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Prophetic Terms
By Paul Wilson
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Bibles & Publications
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Prophetic Terms
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Contents
Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Time ............................ 7
Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Times ........................13
Prophetic Terms: Times of the Gentiles ........................19
Prophetic Terms: the Fulness of the Gentiles ................25
Prophetic Terms: Christ’s First Advent .........................31
Prophetic Terms: Christ’s Second Coming ....................33
Prophetic Terms: the Apostasy ......................................37
Prophetic Terms: the Great Tribulation .........................43
Prophetic Terms: the Day of the Lord ...........................49
Prophetic Terms: the Millennium .................................55
Prophetic Terms: the Millennium .................................61
Prophetic Terms: the Eternal State ................................67
Prophetic Terms: the Judgment Seat of Christ .............. 73
Prophetic Terms: Judgment of Living Nations ..............79
Prophetic Terms: Great White rone ..........................85
Prophetic Terms: Day of the Lord .................................91
Prophetic Terms
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Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Time
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Prophetic Terms: the Fullness
of Time
We are living in important times, in days when great
changes are taking place throughout the world. It is a time
of upheaval, and besides that, the world is on the threshold
of even greater events. Many men of the world are perplexed
and fearful as to the future. No one can look forward ve,
ten, or twenty years with any calm. e international waters
are troubled, and there are many explosive elements that
cause a sober man to fear.
Now in the midst of scenes of confusion, some men
prophesy of greater and better times to come. Many have
schemes for the improvement and betterment of mankind.
Panaceas are oered, tried, and then discarded, but
apprehension grows.
Prophetic Terms
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Fellow-Christian, this is a time when we should seek
to have God’s thoughts, and not man’s, as to the present
evil world and its future. ere is only one Book in the
whole world that can tell the future, and yet how very few
Christians there are who understand much of what it says.
Surely God has given us the prophetic word as a lamp in a
dark place (2Pet. 1:19), and we do well to take heed to it.
It would be impossible to give any comprehensive
exposition of the prophetic word in these papers, but
with the Lord’s help we hope to consider some of the
expressions and terms used in connection with prophecy.
A clearer understanding of these terms should enable the
young Christian to have a better outline of prophecy, and
thereby to discern the character of the day in which we
live. He should then be able to look forward with joyful
anticipation to his own blest future, and view the scene
around as God views it. To have God’s thoughts about the
world, and to understand more of what He has decreed
regarding it, would tend to give us more calm and peace
when we see the tendency to unrest, and to the shaking
of everything heretofore considered stable. en neither
the false hopes of the false prophets of our days, who still
preach peace, safety, and betterment; nor the cries of the
pessimist who sees the undermining of everything solid,
will aect us. We shall be able to look beyond the darkness,
and enjoy even now the prospect of the things that cannot
be moved.
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot
be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Heb. 12:28.
“e Fullness of the Time”
Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Time
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It would be protable to rst consider a term used by
God, which causes us to look backward, as it refers to the
ushering in of the ground of all our blessing.
“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4, 5.
e fullness of the time (singular) looks back over the
four thousand years of man’s history on the earth prior
to the birth of Christ. During this time God was testing
man in many successive ways. On man’s part all the trials
ended in sad and dismal failure. It mattered not in what
way man in the esh was tested, he came short and was
found wanting.
e whole course of the Old Testament is a tale of
failure. ink of the wonderful opportunity Adam and
Eve had where all was fresh from the hand of God in the
garden, yet they gave their ear to the deceiver and fell. Man
in innocence was not proof against sin, when put to the
test.
After fallen man was driven out from the presence of
God, he soon lled the earth with violence and corruption
(see Genesis 4 and 6). Lawlessness was so rampant, that
God cleansed the earth with the ood, and made a fresh
beginning in Noah and his family. Almost immediately
failure came in, in Noah himself, and soon his posterity
had “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-
footed beasts, and creeping things.” Rom. 1:23. Idolatry,
which had not been mentioned before the ood, became
the rule.
Prophetic Terms
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en God called Abraham out from among idolaters
(Josh. 24:14) to walk with Him. He chose the seed of
Abraham for His special people, and gave them every
opportunity to serve Him. He treated them without the
law and with the law; He gave them the priesthood and
it failed; He sent them prophets and He gave them kings;
but all is the same sad story of failure. If ever a natural
people - man in the esh - had a chance to bring forth fruit
for God, the children of Israel had.
God likens them to a vineyard which He Himself
planted, but which never bore fruit for Him who planted
it. He looked for fruit, but there was none (Matt. 21:33-41;
Psalm 80:8-13; Isa. 5:1-7). In Luke 20, after speaking of
the lack of fruit He received from His vineyard, God says,
“What shall I do?”
It is as though He had come to an extremity. Every
eort and every culture of natural man to bring forth fruit,
had proved to be useless; and God asks, “What shall I
do?” e decision is reached, and God answers His own
question with,
“I will send My beloved Son: it may be they will
reverence Him when they see Him.” Luke 20:13.
And with this verse we come back to Gal. 4:4.
“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son.” Blessed be God! He concluded that man
could not bring forth fruit, and He ceased looking for it.
He decided to act in the love and grace of His heart, and
send His beloved Son.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent His Son.” 1John 4:10.
We all know the answer to this expression of God’s
love. ey cried, “Away with Him.” ey cast Him out!
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And God triumphed over their abounding wickedness,
and made that blessed One to be an oering and sacrice
for sin. Yes, when man had done his very worst, God did
His very best. What a story of love - divine love! - love
that gave the dearest object of His heart for most unlovable
objects. He sent His Son to redeem. He would bring us to
Himself according to His love, but also in keeping with
His holy character. His beloved Son must die - must bear
our sins - if we were to be saved.
Galatians goes on to tell of being brought to God as
“sons” with the Spirit of His Son in our hearts. O the
depths of God’s love and wisdom! Well may we look back
to the “fullness of the time,” and rejoice that we are not on
probation, but if we believe on Him who was delivered for
our oenses, we are saved and brought to God as sons.
Prophetic Terms
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Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Times
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Prophetic Terms: the Fullness
of Times
We have now considered the term, “the fullness of
the time,” as being the time when the probation of man
ended. God had tried man in every way, so that none could
say that anything was left untried or undone. Every trial
ended in the failure of man to bring forth fruit for God,
and proved all, both Jews and Gentiles, to be under sin.
All hope for man had thus ended, unless God would act in
pure grace. is God did, for He sent His beloved Son -
the dearest Object of His heart - down into this world of
sin and sorrow, saying, “Maybe they will reverence my son.”
But when men saw the Son, they rejected Him, and
nally cried, “Away with Him.” Both Jews and Gentiles
were guilty of His death, but God again abounded over
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their wickedness, and brought salvation to men through
the sacricial death of His Son. e oer of a free and full
salvation went forth, and today continues to go forth.
Friend, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your
own Savior? ere is no hope and no salvation for you
unless you personally accept and acknowledge Him.
From where we stand today we look back to “the fullness
of the time,” but we may also look forward to
“e Fullness of Times.”
God has decreed, “at in the dispensation of the
fullness of times [plural] 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.
is looks forward to a time yet future, but not in the
distant future, when all things in heaven and earth shall
be brought under the Lord Jesus. Although He is now
disowned in this world He created, the time is coming
apace when all in heaven and in earth shall own His rights,
and confess Him as Lord.
During the interval between “the fullness of the time”
and “the fullness of times” it might appear that God is
indierent to the dishonor and maltreatment accorded
to His Son in this world. God is patiently waiting and
beseeching men to be reconciled (2Cor. 5:20) while He
forbears to execute judgment on this world where His Son
was murdered. God shall yet avenge the death of His Son,
but today is the time of His longsuering and patience. He
has assured us that judgment will fall, and Peter speaks of
the delay in these words:
“e Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some
men count slackness; but is long-suering to us-ward, not
Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Times
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willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.” 2Pet. 3:9.
is world today is in the position of a guilty criminal
who has been duly tried, then condemned to execution,
and is just awaiting the day and hour of execution.
Should any read these lines who are still unsaved,
remember that you are a part of this world over which the
judgment of God hangs. You are either saved by Christ’s
death and precious blood, or you are numbered among His
murderers and rejecters who are awaiting certain doom.
ere can be no neutrality concerning Christ; you are either
for Him or against Him. If you have not already accepted
Him, accept Him quickly while there is still opportunity,
and before the judgment overtakes you.
During the interval we have spoken of, the Lord Jesus
sits at God’s right hand waiting until His enemies be made
His footstool (Psalm 110:1). During this long period of
the non-intervention of God with this condemned world,
the gospel goes out, but soon it is going to end. In one place
God speaks in His Word of this period as “the mystery of
God.” Note what God says:
“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,
when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should
be nished, as He hath declared to His servants the
prophets … And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
great voices in heaven, saying, e kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ;
and He shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 10:7; 11:15.
Yes, Christ shall yet reign and have dominion over all,
but He shall rst put down all His enemies. He shall visit
this world with great and sore judgments, and gather out
of His kingdom all things that oend. en shall be the
Prophetic Terms
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“fullness of times,” when all things in heaven and in earth
shall be headed up under the Man of God’s counsels.
When God rst made man, Adam, He placed him in
the garden of Eden and gave him dominion over the earth.
He made him Lord of the creation, and even brought the
animals to him to have him name them. But Adam gave
his ear to the devil’s lie and fell. Ruin, sorrow, misery, and
death followed the fall of man. Not only man, but the
whole creation suered because of the fall of its rst head.
Satan, the deceiver, became usurper of man’s place. He,
was even able to oer the kingdoms of the world to the
Lord Jesus when He came (Matt. 4), for he said, “ey are
‘delivered unto me.” e Lord Jesus refused to receive them
from Satan.
It might have looked as though God’s purpose to place
man at the head of this creation had failed, and as far as the
rst man and his posterity were concerned, it had failed; but
God shall yet have all under the Man, the second Man, the
last Adam, during the “fullness of times.” What the Lord
Jesus refused from Satan, He shall yet have from God. He
is going to take the headship of the creation, not only by
right, but by redemption, for it had fallen under the power
of the enemy through man’s sin. All that had been ruined
in the hands of the rst Adam, shall be more than made
good in the last Adam - the Son of God and Son of man.
e 8th Psalm, and the second chapter of Hebrews both
speak of His coming dominion, and His present exaltation
at God’s right hand. In Hebrews we read that we do not
see all things put under the Lord Jesus yet, but we do see
Him crowned with glory and honor.
And during the period of waiting, called the “patience
of Jesus Christ,” a bride is being gathered out from among
Prophetic Terms: the Fullness of Times
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the Jews and Gentiles to be His joint heirs, and share His
glory in that soon-coming day. Fellow-Christian, such is
our portion!
Prophetic Terms
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Prophetic Terms: Times of the Gentiles
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Prophetic Terms: Times of the
Gentiles
Let us read a verse from the gospel of Luke wherein we
nd the above term used.
“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall
be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fullled.” Luke 21:24.
e word Gentile is used in Scripture to describe
any and all nations who are not Jews. Before the days of
Christianity, there were only Jews and Gentiles on earth,
but now there is another body known in Scripture as the
“church of God,” which is composed of those who are
saved from among both Jews and Gentiles. All three are
mentioned in one verse,
Prophetic Terms
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“Give none oense, neither to the Jews, nor to the
Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” 1Cor. 10:32.
Before marking out what is meant by the term, the
“times of the Gentiles,” we shall have to look at the history
of the Jews.
God chose the seed of Abraham for His special people
on earth. ey were further marked out in Isaac and Jacob;
and when God gave to the nations their inheritance on
earth, He marked out their bounds “according to the
number of the children of Israel” (Deut. 32:8). ey were
His special possession on earth among mankind. He
gave them His promises, and then His covenants. After
redemption, He came down and dwelt in their midst.
God also gave them the land of Canaan for a possession
and drove out the inhabitants of that land. He did not,
however, drive them out without just and sucient reason.
e seven nations who inhabited that land were only
tenants on it, as it all belonged to God. rough their great
wickedness, these nations polluted the land wherein they
dwelt; and God said to Abraham that He would give his
seed the land of Canaan, but not yet, because “the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16). is is a
principle with God. He never acts in judgment until there
is no other alternative. He waits long in patience, but when
iniquity reaches its peak, He must act in judgment.
So when the iniquity of the heathen who occupied the
land of Canaan, reached the limit, God gave the land to
the children of Israel. He brought them out of Egypt and
planted them in the land whereon His eyes were “from the
beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deut.
11:12).
Prophetic Terms: Times of the Gentiles
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We have not space here to recount the multitude of
blessings that were bestowed on the Israelites in their land,
but we all know the sad history of failure which followed.
While the heathen had polluted the land before, Israel did
it afterward. In Psalm 106:38 we read that they polluted
the land with blood. ey learned the works of the heathen,
and worshiped their false gods. In fact, the condition in
that land became as bad, or even worse, than it was when
inhabited by the heathen whom God displaced because of
their wickedness. Note this verse:
“So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom
the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but
they would not hearken.” 2Chron. 33:9, 10.
Yes, they would not hearken. We read that God
sent many messengers to them, but they despised the
messengers, and misused His prophets “till there was no
remedy.” 2Chron. 36:14, 16.
If God had not acted then, it would have shown Him to
be as careless of His glory as they were. He must act! eir
very nearness to God, and place of special favor, did not
make them exempt from punishment - No! It increased it.
God’s special favors increase our responsibility, as we read
of Israel,
“You only have I known of all the families of the earth:
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Amos
3:2.
Finally, after every possible eort on God’s part to recall
His earthly people, He sent Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, to chastise that guilty nation. Note these words:
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“And the LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his
hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which
he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god.”
Dan. 1:2.
Yes, the Lord gave the children of Judah into the hands
of this Gentile monarch. In fact, God gave this king a
universal dominion, and withdrew His throne from the
earth. Earlier (Josh. 3:11) God was called the “Lord of all
the earth”; but in the book of Daniel, He is called the “God
of heaven.” Israel who had been called “His people,” are
then called “not My people” (Hos. 1:9). is great change
that took place when God withdrew His throne from this
earth, and turned His earthly people over to Gentile control,
marked the beginning of the “times of the Gentiles.” is
change took place about the year 606 B.C.
And while a remnant of Judah returned from captivity
seventy years later, they only did so under the power and
control of the Gentiles, so the “times of the Gentiles” went
on, and today still continues.
When our Lord spoke in Luke 21, He said that after
His speaking, Jerusalem was to be “trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fullled.” is
also came to pass about the year 70 A.D. at word “until”
does tell us that there will be denite termination of this
period. In fact we are getting along down toward the end
of this period - how close we do not know. But it will end
when Christ the Lord comes out of heaven with His saints
to execute judgment on this Christ-rejecting earth.
“e times of the Gentiles” are pictured in Daniel,
second chapter, in the image of a man. e last part of this
gure of the “man of the earth,” is the feet and toes, which
describe the last part and state of Gentile power before the
Prophetic Terms: Times of the Gentiles
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end of this period of time. en, as we see in Daniel 2, the
Lord shall come out of heaven to execute judgment as the
“stone cut out of the mountain without hands”; and He
will strike the then-existent part of Gentile dominion (the
feet and toes of the image - the revived Roman Empire) in
His wrath, and break all things to pieces. After executing
judgment, His kingdom will ll the whole earth, and
Israel will again be brought into a place of blessing and
prominence; but it will be a new Israel - they will have a
new heart in that day.
May the Lord give us all to see in what close proximity
we are to the very end of this age. May we be looking for
our Lord from heaven, and holding the things of earth
more lightly.
Prophetic Terms
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Prophetic Terms: the Fulness of the Gentiles
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Prophetic Terms: the Fulness
of the Gentiles
ere is a period of time spoken of in the epistle to
the Romans, which has a very special reference to the days
in which we live, as showing that there will be an end to
the present period of grace. It is called “the fullness of the
Gentiles.”
“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 fullness of
the Gentiles be come in.” Rom. 11:25.
ere are several things indicated in this verse and in
the whole 11th chapter of Romans:
First, that Israel has been partly blinded in the
governmental dealings of God;
Prophetic Terms
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Second, that the Gentiles are at present brought into a
special place of blessing and favor;
ird, that this present period of Gentile preference is
to end, and Israel again become the center of God’s ways
of blessing on earth.
We might then inquire, How did Israel obtain the
special favored place in the past dispensation? We will
have to go back into the Old Testament and there see
that after the ood, men became idolaters and corrupted
themselves in the worship of images, behind which were
demons. From this condition God called Abraham (Josh.
24:15; Gen. 12:1-3), and made him promises as to his seed
after him. God began in Abraham a line of special promise
and blessing on the earth. is special privilege is spoken of
guratively in Romans, as an “olive tree” of which Abraham
was the root.
e Israelites were the natural branches of this “olive
tree” (see Jer. 11:16).
Before the days of Christianity, it was a distinct
advantage to be born a Jew. ere were special promises
conferred on them. is is well described in the words of
Rom. 3:1, 2.
“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what prot is
there of circumcision? Much every way: chiey, because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”
ey had the promises, the covenants, the law, the
sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, and many other
advantages.
e next question that arises is, Why were these
favored people blinded and cut o from the olive tree?
eir blindness was brought about, rst, through their
own willful departure from God, and then by God’s just
Prophetic Terms: the Fulness of the Gentiles
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decree, when they rejected every means of recalling them
to Himself.
We nd that God pronounced the decree of judicial
blindness against the Jews back in the days of Isaiah.
“And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed,
but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears
heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
convert, and be healed.” Isa. 6:9, 10.
is sentence was issued against the Israelites over
750 years before the Lord Jesus came into the world.
Another question might well be asked. When was this
threat of blindness actually carried out? In the answer to
this question we are impressed with the wondrous long-
suering of God. God waited long and patiently. He sent
prophet after prophet to His erring people, and nally sent
His Son, whom they rejected and cast out. Even during the
life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, His own nation were
closing their eyes to the light. In Matthew 13 the Lord
made mention of the sentence of blindness pronounced by
the prophet Isaiah. It was being partially fullled because
of their persistent willfulness.
But even then, God lingered in patience over His earthly
people; and after the death, resurrection, and ascension of
the Lord Jesus, He sent them a message of free pardon
and salvation through the testimony of the Spirit of God
to the nished work of Christ. is is plainly shown in the
defense of the martyr Stephen in Acts 7. After Stephen
had charged them with the guilt of resisting the Holy
Ghost, they stoned him, thus showing their rejection of
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God’s nal oer of mercy before the carrying out of the
sentence in full.
e Jews at Jerusalem had thus sealed their own fate.
en as the gospel messengers went about preaching from
city to city, they sought out the Jews rst. When the Jews
rejected the gospel, the blindness descended on them. It
seems to have settled down gradually from place to place
as they refused the last message of grace. It settled down
somewhat in the same manner in which the glory left the
temple in Ezekiel - little by little as though loathe to do so.
It is fairly easy to trace through the Acts, the progress of
the rejection of the gospel by the Jews, and the shift to the
Gentiles. We might note some examples:
“en Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was
necessary that the word of God should rst have been
spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. is was at Antioch in Pisidia. Next
notice the same development at Corinth:
“Paul … testied to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And
when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook
his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your
own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the
Gentiles.” Acts 18:5, 6.
Finally, we see the Apostle Paul sent to Rome, the
great capital city of the empire, the world metropolis, as
a prisoner, because of Jewish hatred. When he arrived in
Rome he
“Called the chief of the Jews together, … to whom he
expounded and testied the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and
out of the prophets … And when they agreed not among
Prophetic Terms: the Fulness of the Gentiles
29
themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one
word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet
unto our fathers.” Paul then quotes the sentence from
Isaiah 6 as applying to the case, ending with,
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of
God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”
Acts 28:26-28.
Here, almost 800 years after its pronouncement, the
sentence is fullled. us the gospel to the “Jew rst” was
closed, and the Gentiles became the center of God’s special
favor upon the earth. ey were brought into this through
Israel’s fall. ey were grafted into the “olive tree” on earth.
It is a distinct advantage today to be born a Gentile. Yes,
the Gentiles now have “much every way.”
But in Romans 11 God speaks, through the apostles,
to the Gentiles. It is a solemn word of warning which He
gives there. He says that if they do not continue in God’s
goodness, they shall be cut o from the olive tree as Israel
was; and then if the Gentiles are cut o, Israel shall be
grafted in again.
We must remember that in all this it does not speak
of a Christian who fails, being cut o, nor of a Christian
being cut o at all. It is not “eternal life” in question, but
the special favor of God to people on earth. e Gentiles
now have this favor, and not the Jews. e Gentiles have
the “salvation of God” preached to them freely, but as
God suggests, Have they continued in His goodness? Has
Christendom continued in the “faith once delivered to the
saints”? NO! NO! NO! e answer is visible on every hand.
Indelity, modernism, evolution, false doctrines, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God! What a sad story and
Prophetic Terms
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what gross ingratitude to God’s salvation prepared at such
a great cost!
Reader, if you are not truly saved, be warned. e Lord
Jesus is coming to take the real Christians home soon -
very soon, now - and then the “fullness of the Gentiles
will be come in”; that is, will be completed. e door of
grace to the Gentiles will close and the mere professors be
left behind for judicial blindness that “they all might be
damned who believed not the truth” (2ess. 2:12).
Such is the certain doom of fast decaying Christendom.
Prophetic Terms: Christ’s First Advent
31
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Prophetic Terms: Christ’s
First Advent
e Old Testament scriptures abound with prophecies
concerning the coming of the Messiah.
In Mic. 5:2 it was foretold that this coming “ruler in
Israel” should be born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah.
e eternity of His being was also mentioned in the same
verse.
Isa. 7:14 said that He was to be born of a virgin and His
name called Immanuel.
en in Isaiah 9, His deity was announced, and it was
said that He should have the throne of David.
at He should come through the family of David was
denitely prophesied in Isaiah 11 and Psalm 132.
Prophetic Terms
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e approximate time of His rst appearance was even
indicated in Daniel 9.
Many other references might be made to the promises
and prophecies concerning Him, but space will not permit.
Enough has been quoted to prove the existence of precise
information, given by God, whereby His Anointed could
and should have been expected, and discovered when He
came.
But, how was it? Was the world or even the nation
of Israel looking for Him? And when He came, did His
earthly people rejoice that He had come? No, no, no.
Although coming through the royal line of David, He was
an outcast from the beginning. People of wealth and social
prominence occupied the inn, but there was no room for
Him. He was placed in a manger.
e Jews made their boast of having the Scriptures
entrusted to them, and these were read every Sabbath day in
their synagogues; but, except for a little handful, none were
expecting their Messiah. His birth was almost unnoticed,
and an aged woman (Anna the prophetess) could speak of
Him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
When Herod the King heard of His birth, he called
all the chief priests and scribes of the Jews together for
information about this coming King. ese leaders could
quote from the prophet Micah as to the place of His birth,
which proved that they were conversant with the letter of
Scripture; but they did not make one move to see Him.
eir hearts were far from Him. Sad, sad state indeed!
Prophetic Terms: Christ’s Second Coming
33
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Prophetic Terms: Christ’s
Second Coming
Now the Lord Jesus has been gone back to heaven
almost two thousand years, but before He went away He
denitely promised,
“If I go … I will come again” (John 14:3).
Just as surely as His rst advent was foretold, so His
coming again is promised in words unmistakably clear. e
One who has gone back to heaven will soon come again.
He did not say, I will send an angel to bring you to Myself,
but
“I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also.”
Now many dear Christians have read these words
supposing that they mean death is coming for them, or
Prophetic Terms
34
that Christ will come for them at their death. But that is
very careless reading. He Himself is coming for us. Death
has not gone away, nor is it coming again. And when a
child of God falls asleep in Jesus, he has gone to be with
Christ which is far better (Phil. 1:23). He has gone to
Christ; Christ has not come for him.
e early Christians were living in the constant
expectation of the Lord’s return. is was a real hope
connected with their salvation. e saints at essalonica
“Turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
God; and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1ess. 1:9,
10).
e whole character of this dispensation should be one
of constant expectancy. Christians should be followers of
a rejected Christ, living in view of His return. When this
hope ceased to animate the Church, it fell into worldliness.
Christians settled down to be at home on earth when
they ceased looking for their Lord from heaven. ere is
nothing that so separates one in heart from all that is here,
as the expectation of hearing that shout and being caught
up to be with the Lord. If you and I knew denitely that
the Lord would come tomorrow, it would make the things
here seem insignicant, and we would be seeking to be
found pleasing to Him when He comes.
e essalonians became troubled because some of
their number died before the Lord came, supposing that
they had lost something. To correct this fear the Apostle
Paul wrote the details as to the Lord’s coming.
“e 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 rst: then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
Prophetic Terms: Christ’s Second Coming
35
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” 1ess.
4:16, 17.
He has promised, and will come to call all the redeemed
to Himself. At His coming for all the saved, He will not
come all the way to the earth, but shout that shout in the air,
calling all who died in faith from their graves. Immediately
after this, all who are living and believe (John 11:26) will
be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the
air. In 1Corinthians 15 we learn that all this will happen
“in the twinkling of an eye.” Our bodies of humiliation will
be fashioned like unto His body of glory (Phil. 3:21).
We do not know of one thing that must take place before
the Lord comes. He may come and call all the redeemed
from their graves, and catch away all the saved ones who
are living on earth, before this paper goes to print. ere
is nothing that must be fullled rst, and none can give a
reason why He may not come today.
Dear fellow-Christian, are we really looking for Him
who died for us? Do we long to see Him? I do not ask,
Do we accept the doctrine of the Lord’s coming? e Jews
knew the doctrine of His rst coming, but were not looking
for Him. May we not be merely believing in the “Lord’s
coming,” but actually expecting Himself. e unbelieving
world shall not see Him when He comes to call us into
the air to meet Him. Later, when He comes visibly to the
earth, we shall come with Him. en He shall come to
execute judgment before He sets up His earthly kingdom
and reigns, but the object of this paper is to set before us
our proper hope - His coming for His own. May this stir
our aections, and not merely increase our knowledge.
Prophetic Terms
36
Prophetic Terms: the Apostasy
37
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Prophetic Terms: the
Apostasy
ere is much prophecy concerning this earth that must
yet be fullled; and each prophecy relating to the future
will come to pass to the smallest detail, just as did those
prophecies concerning ancient cities and governments.
We should not, however, try to force Scripture and t the
happenings of today into prophecy. ose who are real
children of God may see some shadows of future events,
but it is not given to us to look for developments of future
prophecy. Everything will unfold with lightning rapidity
after the Church is gone from the scene, but our special
portion is to wait and watch for the Lord Himself. He is
surely coming soon to call all His redeemed to meet Him
in the air.
Prophetic Terms
38
What then will be the condition on this earth following
the departure of every true Christian? e answer to this
question should probably be divided into two parts: that
which concerns the great lifeless Christian profession left
behind, and the condition of the Jewish people. e taking
of every real Christian from the earth will not remove the
profession of Christianity. In fact, it appears that there
will be more show and pretension than ever before, by a
dead, empty, and corrupt Christendom. ere may be a
temporary upset when the Christians suddenly disappear,
but the devil will be ready with a lie to calm any fears of
those who are left behind. e empty shell will take new
life from amalgamation and soon boast of greatness. It will
truly become “Babylon the Great.”
Much evil is tolerated and condoned within the pale
of the professing church now; then it will “become the
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and
a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Rev. 18:2). Such
is the description of the fearful state of that which began
in simplicity and truth on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
ose who dream of Christianity spreading throughout
the world and converting it, so as to eventually establish a
sort of millennium on earth, are being sadly disillusioned
even now. What a glorious day it will be for the saved,
when the Lord calls them home at His coming! What a
terrible beginning and awful end for what is left behind!
Christendom bereft of those who are real, will readily
accept Satan’s delusions.
e “gospel of the grace of God” will cease when the Lord
comes for His own, regardless of a certain continuation of
profession. e gospel door that has stood open for almost
two thousand years, will suddenly close at the coming of
Prophetic Terms: the Apostasy
39
the Lord. ose who have heard the message of grace and
put o the acceptance of the Lord Jesus, will awake with
consternation when it is too late.
Reader, on which side of that door would you be, if it
were to close right now?
ere is a false teaching abroad, that says there will
be another chance for those who wait too long, and nd
themselves left behind. Some, probably well-meaning
people, say that those on the outside will have a chance to
accept the “gospel of the kingdom.” But what does Scripture
say? Read the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. It
certainly oers no encouragement to such an idea. ere
were ve foolish virgins and they represent millions in this
and other countries, who are nominally called Christians,
but they have not had any personal dealing with God
about their sins. ey have not accepted the Lord Jesus as
their own Savior. ey know of the “oil,” but have never
possessed it. ey have never “bought” it. Buying suggests
more than a knowledge of a thing; it implies a closing of a
transaction so that it becomes one’s own. After the “foolish”
nd themselves left behind, they will seek admittance, only
to hear those awful irrevocable words, “I know you not.”
O reader, if still unsaved, do not longer trie with God’s
oer of mercy, or put your trust in any false hope of another
chance, which will only land you in hell.
“Now is the day of salvation” - it is not promised
tomorrow.
en there is still a worse description of the condition
of Christendom in 2essalonians. As bad as “Babylon
the Great” will become, a more shocking and debasing
iniquity will quickly follow. e working of this error is
already present, but it is yet restrained and will be until
Prophetic Terms
40
the Spirit of God leaves the world with the Church; then
wickedness will increase very rapidly. At that time a certain
wicked person will come on the scene “with all power and
signs and lying wonders.” ere will be a “strong delusion”
sent by God “that they should believe a lie.” And why?
Because they would not receive “the truth, that they might
be saved.” ink what an awful thing it will be for rejecters
of Christ to be given over by God to believe a lie. What
folly to think that one can refuse Christ now, and stand a
chance of doing better when all the powers of darkness are
turned loose against him!
is consummation of wickedness is spoken of as “a
falling away,” but more correctly, e Apostasy, in 2ess.
2:3. e attempt to overthrow even the name of God, and
the substitution of the worship of man and Satan, will
precede the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord. How comforting to the child of God to know that
he shall rst be called up to be with and like Christ!
e Apostasy of the Jews will also reach its climax at the
same time. ey too will go into gross idolatry. e unclean
spirit of idolatry, which so long aicted the Jews, had gone
out of them when the Lord was on earth. Idolatry is not
mentioned as one of their sins after their return from the
Babylonian captivity. But the Lord Jesus foretold that the
time will come when the wicked spirit of idolatry, with
seven other wicked spirits, will return to them, and their
last state will be worse than the rst (Matt. 12:42-45).
e same wicked man who will deceive apostate
Christendom, will also deceive the Jews. He will show
them great signs and wonders, even to the bringing re
down from heaven. He will place an idol, the image of the
great political leader, in their rebuilt temple in Jerusalem,
Prophetic Terms: the Apostasy
41
and compel the worship of this man, and accept homage
himself. He is the one whom the Lord Jesus said will come
in his own name, and him they will receive (John 5:43).
He is called the “king” in the latter part of Daniel 11,
and also in Isaiah 30 and 57. He is the second beast - the
“beast” with “two horns like a lamb” - of Revelation 13.
Figuratively he will have horns like a lamb to deceive as an
imitation of Christ - God’s Lamb. But his voice will betray
him, for he will speak as a dragon. Satan is directly behind
this “false prophet” and “antichrist.” His deception will be
so strong that if it could be possible, it will even deceive
the “very elect” Jews (Matt. 24:24). e mass of the Jews
still apostatize, but God will have an elect remnant among
them who will suer persecutions, many unto death, for
their faithfulness.
e wickedness of man (both Jew and Gentile) reached
terrible depths when they cast out God’s Son when He
came into the world in grace. Still God abounded in grace
over their culminating sin, and sent forth the gospel of
His grace to the Jew rst, and then to the rest, beseeching
them to be reconciled. When this grace is being wantonly
refused on every hand, is it any wonder that God should
nally give man up? No, the wonder is that He should
bear with such wickedness and ingratitude this long. e
explanation of this strange, lingering forbearance of God is
found in 2Pet. 3:9.
“e Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some
men count slackness; but is long-suering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.”
Prophetic Terms
42
Prophetic Terms: the Great Tribulation
43
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Prophetic Terms: the Great
Tribulation
e time during which the apostasy will develop will
be one of trial and trouble for the earth. e moment
the Church is taken to heaven to be with Christ, God’s
plans for the earth will open. At present He is waiting in
patience for men to be saved; then He will visit the earth
with judgments of increasing intensity.
It is well to be thoroughly clear that no true believer in
Christ will be left here during this time of tribulation. e
book of Revelation gives many details as to the unfolding
of the judgments that will fall on the earth; but in it, the
Church is not seen on earth after the end of chapter three.
It is seen in heaven in the symbol of the “elders” who display
divine intelligence as to that which happens. ere, as
Prophetic Terms
44
another has said, “ey sing the sweetest songs in heaven;
they worship more frequently and characteristically than
any others. In them combine exalted position on thrones,
active oce as priests, as well as prophetic intelligence.”
While the Church is still viewed on earth in the third
chapter, there is a promise made to the overcomer that he
will be kept from the “hour of temptation, which shall come
upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
It is not that they are to be preserved through temptation
(tribulation), but they are to be kept from the “hour” of it.
ey will be gone rst, like Enoch, who went to heaven
without dying, before the ood came. e whole world will
feel the awfulness of that time, but Palestine and the apos-
tate Jews, and the apostate Christian (so-called) nations
will reap special vengeance.
When the Lamb in heaven takes the book of judgment
to open its seven seals (chapter 5), the “elders” are seen
seated on thrones.
Chapter 6 describes the opening of the rst six seals,
which are in the nature of providential judgments of God.
It is God moving behind the scenes bringing forth horses
and riders to fulll His will.
e 7th chapter is a parenthesis in which a special
remnant of Israel is sealed - faithful to God, they will be
sealed for preservation. A countless number of Gentiles
also will come out of “the great tribulation.” e latter will
be those who not having heard and refused the “gospel of
the grace of God,” will in that future time believe in God,
and await the coming of Christ as King.
Chapter 8 resumes the unloosing of judgments as the
seven trumpets begin to sound when the seventh seal is
Prophetic Terms: the Great Tribulation
45
opened. e severity of the trials increases as the time
progresses.
Read carefully Matthew 24:3-14. In these verses the
Lord Jesus revealed the course of trouble right down to His
return to reign. It is needful to see that in this portion it
is the revelation of the coming tribulation as it will concern
the Jews. Much confusion has been caused by applying this
portion of the Lord’s discourse on the mount of Olives
to Christians or to our time. e disciples in Matthew 24
represent the faithful Jewish remnant who will suer great
persecutions. ey will live in days of unparalleled trouble
and also suer from their own brethren who accept the
antichrist. eir troubles will be from without and from
within.
e disciples ask, “What shall be the sign of y coming,
and of the end of the world?” is word “world” should have
been translated “age,” and the context shows that the world
does not then come to an end, although a period of God’s
dealing with man will end. In answer to their question,
the Lord informs them of general troubles to come, which
He calls, “the beginning of sorrows.” ese earlier troubles
correspond to the early judgments mentioned in the book
of Revelation. e latter troubles are described in verse
21: “For 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 esh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days
shall be shortened.”
While the whole period is often spoken of as “the
great tribulation,” this term, strictly speaking, only applies
to the last half of it. e rst part is only the “beginning
of sorrows.” e “great tribulation” will be the worst time
Prophetic Terms
46
of trouble the world will ever see. It will be a comparably
short time, but will be exceeding erce and hot. Both parts
together will probably not be more than seven years. is
is a very small space of time compared with God’s other
dealings with men; for instance, it is almost 2000 years that
the gospel has gone forth.
e 24th chapter of Matthew supposes the Jews to
be back in Palestine, and indeed some are already there.
ey will rebuild the temple and re-establish Jewish ritual.
But very suddenly, at the middle of the seven years, their
sacrices and religious services will be stopped, and an
idol will be set up in the temple - in the “holy place.” At
this point their apostasy becomes nal, and ushers in that
terrible “great tribulation” of short duration. e presence
of the idol - image of the great head of western powers - in
their temple will be the direct sign for any godly Jews to
ee from Jerusalem. When that happens, they are to ee in
such haste, that if they are in the eld, they are not even
to go into the house to get their clothes; desolations are at
the very door.
Matthew 24 should not be confused with Luke 21.
In the latter the Lord gave instructions for the early
Christians to leave Jerusalem before it was destroyed by
Titus in the year 70 A.D. At that time the signal to leave,
was the presence of the Roman armies around the city. e
Christians heeded the Lord’s words, and were spared the
awful slaughter when Jerusalem fell.
Daniel the prophet also foretold of the days to come. In
chapter 12 he described the tribulation as a time of trouble
such as never was before. is is the same time of which
the Lord spoke, for there cannot be two such times, both
of which are the worst. Let us notice the 11th verse: “And
Prophetic Terms: the Great Tribulation
47
from the time that the daily sacrice shall be taken away,
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there
shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
e word “abomination” in Scripture plainly refers to an
idol or to idolatry. Here we learn that it will not only be the
signal for godly Jews to ee, it will be the point from which
they can count time. e worst days of trouble will start
at that point. Terrible as they will be, they are measured,
and will only run their allotted time. Twelve hundred and
ninety days is just three and one half years, plus an extra
thirty days, (Jewish reckoning of time gures thirty days
to each month.)
e idol is called the “abomination that maketh
desolate” because that for this, God will send a strong one to
scourge them. e same days are numbered in Revelation
11 as forty-two months, and 1260 days, either of which
is three and one half years. Forty-two months are given
in Revelation 13 as the time when the great head of the
united western nations will defy and blaspheme God. He
will be aided by Satan (called the dragon), and the antichrist
described as a beast with two lamb-like horns).
e mass of the Jews who are then back in their land, with
the antichrist as their leader, will make a league with the
united western powers for their protection. Nevertheless,
it will fail, for God will send a power from the north of
Palestine as a desolator to scourge them. Listen to what
God has said by Isaiah:
“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful
men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because
ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and
with hell are we at agreement; when the overowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for
Prophetic Terms
48
we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have
we hid ourselves: . . . e hail shall sweep away the refuge
of lies, and the waters shall overow the hiding place. And
your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your
agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overowing
scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down
by it” (Isa. 28:14-19).
e prophet Jeremiah calls it “the time of Jacob’s
trouble” (Jer. 30:7).
And now, dear fellow Christian, be assured that “the
coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Soon we shall be o
from this wicked world to be with our precious Saviour.
We shall not be here during the time which we have been
considering. God has spoken to us about it, as He would
to friends. He has let us into the secrets of what is coming.
It is with us as with Abraham; he did not dwell in Sodom,
but God told him what was to happen to Sodom.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! (Rom. 11:33).
(To be continued)
Prophetic Terms: the Day of the Lord
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147030
Prophetic Terms: the Day of
the Lord
In this paper we come to the subject of the “day of the
Lord” which will follow the days of “apostasy” and “great
tribulation.” e troubles of the “great tribulation” will be
terrible, and will end with the Lord coming personally to
execute judgment. He will come to cleanse this world by
taking vengeance on them that know not God, preparatory
to setting up His kingdom on earth. Some have confused
the “day of the Lord” with His coming for His saints, but
this should not be done. When He comes to usher in the
“day of the Lord,” His saints will come with Him. When
He appears in glory, they will appear with Him (see Jude 14,
15, and Col. 3:4). Previously (that is, before the “apostasy”
and the “great tribulation”), He will have come and called
Prophetic Terms
50
His redeemed from the earth and the tomb, according to
1essalonians 4.
Both the Old and New Testaments speak of the “day of
the Lord” as a time of judgment and darkness for the earth.
Let us notice some of the verses from the Old Testament:
“e day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and
of thick darkness … For the day of the LORD is great and
very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:1-11.)
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;
and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith
the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch … Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
LORD.” (Mal. 4:1-5.)
“e day of the LORD … is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a
day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm.” (Zeph. 1:14-
16.)
“e day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one
that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up;
and he shall be brought low … And they shall go into the
holes of the rocks. and into the caves of the earth, for fear
of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He
ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” (Isa. 2:12-19.)
Many other verses of the Old Testament also tell of the
time when the Lord Himself shall come to judge the earth.
At that time His enemies, called in Acts 2 His foes, shall
be made His footstool. What a serious thing it is to be
an enemy of Christ! Since the death of the Lord Jesus at
Prophetic Terms: the Day of the Lord
51
the hand of man, there can be no neutrality with regard
to Him; one is either on the Lord’s side - for Christ - or
against Him. Reader, are you a friend or a foe?
In the New Testament the Lord Himself foretold His
coming in judgment. e words of Matt. 24:27-30 are
plain:
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of
man be … en shall appear the sign of the Son of Man
in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.”
In the rst epistle to the essalonians, the Apostle
Paul had to instruct these young Christians in the truth
of the Lord’s coming to take His saints away from the
earth before the judgment. ese newly saved ones were
distressed because some of their number had died before
the Lord came, so the Spirit of God sent this word to
them, explaining how the dead in Christ shall be raised,
and the living believers caught up to meet the Lord in the
air. is will not be at the “day of the Lord,” but will take
place some time before it. en in the 5th chapter of this
epistle, they are informed of the “day of the Lord” that will
be subsequent on the Lord’s coming for His own.
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord
so cometh as a thief in the night. For 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.”
From this verse we learn that even in the midst of all
the troubles of the “great tribulation,” men will be working
on plans for world improvement, and for the insurance of
Prophetic Terms
52
peace to a ravaged world. ey will become quite condent
of the success of their plans, and will prophesy “Peace
and safety” only to nd their hopes dashed to pieces by
the coming of the Son of man to execute judgment on
His enemies. God will be left out of their plans, and their
destruction will be swift and sudden.
What a contrast the “day of the Lord” will be to man’s
day of the present! Even now man’s will is paramount, and
God is left out. In that day, with all the Christians gone
from the world, it will have become utterly godless and
apostate. But the day will come when Christ, once rejected
here, will return with His saints to execute judgment. He is
despised and rejected now, but the day will come when all
must own His rightful sway.
After Paul had written his rst letter to these young
Christians at essalonica, they became further troubled.
is time their trouble was concerning the “day of the
Lord.” ey had been passing through troubles as a
result of their testimony for Christ. ey were suering
persecutions, and were tempted into believing that the
reason they were having so much trouble was that they
were passing through the “day of the Lord.” is was not
true, and Paul wrote his second letter to correct the error.
In the second chapter he says:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and [the word “by” is in italics and does
not belong here] our gathering together unto Him, that
ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by
spirit, nor by word, not by letter as from us, as that the day
of Christ [most translators render it “Lord” here instead of
“Christ”] is at hand” (or more correctly, “is present”).
Prophetic Terms: the Day of the Lord
53
He beseeches them not to be worried by this false
report, and calls to their remembrance “the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and … our gathering together unto
Him.” is is to precede the “day of the Lord.” ey had
been instructed in Paul’s rst letter about how the Lord
will come in the clouds and call the saints to meet Him
in the air. is hope should be their comfort and stay. e
ctitious report said that the “great and dreadful day of the
Lord” had actually come - that it was already present, not
merely that it was at hand or imminent. is threw them
into consternation (remember it bore the forged name of
the Apostle to accredit it) for they understood that the “day
of the Lord” was to be a terrible time. ey no doubt knew
some of the Old Testament prophecies which we have just
noticed, so we can well understand their troubled state on
hearing such a report.
After reminding them of the coming of the Lord as
their own hope, the Apostle Paul goes on to explain that
the “day of the Lord” cannot come until after certain other
things take place. e “apostasy” and the revelation of
the “man of sin” must precede the coming of the Lord to
execute judgment. Surely He will come in aming re to
take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel. His coming in judgment, bringing in the
“day of the Lord,” is a certainty; but no Christian should
be troubled by it, for he will be gone from the scene rst to
be with Christ, and will come back with Christ in that day.
We might borrow an illustration from another. Suppose
a certain city in revolt against their rightful king. e king
then gathers an army together to go and punish the rebels.
But there are some there who are still loyal to their king,
and to them the king sends word that he will rst come to
Prophetic Terms
54
a designated place outside of the city and call all those who
are loyal to meet him there. He says further, that not one
shot shall be red before they are called out of the doomed
city. ey are not then to be troubled by false reports that
he has already come and the destruction begun, but to
calmly await his call to meet him. He also promises his
faithful ones that when he does go to execute vengeance
they shall accompany him.
e second epistle of Peter also speaks of the coming
of the “day of the Lord” as a thief. A thief comes without
warning and never for good, so the “day of the Lord” shall
come on the godless world very unexpectedly for judgment.
Peter, speaking by the Spirit of God, goes further and
tells of events that will take place even after the thousand-
year peaceful reign of Christ. He speaks of the dissolution
of the present earth and heavens at the close of the “day of
the Lord.” us we see that the “day of the Lord” will usher
in the reign of Christ on earth and continue throughout
and even beyond it, to the ushering in of the “day of God”
- the eternal state, with new heavens and new earth.
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Prophetic Terms: the
Millennium
When the Lord Jesus as the Son of man returns in
aming re taking vengeance on His enemies, He will be
preparing the earth for the wonderful time often spoken
of as the Millennium. Many have mistakenly thought that
the gospel of the grace of God is to rst spread throughout
the world and so prepare the way for Christ to come and
reign. But on the contrary, the gospel is being despised and
corrupted, and soon the real Christians will be taken from
the world to be with Christ in the Father’s house. en
judgments of increasing severity followed by the coming of
the Warrior-King will cleanse the earth before His rightful
reign. Judgment, and not the gospel, will prepare the way
for the Millennium.
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e word “Millennium” is not found in the Holy
Scriptures, but has been coined from two Latin words
to designate a period of “one thousand years.” While the
word is not there, the thing itself is very denitely found
in many parts of the Bible. e Old Testament abounds
with references to the wonderful reign of Christ and its
eects on the world, the nations, and the children of Israel.
e Lord Jesus also referred to it in the gospels, and when
we come to the book of Revelation we nd the “thousand
years” spoken of six times in the rst seven verses of chapter
twenty. e Old Testament does not disclose the duration
of the time, but the book of Revelation does.
We also get many types in the Old Testament which
point on to Christ as King. To mention only two, David
and Solomon, we see in them types of Christ coming
in judgment and then reigning in peace. David was the
rejected, though crowned, king, just as Christ is now.
en the day came when he ascended the throne, and his
reign was characterized by war. In his days the enemies of
Israel were subdued; and then Solomon, after establishing
the kingdom on righteous principles, reigned without
“adversary nor evil occurrent.” e one is a type of Christ
putting down His enemies, and the other of Christ
reigning in peace and righteousness afterward. Of course
we must remember that these are only types, and the best
of men break down as types. What a breakdown there was
in Solomon, as a type of Christ reigning in wisdom and
righteousness! But the more the types fall short, so much
the more will Christ the blessed Antitype stand out in bold
relief. Solomon when at his best in his beginning displayed
unusual wisdom, but it was only after the sight of his eyes
and the hearing of his ears; but of Christ we read,
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57
“He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither
reprove after the hearing of His ears” (Isa. 11:3). He will
know all fully.
If the Queen of Sheba was overwhelmed by the display
of earthly glory found in Solomon, the type of Christ, what
will the saved of the nations feel when Christ really reigns!
If the shadow was so great, what will the substance be!
In the transguration scene (Matt. 17:1-8; Luke
9:27-36) there is a sample of Christ’s coming kingdom.
Peter refers to it in 2Pet. 1:16-18, saying that they were
eyewitnesses of His majesty. It was the coming kingdom
displayed in miniature. ere was the Lord transgured
before them.
ere were also Moses and Elijah who typify the
heavenly saints - Moses a type of those who die, and Elijah
of those who go to heaven without dying. Peter, James, and
John represent the earthly saints in natural bodies. us
in the kingdom the heavenly and earthly will be brought
close together, with Christ the Object for all.
In the Millennium the curse pronounced on the earth
in Genesis 3 shall have been removed. orns and briers
will not be present as now, for we read that “instead of the
thorn shall come up the r tree, and instead of the brier
shall come up the myrtle tree” (Isa. 55:13). Everything will
then be wondrously fertile. e crops will be so great that
the plowman will overtake the reaper (Amos 9:13). Psalms
65 and 72 also describe the fullness that will be brought
forth by the earth in that time. e seasons are to remain,
but all will be ordered for blessing, except where there is
disobedience among the nations. Zechariah 14 foretells
the withholding of rain to any nation that does not go up
to keep the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem.
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Even the animals will benet from the benecent reign
of Christ. At present they are subject to suering by reason
of the fall. ey were made subject to vanity through the
fall of creation’s head - Adam (Rom. 8:19-22). During the
Millennium they will be delivered from such bondage, and
according to Isaiah 11 and 65, enmity among them will
cease to exist.
e Jews who are now hated and despised in many,
many places throughout the world, and forbidden from
entering their own land, shall be brought back. ose who
are apostate and receive the antichrist, will meet their
doom when Christ returns in judgment. Afterward the
faithful few who were hunted and chased, together with
the scattered all over the earth will be brought back by the
Lord. It is written in Matt. 24:31,
“He shall send His angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
So great will be the national regathering of Israel that
they will then not refer to the Lord as having brought
them out of the land of Egypt, but as having led them
out of the “north country, and from all countries whither
I had driven them” (Jer. 23:3-8). Both Judah and the ten
tribes will be brought back to dwell as one in the land.
eir blessing will be as “life from the dead” (Rom. 11:15),
and as the resurrection of the “dry bones” of Ezekiel 37.
ese scriptures, and also Isa. 26:19, do not speak of the
resurrection of the body, but of the national resuscitation
of Israel for millennial blessing.
Israel can then sing as in Psalm 48, “Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, … the
city of the great King.” e magnicence of the city of
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59
Jerusalem will surpass anything that the world has ever
seen. Many scriptures foretell the future prominence
and blessing of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. From
Zechariah 14 we gather that there will be certain physical
changes in the vicinity.
Who on earth can describe the horrible suerings of
the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70?
What recompense for those fateful words, “His blood be
on us and on our children.” But while “He hath smitten” so
it will be said, “He will bind us up” (Hos. 6:1). When the
“King of glory” appears, then the words of the poet will be
accomplished:
“ose gloomy years have rolled away,
e years of Israel’s mourning;
e rising sun with healing ray
Proclaims the King’s returning.”
As for the Gentile nations, they also will be blessed.
ose who are left of the Gentiles after the days of
judgment, will be brought into the Millennium, and be
blessed as they own Israel’s King. At present the nations
are seeking means of securing peace, but there can be
no lasting peace yet. Before such peace can come to this
troubled world, an even worse time is due. Instead of peace,
the prophet Joel tells us:
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war,
wake up the mighty men … Beat your plowshares into
swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.” (Joel 3:9-17.)
But in the Millennium it shall be fullled:
“He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke
many people: and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation
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shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.” Isa. 2:4. e business of learning war
- scientic research and the like - is to go on and increase
for the present, but when Christ reigns, they shall not learn
war any more. Lord, how long till then?
But what of the Church - the true Christians of this
day - during the wondrous reign of Christ? (Read Rev.
21:9 through 22:5.) In these verses see something of the
displayed heavenly glory of the Church in that period.
Of course the language is gurative, but withal it is a
beautiful description of magnicence and glory. She is seen
descending out of heaven, and displayed over the earth.
us the heavenly saints will reign with Christ (canopy
over the earth) in that day. ey are to be associated with
Him in His reigning - not to be reigned over, as wonderful
as that will be for the earth. e saved of the nations are to
walk in the light of that heavenly city, of which the Lamb
is the light.
Satan, the devil and arch deceiver, is to be bound in the
bottomless pit, or the abyss, during the Millennium (Rev.
20:1-3).
“ou art coming, mighty Savior,
`King of kings,’ y written name;
ou art coming, royal Savior!
Coming for y promised reign.
“0 the joy, when sin’s confusion
Ends beneath y righteous sway;
0 the peace, when all delusion
At y presence dies away.”
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Prophetic Terms: the
Millennium
In the last issue we considered the term “Millennium,”
and noticed that it is a word used to designate the
wonderful one-thousand-year reign of Christ. During
that time all the earth will be blessed; the repentant and
renewed Israel will be especially blessed under their true
Messiah. e nations also will enjoy peace and tranquility
under the righteous rule of the King that shall reign in
righteousness. e seductions of Satan will not tempt men
in that day, for Satan will be conned in the bottomless pit,
or abyss. But before that glorious time can come, the Lord
Jesus will return as the Son of man to execute judgment.
His redeemed will soon be taken from the earth to heaven,
and will be with Him when He comes to take vengeance
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on His enemies, and on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel.
Only those Israelites that are born again will enter into
the kingdom on earth. e rebels and apostates among
them will be purged out and will not see that glorious time.
e seed of Jacob will never again turn aside after that, for
it is written:
“e Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that
turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for
Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My
Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put
in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s
seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.” Isa.
59:20, 21.
But among the saved Gentile nations, there will later be
those who will submit themselves because of fear, without
true repentance or new birth. It is said of some of them
that they will yield feigned obedience. It is written in
Psalm 18:44:
“As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me: the
strangers shall submit themselves unto Me.” e margin
in some Bibles says, “yield feigned obedience,” instead of,
“submit themselves.” (See also marginal reading of Psalm
66:3 and 81:15.)
erefore, while evil will be restrained and the inuence
of the devil removed, there will be rebellion and sin among
the Gentiles. is will be put down promptly, as we gather
from another psalm, which speaks of how the kingdom
will be restored.
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63
“Every morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land”
(Psalm 101:8; J.N.D. Trans.). Another part of Scripture
may be referred to in this connection.
“ere shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an
old man that hath not lled his days: for the child shall die
a hundred years old: but the sinner being a hundred years
old shall be accursed.” Isa. 65:20.
ere will not be sin and death on every hand as now.
Death will be the exception rather than the rule. Men will
live out their days then, which they have never yet done,
because of sin. Even Methuselah who lived to be 969 years
old did not live as long as the Millennium. One entering
the Millennium from among the righteous will continue
on through and live longer than Methuselah. One who
dies for his sin at the age of 100 years will be considered
only a youth or child, much as we now consider a person
seven years old in relation to the present span of life. He
who dies then will be a sinner and be suering the wages
of his sin - “the sinner being a hundred years old shall be
accursed.”
ere is a mistaken idea that all sin now is the result of
Satan’s seductions. Such an idea tends to deceive people
into blaming Satan for all sin, and excusing themselves,
but the truth is that man himself is also bad. Man has
an evil nature which of course is easily acted upon by the
devil. ere are lusts in his heart which are easily stirred to
action. During the blessed and glorious time of Christ’s
reign on earth, when evil will be immediately put down
and Satan be conned, there will be proof that man is bad.
Even under such favorable circumstances there will be sin.
with the resultant death.
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64
en there is to be still another proof of the evil nature
of man. For after he has experienced a time of freedom
from war, fear, want, and all other troubles, and enjoyed a
time of blessing such as the earth since the days of Adam’s
fall has never seen, many will rise up in open rebellion
against the kingdom of Christ. Let us notice the prophetic
Word as to this rebellion.
“And 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
breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints
about, and the beloved city: and re came down from God
out of heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20:7-9. In the
third verse of the same chapter it was said that after Satan
is bound for the thousand years, he “must be loosed a little
season.”
During that long period of prosperity and blessing
- one thousand years - there will be a great increase
in the population of the earth, whereas it had been
much depopulated by the terrible judgments before the
Millennium began. Millions will be born and not be tested
by evil in those years. e test will come in the
Little Season
at the close of the Millennium, when Satan is loosed.
e thousand-year connement will not have changed that
deceiver. He will immediately show himself as the enemy
of God, and seduce many of the nations to make one last
rebellious outbreak against magnicent goodness. Such is
Satan and such is the heart of man that will respond to his
suggestion.
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65
e term, Gog and Magog, used of the vast multitude
that will rise up in open rebellion, is not to be confused
with a similar expression found in Ezekiel 38 and 39. In
Ezekiel it refers to Russia and her allied hordes from the
north who will come against Israel just as the Millennium
begins. ey will be destroyed on the mountains of Israel.
e scene in Revelation takes place at the close of the
Millennium, or one thousand years later than the one in
Ezekiel. In Revelation the countless number come from the
four quarters of the earth, while in Ezekiel they come only
from the north. e judgments also dier, for in Revelation
it says that “re came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them.” is judgment, similar to the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah, is very dierent from being slain
on the mountains of Israel.
When we think of the enmity that there is in the heart
of man toward his Creator, we who are saved can praise
God that our hearts have been won. We who were enemies
have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Man’s natural thought is that God is his enemy who must
be appeased with a present, but the truth is that all the
enmity is on man’s part. God is not and never was man’s
enemy. When man rst fell in the garden, enmity was
implanted in his heart to his Creator. While man’s sin has
separated him from God, God has been seeking man. He
even sent His Son into the world to reconcile it, but men
killed the Reconciler. But even now God is beseeching lost
men to be reconciled to Himself. Every one who knows
the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior believes that God
is love. is love has been demonstrated in the gift of the
dearest object of His heart - “God so loved - that He gave
His only begotten Son.”
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Such love has melted the heart of the believer and,
whereas he was once the enemy of God, now he loves God.
Reader, is this true of you? If it is not, may the love of
God melt your heart now.
Prophetic Terms: the Eternal State
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Prophetic Terms: the Eternal
State
While the Old Testament speaks at great length about
the coming Millennial kingdom of Christ, and there are
some references to it in the New Testament, very little is
said in the New Testament about the eternal state - the
new heavens and new earth - and it is not mentioned in
the Old Testament. Some verses from the Old Testament
are quoted in the New, and there they are applied to the
eternal state, but the Old Testament does not go beyond
the Millennium.
e Millennium will be a glorious time for the present
earth, and it will last for one thousand years; yet it will
nally come to its close. We have before noticed that at its
close, the heart of man at enmity toward God will again be
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68
demonstrated even after such abundant goodness. e re
from God out of heaven will consume the rebels.
e devil who again deceives men after his short
liberation from connement in the bottomless pit, or abyss,
will then be cast into the “lake of re and brimstone.” is
is his nal disposition. When he is cast into that awful
place, it is said that the beast (that head of a revived Roman
Empire) and the false prophet (the antichrist) are still there.
ey had been cast in there one thousand years before, at
the coming of Christ to reign. Although they are in the
lake of re for one thousand years, they are not annihilated.
ere they and the devil together are to remain, and to be
tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).
Man’s wish is parent to his thought of annihilation, but it
is foreign to the Word of God.
ere is an eternity of punishment for the beast, false
prophet, and the devil (and for all who die in their sins),
according to the word of Him who “cannot lie.”
Some have thought and written that the devil is a king
in hell, but the Scripture depicts him as being tormented
there day and night. May we have God’s thought and not
man’s.
e wicked dead who had not been raised when the
Lord gave the shout that called the bodies of those saints
who have died in Christ, from their graves over one
thousand years before, will then be raised. Man may speak
of one general resurrection at the last day, but they do not
get it from the Word of God. Many scriptures teach that
there are two resurrections - one to life and the other to
judgment. Soon the Lord shall give that quickening shout,
and the bodies of those who died in faith shall be raised,
but the unbelievers of all ages shall remain in their graves
Prophetic Terms: the Eternal State
69
until the time we are writing of - after the Millennium and
at the beginning of the eternal. state.
e dead, great and small, are to stand before God at the
Great White rone to be judged. ey are to be judged
“according to their works” out of the books. Man hopes that
God will forget his wicked deeds, but they are all recorded,
and the evidence will be produced in that day. e “book
of life” will also be there to prove that their names were
never written in it. e evidence will be conclusive and
their doom eternal.
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of re.” Rev. 20:11-15. Yes, the
eternal state of the lost is to be in the “lake of re.” It is
described variously as: eternal re (Jude 7); everlasting
punishment
(Matt. 25:46); the worm that never dies (Mark 9:44);
everlasting destruction (2ess. 1:9); blackness of darkness
forever (Jude 13); and many other such expressions. Why
should men try hard to prove that his existence is not
eternal when God says it is? He will either spend eternity
with God in bliss, or be tormented with the devil and his
angels.
0, the madness and folly of man who will not accept
the truth, and take God’s salvation which assures him
of an eternity of happiness in the presence of God! May
the reader make sure that he is one of the redeemed who
shall enjoy eternal life in the presence of God. ere is no
salvation apart from the acceptance of the work of Christ
on the cross. One must know the Lord Jesus as his personal
substitute before a holy God.
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Immediately after describing the nal judgment of the
unsaved and their consignment to the lake of re, the Word
of God goes on to the eternal state of bliss.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the rst
heaven and the rst earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.” Rev. 21:1.
In 2Peter 3 we read that we “look for new heavens and
a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Previously it
said that the present earth and surrounding heavens are to
be dissolved and melt with fervent heat.
How or where God will sustain the earthly saints at
the close of the Millennium when the present earth is
dissolved, He has not told us. Let it suce us to know that
He can and will. He will then make the earth over - entirely
new. From the statement that there will then be “no more
sea,” it would appear that many changes will take place.
Most of the earth’s surface is now covered with water, and
that is necessary to life as it is at present, but then all will
be new. Life will be suited to the new condition, whatever
it may be.
We are told that righteousness will dwell in that eternal
state where sin can never come. At present, righteousness is
only preached or oered - we may suer for righteousness
now. In the Millennium, righteousness will reign, and
put down wickedness; but in God’s new heaven and new
earth it will dwell. at will be the stable and permanent
condition. No breath of sin will ever dele that new scene.
en will be seen the complete fulllment of John 1:29.
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world.”
At present we who believe know our sins put away. In
the Millennium there will be a further demonstration of
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71
the value of the work of the Lamb of God, but in that
eternal bliss we shall see sin completely put away from
God’s creation.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!”
Rev. 21:1-8 gives us the most complete description
of the eternal state. e Apostle Paul only approaches it
in 1Cor. 15:24-28, where he speaks of Christ bringing
all into subjection and then delivering up the kingdom
which He ruled as man. en God - Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit - shall be all in all. is coincides with Rev. 21:3; the
tabernacle of God will be with men. ere will be no more
nations or divided languages, and God Himself shall be
with redeemed men in that eternal state.
When Adam was in innocence in the garden of Eden,
God visited him, but He did not dwell with man in that
state. With redeemed men in the eternal state He will
dwell.
In that eternal day “there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for
the former things are passed away.” 0 the glory of that xed
state of bliss! It is truly worthy of God.
And what of the Church, the bride of Christ, in that
eternal blessedness? In the preview of the eternal state
she is seen as the “holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband.” She still has her beauty as in the day of her
espousal. She is still seen as “a bride.” How soon a bride
today loses her bridal beauty; but 0 fellow believer, we shall
never lose it as the bride of Christ. After one thousand
years the Church will still have the same bridal beauty in
heaven. If we but laid hold of these things a little more in
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72
our hearts, we would see very little beauty in all here below.
May the thoughts of Christ and His coming glory, and
ours with Him, so lift our poor hearts above this weary
world that we shall live in the atmosphere of heaven.
Prophetic Terms: the Judgment Seat of Christ
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Prophetic Terms: the
Judgment Seat of Christ
In previous issues we have passed down along the line
of time from the beginning of the “times of the Gentiles,”
about 606 B.C., all the way to the eternal state - the “new
heavens and new earth.” Now with the Lord’s help we shall
go back and notice some points that were either omitted or
passed over with only brief mention.
Previously we considered our blessed hope - the
expectation of soon hearing that shout in the air and being
caught up, with all the redeemed, to meet our Lord in the
air. at blessed moment is now nearer by some months
than it was then. “Now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.” After considering the Lord’s coming for His
own, we followed future development of things on the
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earth, but now let us turn our thoughts to heaven and the
“judgment seat of Christ.”
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his
body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad.” 2Cor. 5:10.
“For we must all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ [God; J.N.D. Trans.] … So then every one of us
shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:10-12.)
e language is plain and conclusive. All must be
manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. Man is a
responsible creature and must give account to his Creator
of everything he does. Not everyone, however, will be
manifested at the same time or place. Christ, to whom all
judgment has been committed (John 5:22, 27), will “judge
the quick [living] and the dead” (2Tim. 4:1), but not at the
same time, nor will believers be manifested before Him
together with unbelievers.
e scene in which saved ones are to be manifested will
be in heaven (2Cor. 5:10).
e living nations are to be judged on earth (Matt.
25:31-46), when He comes to reign.
e wicked dead are to be raised to stand before the
great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15), at the close of the
Millennium.
Many people have erroneously thought that there will
be only one judgment seat, and that all people, saved and
unsaved, will in a nal judgment day stand before the bar
of justice. Such error is often connected with the equally
false idea that then and only then will people know who
are saved and who are not. Now the Word of God does
not teach that there will be a general judgment, but, on
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75
the contrary, carefully dierentiates between the various
judgments.
At the judgment seat of Christ in heaven only believers
are to stand, and they are not to be there to nd out whether
they are saved or not. at will have been settled long
before. Nor are they to be there to be judged, but rather
to be “manifested,” that is, to have all their works brought
in review. Now this does not in the least contradict that
blessed verse, John 5:24.
“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 [judgment]; but is
passed from death unto life.”
e believer in Christ shall never come into judgment.
For him, the judgment for his sins is passed and gone. His
blessed Substitute bore his sins and the judgment due to
them, on the cross.
We can stand on the sure Word of God regarding the
believer’s perfect security before God. Yet it is also true that
everyone who is saved is going to have every act done in
the body brought out in the light before Him who will
judge righteously.
We need also to remember then when the Lord comes
for the believers, we shall all be changed. We shall receive
bodies of glory, so that when we stand before the judgment
seat of Christ we shall be “like Him.” What judgment could
there be for those who are already gloried and brought
there by the Lord Himself who came to get us?
A beloved brother in Christ, now with the Lord, used
to say: “It is like a family where all the children have been
away to college. At last, summer comes and all the children
come home for a happy reunion. Each one is welcomed
Prophetic Terms
76
home and all enjoy the father, mother, brothers, and sisters,
and home; but after a few days the father of the family calls
the children one by one to bring out their reports so they
can go over the results of their work, to see how they spent
their time when away at school. All is then gone over to
receive the father’s approval or disapproval.”
When the Lord calls His own, not one shall be left
behind. What a glorious and happy gathering that will be
- to be with our Lord and all the redeemed in our Father’s
house! Are we then going to dread the manifestation that
will follow shortly afterward? No, we shall not dread it; we
shall desire it. en all will be brought out in the light and
we shall want it so. ere will be no esh in us then. We
shall see all as Christ sees it. No hidden motive will warp
our judgment in that day. At present hidden motives, almost
unknown to ourselves, cast a strange light on what we do.
en, everything will be perfectly transparent. Blessed be
God! He does give now the privilege of getting into His
presence and judging ourselves there. Even though that is
only feebly and partially done by us, we do know something
of the happiness of having things out before God. “Blessed
is the man … in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32:2).
May we seek to be more in a state of openness and
transparency before God. And yet, we cannot trust our
deceitful hearts, and have to say with the psalmist, “Who
can understand his errors? cleanse ou me from secret
faults.” Psalm 19:12.
Even the Apostle Paul who sought to keep always a
conscience void of oense toward God and man, and could
say that he knew nothing against himself (1Cor. 4:4), that
is, he was not conscious of anything wrong, quickly adds
that his not knowing of anything that was wrong did not
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77
justify him. e Lord would be his judge. Have we not
all proved even in this life that we were mistaken in our
judgment of certain things? We have sometimes thought
that we were right, only to discover later that we were
wrong - inuenced perhaps by some secret wish. Shall
we not then see many things dierently, when we fully
understand and see all as God sees it?
When in that bright glory we stand before Him, with
every roving thought gone, every earthly inuence removed,
and all eshly desires banished, we shall see as never before
the exceeding grace of God. As we see what we were in
His light, we shall magnify Him who abounded toward
us in all wisdom and love. Of course we shall see what we
missed by walking “as men” and pleasing ourselves when
we were “in the body” on earth. We shall discover what we
lost by not being faithful to Him in the days wherein we
had opportunity, but all such discoveries will but awaken
praise to Him who so faithfully loved and cared for us in
spite of what we were.
In that wondrous day we shall understand many things
that we do not perceive now. When we see how near falling
we were at times, and how He in His grace stepped in and
hindered us from taking another step, we shall praise Him
and adore Him. Some of the troubles and diculties in our
path will then be understood as His gracious preventatives
and restoratives.
en after the judgment seat of Christ, the Church will
be presented to Christ as His bride. It will then be said,
“e marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath
made herself ready.” Rev. 19:7.
e making herself ready probably refers to the
judgment seat of Christ where every single thing shall be
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brought out and forever cleared. e glorious bride will
not have the slightest concealed thing to mar her perfect
harmony and intimacy with her adorable Bridegroom.
Dear fellow Christian, may we seek to live more
transparently before God now - to judge all in His presence
- and to live in view of that day when every deed shall be
brought out at the judgment seat of Christ. Surely these
thoughts are wholesome for us now.
But when the Apostle Paul thought of the judgment,
his mind turned to those who were unsaved, and who will
have to stand before Christ to be judged. en the thought
of the “terror of the Lord” and the doom of the lost - this
led him to warn and to “persuade men” (2Cor. 5:11). May
we also warn the unsaved to ee from the wrath to come.
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Prophetic Terms: Judgment of
Living Nations
“Jesus of Nazareth … who went about doing
good … whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God
raised up the third day … And He commanded us to
preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which
was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick [living] and
dead.” Acts 10:38-42.
e very One whom men slew is the One who is to be
their Judge. Death is no avenue of escape from meeting
Him as the Judge, for He will judge the dead. ere is one
way, and only one, of escaping judgment at His hands; that
is by accepting Him as Savior now. I must either know
Him as the blessed One who took my place and died in
my stead on Calvary’s cross and who bore my sins in His
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own body, or some day stand before the bar of justice and
hear my doom from His lips. He will be either the sinner’s
Savior and Substitute, or his Judge.
Reader, do you know Him as your Savior? Happy are
you if you do, for then you will never come into judgment.
But if you are a stranger to Him in His grace, His judgment
must inevitably overtake you some day. He will judge both
the living and the dead, but not at the same time.
We who know Him as our Savior await that blessed
moment when He will come and take us all Home to be
with Himself in the Father’s house. And, as we noticed
in the last issue, we shall then have all our works brought
into review before Him. en all that has been done just to
please self will be loss, and everything done for Him will
be rewarded and be gain. is will take place after we are
safely in heaven.
As soon as all the Christians are taken from the earth to
be with Christ, the world will begin to feel God’s judgment
which will be poured out on it with increasing fury. During
those days of world-wide trouble, wickedness will rise to
unprecedented heights, and then shall appear the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven to personally execute
vengeance on them that know not God (2ess. 1:7-9).
When He comes out of heaven, the saints who will have
been taken there will come out with Him as the “armies
which were in heaven.” en the two leaders in man’s
consummate wickedness will be taken alive and cast into
the lake of re, and great multitudes will be slain by the
sword of Him who is “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”
(Rev. 19:11-21).
After the Lord Jesus, as the Son of man, has cleared
away many who will have risen up in rebellion, He will
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81
establish His throne of judgment on the earth to judge the
living nations. is judgment session is described in Matt.
25:31-46.
“When the Son of man shall come [or, shall have come]
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall
He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall
be gathered all nations.”
It is after He has already come as the lightning striking
swift judgment on His enemies, that He will establish the
“throne of His glory.” en all of the living nations on
earth are to be judged before His tribunal. It is denitely
an earthly scene, for there will be no nations in heaven;
and it is not the time of the judgment of the wicked dead,
for when they are raised to be judged, nations will have
disappeared. Here the ones who will appear before His
throne are the Gentile nations alive on the earth at that
time. (As for the Jews when He comes, He will deal with
them separately.)
e method of discrimination and of judgment at the
“throne of His glory” will be unique. It will be exactly
suited to the situation and requirements. Both the sheep
(saved ones) and the goats (lost ones) will be present at this
trial. In this it will dier from the judgment seat of Christ
in heaven where the believers are to have their works gone
over, for only saved ones will be manifested there. And
at the judgment the wicked dead, only the unsaved will
appear (Rev. 20:11-15). But here, both classes are to stand
to be separated the one from the other - the sheep placed
on His right hand and the goats on His left.
e evidence on which those of the nations are to be
judged is dierent also. ey will be judged according
to the way they treated “His brethren” - the Jewish
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messengers - who will have gone throughout the world
after the Christians left it, preaching the “gospel of the
kingdom.” While most of the Jews will apostatize, and
accept antichrist, there will be a faithful remnant who will
believe in the coming of the true Messiah; these will go out
everywhere telling the good news that He is coming. eir
message will be much the same as that preached by John
the Baptist before Christ came the rst time. At His rst
coming, Christ was rejected and the coming kingdom was
postponed, while Christians were gathered out of the world
for heaven. But when the Christians are taken to heaven,
then the “gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 24:14) will be
resumed by faithful Jews. ese Jewish messengers, called
by Christ “My brethren,” will suer much persecution and
many will be martyred. Among the Gentiles, faith in God
and the coming King will be evidenced by the manner in
which the message and the messengers are treated. It will
still be true that “without faith it is impossible to please
God.”
It may be needful to remind some that this preaching
of the “gospel of the kingdom” is not a second chance for
those who now refuse the “gospel of the grace of God.”
For those who in these lands refuse Christ as Savior now,
God will send a “strong delusion, that they should believe
a lie,” for the purpose that they who refuse grace “might be
damned” (2ess. 2:10-12). But there are millions on earth
who have not heard the “gospel of the grace of God.” By
far the greater part of mankind on earth are outside of any
profession of Christianity For these, the Jewish messengers
will carry the good news of the coming kingdom of Christ.
ese few faithful Jews will do in probably not more than
seven years what Christendom had failed to do in almost
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83
two thousand years; they will preach this gospel in “all the
world.” e Gentiles who believe the message will show
their interest in its messengers and at the “throne of His
glory” will hear “the King say unto them on His right
hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt.
25:34.
Here the Son of man is called the “King,” and in
addressing those on His right hand He calls them “blessed
of My Father.” ey will not know God in the relationship
of their Father, as believers in this age do, but be blessed by
His Father. Another mark of dierence from that which
belongs to Christians is that the kingdom (earthly) was
prepared for them “from the foundation of the world.” e
believers now were chosen in Christ “before the foundation
of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
It is beautiful to see how the “King” will credit the
“sheep” with having done for Himself personally whatever
they did for even “the least” of His messengers; He will so
identify Himself with these Jewish “brethren.”
It was a similar lesson that Saul of Tarsus learned
on the road to Damascus when he heard the Lord say
to him, “Why persecutest thou Me?” at persecutor of
Christians had to learn that when he molested them he
was persecuting “Jesus” (Acts 9:1-5). And contrariwise
those who had despised the messengers of the “King” will
be shown to have refused the “King” Himself.
Another point to be noticed is that the “goats” on His
left hand - those who refused the messengers bearing the
“gospel of the kingdom” - will be sent away into “everlasting
re, prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41). e lake
of re was not prepared for men but for the devil and his
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angels; and yet, how sad that rebellious men who will not
have God’s grace are to share it with them.
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Prophetic Terms: Great
White rone
ere will be a resurrection preceding the judgment
of the great white throne. It will be the resurrection to
judgment spoken of in John 5:29. e resurrection to life,
also spoken of in the same verse, will have taken place 1000
years earlier. ere will be two resurrections; all raised in
the rst resurrection are raised for heavenly blessing and
all raised in that last resurrection are raised for judgment.
e rst resurrection is “from among the dead,” for
all who died unsaved will be left in their graves when the
saved are raised. But at length the time will arrive when
those who died in unbelief - died unrepentant - shall be
raised. It will then be the resurrection “of the dead” not
from “among” the dead, for there will be no unraised dead
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left when the nal resurrection takes place. en every
single human being that died, refusing the testimony that
God had given him, will be raised to stand trial.
Before the Millennium begins, the “rst resurrection”
will be completed and it will be said, “But the rest of the
dead lived not again until the thousand years were nished”
(Rev. 20:5). But after the Millennium has run its course,
and the time has come for the dissolution of the present
earth (making way for the “new heavens and new earth”),
then the rest of the dead shall be raised to stand trial before
the great white throne.
“And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it,
from whose face the heaven and the earth ed away; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God [the throne]; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which
is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and
death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them:
and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of re. is is
the second death. And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of re.” Rev. 20:11-
15.
What a solemn scene is unveiled before us in these
verses! A great white throne - that dazzling whiteness of
light from the holiness of Him who sits on the throne.
On earth men hate the light because their deeds are evil,
but there they will be exposed by the exceeding brilliance
of His holiness. Nothing can then be hid. It will also be a
great throne by reason of the greatness of the Judge - the
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87
Lord Jesus Himself - and by reason of the magnitude of
the judgment - not one of the many, many millions who
died in their sins escaping.
And then the books are to be opened. Sins long
forgotten, sins considered only trivial, and secret sins will
all be brought out as evidence when the records will be
opened. Every sin is to be called to remembrance, and the
dead are to be judged “according to their works.” Yes, “God
shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret
thing” (Eccles. 12:14). Men may treat sin as a light matter,
but God does not. Well may the psalmist say,
“Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in y
sight shall no man living be justied.” Psalm 143:2.
e only way that any can escape the judgment of God
is to be under the shelter of the blood of Christ. John 5:24
shows that by hearing the words of the Lord Jesus and
believing God who raised Him from the dead we shall not
come into judgment. For every true Christian the judgment
is passed; it was borne by his blessed Substitute on the
cross. Not one sin remains to be charged to the believer in
Christ; not one sin will be overlooked or forgotten when
the unsaved stand before the great white throne.
en the book of life is to be opened to prove that their
names were not written therein. God will take care to show
His righteousness in passing sentence. Although He has to
give account to no one, He will show by the books both the
positive (their actual sins) and the negative (their names
not being found in the book of life), evidences that they
deserve the judgment that is to be passed.
e sea will give up its dead. ink of all that have
perished in the seas; not one will be missed. O the folly
of men that imagines that death is the last of them. How
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much wiser it is to believe God and accept His way of
escape from coming wrath. God has faithfully warned that
“after death the judgment,” and He has provided a Savior
for all who will have Him.
en death and hell - hades - will deliver up the dead in
them. Death, the place of the body, and hades, the connes
of the soul, will deliver up their whole contents that all may
be judged according to their works - their entire population
emptied out to be cast into “the lake of re.” As there will
then be no further use for death and hades, they are said to
be cast into the lake of re. Death, the last enemy, is said to
be destroyed (1Cor. 15:26).
e lake of re is called the “second death.” is does
not mean the annihilation of the wicked. Scripture bears
out the fact that the punishment of the wicked is eternal,
just as the blessing of the saved is eternal. In the same
chapter (Rev. 20) the devil, the beast (head of the revived
Roman Empire) and the false prophet (the antichrist) are
to be “tormented day and night forever and ever” in the lake
of re. e beast and the false prophet will have already
been there for 1000 years. Many deceivers have written to
soothe the fears of men saying that God will annihilate the
wicked completely. is most certainly is not true and is
only the result of rebellious men’s wish that it might be so.
In Ephesians the unsaved are spoken of as “dead in
trespasses and sins.” ey are viewed as morally dead toward
God - their souls separated morally from Him. Now it is
evident that such moral death does not mean annihilation.
No, it is man morally away from God and living in sin.
en there is the case of one who dies physically. Life
has gone from his body and he is said to be dead - it is
the body without the spirit. But that does not mean that
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89
the man has ceased to exist, or has been annihilated, or
is unconscious. Luke 16 shows that even though an
unconverted man dies, his soul still lives in hades. at
man had conscious existence in the unseen world and was
capable of remembering and having remorse even in that
state. His body had been buried, but even while awaiting
the last resurrection and the judgment of the wicked dead,
he was tormented in hades.
Death for the Christian certainly is not ceasing to exist.
e thief that got saved on the cross was to be with Christ
in paradise, and Paul desired to depart and be with Christ
which is far better (Phil. 1:23). Certainly ceasing to exist
was not far better than serving the Lord here below, but
Paul looked forward to being with Christ when he had left
this world and his body had been committed to the grave.
So then we see that death in each of these instances does
not mean annihilation and neither does it when speaking
of the second death - the lake of re.
Moral death is the separation of the soul of man morally
from God.
Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit
from the body.
e second death is the separation of the whole man
- body, soul, and spirit - from God for all eternity. An
eternity of woe.
Reader, if not yet saved, stop and consider your destiny -
the lake of re - if you die unsaved. 0 do be warned and ee
from the wrath to come. And if you die unsaved, the very
gospel verses that you have read and perhaps know by heart
will rise up to taunt you in that awful, eternal separation
from God, the source of all light, in “outer darkness.”
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Fire is often used to describe God’s judgment, and so
it is here. It is His holiness punishing sin as it must. But
remember that He in love gave His only Son to die in
order to save guilty sinners. But how shall any escape if
they refuse or neglect so great salvation? Escape for such is
impossible, for God must punish sin.
Prophetic Terms: Day of the Lord
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Prophetic Terms: Day of the
Lord
e word “day” is often used in Scripture to denote a
certain period of time. In a previous article we considered
the “day of the Lord” and noticed that it refers to the time
when the Lord Jesus will come back to the earth and set
everything right, and reign. e world is very sick and, and
there is no indication of any betterment at hand. Strife,
greed, famine, and troubles of every nature beset the whole
world. e very foundations seem to be tottering. is is
“man’s day” (see 1Cor. 1:3; margin) and he has made a
great mess of everything. e coming of the Lord to call
His own away may take place at any moment. What a
happy moment will that be for all who are saved, and how
terrible for those unsaved who will be left behind. en the
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things which are troubling the world will become suddenly
worse, only to end when the Lord Jesus returns to subdue
His enemies and set up His righteous government in the
earth - the “day of the Lord.”
e “day of the Lord” will be a great and dreadful day
for this Christ-rejecting earth. (See Joel 2:1-11; Mal. 4:1-5;
Zeph. 1:14-16.) (It should read in 2ess. 2:2, “the day of
the Lord” instead of “the day of Christ.”) e whole period
of His Millennial reign is included in the term, “the day
of the Lord.” It will even include the “little season,” when
man has a last test, after the Millennium. Christ must reign
until He puts down all enemies and brings everything into
subjection, as we noticed in 1Cor. 15:25, 26.
Day of Christ
ere is also the expression, “the day of Christ,” which
is previous to “the day of the Lord.” It is found in Phil. 1:6,
10; 2:16 and takes one in thought to the heavenly rather
than the earthly scene. e Apostle Paul looked forward
to the “day of Christ.” He had joy in the Philippian saints
as he saw what grace had already wrought in them, and
then looked forward to the time when they would be with
Christ, and all would be completed in them.
“Always, in every prayer of mine for you all making
request with joy … Being condent of this very thing, that
He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:4, 6.
After that, he writes about his desire for them that
they would abound in knowledge and intelligence so as
to approve the things that are excellent to the end that
they might walk without a wrong step until that glorious
day - the “day of Christ.” Snell should be our desire also.
Sad to say we do fail and take wrong steps, but if we were
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93
walking close to the Lord, it would not be so. God his
made provision for us if we fail -
“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous” (1John 2:1).
But the Word of God does not suppose that we must
fail. Just think of all the provision that we have in Order
to walk pleasing to Him; we have been saved and brought
to God in perfect peace; we have the Ward of God as a
perfect guide-book; we have the Spirit of God dwelling
in us for power; and We have the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Great High Priest to succor us when we are weak. Alas,
how little we avail ourselves of the resources we have in
Christ to walk pleasing to Him! Not that we should ever
expect perfection in the esh. Such ideas are wrong and
only tend to exalt self - to condence in the esh. We
should have no condence in the esh, but can we not say
that when we do fail, it was our fault and our own lack of
watchfulness. at blessed day - the day of Christ - is soon
coming. en all shall be perfect and the work begun in us
shall be complete, but let us seek to walk pleasing to Him
in view of that day.
e Apostle had labored in the gospel and suered
for it at Philippi (see Acts 16) and these dear saints had
been the fruit of his labors. After they were saved they had
taken an active interest in the gospel; they had shown their
fellowship in it from the rst day they were saved. ey
were willing to share in its trials and conicts. en he
writes to encourage them to walk blamelessly before the
unsaved and to show them the way of salvation:
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
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nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in
vain.” Phil. 2:14-16.
Paul looked forward to the time when he and all the
saints would be with Christ - when he would see the fruit
of his labors. e beloved Apostle put this forward as a
motive for their going on in faithful testimony. at will
be the time when the results and fruit of all our labors
will be manifest. We can then look forward with joyful
anticipation to the “day of Christ.” Our work for the Lord
cannot be correctly appraised now, but in that coming
day of glory it will be seen in His light. Surely the “day of
Christ” presents a dierent thought than the “day of the
Lord” which speaks of subjugation of all on earth to His
righteous rule.
Day of God
e “day of God” looks forward to the ushering in of
the eternal state.
“Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the
day of God, wherein the heavens being on re shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
2Pet. 3:12, 13.
e “day of God” will follow the “day of the Lord.”
e Lord will rst bring all into subjection and destroy
all enemies. e last enemy that will be destroyed is death
(1Cor. 15:25, 26). en in that eternal state, God (Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit) as God will dwell with men. God
has been pleased in past dispensations to reveal Himself
according to the need of the time, but then all dispensational
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95
names and revelations will have passed. All dispensations
will then be over and “God will dwell with men.”
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He
will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and
God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Rev.
21:3.
“Nations” will have disappeared, for it is “men” with
whom He will dwell. e word “dwell” speaks of a xed
and permanently settled condition. It is also said that
righteousness will dwell in that scene of bliss. Every trace
of sin will have been removed from God’s creation and
never enter it again. All that Christ ruled as man in the
“day of the Lord” will be given up to God, that God may
be all in all - the day of God, the eternal day.
“Lord we can see, by faith in ee,
A prospect bright, unfailing;
Where God shall shine in light divine,
In glory never fading.”
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Prophetic Terms: Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9
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Prophetic Terms: Seventy
Weeks of Daniel 9
e prophecy of the “seventy weeks” is a most remarkable
one, the proper understanding of which will enable the child
of God to have a better grasp of His purposes concerning
the earth and His earthly people Israel. While the present
time in which God is gathering out of the earth a people
for heaven is not mentioned in the prophecy, yet there is a
break into which it ts.
It will be well to notice the state of Daniel’s soul and
his deep exercises prior to the receiving of this wonderful
prophecy. God chose the vessels to whom He would
communicate His mind, and He also prepared them
beforehand to be suitable instruments for the reception
and communication of His truth. A careless or indierent
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person was incapable of knowing the mind of God. He
carefully prepared those He would use. Neither is a careless
or worldly-minded Christian now in a state to understand
the things that are revealed to us by God, for they are
revealed unto us “by His Spirit.” If a child of God is going
on in a way that the Spirit of God is grieved with his walk,
then the Spirit is not free to show him the “things that are
freely given to us of God.” May we then, as we approach
this prophecy, be before God to judge what is not of Him
and seek from Him a “wise and understanding heart.”
Daniel had been born in a day when the “two tribes” were
in a sad state. e kings and the people had alike departed
from the Lord, and He in His righteous government gave
them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
who destroyed the temple and carried many captives to his
land. Daniel was one of these captives when he was a very
young man. But in spite of all the failure and the terrible
darkness of the day, Daniel sought to honor God, and God
honored him. e principle is ever true, “them that honor
Me I will honor.” Daniel was a man who had a true and
honest purpose to please God, and he did not plead any
expediency for doing otherwise. Times had changed but he
knew that God had not.
Although many direct prophecies were given to Daniel,
he did not fail to read the Scriptures for himself. He used
the same means that are open to us-he read the Word of
God. From the book of Jeremiah (ch. 29:10) he understood
that the desolations of Jerusalem, which were then present,
would last only seventy years from their beginning. He
believed God and therefore he understood that the time
was at hand for his people to return to Jerusalem. We have
the same opportunity - “through faith we understand.” It
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99
was not by outward observation that Daniel perceived the
time was nearing for their return. ere may have been
nothing on the horizon then to indicate it, but Daniel
believed what God said. So we today should understand
that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” We should
be able to understand that by believing what God has said
in His Word and not by observations, although we do see
the storm clouds gathering which will break after the Lord
has come for us. Our faith should be in God and His Word
rather than in the darkening skies. So in this second verse
of the ninth chapter we see Daniel not as the prophet but
as the devout student of prophecy given through others.
e immediate result of his reading and understanding
the time that had been reached was to put Daniel on his
face before God in the most earnest prayer and supplication.
e fasting, sackcloth, and ashes bespoke the inward state
of his soul - that moral state which truly feels the condition
of God’s people and identies itself fully with it in any day
of ruin.
Although Daniel was not much more than a boy when
he was carried away captive, and although he had sought
to live for God in that strange land, yet he confesses the
sins of the people as his own. He does not say “they have
sinned,” but “we have sinned.” He looked round about
and saw the deplorable state they were in and saw it in
God’s righteous dealings with them. As one of “Wisdom’s
children” he justied God in all His dealings with them
and confessed their sin. He, feeling his own part in the
failure and confessing it, was in a position to intercede
with God on behalf of the people. He pleaded with God
for them on the ground of His mercies. Such a spirit of
pleading for the people of God is one that is according
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to His heart and mind. We see the same spirit in Moses,
Samuel, David, and other true servants of God. While
God may have to chastise His children according to His
government, yet His heart is toward them, and we are
never in the current of God’s thoughts if it is otherwise
with us. Nor can we ever properly separate ourselves from
the failure of the Church of God on earth. at which
was blest beyond anything else on earth (the Church) has
surely failed most grievously. Everything is now in ruins
and each one of us who are saved is a part of that failure. If
we had a deeper sense of the failure and our part in it, there
would be more intercession for the saints of God and also
a deeper entering into His thoughts about them.
Daniel was a man given to prayer. It was not something
that he did in days of special stress and trial. In the sixth
chapter when storms were gathering around his head, “He
went into his house; and his windows being open in his
chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees
three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his
God, as he did aforetime.” v. 10.
e man of God is sure to be a man of prayer.
Sometimes Daniel did not receive his answer at once;
in the tenth chapter he was kept waiting “three full weeks”
for the answer. But in the chapter we are considering the
answer is immediate:
“And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing
my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting
my supplications before the LORD my God for the holy
mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer,
even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the
beginning, being caused to y swiftly, touched me about
the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and
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talked with me, and said, 0 Daniel, I am now come forth to
give thee skill and understanding.” Chap. 9:20-22.
So we may sometimes receive answers to our prayers at
once or we may be kept waiting for a long time. A delay is
not a reason for concluding that our prayer was not heard.
God in His wisdom may withhold an answer to deepen
our exercise of soul, or it may be for any one of a number of
reasons; but we can rest assured that when God withholds
or waits to answer our requests it is done in His perfect
wisdom of what is best and is withheld according to His
true love which wants to do the very best for His own.
Daniel’s exercises of soul were concerning his people
Israel and their getting back into their own land from
Babylon at that time, but God was about to give him a
deeper revelation than that which related to their soon-
coming return to Jerusalem. God was going to unfold the
whole future of Israel to Daniel right down to the time
when Israel would be blessed under their Messiah in a day
that is yet future. What a signal favor to be thus let into
God’s secrets and plans! And has not God opened up the
future to us? Surely He has! And while all the prophetic
unfoldings of His Word do not relate to us (the Church)
they should interest us as being part of what God is going
to do, and we should desire to know what He has been
pleased to reveal to us. It is surely a mark of distinct favor
to be told all in advance.
Now we should bear in mind when considering the
“seventy weeks” that Daniel’s people are in question. Much
confusion has resulted from failure to remember this fact.
To try to bring either Gentiles or Christians into the picture
would only spoil what is clear and understandable. is
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is distinctly stated in the 24th verse where the prophesy
proper begins:
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city.” Nothing is vague or uncertain here; the
special objects of this prophecy to Daniel are Daniel’s people
(Israel) and Daniel’s holy city (Jerusalem). Christians are
not called Daniel’s people, nor do Christians have a holy
city on earth. Nevertheless, we as Christians should be
interested in God’s earthly people and in the revelation He
has been pleased to make to us. is prophecy is for “our
learning” and will most certainly be protable as we enter
into God’s thoughts.
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Daniel learned from the book of Jeremiah that the
captivity of the Jews in Babylon was to last only seventy
years. ose years had about rolled away and as Daniel
stood on the threshold of their return to their own land,
he was led to confess their sin, for which they were sent
into captivity, and to pray for their return and blessing.
He claimed no merit in themselves but counted on God’s
mercy. God responded with a wonderful unfolding of a
period of time concerning those same people - Daniel’s
people. is new disclosure covered not merely seventy
years, as was their captivity in Babylon, but “seventy
weeks.” is is evidently a dierent length of time, but let
us inquire what is meant by the word “weeks.” In ordinary
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language a week is a period of time composed of seven days,
but that certainly cannot be the meaning in this passage.
Nothing like the things predicted in the prophecy came to
pass within seventy actual weeks nor in many times that
number of weeks.
In seeking the correct understanding of this prophecy
we must rst be clear about what the seventy weeks mean.
We are told by Hebrew scholars that the word in the
original is not literally “weeks” but merely “seventy sevens.”
It is a word that described something divided into seven
parts. ey are really weeks of years; that is, they are seventy
periods of seven years. is was quite understandable to
Daniel or to any Jew, as they were accustomed to think
in terms of “sevens” when dealing with years. We, on the
other hand, think of tens and speak of decades, but the
Jews thought in terms of sevens. ey were to let their land
rest every seventh year (Exod. 23:11).
Now, on this basis we can proceed, knowing that
“seventy sevens” or 490 years were determined on the
Jewish people, in the counsels and purposes of God, to
bring certain things to pass. What then is the conclusion
of these 490 years to bring in? Let us read in the 24th verse.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city, to nish 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.”
Clearly then it has to do, in its nal fulllment, with
the cleansing of the Jews from their sins and iniquity and
the bringing in of everlasting righteousness - something
neither they nor the world has yet seen. We who are saved
know that our sins are forgiven in virtue of the death of
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the Lord Jesus on the cross, and we know that He is our
righteousness; but no one would say that this prophecy is
fullled yet. It further says that it will “seal up the vision
and prophecy” concerning the Jews. Certainly much that
has been spoken by God concerning this is yet unfullled.
And the last statement, “to anoint the Most Holy,” would
be understood by any Jew to mean the “holy of holies” in
the temple. All of these things remain unaccomplished
and can only be expected when the Lord Jesus, as the true
Messiah, comes to reign, bringing in the Millennium. us
we see that all this blessing was to be ushered in at the end
of 490 years, and it has not yet come. Let us keep this in
mind and then we shall go on to see just how much has
already taken place, what remains to be done, and what is
causing the delay in nal fulllment.
“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.” v. 25.
In this verse we have the starting point of the “seventy
weeks,” or 490 years - “the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem.” It always makes things
easier in studying prophecy when we know with certainty
the starting point. In this case it is a certain governmental
decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. In the rst chapter
of the book of Ezra there was a decree issued by Cyrus, king
of Persia, to build the temple at Jerusalem, but nothing was
said about the city itself. No doubt God ordered it that
Cyrus should give the order to rebuild the temple; in fact,
God had prophesied about Cyrus, even by name, more
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than 100 years before he was born (see Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4).
But his decree is not the starting point of our prophecy.
In the seventh chapter of Ezra “Artaxerxes king of
Persia” (known in history as Artaxerxes Longimanus)
issued another decree, but it also concerned the temple at
Jerusalem. It had to do with the carrying of the silver and
gold and the vessels to Jerusalem for the house of God. So
then neither is this the starting point of our prophecy.
Now let us go to the book of Nehemiah where we will
nd our starting point for the “seventy weeks.” In chapter 2
the date is given as “the month Nisan, in the twentieth year
of Artaxerxes the king.” is is the same king that issued
the decree of Ezra 7, but in Ezra it was in the seventh
year of his reign, and in Nehemiah in the twentieth year.
In that year Nehemiah made a request of the king that he
would send him into Judah and to the city of his father’s
sepulchers - Jerusalem - in order that he might build it.
After that, Nehemiah asked for letters so that he could
procure the needed materials for the palace and the wall
of the city, etc. en he said that the “king granted me,
according to the good hand of my God upon me.” is
is very denitely the time referred to in Daniel 9. It is an
ocial governmental order for the building of the city
and wall, which according to scholars is in the year 445
B.C. Now bear in mind that Daniel received this vision
in the “third year of Cyrus king of Persia,” about 538 B.C.
or 93 years before it came to pass. Attention is called to
this fact because of the attempt of indels to prove that
Daniel wrote history and not prophecy. ey certainly
would like to think so because the very marked accuracy of
their fulllment stamps them with the nger of God and
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condemns themselves. Daniel certainly was a prophet; the
Lord Himself called him that (Matt. 24:15).
From this starting point in 445 B.C. the “seventy weeks”
are divided into three parts:
7 weeks or 49 years
62 weeks or 434 years
1 week or 7 years
70 weeks or 490 years
e rst 49 years are separated from the others probably
because of the special trials suered by the Jewish remnant
during those years in building the wall and the city. For
information about the “troublous times” encountered in
building the wall, read the book of Nehemiah which is the
latest historical record in the Old Testament. God made
special note of the hardships of the ones who labored in
those days by making a special section of the prophecy for
that time - “seven weeks.”
From the end of those rst “seven weeks,” or forty-
nine years, there were to be “threescore and two weeks,”
or 434 years more, “unto the Messiah the Prince.” Here
is a denite prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but the prophecy does not state the exact point in
His pathway that is referred to. Some able scholars have
thought that the 69 weeks go right up to the day when the
Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the ass. At that time He
was formally presented to Israel as their Messiah, and then
rejected, and within a few days He was crucied. Some
students of chronology have even calculated that from that
day mentioned in Nehemiah 2, when the decree to build
Jerusalem was given, unto the day the Lord Jesus rode
into Jerusalem as their Messiah was 483 years to the very
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day. at may be true. One thing is sure, God’s Word will
always be fullled to the very letter.
O if Jerusalem had only recognized their Messiah when
He was presented to them! But they did not know the time
of their visitation (Luke 19:44). On that day when He was
presented to them, there lacked only seven years of the 490
for Him to bring in nal blessing, but alas, they said, “Away
with Him, crucify Him.”
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e Scriptures had foretold the coming of the Messiah
and given many details concerning it. And when He came,
He came at the specied time, in the designated place,
and in the manner announced; the Word of God must be
fullled. But they also foretold His rejection and described
the hatred and enmity of men, which would go on until
He was cast out. One of the prophecies concerning His
rejection is brought before us in Daniel 9:
“And after [the] threescore and two weeks shall Messiah
be cut o, but not for Himself” or, “and shall have nothing.”
eir Messiah was to be cut o and have nothing of the
glory and kingdom that belonged to Him. How accurately
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this was fullled! “He was cut o out of the land of the
living” (Isa. 53:8).
When the Lord Jesus was here, His disciples were
expecting that He would set up His kingdom and reign.
ey knew the prophecies concerning the Messiah reigning
in His glory on earth, but they completely overlooked those
that just as denitely spoke of His rejection and being “cut
o” without receiving the glory. Even after the Lord died
and rose, they were looking for the glory of the kingdom.
On the road to Emmaus with the two disciples, He said to
them,
“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suered
these things, and to enter into His glory?” Luke 24:25, 26.
ey were willing to believe part of what the prophets
had spoken; that is, they were willing to believe in a Messiah
coming to reign in glory. e Lord upbraids them for not
believing all that had been spoken about Him and then
went on to explain that His rejection must come before
His glory. e Lord Jesus fullled every requirement of
prophecy concerning His birth and life, and yet the eyes
of the Jews were closed so that they did not discern Him
or His glory. ey did not know the time of their visitation
(Luke 19:44). And lastly they cried out, “Away with Him,
away with Him, crucify Him.” And when Pilate protested
to them because of His innocence, they said, “His blood
be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). 0 what a
fateful choice was made that day! ere they stood with
their Messiah before them on the very threshold of their
blessing, but they “cast Him out of the vineyard, and slew
Him.” With 69 out of 70 weeks (483 out of 490 years)
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already fullled, they crucied the “Lord of glory” and so
postponed the blessing.
e last week (the 70th) which will immediately
precede and usher in the glorious reign of the Messiah was
separated from the other 69 weeks in the prophecy. at
there is a break between the 69th and 70th weeks is plainly
evident, but there is no indication in Daniel 9 as to how
long the break would be. Israel’s rejection of Christ brought
an indenite parenthesis into the ways of God with them.
It is not uncommon in the Old Testament prophecies
regarding Israel to deal with the then-near distant events,
after which they skip over to the time of the end and
foretell the circumstances and happenings incident to the
coming of Christ to execute judgment and reign. Christ
is the object of prophecy and all prophecy leads to Him.
is should be kept in mind by all who would inquire into
prophecy. God did not give it to amuse us or to exercise our
intellects but to lead us into His purposes concerning His
Son. Unless this is seen, the study of prophecy will be cold
and unfruitful. Now let us see what is said as to the interval
between the 69th and 70th weeks.
“And the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall
be with a ood, and unto the end of the war desolations are
determined.” v. 26.
Jerusalem and the temple were to be destroyed in
the time after their “Messiah and Prince” was cut o. It
does not say just how soon after He was cut o that this
would take place, but we know from history that it was
about forty years later. e Lord Himself foretold that the
murderers were to be destroyed and their city burned up
(see Matt. 21:41 and 22:7). e Jews had sought to curry
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favor of the Roman government for they feared that the
Romans would “take away both their place and nation.”
When their Messiah was on trial before Pilate, they said,
“We have no king but Caesar.” Nevertheless their city was
to be destroyed, and they themselves to be scattered all
over the earth, which was but one of the dire consequences
of their rejection of Christ and of their saying “His blood
be on us, and on our children.” is destruction and the
continued desolations were foretold in Luke 21:20-24.
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with
armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh … For
there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this
people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and
shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fullled.”
Another point to be noticed in this prophecy, which
further emphasizes the accuracy of Scripture, is the
designation of who would destroy the city of Jerusalem. It
was not the Persians or the Grecians who followed them
as a world power but another people designated here as
“the people of the prince that shall come.” is we know
was the Romans - the very people whose favor they sought
and who did take away both their place and nation. It does
not say that “the prince that shall come” shall destroy the
city but his people, leaving it for still a later date for the
appearance of the prince himself. Now this prince plainly
could not mean “the Messiah the Prince,” for He was cut
o. But some great personage is to come on the scene, at a
later date, who is here called the prince. Now if the people
who are called his people were clearly the Romans, then
this great prince is to be a Roman, but we are not yet down
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to verse 27 to consider him. In verse 26 the destruction of
the city is prophesied:
“And the end thereof shall be with an overow, and
unto the end, war” (J.N.D. Trans.).
But here in Luke 21 the continuous form of trouble for
Jerusalem is indicated. And has it not been so? Many Jews
have been scattered far and wide, and yet they remain a
distinct people. e Moslem Mosque is on the very site of
the temple. is then is what lls the gap in the prophecy
as far as the Jews are concerned. Of course we know that
God has used this interval by the operation of the Holy
Spirit to gather out of the earth a people for heaven. It is
now, while the Jews are cast o, that the Church is being
built. We are living in the day of God’s grace to this world.
We are living in the day of Gentile privilege and preference.
e Jews are judicially blinded because of their rejection
of their Messiah; however, a remnant of them believe and
become a part of the Church of God, with their portion in
heaven and not on the earth.
It would be well for all of us to consider that this
parenthesis in the ways of God with the earth has run
on for almost 2000 years. is gap will soon run out, and
God’s ways of grace will change to acts of judgment for this
Christ-rejecting earth, for the Gentiles have not continued
in God’s goodness either. We should be conscious that we
are now down at the very end of the interval. In fact it may
have closed before this paper goes to press - the Lord may
have come.
Reader, are you saved? Have you accepted Christ as your
personal Savior? Have you ever been before God about
your sins and seen the Lord Jesus dying on the cross for
those very sins? If not, remember that your time is running
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out. God has lingered all these centuries showing His grace
to and forbearance with the world, but He has told us that
the day of judgment is soon coming.
We have seen the awful calamities that have befallen
the Jews for their rejection of Christ. Do you think that the
Gentiles and the empty lifeless profession of Christianity
will escape? No, no, no! e only way of escape from the
coming wrath is through the blood of Christ. Are you
under that shelter? Nothing else will matter.
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Verse 26 of Daniel 9 introduces “the prince that shall
come.” He is to be the head of a revived Roman Empire.
at the Roman Empire is to be revived does not hang
on this prophecy alone. Revelation 13 and 17 both speak
about this great power of a future day; 17:8 describes it
as one that “was” and then ceased to exist - “is not” - and
later “shall be present” (J.N.D. Trans.). It was the Roman
Empire that destroyed Jerusalem in the days of Titus, about
A.D. 70. Later it was broken up, and for centuries it ceased
to exist as a unit. But in a day that is near at hand it will
come up out of the turmoil of the nations in a new form.
It will have ten confederated governments under a central
head - described here as the “prince that shall come.”
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In Daniel 2 the course of Gentile world powers is
described in the vision of the image of a man. e legs
of iron represented the Roman Empire of the past, and
then, looking on to the end of Gentile dominion over the
Jews, the last state of the Roman Empire is depicted in the
“ten toes” of the feet. Here again we have ten parts of this
future power. ere was nothing between the legs and feet,
indicating that there would be no universal power between
the days of Rome in the past and the Roman Empire of the
future. Several have tried to achieve world power but never
accomplished it.
en in Daniel 7 the Roman Empire of the past is
described as a “dreadful and terrible” beast; such we know
Rome was. en it pictures the future of the same power
in these words: “and it had ten horns.” Everywhere the
testimony of Scripture is uniform as to the form of the
future Roman Empire. ere is also another “little horn”
in Daniel 7 which describes this same “prince that shall
come.” e little horn comes up and dominates the whole
beast. In fact in Revelation 13 this great prince is called
“the beast” himself.
is Roman “prince” will make a league with the Jews
for a period of seven years. Before this takes place we,
Christians, are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
He may come at any moment. After the Church is taken
to heaven the ways of God with His earthly people will
again begin to unfold. e interrupted “seventy weeks” will
be resumed; the last “week” or seven years must be fullled.
During these seven years the Roman Empire will assume
protection of the Jews and give them Palestine as a home
land, but still under their Gentile domination. e Arabs
(who at present are vigorously protesting the admittance
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of more Jews to Palestine) will continue to be the enemies
of the Jewish occupation of that land. ey will probably
perfect what they now seek - a federated Arab state -
which is described in Isaiah as the “king of the north”; that
is, north of Palestine. Daniel 8 and 11 also go on to develop
the picture of this “king of the north” of the future, and
Psalm 83 gives the list of his confederate peoples.
For fear of the Arab world the Jews, who will have gone
back to Palestine in unbelief seeking a home land rather
than their Messiah, will readily turn to the Roman Empire
for protection and accept a contract with this “beast” for
seven years. He will permit them to re-establish their
Jewish ritual and rebuild their temple. is will stir the
Arabs to great resentment, but the overwhelming strength
of the Roman Empire will apparently guarantee safety to
the Jews. Now the 27th verse should read,
“And he shall conrm a covenant with the many for
one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrice and the oblation to cease.”
Some have misinterpreted this “covenant” to mean the
“new covenant” which the Messiah will make with Israel,
but that plainly could not be the case for He will not make
one for seven years nor will He break it. is is “a covenant”
entered into by the Jews and their false Messiah - the
antichrist - on the one hand, and the head of the Roman
Empire on the other. It is also made with “the many” or the
mass of the Jews. ere will be a faithful remnant who will
refuse this proered aid and suer for it, but the many will
readily accept it.
is contract is also foretold in Isa. 28:14, 15:
“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful
men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye
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have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with
hell are we at agreement; when the overowing scourge
[the `king of the north’ or the ‘Assyrian] shall pass through,
it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge,
and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”
en the prophet Isaiah goes on to tell that their
agreement shall not stand and that the overowing scourge
will tread them down. God will see to it that judgment will
overtake them; but He also gives a word of encouragement
to the faithful few by telling them of Christ the “sure
foundation” for them who trust in Him (v. 16).
After one half of the week - 31/2 years - has run its
course, this “prince” will break his contract with the Jews
to the extent that he will cause all their ritual and sacrices
to cease. As wicked as the Jewish leaders and most of the
Jewish people will be, this “prince” will be worse. He will
hate even the mention of. God and seek to obliterate all
acknowledgment of Him in any way. He will substitute
total idolatry for their reestablished religious services. e
antichrist, the Jewish leader, will be his guilty coadjutor
and tool.
at this “prince” will stop the Jews’ religious services
and institute his own schemes is foretold in Dan. 7:25:
“And he shall … think to change times and laws [Jewish
ritual]; and they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the dividing of time.”
Here we get the specied time of enforced idolatry as
“time” - one year; “times” - two years; “the dividing of time”
- one half year; or three and one half years. is corresponds
exactly to breaking his league with them and establishing
idolatry in the “midst of the week”; that is, after the rst 3
1/2 years, and with 31/2 years to go.
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e Lord Jesus also foretold this terrible and gross
idolatry in Matthew 12. e unclean spirit of idolatry had
gone out of the Jews after their return from Babylon. ey
have not been idol worshipers since, but in that day the
unclean spirit of idolatry will go back into them, with seven
other wicked spirits, and their last state shall be worse than
the rst. And for this “protection of abominations” (J.N.D.
Trans.) there is going to be a desolator. e “king of the
north,” whom they fear, will surely be a scourge in God’s
hand because of their return to idolatry. eir contract with
the Roman prince shall not save them from the devastation
which “shall be poured upon the desolate” - the Jews.
e Lord Jesus referred to this idolatry in Matthew 24
as the “abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel”
in the 12th chapter. An idol will be placed in the temple
according to Matthew 24 and will be the sign for the godly
Jews to ee Jerusalem in great haste. e terrible times
called “the great tribulation” will follow the institution of
idolatry. It will last 31/2 years and be called “the time of
Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). Of course it will be a time of
trouble for the whole world also, but there will be special
vengeance on the Jews for their return to idolatry and for
their acceptance of a false Jew, called the “antichrist.” e
31/2 years are also spoken of as 1260 days in Daniel 12,
and in Revelation 13 as 42 months.
Dear fellow-Christian, we stand upon the very
threshold of the coming of the Lord and of those awful
events which will follow on this earth. We are not looking
for the formation of the Roman Empire but rather for
the Lord; that is, we should be. Some Christians have
put events foremost and have lost in their souls by it. e
Lord would have us watching for Himself and not waiting
Prophetic Terms
120
for some event that may not be seen before we leave this
world. ings will happen very rapidly after we are gone.
We see the coming events casting their shadows now, but
we are not waiting for events. Let us keep in mind our
Lord’s own words:
“Surely I come quickly.”
And may our response be,
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
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