The Mark of the Beast Part 30

But amid the almost universal declension, there was ever the remnant--Jew and Gentile--who "endured, seeing the invisible," and strengthening their souls in the special tribulation promise "_He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved!_"

And these endurers shall be G.o.d's witnesses unto all nations. No suffering, privation, no spending or being spent will be counted too much by these tribulation-time witnesses; they will live only to serve G.o.d in witnessing.

The chief source of temptation and danger to the "Kingdom Believers"

will be from the ever multiplying "False Christs." Each new imposter parading some new notion, but each in turn, either publicly slain by order of the "False Prophet," or mysteriously disappearing. The only likeness of imposture in them all, existed in their claim to be the Saviour who should deliver from the awful days of tribulation which the would-be G.o.dly were pa.s.sing through.

A similar thing preceded the first advent of our Lord, only _then_, the sole trust of these imposters was in their own statements; but before the coming of Christ again _to the earth_, when the cry will often be "Lo here is Christ," and "Lo there is Christ," these imposters will b.u.t.tress their claims with the exhibition of supernatural powers.

The "remnant" of faithful Jews which we saw in our last chapter, escaping to the "wilderness," will be only a remnant. The main body of the Jews of the world will have concentrated themselves in Jerusalem, its neighbourhood, and parts of Palestine left to them after the part.i.tion of the land by Anti-christ. Dan. xi. 9.

It would seem as though the "remnant," meanwhile learn of G.o.d so intimately that they become the Evangelizers of the world, preaching the Gospel of the _coming kingdom of Christ_. Rev. xiv. 6, 7. Matt.

xxiv. 14.

Among those Jews who were unable to escape with the "remnant," there are also others who are loyal to G.o.d, who would not wors.h.i.+p the Beast or his image, many of whom are betrayed by their bigoted Jewish relatives. All these, alike, are delivered up to Anti-christ and to his creatures, to be tortured and to be killed.

"_Then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened_." Matt. xxiv. 21, 22.

Dan. xii. 1. Jer. x.x.x. 7, 11, 14, 15. Zech. xiii 8, 9.

May it not well be that the imprecatory Psalms, otherwise so difficult to understand, in the virulence of their desires for vengeance, etc., are prophetic of these days of persecution and tribulation? As well, too, must be many of the _Prayers_ of the Psalms, etc. Ps. xxv. 2.

Ps. lxxiv. Ps. cxl. Ps. lxxix. Isaiah x.x.xv. 3, 4. Isaiah li. 12-15.

Micah vii. 8, 9. Luke xviii. 7, 8.

The almost universal return of the Jew to his own land, with all the aims of Zionism, and other kindred movements among the Hebrew people today is, curiously enough, not marked by the _religious_ spirit, but purely national. The comparatively few pious souls (certainly not more than a quarter of a million, if that) who built the Temple, and afterwards flee into the "wilderness," or are beheaded rather than wors.h.i.+p the Beast, or who, unable to get away in time, are beheaded for their loyalty to G.o.d, are now left out of future count in the history of the final fate of Jerusalem.

The city will probably be enormously enlarged and will come to embrace miles of suburbs, as London has absorbed towns as far distant, almost, as Croydon, in Surrey.

In the latter years of the great Tribulation there will appear to be a general rising of the nations against Jerusalem--against the Jews. It may well be, that all the powers will have become so indebted, _financially_, to the Jews, that there shall be an universal outbreak of Anti-Semitism, the real cause of the outbreak being inability on the part of the nations to pay their debts, when they shall make common cause against the Jew, hoping thus to clear off their debts, by the destruction of their creditors.

Preparatory to this great and final struggle, the great eastern boundary river, the Euphrates, will be dried up. The _literal_ accomplishment of this great physical wonder, is an absolute necessity, if the vast hordes of the Eastern armies are to be marched to Jerusalem.

Even as those days of the end draw nearer and nearer G.o.d's people of that time will suffer more and yet more.

"_Happy the dead who in the Lord do die from henceforth. Yea (saith the Spirit) that they may rest from their toils, for their works do follow with them. Ceased only that form of service which brings weariness, and have found perfect happiness in the ability to continue service without weariness_."--ROTHERHAM.

While this is true of all the saints of all the ages, it is specifically true of those who, in The Great Tribulation, shall lay down their lives for G.o.d in faithful, enduring obedience.

And now the end draws ever more rapidly near. North, East, South and West of Palestine the armies of allies against Jerusalem close in upon her. Had the Jewish race been as loyally devoted to their G.o.d and His Word as they had been to Anti-christ the Deceiver, and his vile, promulgated laws, they would have, inevitably, recognized Psalms lx.x.xiii. 3, 4, as a prophecy of this time and the approach of their foes: "They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones." They have said, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance."

But G.o.d has not forgotten His promises to Israel, and the time of her worst visitation, is to be His opportunity:

"_Wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may a.s.semble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy_." Zeph. iii. 8. "_Now also many nations are gathered against thee (Zion,) but they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel: for He shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor_." Mich. iv. 11, 12. "_In that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land_." Joel iii. 1, 2, 9-12, 14. Zech. xiv. 1, 2. Zech. xii. 2, 3. Ps. lxviii. 1-3. Joel ii. 32.

Against the gathered mult.i.tudes of the armed nations--every devilish instrument of war then known, being brought to bear against the doomed city, doomed as the allies consider it--the Jews can bring but a comparatively feeble resistance. With seeming ease, Jerusalem would appear to be taken. "_The city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity_, AND THE RESIDUE OF THE PEOPLE SHALL NOT BE CUT OFF FROM THE CITY." Zech. xiv. 2.

With great spoil, full of unholy rejoicing, their souls steeped in pride, their hands stained with blood, the victorious armies march to the great plain of Esdraelon to hold a mighty revel, and to prepare for any future event.

"How oft after anxious provisions of man Flashes in with a silence G.o.d's unforseen plan!"

"G.o.d is a tower without a stair And His perfection loves despair."

The residue of the people of Jerusalem, who were left in the city on the triumphant departure of the allies of h.e.l.l, were utterly broken in spirit. Their discomfited hearts will be being prepared for some word or sin. Will they then begin to see their national, as well as their individual folly? Who can say for certain? But the near-to-come events with them, would almost seem to point to something like this.

Certainly, G.o.d's unforseen plan was about to flash in upon their despairing condition.

The world's peoples were "_fully ripe_" for the Judgment, and the "_sharp sickle_" of Judgment was now waiting to fall into the earth.

First come "signs," every sign a warning, yet the peoples, the enemies of Christ, will not hear nor see. "_Immediately after the Tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken_." Matt. xxiv. 29. Isaiah xiii. 9-10-13.

Joel ii. 30, 31. Joel iii. 15. Rev. vi. 12-14.

"_And then_" (_after_ the Tribulation, and _after_ these physical signs and disturbances) "_shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven_." Matt. xxiv. 30.

What will this sign be? We cannot actually say. The only Scriptural hint we know of is our Lord's own word that "the Manifestation of His Presence will be as the lightning which flashes from the one end of heaven to the other."

It may be that this will occur while men are horrified with the unnatural darkness, and that the "sign" will be a sudden and momentary cleaving of the black heavens, so that the glory of the Lord will break through, and He will, for an instant, be revealed in close proximity to earth. Will it be thus that the Jew will receive his sign from heaven?

That which follows, and which should be rendered: "_Then shall all the tribes of the land mourn_," points to the connection of this verse with Zechariah's prophecy: "_And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon ME Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn_." Zech. xii. 10.

"And again, the manner in which Zechariah's prophecy is quoted in the Apocalypse may, perhaps, afford some slight argument in favour of the explanation of the sign suggested above, namely, that it is Christ Himself seen for a moment through a rift in the clouds, for John says, '_Behold He cometh with the clouds: and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all the TRIBES OF THE LAND shall mourn because of Him_.'

"Thus the Jews, although they may not as yet understand all, will at least know that it was the Messenger of Jehovah whom they slew, and that in so doing they pierced Himself. And they will mourn with no feigned lamentation, but as one mourns for his first-born, nay, his only son. All their pride will have broken down; for the word will then have been fulfilled, '_I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of My holy mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord_.' Zeph. ii. 11, 12.

"Then will G.o.d look down upon the stiff-necked and rebellious people, whom long centuries of chastis.e.m.e.nt could not subdue, and lo! a remnant, broken-hearted and contrite, humbly confessing that '_all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags, that they are all fading as a leaf, and that their iniquities, like the wind, have carried them away_.' They long for the personal interposition of G.o.d their Father, and cry, '_Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down!_' They are ready at last, for their Messiah. Christ has become precious to them: there is no need that He, the true Joseph, should longer refrain Himself. He had indeed said, 'Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, "_Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord_."'"

"But that word withholds Him no longer; for now their eyes are waiting for the Lord their G.o.d, until that He have mercy upon them: their souls are watching for Him more than they that watch for the morning."

(PEMBER'S "GREAT PROPHECIES.")

_Then shall He suddenly come, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to MY valley, when He shall touch the valley of the mountain to the place He separated_." Zech. xiv. 4, 5.

In this great valley of His special making it is possible, probable, that our Lord will shelter His people, while He is destroying the hordes of Anti-christ. It is of this that Isaiah speaks: "_Come My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment_, UNTIL THE INDIGNATION BE OVER PAST. _For behold the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity_." And when that awful judgment shall be over--"_which shall burn as an oven_," they shall come out of their shelter "_skipping as calves of the stall_." A wondrous figure of the frolicsome calves coming out of the darkness of their stalls into the glorious light, and into the full freshness of the luscious meadows.

All this time Anti-christ and his warrior hosts are camped in the plain of Esdraelon, preparing for a fresh attack that is to utterly demolish the Jews as a nation.

To Apleon, The Anti-christ, word comes of the appearance of Christ, and that He is espousing the cause of Israel.

Satan, and his colleagues, self-blinded, suppose that they can war with and overcome even Christ and His hosts of saints; and, determined to do this: "_the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against His Anointed_." Psa. ii. 2.

Armageddon--the Valley of Megidda; "The Valley of Jehosaphat;"

"Bozrah," all these names are mentioned as the scene of the great final conflict between Anti-christ and Christ, between the armies of the earth, and the translated Saints of G.o.d who return with Christ.

It is probable that the line of the encamped hosts of Anti-christ will extend from Bozrah, on the southeast, to Megidda, on the North-west.

Is it we wonder, merely a coincidence that this should measure exactly 1,600 _Stadia_, the actual distance named in Rev. xiv. 16, as that over which the blood of the judgment wine-press flowed.

Surely Habakkuk's wonderful prophetic vision covered this great battle-field. "G.o.d came _from Teman_, and the Holy One _from Mount Paran_." The march of G.o.d's indignation would seem to be from Sinai, through Idumea, past Jerusalem, and on to the mighty field of Esdraelon's plain.