A Reader who wishes to understand the following pen picture of the most dramatic event of all time will do well to make himself acquainted with the prophecies here cited. Particularly he should read the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel and the twelfth chapter of Zechariah. It will then be possible, with the power of imagination Scripturally directed, to step a few years ahead of the days in which we live and to contemplate the most wonderful drama that will ever be put on the stage of life.
The Shaking among the dry bones of the House of Israel is now a thing of the past. The bones have come together, bone to bone, sinews and flesh have grown upon them, they are covered with skin, but as yet there is no breath in them. The Spirit of God has not entered the movement. It requires another fiat of prophecy, another effort of the Spirit’s creative energy before the slain can rise up and live.
To drop Scriptural metaphor and use language of reality taken from the same book, the people dwell as in a land of unwalled villages, having neither bars nor gates, a land brought back from the sword, from the desolations of many generations. The Jews have returned to the land of their fathers one of a city and two of a family, but they have returned in unbelief. They dwell in the ancient land, but God has not shown His hand or revealed His power. And as they dwell thus, a sixth part returned, a little wealth already theirs, the political heavens become over-clouded in Europe and the situation long prepared hastens to the arbitrament of Armageddon. The storm bursts and a confederacy of nations comes like a whirlwind out of the North.
The plains of Palestine springing again into life and activity are an attraction even in the material wealth they offer, but there are other attractions far greater. The land “beautiful for situation” has become more central than in the days of its ancient glory. Several railways converge there, looping the continents of the earth together and causing a commander of armies to dream dreams.
The magic touch of sentiment is not wanting. The holy places are revered, however much the holy writings are neglected. The cross is worshipped by those who would be willing to crucify the Saviour again. The tomb which once held Him in the day of weakness fires the imagination although the throne and the day of power are unknown. Those holy places shall be seized and all material wealth shall be added to the store.
The Northern confederacy comes “like a cloud to cover the land.” A weak nation is overthrown, a strong nation is powerless to stop the flood, and with a clear field before him the conqueror enters the Holy Land and presses forward to plant his tabernacle in the glorious and holy mountain.
This is “the day of Jacob’s trouble.” It is a time of desperate sorrow for afflicted Israel. After so many centuries of suffering and bitter persecution, Israel had thought that rest was found at last. It had seemed that although the brightest hopes of national glory were as far off as ever, there was at least respite from affliction and that in the ancient land a haven of refuge had been found. Now these hopes are rudely shattered. The enemy has pursued them as did Pharaoh of old and there is no Moses now to give them deliverance.
The Jews scattered in the unwalled villages of the land cannot remember the details in the prophecies of the restoration. Perhaps they have never studied them. It seems to them that the end of all their hopes has come. Some flee to the mountains; some try to escape to the land of Egypt, which again proves a broken reed to all who lean upon it; some hasten to Jerusalem that if they must die it shall be in the holy city.
The enemy comes on with increased ferocity. Tidings from other parts of the world enrage him and he goes forth to destroy all who oppose him. Before the Jews in Jerusalem can form any plans it seems that their retreat is cut off. Every day refugees come in panic-stricken and destitute, with tales of outrage to tell, tales of soldiers either out of control or else given great licence against hereditary foes. There have been centuries of race hatred, and now that the day of vengeance has come, the Jews need expect no quarter.
All is confusion in Jerusalem. Never before has there been such a bitter trial as this in all their checkered history, for it seems that utter destruction is coming just when the on going work of restoration was offering hope. At that place of sacred memory where it is supposed that a fragment of the original temple still stands, the lamentations are more bitter than ever before. The whole city has indeed become a place of wailing.
There is no time, however, for bootless lamentation. If any attempt is to be made to defend the city even for a few days, it must be now. The advance guard of the enemy is already within striking distance. The great army representing human power and pride has entered the Valley of Decision.
No bombardment of Jerusalem need be feared. The invading army has sufficient respect for the holy places to forbid that. The city must be subdued by siege or else by quick rushes and street fighting. At the inner defences the Jews make an effort to establish themselves so as to withstand the enemy for a few days at least, but the more scattered portions fall an easy prey to the bands of marauders loose upon them. Half the city is taken, houses are rifled, rapine and murder prevail. Those who escape to the better defended portion only increase the number of mouths to feed and bring the day of complete exhaustion so much nearer.
There is still worse news for the persecuted people. The enemy is now entrenched, the outer defences of the city are captured, and under the cover thus afforded it is possible to mount guns in such a way as to bring the wretched inhabitants of the city at the mercy of the invader while guarding against the danger of damaging sacred buildings. A curt demand for unconditional surrender is sent in, the alternative being that on the morrow all the horrible contrivances of modern science will be brought to bear upon the defenceless people.
The Jews know only too well that even the tender mercies of their enemies are cruel and they would give way to despair but for the fact that by some means there has come to them a faint message of hope from the land of Edom. Has the great sea power of Tarshish, “with all the young lions thereof,” succeeded in rallying her forces and establishing a base of operations in that quarter? The hope is a faint one, but it causes the Jews to hold their defences a little longer.
In the meantime a more definite message has been received by the invader. A message so staggering that it seems impossible to regard it as serious. The whole of the confederate army is called upon to surrender unconditionally to the mysterious force in the South. Further entrenchments are made, and aeroplanes go forth toward the land of Edom to ascertain the strength of this bold challenger. The reports are reassuring, almost conducive to mirth. The mysterious leader who has summoned the allied armies of Europe to surrender is only another mad Mullah with an unarmed band of followers. Men clad in the pure white which makes the best possible mark for modern rifles, and having no weapons such as could cause the smallest of European armies a moment of uneasiness. Yet it is possible that they will attempt an attack, just as the fanatical hordes of the Mahdi rushed into the death zone at Omdurman and fell to the last unit without ever getting near the British lines. Whichever way they come all is ready for their reception.
So closes the day, the eve of the great battle of Armageddon. Multitudes in the Valley of Decision, claiming to be Christian yet loathing God’s chosen people, only waiting for the morrow before letting loose all the lust and fury of their wickedness on the defenseless inhabitants of Zion.
The morning dawns, and if any among the Gentile soldiers are inclined to be superstitious they may well feel uneasy now. To the South, from whence that strange message has come, the sky is light, but all above the invading army, and stretching to the horizon on three sides, clouds of unprecedented density are forming. They marshal themselves in the sky with that leisurely accumulation of forces that betokens a great storm to come, and a dark shadow falls alike on the city and the invading army, growing denser every minute.
There is not time to study weather conditions, however. News comes to hand that the fanatics are advancing apace toward the main part of the invading army. Like the reckless followers of the Mahdi, they are rushing to certain destruction. Perhaps there are some among the Gentiles there who, without perceiving the extraordinary significance of the expression, re-echo the words of the famous war correspondent, G.W. Stephens, when he witnessed the tragedy of Omdurman. “They are coming. God help them, they are coming!”
All operations against the city are suspended, and in complete silence the confederate army awaits the onrush of the fanatics. Scorning all cover, taking the most direct and open route, the white-clad army marches straight forward and into the death zone. They come forward unopposed until thousands of eyes can see them. Flanked and confronted by entrenchments where are instruments of deadly precision, the word only has to be given and nothing mortal can stand in that valley for a single minute.
At last the word is given, and a deadly fire at close quarters bursts out from thousands of concealed batteries and tens of thousands of rifles, but when the firing ceases it is seen that the unarmed fanatics are marching straight forward. Their ranks are not broken, and there is no motionless patch of white in all the plain.
Frightened soldiers are beaten back to their work by officers, and a second and fiercer fusillade is poured out. Shells explode in the midst of the white-clad band, and dust rises from where bullets strike the ground, but still there is no gap made in the ranks of the mysterious foe.
Then suddenly in the gathering gloom there comes a sight more terrifying than anything mankind ever beheld before. We describe it in the words of Scripture on record for more than two thousand years in one of the prophetic descriptions of this event. “God’s fury comes up into His faces” (Ezekiel 38:18).
What can be the faces of God but His glorified servants, partakers of His nature and instruments of His power? What can be the meaning of fury coming into His face except that the bodies of those servants are suddenly made to glow with all the spirit power of which they are the expression? A light like that of the angel at the bush, like that of the glory revealed at Sinai, terrifying even to righteous Moses. A glory similar to that which struck the Apostle Paul with blindness. In the gloom caused by the dense clouds overhead, these mysterious beings who are impervious to all the bullets and shells of man’s invention suddenly glow with a light like that of the mid-day sun.
A mad panic seizes all who witness this terrible sight. Weapons are thrown away and men fly back on those behind, aiming to get anywhere away from the mysterious terror that is advancing against them. The plain becomes full of riderless horses and horseless men, while shouts rise like the sound of “many waters,” but with a strange note of terror unmistakable even to those who hear at a distance. The great army is telescoped. For a moment there is conflict between those who flee and those behind who have not seen the Spirit’s army, but it does not last long. There comes a manifestation of divine anger which all can comprehend, for it seems as if the very heavens are falling. The black cloud is dropping like a huge curtain, but as it draws nearer and becomes defined, it changes from black to white. Hailstones are falling, the great hailstones reserved unto the day of , battle and war.
“The Lord goes forth to fight against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle.”
“The Lord roars out of Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem.
” He “pleads” against the invader “with pestilence and blood.
” The King of the North “comes to his end and none shall help him.”
We shall need keen imaginations indeed if we are to enter into the feelings of the Jews shut up in Jerusalem at this juncture. Now that all the evidence of their sense shows that God is fighting for them they perhaps call to mind some of the prophecies hitherto unheeded. It is the day of Jacob’s trouble, out of which he was to be delivered. The King of The North was to come against the land at the time of the end and while presuming to plant his tabernacle in the glorious and holy mountain was to come to his end and none should help him. Then Michael the great prince was to stand up for his people and give them deliverance.
They call to mind the prophetic poem of Isaiah in which the localities are mentioned.
“Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling the greatness of his strength.”
“I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine fat?”
“I have trodden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury … For the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed is come.”
Such passages come to mind and the dawning truth is confirmed by the testimony of stragglers who come in from the hills almost delirious with excitement, telling in broken words of the army they have seen marching unscathed through the open death zone and then glowing with light like the Angel of the Covenant.
The truth is accepted in thousands of minds, and with a joy indescribable it is shouted from thousands of mouths: “The Messiah has come, The Messiah has come!”
The clouds all roll away, and in a burst of sunshine the Jews in Jerusalem catch the first glimpse of their deliverers, appearing now like an army of men, the spirit glory restrained. Amid complete silence the little army approaches. The old challenge is uttered,
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.”
“Who is the King of Glory?” the question is put. In reply the Covenant name is used, the name the Jews have feared to pronounce now perhaps made clear to them or at least its prophetic significance revealed to them for the first time. There is a pause and the most dramatic moment is upon them. “Who is this King of Glory?”
O, blind Israel, with heavy heart and ears dull of hearing! Was it not foreshadowed in all your holy writings that the great deliverer was at one time to be bruised and rejected? The seed of the woman bruised in the heel yet triumphant at last, the stone which the builders rejected to become the headstone of the corner, David’s lord to sit on the right hand of Jehovah, waiting till His foes should be made His footstool; the rod of His strength then to be sent out of Zion and His people to be “willing in the day of his power.”
Was it not testified by the prophet Isaiah that the one to whom the Covenant name should be applied, the Lord of Hosts, should be for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to both the houses of Israel? That the testimony and the law should be bound up and sealed among his disciples, and that he would wait upon God during a period of divine silence, while God would hide His face from the house of Israel?
Was it not declared that God’s glorious servant who was to restore the tribes of Israel and to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, should be one despised by man and abhorred by the nation? Was it not declared in one of your plainest prophecies of the restoration that he was to be an astonishment to the Gentiles in the day when the cup of sorrows should be taken from you and given into the hand of those who afflicted you? And in the continuation of the same prophecy did not the prophet declare that the righteous one in whose hand the pleasure of the Lord was eventually to prosper was to be rejected and slain by the nations?
Was it not declared that the sword was to awake against the shepherd and the man who was God’s fellow, the shepherd to be smitten and the sheep scattered? Did not the prophet Daniel declare that the Messiah was to appear four hundred and ninety years after the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem, that he was to be cut off and to make the sacrifice and oblation to cease?
Above all, was not this very salvation you have witnessed foretold by the prophet Zechariah, that the day of deliverance was to be turned into a day of mourning on account of the Lord whom you have pierced? The Messiah has indeed come, your Saviour has indeed appeared, Jesus of Nazareth, the stone rejected by the builders, the stone of stumbling and rock of offence. He has come from God’s right hand to rule in the midst of his enemies, and you will now “be willing in the day of his power.”
The Jews are convinced, and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled. They look on Him whom they have pierced, and their joy at the great deliverance is turned to mourning at this staggering revelation. They mourn as for an only son, a lamentation comparable to the mourning for righteous King Josiah in the Valley of Hadadrimmon. Not a wild and passionate anguish now as when they
Athought they were sold to the enemy, but the pensive grief of those who are chastened in the day of triumph by the overwhelming conviction of a tremendous error. it is a sorrow in which there is an element of shame. They hide their faces and seek where to weep “every family apart and their wives apart.”
If we pushed imagination further it would be in the nature of an anti-climax. The newspapers of Europe telling of a cowardly army frightened by a thunder storm and credulous Jews deceived by an impostor. Yet there may be some students and preachers who will begin to realise how ill they have served those who have trusted them, and to suspect that the Bible as they know it may be a true book after all.
When that time is reached there will be no turning back from it. We come back from the flight of Scripturally guided fancy and the day of opportunity is still here. There are two ways in which God pleads with flesh just as there are two sides to His character. He has declared that there is coming a day when He will plead against man with pestilence and with blood and teach the nations righteousness by His judgements in the earth. He pleads now, “Come, let us reason together.” “Search the Scriptures.” “Whosoever will, let him come.”
We will make this appeal now in the day of opportunity. If there are any readers who rebel against this exposition, let them search and find what is the true meaning of these prophecies. If any who, clinging to the name of Christ, cannot believe that Christ will ever find a world in arms against Him, let them remember the solemn words of His last message.
“He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him, and all kind reds of the earth will wail because of Him.”
It is easy to understand why the Jews should mourn even in the day of national triumph if the great deliverer should prove to be the one they have pierced and rejected, but why should all kindreds of the earth be so affected, with the wealth, the power and influence of civilization all on the side of Christianity? The answer is to be found in the same evil heart of unbelief in both Jew and Gentile. Men do not look for Christ, do not expect Him, do not want Him. He is the only one who can put the world right, yet the world, in spite of its sufferings, would choose to be left alone.
Men fear that scorching light, that justice of judgement, that piercing sword of righteousness and truth. Like unclean creatures of the night they would choose to seek their prey in gloom and shadow, and they would shun the blinding light of day that will come to the world when “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise.”
If we desire to be prepared for the sun’s rising we should begin early to accustom our eyes to the light.
The Solution