the Jews are blinded, in part, and wanderers over the face of the earth, He is gathering out the Church, the body of Christ, a heavenly company, who will reign with Christ when He establishes His kingdom of righteousness upon the earth. The last week, of 7 years, cannot begin to run till the Jews are again in the land, and Jerusalem becomes the Jewish capital, after the church has been caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Of this last week the greater part of the book of the Revelation treats. It is only when this is seen that all becomes plain and the prophecy becomes intelligible.

The church was empowered on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ glorified, came upon the disciples, though the full truth of this wonderful mystery was not made known until Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle. To him, and through him to us, was made known the truth of the present dispensation. The church of Christ is one, though men who take His name and claim to be His followers have become sadly divided and have formed many systems, often embracing saved and unsaved alike. But God’s church consists only of those who are born of the Spirit; and all such are by the same Spirit baptized into “the body of Christ” - the church. This special work will cease at the return of the Lord to the air, which is the first stage of His second coming. The second stage will be when He comes to the earth in manifested glory to reign. The 70th, or last week of Daniel, comes in between these two momentous events. The Lord spoke of this period as the “end of the age” in Matthew 24, and He divides it into two parts, “the beginning of sorrows” and “ the great tribulation.”

A careful comparison of our Lord’s great prophecy with the portion of Revelation which we have before us, will, I believe, make it plain that the first six seals answer to the first half of the week “the beginning of sorrows”; while from the opening of the seventh seal we are introduced to the great tribulation itself with all its attendant horrors.

- His warning as to false Christs, implying false hopes of a lasting peace, corresponds to the first seal.

- His declaration that wars and rumors of wars will follow fits perfectly with the second seal.

- In like manner His solemn warnings of famine and pestilence find their counterparts in the third and fourth seals.

The Lord then goes on to foretell a time when His followers shall be ruthlessly slain, and when it will be all one’s life is worth to confess His name. This brings us to the breaking of the fifth seal, when John saw under the altar the souls of those who had been beheaded for the word of God and the testimony of the Lord.

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto everyone of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

Who are these martyred saints, and to what dispensation do they belong? They cannot belong to the church, for as we have already seen, that is represented by the throned and crowned elders in heaven before the first seal is broken. But the 11th chapter of the epistle to the Romans makes it clear that after the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, that is, after the present dispensation has come to an end and the church has been removed to heaven, the blindness will pass away from Israel, and they will realize their true condition and their sin in rejecting their Messiah. Then they shall call upon Him for deliverance.

Thus a new company of saints will be formed upon the earth, altogether different from the present heavenly company. Many of these Jewish believers will be martyred by the Satanic hosts of the last days, and it is these who are seen as having been sacrificed and their souls poured out at the bottom of the altar. They cry for vengeance on their adversaries, for this is fully in keeping with the dispensation of judgment to which they belong; whereas it would be thoroughly contrary to the grace of the present gospel dispensation.

God’s people are taught of His Spirit to pray according to the ruling principle of the specific time in which their lot is cast. This accounts for what often disturbs and even shocks sensitive souls - the so-called imprecatory Psalm. They cannot understand the cries for vengeance that seem so opposed to the grace of God as now made known. And it is no wonder they are troubled and hesitate to take such words upon their lips, for they do not belong to us at all. But they will be exactly suited to the remnant of Israel, suffering for Jehovah’s sake, but with no clear knowledge of an accomplished redemption - waiting for their Messiah to appear and overthrow the last great Gentile confederation, which, as we shall see when we come to chapter 13, will be bent upon their absolute extermination.

To these souls under the altar, invoking the judgment of God upon their merciless adversaries, white robes are given, and they are told that they must wait a little season till the time of Jacob’s trouble is ended and they are joined by their brethren who are yet to be slain, as the hatred to God and His Christ rises ever higher until the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God, as we read in II Thessalonians, chap. 1.

The opening of the sixth seal gives a marvellous symbolic picture, of such grave import that I must give it to you in its entirety.

John says, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

It should be evident from the balance of the book that we are not to take this as a literal earthquake, though our Lord’s words in Matthew 24 show us that there will be such phenomena in divers places, terrific in character as the end draws near. Already, perhaps we have had, in the past two decades, some noteworthy reminders and warnings in the many horrors of this nature that shocked the civilized world, but are apparently so easily forgotten within a very short time. But the earthquake of the sixth seal is of a different character altogether. It cannot be merely literal, as the actual islands, mountains, and seas, together with the cities of the nations are still seen to be in existence long after this vision has had its fulfillment. It rather sets forth the complete breaking up of society as now constituted, the destruction of the boasted civilization of our present day. Looked at from this standpoint, we have abundant Old Testament Scripture to throw light upon it and to make plain its awful portents.

We shall be helped, too, if we remember that in the very beginning of the book we are told that the Lord sent and “signified it unto His servant John.” That is, He made it known by signs or symbols. If these be kept in mind we shall be preserved from taking literally what God meant us to take symbolically, and so we shall be more likely to get the mind of the Spirit in regard to the future of both Christendom and Judaism, the two spheres with which this book specially deals.

It is therefore not a world-wide, literal earthquake that the sixth seal introduces, but rather the destruction of the present order - political, social, and ecclesiastical - reduced to chaos; the breaking down of all authority, and the breaking up of all established and apparently permanent institutions.

We may see, I believe, a foreshadowing of this in what has so lately taken place in Russia; the overturning of the throne, the blotting out of the Romanoff Dynasty, the wrecking of all industrial and social order, the fearful orgies of fanatical Bolshevism, blood-red anarchy everywhere holding sway, making wild promises of liberty while destroying every safeguard against the unrestrained brutality of beastlike men. Take as but one horrible instance the attempted abolition of marriage (that which God Himself instituted, at the very beginning of human history, for the sanctity and blessing of His creatures), and the substitution of the degrading custom of forcing all women to be common property, taken by whoever may desire them, and all children born in these abominable conditions to be taken from their parents and reared as children of the State. Natural affection at once receives its death-blow, and all restraint on man’s animal propensities is at an end. Another event that has shocked the world has been the overturning of Russia’s State Church. It is true that it had become unspeakably corrupt, but in their wild desire to destroy it the Soviet Government has declared war on all that bears a religious name, whether human or divine. “No God and no church” is the cry ringing through the unhappy land, and who can foretell what the dreaded future has in store?

Many thought in the past century that they saw the French Revolution portrayed in this sixth seal and it was indeed but an earlier sample of the same conditions we have been considering; so was the break-up of the Roman Empire in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. But none of these cataclysms, stupendous as they were, fully met the requirements of the prophecy; for the church of the First-born is still here, and the gospel of the grace of God is still being proclaimed to a guilty world. But we have already seen that when the seals are broken the church will be with Christ, waiting for the moment when He will descend to take His world kingdom and establish His authority in righteousness.

But we must now proceed to look at the passage in detail that we may the better grasp its true import.

The sun, we are told, became black as sackcloth of hair. The sun, the source of light and life for this planet, speaks of supreme authority, and is the well-known type of the Lord Himself. “Unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” Such is Malachi’s declaration concerning the coming of Christ the second time. At present Christendom, at least nominally, owns His lordship. We even date our letters Anno Domini. We speak of Him as our Lord, and profess to receive our governments from His hand. But soon He will be entirely rejected and His word utterly despised. Thus will the sun be blotted out from the heavens, and God will seem to have been dethroned.

Naturally enough this will mean the complete destruction of all derived authority, so we next read, “the moon became as blood.” The moon gets all its light from the sun, just as “the powers that be are ordained of God,” and are appointed by Him for man’s blessing. But all government being thrown down, the lurid glare of anarchy will take its place, for a time at least.

The stars falling from heaven indicate, I take it, the downfall and apostasy of great religious leaders, the bright lights in the ecclesiastical heavens. In Daniel, those who turn many to righteousness shine as the stars. In the first part of our book the stars are said to be the messengers of the churches. So it would seem clear that we are to understand the symbol in the same sense here. After the true church has been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, there will be a vast host of unconverted ecclesiastics left behind; thousands of church dignitaries, both Protestant and Romanist, who, though looked upon as guides in things spiritual, shall be manifested as utterly bereft of divine life - professional clergymen who, despite their pretensions and exalted calling, are simply natural men intruding into spiritual thing, like the Philistines of old who dwelt in the land of Canaan and gave their name Palestine, to the whole thing as though it longed of right to them, while all the time they were unwarranted intruders of Egyptian descent. These are the stars who will be hurled from their places of power and eminence in that awful day of the wrath of the Lamb, and who, apostatizing from the last vestiges of Christianity, will soon become leaders in the worship of Antichrist.

Thus the heavens, the ecclesiastical powers of every description, will depart as a scroll when it is rolled up. The whole fabric of Christendom will be wound up as something obsolete and out of date. Recently, leaders of religious thought, as they are called, have been questioning the finality of the Christian religion, and declaring that out of the chaotic conditions brought about by the war shall arise a new religious conception altogether, superseding that of “the Nazarene” and resulting in the worship of humanity - a new conception of God as immanent in all men and only to be found within the heart of man. That such teachers are correct as to their expectation there can be no doubt, and for this Christian Science, so-called, the New Thought, the New Theology, Theosophy, and kindred cults (all founded on the same basic philosophy), are preparing the world. But as long as the Holy Spirit is here on earth, dwelling in the church of God, the full development of this mystery of iniquity is checked; but as soon as He goes up with the church, the whole profession that is left will be destroyed, and out of its ruins will arise the final Satanic masterpiece of the last days.

The destruction of all organized religion will but intensify the frightful conditions of that dreadful time, however. Men drunk with their sham liberty, and rejoicing in the triumph of a blatant God-defying demagoguery, will for a brief period turn this earth into a great mad-house. The vile orgies of those days will be indescribable, until there shall dawn upon multitudes the realization that the Lamb of God whom they had rejected and whose gentle rule they had spurned has in some way visited their sins upon their own heads. Then we have depicted what someone has called “the greatest prayer meeting of all history,” when “the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, the bond and the free” shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, crying out in their sore distress for the mountains and the rocks to cover them and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, “for,” they will cry as with one voice, “the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”

Yet we read of no repentance, no true turning back to God or trusting His Christ - just an awful realization that it is the rejected Lamb with whom they have to do, and whose wrath they would fain escape. They are like those of whom Jeremiah prophesied who will cry in that day of the fierce anger of the Lord, “The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Notice the solemnity of the expression, “The wrath of the Lamb.” We are not accustomed to couple the thought of wrath, or indignation, with the Lamb, which has ever been the accepted symbol of gentleness. But there is a terrible truth involved in it nevertheless. For if the grace of the Lamb of God be rejected, His indignation and wrath must be faced. It cannot be otherwise. It is part of eternal righteousness so to do. God Himself will not, and in accordance with the holiness of His nature cannot, have it otherwise; as we read elsewhere, “He cannot deny Himself.” (2Tim 2:13)

“Hear the just law, the judgment of the skies:

He that hates truth must be the dupe of lies:

And he who will be cheated to the last,

Delusions strong as hell must bind him fast.”

• Cowper.

For such there can be nothing in reserve but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries; and this of a much sorer character than that which befell those who despised Moses’ law, for they now defy God revealed in grace, who has come out to man in the person O f His Son. For such there must be “the wrath of the Lamb.”

“Grace like this despised, brings judgment

Measured by the wrath He bore.”

But the wrath of God is even a deeper and more intense form of judgment, which will be poured out upon the earth from the “seven bowls (or vials) of the wrath of God,” and under which the Christ-rejecter must abide for eternity, for it is written, “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Note the hopelessness of the condition here depicted. Abiding wrath precludes any thought of either annihilation or restoration, and tells us that the results of refusing the matchless grace of God are eternal; for that which “abides” is unending.

But I must bring this address to a close, and as I do so I would again remind you that this sixth seal brings us to the end of the first part of that last unfulfilled week of the ninth chapter of Daniel. It divides into two parts, and the Lord Himself defines the first part as “the beginning of sorrows,” while He designates the last part as “the great tribulation.” This is introduced for us in the book of Revelation by the breaking of the seventh seal, and that will come before us after the great parenthesis of the seventh chapter.

The wrath of the Lamb is visited upon the nations in the beginning of sorrows; the wrath of God will be their portion in the great tribulation. May He grant, in His mercy, that none who hear these words may enter into either the one or the other. Grace is still reigning through righteousness, and a just God waits in loving kindness to be the justifier of everyone that believeth in Jesus.

~ end of Lecture 7 ~ ***

Lecture 8 The 144,000 and The Great Multitude of Gentiles

(Revelation 7)

IN our last address we were occupied with the first half of the 70th week, yet future, of Daniel’s prophecy: “the beginning of sorrows” when “the wrath of the Lamb” will be poured out on guilty Christendom and apostate Judaism. Now we find that before the Lord gave John the vision of the opening of the seventh seal (which introduces the great tribulation in all its intensity), we have this parenthetic seventh chapter in which are recorded two important visions. - In the first, John sees a hundred and forty-four thousand Israelites sealed by an angel, and - In the second, he beholds a great multitude of Gentiles led in triumph by the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, taking possession of the millennial earth.

I am sure that many of my hearers have often been perplexed by conflicting theories regarding the hundred and forty-four thousand. The way in which so many unscriptural and often positively heretical sects arrogate to themselves this title would be amusing, if it were not so sad. You are perhaps aware that the Seventh-Day Adventists apply it to the faithful of their communion, who will be found observing the Jewish Sabbath at the Lord’s return. They suppose that these will be raptured when the Lord descends, and judgment poured out upon the rest of the church. Then we have the followers of the late Pastor Russell who teach that the hundred and forty-four thousand include only the “overcomers” of their persuasion who continue faithful to the end, following the teaching of the system commonly called “Millennial Dawnism.” That very absurd and weird cult known as the “Flying Roll” makes claim to the same thing; only with them, the hundred and forty-four thousand are those who will have their blood so cleansed that they cannot die, but will have immortal life on this earth! Besides these, there are many other sects, whose leaders consider their own peculiar followers will be the hundred and forty-four thousand sealed ones at the time of the end. All of these, however, overlook a very simple fact, which, if observed, would save them from their folly. That is, the hundred and forty-four thousand are composed of twelve thousand from each tribe of the children of Israel. There is not a Gentile among them, nor is there confusion as to tribe. Whenever I meet people who tell me they belong to the hundred and forty-four thousand, I always ask them, “Which tribe, please?” and they are invariably put to confusion for want of an answer.

Now let us look carefully at the three opening verses.

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” (vv. 1-3)

John tells us that he saw “four angels” (four is the world number) “standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of heaven that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”

In Daniel’s vision, as recorded in the seventh chapter of his prophecy, he beholds “the four winds of heaven” striving upon the great sea, and as a result you have the various world empires coming forth like wild beasts from beneath the restless waves. Here we have the angels holding back these four winds until a certain event takes place. It is very evident that they are restraining the last wild beast from making his appearance. In chapter thirteen, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, the Roman Empire in its last form, comes forth from the sea, symbolizing the nations in unrest. This is the great federation of nations which God’s word predicts for the very near future - a federation of Satanic origin, and which will not be developed until after the church is gone, and even then certain events must transpire before it assumes its final diabolical form.

Verses two and three make clear what this event is that must first take place. John sees another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: “And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” The point is, you see, that God has chosen a remnant of Israel to inherit the kingdom under the Son of Man, which is so soon to be established; and ere the final form of the Roman Empire is fully developed, these are sealed, marked out for God’s protecting care; so that all the power of the Beast and all the hatred of his ally the Antichrist will not be able to destroy them, and thus prevent the carrying out of God’s purpose.

Verses four to eight leave no doubt whatever as to the identity of these sealed ones. John “heard the number of them that were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

As you go over the last half you note that the tribe of Dan is absent, and instead you have two tribes from Joseph - Manasseh and Ephraim.

Ephraim, however, bears Joseph’s name. Why is Dan omitted from the twelve, and the twelfth made up in another way? I cannot positively tell you. The rabbis used to say that the false Messiah (the Antichrist) would arise from Dan, and they based the supposition on Jacob’s words in Genesis 49:17: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.” We note from the historical record, in the book of Judges, that Dan was the first tribe to go into idolatry, and it would not be a matter of surprise if Dan would be the leader in the last great idolatry - the worship of Antichrist. But we may leave this where faith leaves every other difficulty - resting in the infinite wisdom of God and knowing that He has revealed all that is necessary for us to know in the present age.

The balance of the chapter, from verse nine, brings before us an entirely different company. John says,

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kind reds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation (literally, the tribulation, the great one), and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them (or, spread His tabernacle over them). They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed (or, shepherd) them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

It seems very strange that some have taught that in this great multitude we have the raptured church; hence they have supposed that the Lord would not come for His church until the middle of the tribulation period: but a careful study of the passage makes it very evident, it seems to me, that we are here gazing upon an earthly, not a heavenly, company. This great multitude embraces the Gentile nations who will enter into millennial blessing. It is the great ingathering of the coming dispensation, when from all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, a vast throng from all parts of the earth will be redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb, and will enter into the earthly kingdom of our Lord. During the dark days of the great tribulation they will heed the testimony which will be carried to the ends of the earth by Jewish missionaries, the wise among the people (see Daniel 12), who shall instruct many in righteousness. They are identical, I take it, with the “sheep” of Matthew 25, who are placed on the right hand of the Son of Man when He comes in His glory and all His holy angels with Him, and who inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the earth.

They are said in verse fourteen to “come out of the great tribulation,” to have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; but they are nowhere said to be taken away to heaven - quite the contrary; they are in a scene where it is necessary that the Lamb should feed them and lead them, and spread his tabernacle over them. Verse 15 plainly tells us: “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and minister before Him day and night in his temple”: that is, I take it, the millennial temple, which is to be built in the land in that coming day. There will be no day and night in heaven. The expression can only refer, in this connection, to the temple on earth. Then we read, “He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among [spread His tabernacle over] them.” The reference is undoubtedly to the Lord’s covering His people when He led them of old through the wilderness. The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night not only guided them through the scene but sheltered them from the fierce rays of the desert sun. Thus will He protect and shield His redeemed ones in the age to come.

We are also told that “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” It is probably because people have not realized the blessedness of the millennial day that these verses are made to refer to heaven, but they are at one with the predictions of Isaiah, and others of the prophets, in regard to the blessing that the saved nations shall enjoy when the Lamb Himself reigns. - The struggle for daily bread will be over - they shall hunger no more; - The ofttimes vain effort to quench their thirst will be at an end - they shall thirst no more. Even the unpleasant and disagreeable things with which men have been afflicted because of the way sin has jarred God’s creation will be at an end. The sun shall not light upon them, nor any heat.

In that day all the saved of the nations will be able to take up, in the fullest sense, the beautiful words of the Psalmist, which we but feebly enter into now: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness For his name’s sake.”

While it is true that the church of God will be in a far better scene; while our hope is heavenly, not earthly, yet we can indeed rejoice and our hearts may well swell with gladness to think of the blessing awaiting the earth and its inhabitants. And God has surely promised it, and will fulfil all that He has caused to be written by His holy prophets in the sacred Scriptures, for “the Scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35)

What a long, dreary night, with what frightful disturbing nightmares, if I may so speak, has this world known, since sin, with all its attendant evils, came in to wreck man’s hopes of joy and gladness! But how precious to know that evil shall not always have the upper hand; that a time is coming, aye, and is very near, when the curse will be lifted, the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose; even the lower creation will be changed and revert to former habits ere sin entered; “the lion shall eat straw like the ox”; the little child need not fear the midst savage of beasts; for they shall not hurt nor destroy in that day. Then government will be righteously regulated; abuses of every kind will be stopped, and for a thousand glorious years our Lord Himself shall reign in righteousness.

But there is one thing I wish especially to press upon both saved and unsaved, and that is this: Whether in dispensations past, in the present age, in the period of judgment just before this world, or in that glorious millennial age, everyone who is saved at all will be saved through the precious blood of Christ. God has never had any other way of reconciling man to Himself than through the blood of His Son. In Old Testament times, men were saved, if I may so say, on credit. The Lord Jesus Christ had already pledged Himself to pay the fearful debt with His own most precious blood, and all who, in every dispensation, owned their guilt and believed the record God had given, were justified by faith on the basis of the work that Christ was yet to accomplish. That work having now been completed, God has manifested His righteousness in passing over these sins done aforetime in the days of His forbearance, and now He shows Himself to be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. If you own your sin, dear unsaved one, if you confess your guilt and put your heart’s trust in that blessed One, who on Calvary’s cross gave Himself for you, then you will be justified and accepted with God in all the value of that precious blood. In the coming hour of tribulation, the hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel, and all the Gentiles who receive their message, will be saved in exactly the same way, but saved for earth - not for heaven. To the very end of the millennium that precious blood will still have the same cleansing efficacy, and the last soul who trusts in Christ will have an unimpeachable standing before the throne of God through its infinite value.

So all blessing for time and eternity rests upon the cross of Christ, and the reason the nations have missed their way in the past nineteen hundred years, and are struggling in vain for peace and a government in righteousness, is because they have ignored the blood of that cross, where, alone, peace was made, both in relation to time and eternity.

And now in closing, let me emphasize one thing which I believe needs to be emphasized in these days. I have run across the error in many recent books on the coming of the Lord, that after the rapture of the church there will be a great revival, an unprecedented spiritual awakening in Christendom, when vast numbers of people who have been undecided during the present dispensation of grace will turn to the Lord; and it is being widely taught that these will form the great multitude of which we have been speaking. Let me say that I have searched my Bible diligently for any confirmation of such teaching, but I fail to find it. On the contrary, we are distinctly told in II Thessalonians 2:1 I that God is going to give up those who, during the present age, receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved; they will be given up to hardness of heart and perversity of spirit. We read in verses eleven and twelve, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned that believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Now, there is no intimation here that people who refuse the gospel in this dispensation will have another opportunity to be saved, if they are still living when the dispensation of judgment begins. A careful reading of the entire passage will show that the time referred to is when the mystery of iniquity is fully developed and the wicked one revealed - that is, the man of sin. In that age, the Holy Spirit will have been withdrawn. He will go up with the church at the Lord’s return to the air.

This is not to say that the Holy Spirit will not act afterwards, during the tribulation period, but His operations will be similar to His activities in Old Testament times. From heaven He will influence the hearts of men, opening the eyes of the remnant of Israel, and through them reach, as we have seen, an innumerable multitude of Gentiles. But there is no promise that He will operate for blessing on the hearts of those who have had the opportunity to be saved and have refused it. They will be given up to the strong delusion of the last days. They will believe the lie of the Antichrist, and thus go into judgment because they deliberately refused the truth when it was offered to them, choosing instead error and sin.

It is a very solemn thing to harden the heart against God and His message of grace. Pharaoh tried it, and is the standing example of what strong delusion really means. He hardened himself against the message that Moses brought, and afterwards God Himself confirmed him in his course.

Light rejected brings abiding night.

- Darkness may be natural: in this all are born.

- Darkness may be willful: in this men deliberately choose darkness in place of light.

- Darkness may be, and alas, often is, judicial: in this men are given up to darkness because of their own perversity.

So we read in Jeremiah 13:16, “Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.”

No man need be lost for want of light. He who will follow the slightest gleam that God gives may be sure of increasing light, and light sufficient to lead him to the knowledge of sins forgiven. But, I repeat, light rejected brings night! And, therefore, let me plead with anyone who has not closed with God’s offer of grace in Christ Jesus, to receive now the gift of His love, and thus be assured of a place with Christ in that coming day. For if the Lord should descend from heaven to call His church away, you who have heard the gospel and are rejecting it, abiding in your sins, your doom will be eternally sealed.

Among the heathen nations, where the gospel has not yet been fully proclaimed, in the waste places and the neglected parts of the world, where the grace of God is as yet unknown, a vast number will be found to receive the message of the Israelitish remnant as they flee from Antichrist’s persecutions and proclaim to all the world the gospel of the kingdom. But you will not be numbered among them if the coming of the Lord finds you still unsaved. You will be in exactly the same condition of soul, and position of condemnation before God, as if you had died in your sins. Jesus said, “When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, - who is there that shall open it? The five foolish virgins, left outside when the Bridegroom came. knocked in vain for admittance later. They picture those who will be on the wrong side of the door, closed for all eternity.

Yet, strangely enough, this very parable of the ten virgins has been used by certain teachers to bolster up their unsound theory of a second chance for Christ-rejecters after the Saviour calls His church away. The foolish virgins are, by them supposed to represent persons afterwards gathered in, but who miss the heavenly blessing. Others have based on this parable the equally unscriptural hypothesis that only the more spiritual saints will be caught up at the rapture, and the weaker ones will be left behind to be purified during the great tribulation. This is a virtual denial of the truth of the one body, the unity of the body of Christ. The weakest member of that body is as dear to the Head as the strongest and all who are Christ’s will have their part in the rapture, irrespective of their more or less advanced stage in the Christian life. It is the perfection of the work of redemption that gives title to any of the promises of God; it is not as a reward for service or merit.

~ end of Lecture 8 ~ ***

Lecture 9 The Breaking of the Seventh Seal

(Revelatioin 8)

I AM to speak to you to-night on the breaking of the seventh seal, which opens fully the book of title-deed to this world,- the roll that was put into the hands of the Lord Jesus by the Father after the church, represented by the glorified elders, was seen around the throne in heaven.

First let me make a few remarks, which I think have not previously been made in the course of these lectures, in regard to the structure of the Book of the Revelation: The main body of the book is divided into four sevens. There are the letters to the seven churches of Asia; then the seven seals; then the seven trumpets; and farther on the seven vials of the wrath of God.

In connection with these last three sevens, there is something very striking. We have, first, six seals opened; then a parenthesis which takes up chapter seven. In chapter eight, the seventh seal is opened, and the book as a whole is open to view.

This seventh seal we find includes the seven trumpets. Six trumpets are sounded, and there is again a parenthetical portion, including chapters ten and eleven to verse fourteen. At the conclusion of this parenthesis the seventh trumpet brings us to the end of all things.

Chronologically, we are as far on when we reach chapter eleven, verse eighteen, as when we reach the Great White Throne in chapter twenty; for the seventh trumpet introduces the worldkingdom of our God and His Christ, and goes right on to the time when the dead shall be judged. So you see we really have a duplication, in measure, of prophetic truth from this point on. That is, from chapter four to the end of chapter eleven you have truth presented in orderly sequence - a prophetic outline of the things that shall take place after the rapture of the church right on to the end of time.

Then, commencing with chapter twelve, God seems to turn the roll over that we may view the other side, and He gives us a second view of the events, but especially in relation to Israel. We have details which bring before us the great actors for good and evil in the last days: - the woman clothed with the sun; - the Man-child, Christ, who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron; - Michael, who is the archangel; - The dragon, who is that old serpent, the devil; - The coming world-confederacy and its blasphemous head; - The lamb-like Beast, who I believe is the Antichrist, who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon - the counterfeit of the Lamb of God. There follows a parenthetical portion in chapter fourteen, which in a very vivid way brings before us the final issues once more.

Then, in chapters fifteen and sixteen, we have the vials, or bowls, of the wrath of God; and once more, you will notice, we have the same structure that has engaged our attention in connection with the seals and trumpets.

We have six bowls, and then a parenthesis.

In this instance the parenthesis occupies only one verse (Chap. 16:15). Immediately following this, the seventh bowl of the wrath of God is outpoured, bringing us on to the doom of Babylon, described in detail through chapters 17 and 18; then in chapter 19 we have the Lord’s descent to the earth, accompanied by the armies of heaven, to establish His millennial kingdom and reign for a thousand years. At the close of this the final judgment takes place; the heavens and the earth as we now know them, with all the works of man, will be destroyed, and there shall be brought in new heavens and a new earth, where God will be all in all throughout an eternity of bliss: while the wicked - those who have persistently rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, both before the Cross and since, and the millennial dispensation of righteousness - all who have rejected the message of God, will be cast into the lake of fire.

I have searched this Book of God through and through, over and over again, to find one ray of hope for men and women who leave this world rejecting Christ, and I have never been able to find it. I have looked into all kinds of theories, and I have read hundreds of volumes, some depicting the annihilation of all the wicked dead, some, like the wild dream of the so-called “Pastor Russell,” promising a second chance after death, but I have never found one statement in all these books, one based upon the word of God, to give the slightest hope to the Christ-rejecter. This is the only world in which God is offering salvation to Christless men; and if you refuse the message of His grace now, if you deliberately steel your heart against the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and you die in your sins, go down to a Christless grave, you will be Christless for all eternity! I think the most awful picture the Bible gives us of the doom of the lost is in the Epistle of Jude, which forms such a fitting preface to the Book of Revelation. He speaks of those who make light of God’s salvation and who follow after unrighteousness, as “wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” I cannot see the least hope for a Christless soul in that figure.

When I was a mere boy in my home in Canada, I remember how, night after night, a blazing comet appeared in the skies; and I heard older people telling that this particular “night wonder” had not been seen before for something like three hundred years. I asked in amazement where it had been, and for the first time in my young life I came up against the wonder of infinite space. I was told that that comet had been driving on with tremendous velocity millions and millions of miles away from the sun for one hundred and fifty years, and that one hundred and fifty years ago it had gradually begun to come back toward the sun, and that was why it was then visible. In a few weeks it passed out of sight, to appear to us no more for another three hundred years. I can recall pondering in my mind as to what would happen if that comet went off on a tangent (though I do not suppose I knew that word then, nor its meaning), and never came back! And, my friend, this is the appalling picture that Jude presents in the passage referred to. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, those who despise the boundless mercy He has bestowed upon them in His blessed Son, and persist in refusing His goodness, continuing in their sins, will be driven away from the Sun of Righteousness into the outer darkness, and will drive on, and on, and on, throughout eternity, nevermore to find their way back into the presence of God. He is giving a little space now for repentance, but the day of His grace will be over when He rises to shake terribly the earth. And how are you treating His offer of mercy?

But we return to our chapter.

“And when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” (8:1)

In the first place, notice the opening verse. We are told that when the Lamb had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. May we not say it is the “calm before the coming storm”? - the most awful storm that shall ever break over this poor world. Some of you have lived in regions where thunder-storms are common, and you have often, no doubt, noted on a hot summer day the clouds suddenly gathering in the heavens, becoming heavier and darker every moment. You have heard the thunder reverberating in the skies, peal after peal, with ever increasing intensity. You have observed the lightning flashes striking terror into many a heart. Then suddenly all became still; there seemed to be not even a breath of wind to move the leaves upon the trees; and yet, an overcast, threatening sky, causing the fowls to run for a hiding place, the cattle to move uneasily, and all nature is expectant. A few moments pass by; then vivid flashes of lightning cause us to shrink back, dreading to be stricken; crash upon crash follow, and the windows of the heavens seem to be opened - the storm pouring down in a deluge!

We have something similar to this here. We saw in chapters four and five the saints gathered around the throne of God and of the Lamb, and we noted that from the throne proceeded thunder and lightning. As the seals were broken, one after another, judgment followed judgment in quick succession upon the poor world from which God had gathered out His beloved people. But even the crashing under the sixth seal is not the climax. In heaven lies the mystery of God’s dealing with this world and the judgments yet to fall upon it. But when the last seal is broken it will be clearly manifested then just what side God takes in all the affairs of earth. He will judge according to the holiness of His character and the righteousness of His throne. The seventh seal, as we have before noted, introduces the final drama of the great tribulation. No wonder there is silence in heaven for half an hour before that seal is broken!

It is as though all heaven is waiting in breathless expectation. We seem to hear the questions: What will the Lamb do next? What will be God’s next move toward judging and reclaiming that rebellious world? The verses that follow give the answer. John says:

“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (verses 2-5).

Careful readers of the Bible will connect the seven trumpets with the fall of Jericho: that great city just across the Jordan that barred the progress of the people of Israel into the promised land - the city that fell with the blast of God alone. The priests of Israel were given the trumpets of judgment, and for seven days they marched about the city blowing the trumpets; seven times on the seventh day they did so and at the seventh blast the walls fell down flat. Jericho is a type of this present world in its estrangement from God, with enmity to the people of God. Jericho fell at the sound of seven trumpets, and the world, as you and I know it, is going to fall at the sound of the seven trumpets of doom, blown by these angels of judgment.

The seal is broken, the book is fully unrolled. and the seven angels appear to whom are given seven trumpets. And as these angel messengers stand by, waiting one after the other to herald with a trumpet blast the coming judgments, we are told that another angel came and stood to officiate at the golden altar. He “is seen offering incense; therefore is an angel-priest. Who is this angel-priest? I think you will agree that he can be no created angel. Scripture never speaks of any created angel offering incense with the prayers of saints to make them acceptable to God. The Church of Rome does; but nowhere in the Bible do you get anything of the kind. Throughout the Old Testament, the pre-incarnate Christ is again and again presented as the Angel of The Lord. - He was the angel who appeared to Abraham; - He was the angel who guided the children of Israel; - He was the angel who wrestled with Jacob and put his thigh out of joint by the brook at Peniel. - He was the angel who appeared to Moses in the mount when the prophet prayed that he might behold God; - He was the angel who appeared to Joshua to lead the people of Israel against their foes in the land of Canaan; - He was the angel of The Lord again and again manifesting Himself throughout the entire dispensation. - In the Book of Zechariah He is the angel-advocate who stands to plead for Joshua, the high priest. So we again find Him in the Book of the Revelation presented as an angel-priest who still has a people on earth for whom to plead. They are not members of the church of God, but, as we saw in connection with the fifth seal and the parenthetical portion of chapter seven, the hundred and forty-four thousand, a remnant who will be taken out of Israel after the church of God will be called home.

The word of God is very clear on all this. The eleventh chapter of Romans pictures the Gentiles as having been grafted into Israel’s olive tree of promise (Romans I1:17). And the Holy Ghost goes on in that chapter to make it plain that when the Gentile church becomes apostate, God is going to reject it, and turn back to Israel. In the tribulation period they will again be grafted into their own olive tree. They will be the witnessing remnant of that awful time, and for them the Lord Jesus will make intercession in heaven, as He now does for His church. He will not be indifferent to their sorrows and their perplexities in those days of unparalleled tribulation; but He will, as the faithful High Priest, bear His people on His heart and on His shoulders, even as Aaron of old bore the names of the twelve tribes on the breastplate and on the onyx stones set in the ouches of gold upon his shoulders. So we see Him pictured by this angel-priest offering incense at the golden altar, in the very presence of God.

In this present time the Jews bewail their desolation, and cry out in anguish of heart year after year at the most solemn of their set-times, “Woe unto us, for we have no Mediator!” But when their eyes are opened and grace begins to operate in their souls they will know the blessedness of priestly intercession on the part of their once-rejected Messiah, whom they will learn to identify with the Angel of the Covenant of old. They will search their Bibles; they will doubtless read the Book of Hebrews; they will study the four Gospels, and will see the truth. They will look upon Him whom they pierced, they will repent and mourn, as described in Zechariah 12:10-14, and God will receive Israel and make her His messenger to the nations. We are not surprised, therefore, when we get this look into glory, and see the Lord Jesus as the Angel-priest.

He has a golden censer. Is it not a blessed thing to think that Israel will have such an Intercessor in the coming day? We are told that the smoke of the incense is the prayers of the saints - those suffering saints on the earth. The angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and emptied it upon the earth. Here is the answer to the cry of His afflicted ones down in that scene of tribulation.

The prayers went up to the Father, and judgment came down, “and there were thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake.” The final storm breaks at last!

“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (ver. 7).

I cannot explain the symbol fully, but I think I can see a hint of the awful time that is before the people of Christendom who have refused the gospel. Do you remember that the grass is used as a symbol of man? (Isaiah 40:6.) Grass trampled beneath the foot is the picture of man in his frailty and weakness. What about the tree? It is but another picture of man, but rising up in his pride and independence of God. You remember how Nebuchadnezzar is likened unto a great tree; how the rulers in Israel were spoken of as great cedars. John the Baptist said, “Now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that beareth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” Grass is man in his weakness, man in his littleness; the tree is man in his dignity, in his greatness, in his independence - man lifting himself up against God. So the first angel’s trumpet distinctly indicates a fiery judgment upon that part of the human race that has rejected the gospel now so freely proclaimed It is an appalling picture, but, remember, the reality is far worse than the picture! This is followed by another fearful portent that has to do especially, I believe, with the judgment of the great world-church that has borne sway over the consciences of so many people, and enslaved so many nations.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (verses 8,9).

May I direct your attention to Jeremiah 51:25? There we have the same symbol - a great mountain cast into the sea. I have already said that every symbol in the Book of the Revelation was explained somewhere else in the Bible. Now here in the Old Testament a great mountain burning with fire is the symbol of Babylon, literal Babylon. In the New Testament this great destroying mountain burning with fire, that is cast into the sea and brought to an end under the judgment of God in this coming day, is evidently spiritual Babylon. Babylon of old was the fountainhead of idolatry. Every idolatrous system has had its root in Babylon. Spiritual Babylon is the direct successor of literal Babylon. The direct communication between the mystic religions of the old Babylon and spiritual Babylon of to-day is so marked that if anyone attempts to make a study of it he is perfectly astonished to find where many of the ritual services used in “Christian” churches sprang from. In the coming day when the second angers trumpet sounds, Babylon will be cast into the great sea of the nations. That is, in the day of God’s wrath, the false church will be utterly destroyed by the people over whom she once tyrannized. Of this we shall learn more when we come to chapter eighteen.

The third angel follows. We read:

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (vers. 10, 11).

A great star falls from heaven. Stars in the prophetic Scriptures are religious dignitaries. They that turn many to righteousness are to shine as the stars forever and ever, and the symbol is used again and again in the Bible for persons occupying places of importance in the spiritual, or religious world, as we say. Here we have a star whose influence over man is so great that when he falls the third part of men are poisoned because of the evil influence of this apostate leader.

Who is this star? While I do not want to try to prophesy, let me give you a suggestion. Who occupies the highest place in the church in the minds of millions of professing Christian people? Many would say, the Pope. Can you imagine what might be the effect on vast numbers of people if to-morrow the newspapers came out with an “Extra” something like this: “The Pope declares that Christianity is all a sham, that religion is just a fraud!”? Can you imagine the effect that would have? Tens of thousands who would say, “Well, the man we looked upon as the head of the church, as infallible, as the authoritative voice on all matters of a religious nature, has denied it all. Now, whom can we trust, and what can we believe?” Leo X did this privately. Suppose a Pope in the future did it openly. I do not say certainly it will be so. I am just giving you a hint of what might be. Do we not see the same thing on a small scale to-day? When a professing Christian leader gives up what he has once stood for, it has a tremendous influence for evil upon people of lesser influence and lesser knowledge. And after the true church is gone, I gather from this symbol that one of the greatest “lights” in the false system left behind will openly apostatize, and his teachings become as wormwood, poisoning and embittering, to his deluded followers.

The darkness deepens when the fourth trumpet sounds.

“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound” (vers. 12, 13).

Again I do not attempt to tell you exactly what this symbolizes; but it is evident that light is being rapidly withdrawn. The third part of the sky is smitten. The third part of the moon and stars were darkened. What does it mean? Well, you know what the Lord Jesus says to the individual, “If the light that is in thee be darkened, how great is that darkness.” “Light obeyed increaseth light light resisted bringeth night.” Do you know why so many people in Christendom are going into what they call Christian Science and Theosophy and Spiritualism and so-called New Theology? Do you know why so few people ever get out of them? Because of this: They have had the opportunity to receive light from God and they have rejected it, and it is written in the Word that “God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who obeyed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thessalonians 2:11, 12). When God presents His truth to people, responsibility comes with it. When God presents Christ to them, tremendous responsibility is put upon them. If you hear the message and reject Christ, do not be surprised if you are caught in one of these unholy ideas of the present day, and perhaps never be delivered from it until you wake up in a lost eternity.

The thirteenth verse introduces, in a very solemn way, the three trumpets yet to follow, which are distinguished from the four we have already commented upon, as “woe” trumpets. They speak of a more intensified form of judgment than any previously portrayed. These will occupy us in our next lecture. I only desire now to call your attention to the expression, “the inhabiters of the earth.” A similar term we find frequently in this book, “Them that dwell upon the earth.” Upon these the heaviest judgments fall. They are not merely they that live here upon earth, but they form a distinctive class. They are the people who have rejected the heavenly calling. When God offered them full and free salvation through the death of His beloved Son, they turned away from Him, because to have closed in with Christ would have meant to give up their worldly desires and love of sin, therefore they become the “dwellers on the earth.”

~ end of Lecture 9 ~***

Lecture 10 The First and Second “WOE” Trumpets

(Revelation 9)

WE are to be occupied this evening with the fifth and sixth trumpets, known respectively as the first and second “woes.” The added designation of these trumpets implies a solemnity and a fearfulness beyond anything we have previously considered. That we may have all the details clearly before us, I will quote the text in full as we go on with the address.

“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit” (vers. 1,2).

The reference, I take it, is undoubtedly to that apostate leader referred to under the third trumpet. There we read of a great star who fell from heaven burning like a lamp, and who, falling upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, poisoned them so that men drinking of them died, the waters being made bitter.

Under this fifth trumpet we have the development of the apostasy, of which this leader is evidently the head. He opens the bottomless pit, using a “key.”

We have been made familiar, in the Gospels, with the thought of the key where Christ commits to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and you will remember our Lord’s words to the lawyers, “Ye have taken away the key of knowledge.” From these Scriptures it is clear that a key implies a system of teaching, and possibly ritual observances connected with it. With this hint we can readily understand what follows.

This arch-apostate, by a system of erroneous teaching, damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them, opens up the bottomless pit, from whence issues a blinding smoke as the smoke of a great furnace, so intense that the sun and air become darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. It is the strong delusion, to which we have had occasion to refer frequently in the course of these addresses. While it is said in II Thessalonians that “God shall send strong delusion,” we here learn that He sends it by permitting this Satanic envoy to delude the nations.

Darkening of the sun by means of these Stygian fumes implies the blotting out, from before men’s eyes or minds, the supreme source of light. Their whole spiritual sky will be made dark by the false system with which they will be deluded. The air is particularly Satan’s realm. He is called “the prince of the power of the air.” The darkening of the air implies the control of this realm by Satanic agencies. I do not think we will be far wrong if we identify with this coming delusion the occult systems of gnostic origin, so largely prevailing and so rapidly spreading at the present time. These systems, as we have before noticed, are a unit in denying (in any true sense) the personality of God and in asserting the divinity of humanity. They reproduce, in some form or other, the primeval lie, “Ye shall be as God.” This is the very essence of New Thought, New Theology, Eddyism, Spiritism, Theosophy, and other offshoots of these evil systems. After the restraining power of the Holy Ghost has been removed, they will spread like locusts over all the earth, having tremendous power over the minds of men. This is what the third verse indicates: “And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.”

Anyone familiar with the locust plagues of the East will understand at once the figure here used. Travelers have told us how the locusts appear in swarms so vast that they seem like great clouds, actually shutting out the sun and filling the whole air. They devour everything before them. Falling upon a green field, within a few minutes they leave it as bare as though no vegetation had been there at all. They are the dread of Oriental husbandmen, who are utterly powerless to combat them. They aptly typify or symbolize the spiritual plague of the last days. The symbol of the locusts is coupled with that of the scorpion, because of the torment these evil teachings eventually bring to those who accept them.

That we do not have any merely literal plague of locusts in view here the next verses make evident:

“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man” (vers. 4, 5).

Literal locusts would do the very thing which these are commanded not to do. The grass of the earth, green things, trees of all descriptions, are here distinctly protected from their power. This verse seems to be rather in the way of explanation than a continuation of the symbol; otherwise we might think of the grass and trees as representing mankind. But it would appear that the apostle here expounds rather than continues the description of his vision, in order that we may not be misled by a literal application. The locusts’ power is expended upon those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. These are tormented by them for five months, a torment akin to that of a scorpion when he striketh a man. We have already seen that those bearing the seal of God are the remnant of Israel. These alone in Christendom and Judaism will be preserved from the strong delusion of that day. Our Lord Himself limits Satan’s power in the same way, when, referring to this very period, And the plague of false teaching, He says, “If it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.” Thank God, it is not possible; for the seal of the living God in the present dispensation is the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to guide into all truth, and in that coming dispensation of judgment the same Holy Spirit will illumine the minds of those who repent in Israel, and thus preserve them from this Satanic delusion.

For the rest, so great will be the distress caused by these evil teachings when men fully give themselves up to them, that, “In those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (ver. 6).

Anyone who has ever sought to give spiritual help to persons awakening in measure from the delusions of Eddyism, or Spiritism, or in fact any other Satanic system, will understand at once the condition of mind here depicted. I shall never forget the almost insane glare of the eye and the hopeless wail in the voice of a poor woman who, after having been under spiritualistic influences for a number of years, at last began dimly to apprehend the dreadful character of the system that had been enslaving her. It was only through much prayer and earnest holding on to God on her behalf that she was delivered, but she told me on one occasion that she had suffered all the torments of the damned during the year and a half when she was seeking deliverance from demon control.

A few years ago I was laboring among the Mormons in Utah. There I learned of a most pitiable case. A family who had accepted the Mormon delusion and emigrated from Great Britain to Utah, after practicing the heathenish rites of Joseph Smith’s abominable system for thirty years, were at last awakened to the untrustworthiness of it all by the perfidious conduct of certain eminent church-leaders. As a result, they renounced the entire system and were left, if one may so speak, without religious convictions of any kind. A few months later, the wife and mother was dying. She tossed upon her bed in the greatest agony of mind, moaning in her distress and despair, afraid to meet God in her sins. A minister of the gospel was urged by some friends to call and see her, though much against the will of the family, and finally gained admittance to the dying woman’s room. He sought faithfully to present the precious truth of the gospel from God’s holy Word, but though for a time she seemed to listen eagerly, she turned from him at the very last, crying out, “Oh! sir, after one has been fooled by one religion all her life, it is too late to trust another in the hour of death.” And so, in great agony, she passed away, so far as he could tell, into a hopeless eternity.

Oh! I would that I had the power to impress upon men and women everywhere the dreadful responsibility they assume when they tamper with these unholy teachings which already have escaped from the bottomless pit, and which even now have for many souls darkened the air and blotted out the light of the sun. No torture can be compared to spiritual torment, and the only remedy is that perfect love alone, displayed in Calvary’s cross, which casteth out all fear.

In the days to which our chapter refers, those who have rejected the grace of God will never again hear that precious gospel, and so they are left to cry out in their anguish, seeking death and finding it not.

In verses seven to twelve we have a highly symbolic description of this delusion, which I wish to examine in detail, so I quote the passage in full.

“And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.”

The shapes of the locusts, we are told, are like unto horses prepared unto battle, thus symbolizing their rapid progress and apparently providential irresistibility, in obtaining sway over those unprepared to do battle with them. “Upon their heads were crowns like gold” - for apostasy, during that time of delusion, will seem to carry all before it triumphantly, driving from Christendom the last vestige of orthodoxy. Our Lord Jesus asked the solemn question in view of His second advent, “When the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?” The “coming of the Son of Man” refers not to the rapture, but to the appearing in glory; at that time it will, for the moment, seem as though all true faith has been driven from the prophetic earth; nevertheless there will arise by the power of God’s word, from the distant parts of the world, a vast company, as we have seen, who will not have bowed the knee to this latter day Baal.

We are next told “their faces were as the faces of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.” Three symbols here intermingle, all of which are very evidently found in the occult systems to which we have referred. “Faces as of men” would seem to imply intelligence, and these evil teachers make a great appeal to human reason, and ridicule the truth of God as a system of cunningly devised fables, while actually they themselves follow but sophistical and illogical theories. Their appeal is to human intelligence - to the mind rather than to the heart and conscience, which Scripture does. Moreover they are characterized by intense seductiveness and attractive fancies, typified by “the hair of women.” A woman’s hair, we are told in Scripture, is her glory; and in the Song of Solomon 7:5, following the marginal reading, we are told, “Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple; the king is held in the tresses.” How many have been turned aside from the path of duty by natural attractions, grossly misused for the purpose of accomplishing unholy ends.

But seductive and apparently rational as these systems are when first presented, they prove at last to have “teeth as the teeth of lions,” tearing to pieces those who put their trust in them. In the ninth verse we read: “And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” These iron breastplates utterly destroy all conscience, or, rather, render them impervious to the shafts of truth, so that the conscience is never reached; while the wings, whose sound is as that of myriads of chariots rushing to battle, would speak of the swiftness with which they conquer those who have turned from the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The tenth verse again emphasizes the scorpion-like torment they produce. “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.” What a mercy that their power is thus limited. I see no reason why we should not understand the five months literally. For a very limited time this apostate leader and his emissaries will be permitted to dominate those who would not have Christ the Lord to reign over them. In His place, Satan himself is worshiped as Abaddon and Apollyon.

“And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon” (ver. 11). This can only refer to the Devil himself. He alone is the angel of the bottomless pit. So it is made evident at last that the “God within,” to which men are turning to-day, is no other than Satan, the great arch-enemy, who has been plotting man’s destruction from the very beginning. Selfworshipers are devil-worshipers, and in some instances already this has been avowed by the followers of present day apostasy. This then is the first “woe.” “One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter” (ver. 12).

We next read,

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men” (vers. 13-15).

This is evidently something very different from that which we have already been looking at. It seems to be the result, however, of the previous woe. That is, it shows us what the effect upon the world will be when Satan-worship becomes everywhere prevalent in what was once called Christendom. It will bring about a tremendous conflict, setting nation against nation, and man against man, until the third part of men will be destroyed.

I think we have had a remarkable illustration of this in the great conflict from which we have so lately emerged. Who can deny that it was the direct result of rationalistic “Kultur,” and the denial of the authority of the Word of God? If education without Christ could save, Germany should have been the most blest nation on the face of the earth, for there, education seemed to have reached its highest point - but with what dire results, not only to that nation but to a large part of the human race! German philosophy had poisoned the world. The colleges and universities of almost every civilized land drank greedily from the poisoned streams of Teutonic philosophies and infidel hypotheses, and it is only now that we are beginning to awaken to the baleful effects of such folly. I have no doubt that Satan himself would have restrained men from rushing into such bloody conflict had it been possible. What I mean is this: He was seeking to entrap men with his specious theories and unholy philosophies, and the great war of 1914 was an almost unforeseen result of this. The nations were thrown into confusion by the teachings they had imbibed. The war was like a great explosion which could no longer be prevented.

These considerations will help us, I think, to understand the second “woe.” In chapter seven we saw the four angels restrained from letting loose the four winds of the earth upon the great sea of the nations. Here, a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, in response, undoubtedly, to the angel-priest’s intercession in chap. 8:3, cries out to the angel which had the sixth trumpet, “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” These angels are evidently at the present time restraining the great Asiatic hordes from pouring themselves upon the Land of Palestine and Europe. The Euphrates formed the eastern limit of the Roman Empire, and thus was the barrier, as it were, between the East and the West. We are told that the four angels were prepared, for the hour, day, month, and year. That is, there is a definite moment in the mind of God at which this awful power is to be let loose. Until that hour strikes, not all the evil machinations of men, not all the ambitions of nations, can bring about the conflict here predicted. But when that hour does strike, no astute statesman’s policy, no treaties, no world-federation movements can prevent the dire catastrophe predicted.

Two hundred thousand thousand horsemen are hurled upon the west of Asia and upon Europe.

They seem like unearthly warriors, with breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. The horses’ heads appear as the heads of lions, because of the unspeakable ferocity of these Asiatic hordes; while fire, and smoke, and brimstone seem to issue from their mouths, telling of the Satanic character of this dire invasion. The result will be a third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issue from their mouths. When we recall the millions who have perished as the direct or indirect result of the recent war and pestilence, we can see how a greater war in the future may well tend to almost depopulate the earth, destroying one-third of the prophetic earth, which is identical with the limits of the old Roman empire. In verse nineteen we read: “For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.” Isaiah 9:15 helps us to understand both this passage and that in verse ten. “The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.” Whether it be the occult woe of the fifth trumpet or the carnage woe of the sixth trumpet, in each case lying prophets are the leaders in each movement and are responsible for the mental, spiritual and physical harm accomplished.

It is a solemn thing to realize that even judgments such as these will have no effect so far as leading men back to God and to repentance is concerned. Punishment does not of itself lead men to repentance; so we are told in verses 20, 21, “The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” This is in accordance with the general testimony of Scripture, which nowhere intimates that punishment produces penitence. The Restorationist and Universalist teachers deny this and insist that all punishment, whether in time or eternity, is with a view to the final salvation of the delinquent, and that eventually all men will learn by judgment, if they refused to learn by grace, and will turn to God for salvation. But both here, and later in this same Book of Revelation, we find that the heaviest judgments of God, falling on guilty men, do not soften the stony, rebellious hearts; but that rather men become hardened in their sins and are more blasphemous and God-defiant when judgment is poured out upon them than before.

In eternity, God will not permit open defiance of His will. Our Lord Jesus tells us that, in hell, there will be not only “weeping” because of suffering, but “gnashing of teeth,” which expresses not manifest opposition but the angry defiance of the heart of man, which will be filled with hatred to God but be powerless to openly oppose His government. If the cross of Christ, with its marvelous exhibition of holy love, will not reconcile men to God, punishment will never avail to win their hearts.

~ end of Lecture 10 ~***

Lecture 11 Eating The Little Opened Book

(Revelation 10)

WE will look this evening at the first part of the parenthetical portion that comes in between the sixth and seventh trumpets. We have already noticed that there are similar parentheses between the sixth and seventh seals and the sixth and seventh vials. It is an evidence of divine order not to be overlooked. The seventh trumpet ushers in the millennial kingdom, and goes right on to the close of the course of time and the establishment of the Great White Throne for the judgment of the wicked dead. But ere this consummation is brought to our attention, we are given fuller instruction regarding the place that Israel has in the mind of God in connection with these future events.

This tenth chapter contains truth largely of a moral character, and because of that, one is likely, in studying the book, to pass it over without very careful attention. It does not seem, at first sight, to have to do with any of the great movements we have been considering in connection with either Israel or the Gentiles. But just as in the first chapter of the Book of Daniel we have set before us, in the history of the three Hebrew youths who refused to be defiled with the king’s meat, the moral condition suited to instruction in the things of God, so in this tenth chapter we find the Lord dealing in a very special way with His beloved apostle John, in order that he may be the better prepared to unfold the great mysteries lying just beyond us in the rest of this solemn Book. And in the Lord’s preparation of His servant John, we get great moral principles that should speak to our own hearts, and, if laid hold of aright, fit us the better to serve the living and true God while we wait for His Son from heaven. In verses 1-3 we read:

“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.”

This mighty angel can surely be no other than that same glorious Angel of the covenant whom we have already beheld standing at the golden altar officiating as the Angel-priest of the heavenly sanctuary. Of no created angel could such glorious things be said as those John here mentions in connection with this wondrous being.

The reason our Lord is brought before us in this angelic character, is, that in this portion of the Book of Revelation we are dealing largely with Israel, the earthly people, and that before their Messiah has been revealed to them. Therefore it is but natural that He should take the same position that He occupied toward them in Old Testament times. A fuller revelation they will receive when He descends in glory, and they behold the marks of His passion and cry out in amazement, “What are those wounds in thy hands?” Then He will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” At last the full truth will burst upon them that the crucified Nazarene and the Angel of the covenant are identical, and “they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech 12:10). This will be, for Judah and Jerusalem, the true day of atonement, when they will afflict their souls as they realize the enormity of their sin in rejecting their divine Saviour, and the merits of His atoning work shall be applied to their hearts and consciences; then will they be able to cry out in the full assurance of faith, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa 53:5).. But until that moment of His full manifestation, He is to them the Angel of the covenant - an uncreated angel, therefore - The Lord’s fellow; for, as we have intimated above, to no created angel could this description be rightly applied. He comes down out of heaven, clothed not merely with a cloud, but the cloud, as it should read, and the cloud is the symbol of the divine glory.

The cloud is the chariot in which He led His people of old through the wilderness all the way from Egypt to the Land of Promise. We are expressly told that in that cloud was the Angel of the covenant. It is the uncreated cloud of glory that dwelt between the cherubim, in the tabernacle, above the mercy-seat. When Solomon built the temple and dedicated it to The Lord, He came in the cloud, dwelling in it as His house. When nearly five centuries afterward Ezekiel was called upon to declare the desolation of that once holy house, he beheld the cloud lifted up from the most holy place, tarrying a moment over the door of the sanctuary, then departing and hanging above the city wall as though loath to give up the place where His glory had so long been manifested. Slowly the cloud moved over to the adjoining mountain on the east, that is the Mount of Olives, and then up into the heavens.

Thus the visible manifestation of The Lord’s presence had disappeared from Israel because of their sins. That cloud never returned to the land of Palestine, until our Lord Jesus Christ went up into the holy mount, which we commonly call the Mount of Transfiguration, where Peter, James and John had a vision of the coming kingdom - “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There they saw Him transfigured, and talking with Moses and Elijah: - Moses representing the saints who have died and will be raised again at our Lord’s return, and - Elijah picturing those who shall be caught up at Christ’s coming, without dying.

Peter, overwhelmed by such an abundant revelation, knowing not what to say, cried, “Lord, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias” (Mat 17:4). And while he thus spake, “there came a cloud and overshadowed them” (v. 5). This was the Father’s way of showing them that He would have no mortal man, however holy and devoted, put on a level with His beloved Son. After Christ had died on the cross, and was raised from the dead by omnipotent power, He led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives nigh unto Bethany, and with hands lifted up in blessing was parted from them, and they beheld Him going up, until the cloud received Him out of their sight. When He returns again we shall behold Him on the cloud and every eye shall see Him. So here, when John says, “I saw a mighty angel clothed with the cloud,” we may understand at once that this angel can be no creature, but is Himself the Creator of all things, our Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with the sign of the divine majesty.

Observe, in the next place, that the rainbow which we saw in chapter four round about the throne of God, is now seen wrapped, as it were, about the head of this mighty angel. It seems to speak of His coming to confirm the covenant made of old with Noah after the world had been destroyed by a flood. Another evidence that it is a divine person who is here brought before us, is found in the next clause: “His face was as it were the sun.” It is the same face that Saul of Tarsus saw when he was marching along the Damascus turnpike, his heart filled with hatred against the Lord Jesus and burning with rage against His followers. Stricken to the earth, he saw a light above the brightness of the sun, and in that glorious light beheld the once-crucified Christ of God, and heard Him ask in tenderest accents, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” When He comes again it will be as the Sun of Righteousness.

“His feet,” we are told, “were as pillars of fire,” thus linking Him with the same wondrous Being described in chapter one, of whom we read that “His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace” (v. 15).- The same, too, that Daniel saw and describes in similar terms in his seventh chapter.

We are next told that He had in His hand “a little book open.” There have been various speculations as to what this book might be, but it seems to me it could be no other than the very book we have had before us heretofore. It is the title-deed to the earth, the seals of which have been broken, one after the other, until the entire scroll is seen unrolled. The Lord descends with all the evidences of divine majesty, and with this title-deed in His hand, He sets His right foot upon the sea and His left foot upon the earth, as indicative of taking possession of His own inheritance - that inheritance which, as Man on earth, He had redeemed with His own precious blood.

His voice is the voice of the conqueror: “He cried as a lion roareth”; for the Angel and the Lion of Judah’s tribe are one and the same. When He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. The thunder, we have noticed before, speaks of judgment, and John says, “When the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” As Mediator of the New Covenant He seals up the utterance of the seven thunders. It is not necessary for us to know what they uttered. They speak of judgment due to wayward man, but He Himself has borne the judgment, and those who trust in Him need never know its dreadful secrets.

“Let us love, and sing, and wonder,