In the foregoing pages an earnest effort has been made to avoid mere hypothesis and speculation; and the endeavor has been to the contrary, to build on the solid, Scriptural foundation of history unveiling prophecy. Those who have carefully considered this exposition cannot but have noted the fact that God has used many of His servants throughout the age to interpret the visions of the Revelation as history has gradually disclosed their fulfillment. Quotations from numerous writers throughout the entire age have proved this. There is made manifest the obvious error, one that has seriously interfered with the study of the Revelation, of supposing that God purposed at some time to choose some one individual to unfold and apply all its visions. This error has caused some of the Lord’s people to refrain from even reading the book, much less studying and making use of the helps that God in His providence has provided for its understanding.
Moreover, to those who have given due consideration to the foregoing exposition, it will be apparent that the book of Revelation, the last of God’s revelation to the Church, was not given for the last members of the Church only, but for the whole Church of Christ who have witnessed for him throughout the age. Of course it is perfectly reasonable to suppose that the last members of the Church class would be privileged above those who lived before, to obtain a better understanding of all its visions, because of the visions becoming matters of past history, and also on account of the many superior providential advantages to obtain a correct knowledge of the Divine Word of truth, which became corrupted by the defiling influences of the great Apostasy of the Dark Ages.
Furthermore, it will have been noted that the Divine Plan of Salvation, now clearly understood by some, is woven all through the symbolic visions; and particularly is this found to be true concerning the closing visions, describing the judgments now falling on Christendom and soon to result in its downfall. It will also be noted that the visions relating to the new heavens and new earth and the New Jerusalem have now become very clear to the understanding of those privileged to discern the Divine Plan for blessing all mankind in due time, the Millennium. How plain it should be to such privileged ones that the progressive unfolding of the Revelation visions, their gradual revealing, and the greatly increased light on the same, is according to a Divine arrangement. In order that this might be seen we have quoted profusely the writings of expositors who have lived in the different generations of the Church’s history from St. John’s day down to the present time.
This exposition has proved, we believe, that this most wonderful book has to a greater or less extent been a source of Divine comfort and encouragement to thousands of God’s people in different periods of the Church’s history even from the beginning. This was especially so in the Dark Ages, as seen in the lives of Wycliffe, Huss, and the Waldenses. The visions of the Antichrist to a very considerable extent influenced the Reformers in their great work of bringing the Bible to its rightful place in the Church as the sole rule and guide of faith and practice; and it is beyond question that the work of these Reformers, which is a subject of one of the Revelation visions, opened a new era in the history of the world. The many promises of Christ recorded in the Revelation encouraged and sustained these Reformers in their divinely appointed work; and their conduct and example encouraged millions of humanity to break the chains of false religious superstition and become delivered from the bondage of the great Papal system.
In our study of the Revelation we have not hesitated to avail ourselves of all the aid, all the help to understand its visions that has been within our reach; and in many instances we have quoted from those with whom we have not in all points agreed. The fact has been recognized that the Church which Christ established is one “Body,” and that Body embraces all the true people of God throughout the age. What St. Paul said about the distribution of gifts to different members of the “one Body,” and that each member is dependent for help upon the other members has been borne in mind. It has been recognized, however, that no man or class of men since the Apostles’ day have been infallible in their interpretations; indeed, that all have to a greater or less extent made errors, and that the Divine Word is, and always will be, the one and only test to be applied to all expositions. While believing most firmly that the Historical interpretation is the Divine one, we have not refrained from consulting and quoting some of the most notable Futurist writers and in some matters have found, especially in connection with the messages of Christ to the seven Churches of Revelation 2 and 3, that great help is derived through that source.
The questions most naturally arise in the mind of the devout student of God’s Word, How near are we to the end of the present order? Do the Revelation visions enable us to answer this question? The reply is, We know of nothing in the visions that will enable any one to set an exact date for this ending. There are time prophecies in the Revelation that seem quite evidently designed more especially to reveal to watchful Christians that we are in the time when events are shaping themselves for the very last crisis, the various phases of which are more definitely, more particularly described in the closing Revelation visions, than in any other portion of the Bible. These time prophecies are associated with different organizations, political and religious, as the Papal system, the Gentile governments, and the Jewish nation. None of these are directly associated with the full end of the true Church’s career; and they enable us to determine only approximately when her history will be completed. All the time prophecies, however, together with the significant events transpiring today, which are the fulfillment of predictions made centuries ago, strongly indicate that we are in the days spoken of by Christ himself as the “days of the Presence of the Son of Man.”
Summary of Important Events of the Age
A brief summary of the great events that have transpired since St. John was given the visions — the events of history that have been a result of both true and false Christianity’s influence in the world, described in the mystical symbology of the Revelation visions — and the tracing of these events as they have slowly but surely developed and have finally reached the conditions existing today, will, we believe, be helpful to see our particular place in the Divine Plan and purpose, and enable us to realize our proximity to the greatest of all predicted events, the establishment of God’s Kingdom over the earth. All the details connected with these great events have been considered quite fully. We briefly summarize these events:
(1) The cruel and dreadful persecutions of the true Church through the instigation of the Pagan rulers and priesthood in the second and third centuries, and in the early years of the fourth.
(2) The cessation of Pagan persecution about 313 AD through the elevation of Constantine the Great to the throne of the Roman Empire. He, unlike all other Roman emperors up to his day, professed friendliness to nominal Christianity and caused Pagan persecution to cease.
(3) The great increase of both true and nominal Christianity, resulting in the early part of the Fourth Century in the complete overthrow of the Pagan Roman religion and civilization.
(4) The establishment in its place of a professed Christian civilization in which the true teachings of Christ and the simple, pure Christian life became to a large extent shut out from view, indeed, looked upon and treated as heretical.
(5) The downfall of the imperial rule which held sway from the city of Rome, commonly mentioned in history as the overthrow of the Western Roman Empire, and considered by all historians to be the most stupendous event as affecting the human family and the Christian religion since the birth of Christ up to that time — 476 AD.
(6) The gradual rise into power of the bishops of Rome, until 539 when the Roman bishop became generally recognized as head of the Church, by an official decree of Justinian, the emperor.
(7) The rise of Mohammedanism, which was providentially used as a woe, a scourge on apostate Eastern Roman Christianity, causing in 1453 the downfall of the Eastern Roman Empire, even threatening the same of Western Rome, that is, the divided power of Western Rome, the ten kingdoms. This power began its ravages about 622 and continued into the Nineteenth Century, although with decreasing force.
(8) The Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, resulting in the division of Christendom into two parts, Roman Catholic and Protestant, effecting a deadly wound on Papacy’s rule and influence in the world. This followed the downfall of Eastern Rome’s capital.
(9) The French Revolution of 1793–1798, causing another weakening of Papacy’s influence amongst earth’s peoples; thus, in connection with the Sixteenth Century Reformation, opening the way for freedom in Bible study.
(10) The decline of the great Protestant sects, many of the great leaders introducing evolutionary theories, etc., and treating the Bible as unworthy of the claim to be a Divine revelation, marked the last half of the Nineteenth Century.
(11) The inauguration of another great reform movement amongst the true followers of Christ, resulting in a clear understanding of the Divine Plan of Salvation, which many believe has been under the direct supervision of the great Head of the Church; the days of the Second Presence of the Son of Man being reached.
All these events have been, with remarkable detail, described in the visions of the Revelation, and are now of course matters of history. It is our conviction that the visions of the Revelation describing the very last closing scenes of the age are now rapidly fulfilling. We believe that these visions more than anything else were designed to enable us to determine our nearness to the greatest of all events, the full establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. The signs of the full end of the age are to be looked for in three special directions or sources. These are:
Signs amongst the Jews.
Signs amongst the Gentiles.
Signs in the Christian Church, both the true and false.
In all these directions the signs of the complete end are described. The Apostle Paul gives what is probably the most significant sign, and evidently the final one to be looked for in the first direction above mentioned, as indicating the change of the Kingdom class. He says: “Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25). When it becomes apparent that the truly orthodox of the Jewish people get their eyes open to see that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, and come to an understanding of what is referred to in the Scriptures as the “hidden mystery,” that of gathering out the joint-heirs of the heavenly Kingdom from amongst the Gentiles, which is clearly stated to be the special purpose of God for this age, during the period of Jewish blindness — then, and not until then will the age reach its full end. Those who will live to witness that may know that the Kingdom in all its power and glory will be ushered in immediately. We believe that some Christians may possibly witness some of the events and developments leading up to and in close proximity to that time.
Another significant sign that will be in evidence when the present order of the world is about to go down is that of the tension existing at the present time reaching a stage where the civil governments of earth in connection with the great Christian religious systems will be compelled to form, or rather to complete a union already begun, to keep down the turbulent masses of the “sea” class. These things, particularly the last, are quite fully described in detail in the closing visions of the Revelation, if we have been correct in the exposition of these visions; and everything that has occurred in modern times has but confirmed the truthfulness of these interpretations. The exhortation of the Savior in view of all these things is, “When you see these events occurring, know that the Kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31, Diaglott). Again, he says, “When ye shall see all these things, know that he is nigh, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33).
The position of the students of the prophetic Word in our day is precisely the same as that of those who lived in other terminal periods in the past. It is evident that the predictions both of Daniel and of the Revelation were divinely designed more than any other of the prophetic writings to impart the knowledge that God saw was best for his people to have on this important subject of times and seasons. A careful study of these two books cannot but result in the conclusion that both the chronological and non-chronological predictions prove conclusively that we are living in the very midst of the last great events that mark the end of this Christian Age.
Times of Gentiles Near End
According to the testimony of Daniel and St. John the end is near, although no one can say positively just how near. The same Almighty One who foretold the four hundred years’ affliction of Abraham’s seed, at the very beginning of their history, fulfilled his word of promise when that period had run its course, in delivering Israel from their bondage in Egypt, and punishing the nation that afflicted them. This same Almighty One foretold a much longer period during which the Gentile governments should rule over and afflict the descendants of ancient Israel, and he also foretold that when this period had run its course, he would deliver them and destroy the Gentile-government oppressors, and restore again the kingdom to Israel in the person of their Messiah. This period of affliction was to be 2520 years. The independent Jewish monarchy fell in 606 BC, when the king of Babylon made Jehoiakim his vassal. Since this event the nation of Israel has existed only in bondage to or dispersion among the Gentiles. In about ten years from the present time, the times of the Gentiles (2520 years) measured from the latest possible commencing date — the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in Zedekiah’s day 587 BC — will have run its full course. The great image of Gentile monarchy — having legs of iron, and feet part of potter’s clay and iron — into which all the visions of the Apocalypse fit, has but a few years longer to exist. The period of Gentile dominion is all but ended; the wonderful prophecy of the “seven times,” therefore, very plainly teaches that we are near, very near the full end of the age.
Furthermore, those living at the present time can look back and see that the 1260 years of Papacy’s eventful career, has, in two very marked events, namely the deliverance of the saints out of his power in 1799 AD, and the fall of the temporal power of the popes in 1870, fully ended. Nothing more of a chronological character is mentioned concerning this evil system, either in Daniel or the Apocalypse. All we know about it is that the end of Gentile times will have witnessed its destruction. The period of time to elapse from Papacy’s loss of temporal power in 1870 to its complete destruction is called a “short space.” See Revelation 17:10. We have witnessed its temporal dominion taken away; we are now watching events which mark a revival of its influence in the world, for prophecy intimates that at the very hour of its destruction it will be sitting, as it were, as “a queen, who knoweth no sorrow.” Is it not very apparent that the prophecy of the “time, times, and a half” has met its fulfillment, and that this plainly shows that we are close to the end of the age.
Calling attention to another prediction we note that the Holy land, the Holy City, and the site of the Temple, which have been so long trodden under foot of the Gentiles was to be delivered from Gentile oppression and authority when the times of the Gentiles should end, as our Savior foretold. We have been witnessing many significant events in the condition of Palestine, etc., events which plainly indicate that the time is near at hand when Israel’s land will be theirs again. The Moslems in 1917 lost altogether their control there, and the time seems not far distant when “the nations of Europe, it may be merely by mutual distrust and political jealousy, or it may be by higher motives, shall conspire to reinstate the Jews in the land of their forefathers; then the last warning bell will have rung; then the last of the unfulfilled predictions of Scripture as to events prior to the great crisis, will have received its accomplishment.” Then the manifestation to Israel of the Second Advent will take place. Then the reign of Christ with his risen and glorified saints as King over all the earth will be close at hand. Then the mystery of God will be finished, and the apokalupsis of Christ be immediate; the rapture or change of the Church having taken place before.
When the 2520 years of Gentile lease of power ran its course in 1914, many of the Lord’s people were sorely tried, because their long-cherished hope of deliverance did not come, and their expectations failed. Others, perhaps the more numerous class, have lost faith altogether in chronological prophecy. Very similar may have been the condition of ancient Israel during the closing of the four hundred years of their affliction. They may have thought that the proper time to begin to reckon was much earlier than it was, and thus met with disappointment. Note the following:
“Had Israel in Egypt, or Moses in Midian, endeavored to discover beforehand the precise year in which the 400 years of affliction and bondage predicted by God to Abram as to befall his seed, would terminate, they would have been sorely puzzled to select a commencing epoch. Was it to be dated from the call of Abram, or from the day the promise was given? or from the birth of Isaac, the promised seed? or from the descent into Egypt? or from the commencement of the cruel treatment of the children of Israel by the Egyptians, when there arose a king who knew not Joseph? There was a wide choice of possible commencing epochs, and it was easy to select a wrong one! The event proved that none of these was the real starting point but from the time when Isaac was five years old; and to this day it is a matter of conjecture what the event was which marked that year, though there is little doubt that it was the casting out of the bondwoman and her son, on the occasion of the mocking of the heir of promise by the natural seed. This mocking, or ‘persecuting’ (Galatians 4:29) is the first affliction of Abraham’s seed of which we have any record, and its result demonstrated that it was in Isaac the seed was to be called. The 430 years would thus start from the grant of the land to Abram’s seed, and the 400 from the act showing which of the two seeds of Abram was to possess it.
“The important allegorical meaning attributed to this casting-out of Ishmael, confirms the impression that it was the starting point; but the fact cannot be proved, and all we know is that the Exodus (which took place on the self same day that the 430 years ran out — Exodus 12:40) was 405 years after the birth of Isaac, so that the 400 years dated from Isaac’s fifth year. How could Israel in Egypt possibly have guessed that? Their prophetic students (if they had any) would most likely base their calculations on the supposition that the period started from the year the prediction was given — twenty or twenty-two years before the true point. And when the 400 years from that epoch expired, skeptics and objectors may have derided them, and they themselves may have had their faith in the Divine prediction and their long-cherished hope of deliverance sorely tried by the fact that the expectation failed! But God is not man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent; hath He said, and shall He not do it? When the appointed period ended, the promised deliverance came. Little as Pharaoh and all Egypt feared their degraded bond slaves, or the God they professed to serve; little as either tyrant or captives foresaw any impending crisis of judgment and deliverance, suddenly and unexpectedly it came. In the short space of a few weeks, or months, Egypt was covered with confusion and horror and death.
“A longer bondage is now drawing to a close, and a greater Exodus awaits both the natural and the spiritual seeds of Abraham; its date is similarly fixed in the purpose of God and similarly defined by chronologic prophecy, and though some students may mistake its exact era, and be discouraged by an apparent failure of their hope, and though the world may exult, and the mockers say, Where is the promise of his coming [parousia]? yet the vision is for an appointed time, at the end it shall speak and not lie or be found false; therefore we will wait for it, ‘for it will surely come, it will not tarry’ ” (H. G. Guinness).
The Long Journey Lies Behind
The writer just quoted has given a most striking illustration of the position that students of chronological prophecy occupy today. He says:
“We are in the position of travelers, approaching a large and to them unknown city, at the end of a long railway journey. They are aware of the distance to be traversed, of the stations to be passed on the way, and of the time required for the transit. The milestones have long shown them that they are rapidly nearing their goal; the time the journey was to occupy has elapsed, and they have observed that the station just passed was the last but one. Yet the terminus in the strange city may have several distinct platforms, separated from each other by short distances; the train may draw up at one or two before it comes to a final stand at the last: they are ignorant of the exact localities in the great metropolis, and hardly know at which station they will be met by their expectant friends. Still they have no hesitation in making their preparations for leaving the carriage, and in congratulating each other with a glad ‘here we are at last!’ They would smile at the man who should dispute their conviction, though they may be unable to decide whether it will be five minutes or ten, or only two or three, before they actually reach their destination. It is a mere question of minutes and miles; if one platform is not the right one, the next one may be; at any rate, the long journey lies behind, the desired goal is all but reached. It is easy to be patient, and not difficult to bear a momentary disappointment, because the main result is certain, and the end in any case close at hand.”
It should also be borne in mind that there are numerous predictions which are not especially chronological, that are equally, if not more convincing that we are living in the very closing days of this Gospel dispensation. An angel describes to the aged Prophet Daniel the particular characteristics of the days that will immediately precede the establishment of God’s Kingdom over this world. He speaks of these days as “the time of the end”: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). These words, from whatever standpoint they may be considered, describe a condition that distinguishes in a most wonderful and marked manner the last century from all other periods of history since man has lived upon the earth. “Where one person traveled formerly, ten thousand travel now; universally, incessantly, and in every corner of the earth, the wheels of locomotion are annihilating distance, and facilitating the running to and fro of millions, making the inhabitants of the most distant quarters of the globe almost like next-door neighbors. And never before in the history of mankind has this or anything like it been the case.”
Scarcely had the world time to recover from the wonder and astonishment at the application of steam to travel, when electricity brought a still greater marvel and surprise. And now in the more recent past comes the aircraft. On land and sea and in mid-air human beings are seen moving night and day incessantly. The telegraph, the telephone, the wireless, the radio — all have come into use within the lifetime of a single man.
“And knowledge shall be increased.” The fulfillment of this prediction is closely associated with the other, and distinguishes these days in a most marked and special way from any other period of human history. Where one person could read and write a hundred years ago, hundreds of thousands are fairly educated now. Where one secret of nature was known to those living a century ago, a thousand are known now and turned to practical account by the men of our day. To the world this is significant only of man’s wonderful ability and power; to the reverent believer in the Bible as a Divine revelation, it is the fulfillment of prophecy fraught with solemn significance, and points unmistakably to the fact that we are in the dawn of the “better day,” so long foretold.
Scoffers in the Last Days
However, among the very many signs that indicate our nearness to the end, perhaps none is more significant and convincing than the confident conviction that seems universally to prevail in the great church systems, and in the world, that all things continue as they were and will so continue. The writer above quoted further says:
“Not only is there no expectation of impending judgment, there is a bold assumption that no change in the existing order of things is probable, or even possible.
“The very idea of a Divine interference in the affairs of this world is scouted as foolish and fanatical; the testimony of history to past interferences of the kind is superciliously explained away, or plainly pronounced to be myth, not real history, and any faith in the testimony of prophecy is regarded as antiquated folly. The reign of eternal law is proclaimed, while a Law-giver is ignored, the theory of progressive development is advocated, and the evidences of supernatural interruptions in the past, neglected. The state of popular opinion in Christendom at this hour on this point is foretold with marvelous exactness by the Apostle Peter, and the true antidote to it prescribed. ‘There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying Where is the promise of his coming [presence]? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were, since the beginning of the creation. But the day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night.’
“This peculiar form of scoffing unbelief, foretold as to characterize the last days, and most conspicuously characterizing these days, has never before prevailed widely in Christendom. It is an offspring of advanced scientific knowledge, a result and accompaniment of Nineteenth Century attainments. The ignorance of other ages made men superstitious. Far from denying the existence of an invisible and immaterial world, far from questioning the possibility of the supernatural, they were slaves to credulity, and groundless apprehensions, and fell easy victims to the false miracles and lying wonders of a cunning and covetous priesthood. Apprehensions of an approaching end of the world, were from time to time widely prevalent in the Dark Ages. Bold infidelity, general skepticism as to all that is supernatural, gross materialism and positive philosophy, the foolhardy presumption that dares to assert ‘all things continue as they were since the beginning of the creation’ and to argue ‘and will so continue forever’ — these features are peculiar to the last 150 years, and were never before so marked as they are now.
“Were it otherwise, were men willing to heed the testimony of the Word of God, were they observant of the fast thickening signs of the end, were they generally expecting the final crisis, we might be perfectly certain, the end would not be near. Such is not to be the tone and temper of the last generation. ‘In such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.’ Never was there a day when men were so firmly convinced, that no supernatural event is to be expected, as they are now. But ‘when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.’ ”
In our Lord’s day the destruction of Jerusalem and the utter ruin of Palestine were close at hand. In those days our Savior forewarned his disciples against laying up treasures for themselves on earth. His counsel and advice to them was to lay up their treasures in heaven, and in the end they would find them there. The Lord’s true saints of today occupy a similar position. The great symbolic burning day is near. Christendom is about to be destroyed. In this great symbolical conflagration the possessions of earth will be valueless. The opportunities for laying up treasures in heaven will soon be overpast. Let us therefore, beloved, heed the Master’s words, dedicating our all of earthly life and fortune upon his altar, and seek to employ time, talent, and ability in the service of him who hath called us from darkness to light; of him who will at last welcome the faithful to the place that he has gone to prepare in the Father’s House of many mansions; for there we shall find the heavenly treasures that can never fade, never tarnish, never rust, and the glory and luster of which will abide throughout all time. Amen.
“We Shall Be Like Him”
We shall be like him.
O, how rich the promise!
What greater could our Father’s love prepare?
Few are the words, and softly are they spoken,
But who shall tell the glories hidden there?
He bore our sickness,
fainted with our weakness.
That he might give us perfect strength and health;
He walked with us in poverty and hunger,
To make us sharers of his boundless wealth.
We shall be like him,
raised above all weakness,
Forever past all weariness and pain;
Even death itself shall have no power to touch us,
When like our risen Lord with him we reign.
O, what has earth our thirsting souls to offer,
Compared with that abundant life to come?
How poor its pleasures and how dim its splendor
Beside the glory of the promised throne!