It is a ground for
thanksgiving that during the last three or four generations
the people of God have given considerable attention to the
prophecies of Scripture which treat of the future of Israel.
The old method of "spiritualizing" these
predictions, and making them apply to the Church of the
present dispensation, has been discarded by the great
majority of pre-millennarians. With a steadily increasing
number of Bible students it is now a settled question that
Israel, as a nation, shall be saved (Rom. 11:26), and that
the promises of God to the fathers will be literally
fulfilled under the Messianic reign of the Lord Jesus (Rom.
9:4). Jerusalem, which for so many centuries has been a
by-word in the earth, will then be known as "the city of
the great King" (Matt. 5:35). His throne shall be
established there, and it shall be the gathering point for
all nations (Zech. 8:23; 14:16-21). Then shall the despised
descendants of Jacob be "the head" of the nations,
and no longer the tail (Deut. 28:13); then shall the people
of Jehovah's ancient choice be the center of His earthly
government; then shall the Fig Tree, so long barren,
"blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with
fruit" (Isa. 27:6). All of this is common knowledge
among those who are in any-wise acquainted with
dispensational truth.
But the same Word of Prophecy
which announces the glorious future awaiting the children of
Israel, also contains another chapter in the history of this
peculiar people; a chapter yet unfulfilled, setting forth a
period in their history darker and sadder than any of their
past experiences. Both the Old and New Testaments plainly
tell of a season of suffering for the Jews which will be far
more acute than even their afflictions of old. Dan. 12:1
says, "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as
never was since there was a nation even to that same
time". And in Matt. 24:21,22 we read, "For there
shall be a great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved".
The reasons or causes of this
future suffering of Israel are as follows. First, God has not
fully visited upon Israel's children the sins of their
fathers. "When Solomon and her kings had by
transgression lost their blessings, and the glory of the
reign of Solomon had faded away, the supremacy, which was
taken from them, was given to certain Gentile nations, who
were successively to arise and bear rule in the earth, during
the whole period of Israel's rejection. The first of
these was the Chaldean Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. The
period termed by our Lord the "Times of the
Gentiles", commences with the capture of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar. It is a period coincident from its beginning
to its close, with the treading down of Jerusalem. `Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the Times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled'. Nebuchadnezzar therefore, and the
Gentile empires which have succeeded him, have only received
their pre-eminence in consequence of Jerusalem's sin; and
the reason why they were endowed with that pre-eminence was,
that they might chasten Jerusalem; and when they shall have
fulfilled that purpose, they shall themselves be set aside
and be made, because of their own evil, "like the chaff
of the summer threshing-floors'. In this we have another
evidence that the earthly dispensations of God revolve around
the Jews as their center" (B.W.Newton).
A further reason or cause of
the future sufferings of Israel lies in the rejection of
their Messiah. First and foremost Christ was "a Minister
of the Circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the
promises made unto the fathers" (Rom. 15:8). He was sent
"but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"
(Matt. 15:24). And in marvelous grace He tabernacled among
them. But He was not wanted. "He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not" (John 1:11). Not only did they
receive Him not, they "despised and rejected Him";
they "hated Him without a cause". So intense was
their enmity against Him that with one voice they cried,
"Away with Him, crucify Him". And not until His
holy blood had been shed, and He had died the death of the
accursed, was their awful malice against Him appeased. And
for this they have yet to answer to God. Vengeance is His,
and He will repay. Not yet has the murder of God's Son
been fully avenged. It could not be during this "Day of
Salvation". But the Day of Salvation will soon be over,
and it shall be followed by "the great Day of His
Wrath" (Rev. 6:17; Joel 2:11). Then will God visit the
earth with His sore judgments, and though the Nations shall
by no means escape the righteous retribution due them for
their part in the crucifixion of Christ, yet, the ones who
will be punished the most severely will be they who took the
lead in that crime of crimes.
The form which God's
judgment will take upon the Jews is to be in full accord with
the unchanging law of recompense - what they have sown, that
shall they also reap. This was expressly affirmed by our Lord
Jesus: "I am come in My Father's name, and ye
receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye
will receive" (John 5:43). Because they rejected
God's Christ, Israel shall receive the Antichrist. The
same thing is stated in 2 Thess. 2:7 - "For this cause
(i.e. because they received not the love of the Truth, that
they might be saved) God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe the Lie". The immediate reference
here, we believe, is to the Jews, though the principle
enumerated will also have its wider application to apostate
Christendom. The chief reason why God suffers the Man of Sin
to come on the scene and run his awful course, is in order to
inflict punishment upon guilty Israel. This is clearly taught
in Isa. 10:5, where of the Antichrist God says, "O
Assyrian, the rod (the instrument of chastisement) of Mine
anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I
will send him against an hypocritical nation, against the
people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the
spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the
mire of the street", and cf our brief comments on Jer.
6:26,27 and 15:8 in chapter 9.
It must be borne in mind that
the Jews are to return to Palestine and there re-assume a
national standing whilst yet unconverted. There are a number
of passages which establish this beyond question. For
example, in Ezek. 22:19-22 we are told, "Therefore thus
saith the Lord God; because ye are all become dross, behold,
therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as
they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,
into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to
melt it; so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury,
and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather
you, and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and ye shall
be melted in the midst thereof". The first six verses of
Isa. 18 describe how the Lord will gather the Jews to
Jerusalem, there to be the prey of "fowls and
beasts". The closing chapters of Zechariah lead to the
inevitable conclusion that the Jews return to their land in
unbelief, for if their national conversion takes place in
Jerusalem (Zech. 12:10), they must have returned to it
unconverted.
When the Antichrist is
manifested, great companies of the Jews will already be in
Palestine, and in a flourishing condition. What, then, will
be his relations with them? It is by no means easy to furnish
a detailed answer to this question, and at best we can reply
but tentatively. Doubtless, there are many particulars
respecting this and all other related subjects, which will
not be cleared up until the prophecies concerning them have
been fulfilled. We, today, occupy much the same position with
regard to the predictions concerning the Antichrist, as the
old Testament saints did to the many passages which foretold
the coming of the Christ. Their difficulty was to arrange
those passages in the order they were to be fulfilled, and to
distinguish between those which spoke of Him in humiliation
and those which foretold His coming glory. A similar
perplexity confronts us. To ascertain the sequence of the
prophecies relating to the Antichrist is a real problem. Even
when we confine ourselves to those passages which speak of
him in his connections with Israel, we have to distinguish
between those which concern only the godly remnant, and those
which relate to the great apostate mass of the Nation; and,
too, we have to separate between those prophecies which
concern the time when Antichrist is posing as the true
Christ, and those which portray him in the final stage of his
career, after he has thrown off his mask of religious
pretension.
It would appear that the first
thing revealed in prophecy concerning the Antichrist's
dealings with Israel is the entering into a
"covenant" with them. This is mentioned in Dan.
9:27: "And he shall confirm the covenant (make a firm
covenant, R.V.) with many for one week" i.e. seven
years. The many here can be none other than the mass of the
Jewish people, for they are the principal subjects of the
prophecy. The one who makes this covenant is the "Prince
that shall come" of the previous verse, the Head of the
restored Roman Empire. Thus the relations between this
Prince, the Antichrist, and the mass of the Jews shall, at
the first, be relations of apparent friendship and public
alliance. That this covenant is not forced upon Israel, but
rather is entered into voluntarily by them, as seeking
Antichrist's patronage, is clear from Isa. 28:18, where
we find God, in indignation, addressing them as follows -
"And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and
your agreement with Hell shall not stand; when the
overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be
trodden down by it". And this, we believe, supplies the
key to Dan. 2:43.
Nebuchadnezzar's vision of
the great image and the interpretation given to Daniel,
outlines the governmental history of the earth as it relates
to Palestine, further details being supplied in the other
visions found in the book of Daniel. "The earthly
dispensations of God revolve around Jerusalem as their
center. The method which it hath pleased God to adopt in
giving the prophetic history of these nations, is in strict
accord with this principle. As soon as they arose into
supremacy and supplanted Jerusalem, prophets were
commissioned, especially Daniel, to delineate their course.
We might perhaps, have expected that their history would have
been given minutely and consecutively from its beginning to
its close. But instead of this, it is only given in its
connection with Jerusalem; and as soon as Jerusalem was
finally crushed by the Romans and ceased to retain a national
position, all detailed history of the Gentile Empires is
suspended. many a personage most important in the world's
history has since arisen. Charlemagne has lived, and Napoleon
- many a monarch, and many a conqueror - battles have been
fought, kingdoms raised and kingdoms subverted - yet
Scripture passes silently over these things, however great in
the annals of the Gentiles. Because Jerusalem has nationally
ceased to be, 1800 years ago, the detail of Gentile history
was suspended- it is suspended still, nor will it be resumed
until Jerusalem re-assumes a national position. Then the
history of the Gentiles is again minutely given, and the
glory and dominion of their last great King described. He is
found to be especially connected with Jerusalem and the
Land...The subject of the book of Daniel as a whole, is the
indignation of God directed through the instrumentality of
the Gentile Empires upon Jerusalem" (B.W. Newton
"Aids to Prophetic Enquiry", first Series).
The method which the Holy
Spirit has followed in the book of Daniel is to give us, a
general outline of Gentile dominion over Jerusalem, and this
is found in the vision of the Image in chapter 2; and second,
to fill in this outline, which is given in the last six
chapters of that book. It is with the former we are now more
particularly concerned. Much of the prophetic vision of Dan.
2 has already become history. The golden head (Babylon), the
silver breast and arms (Medo-Persia), the brazen belly and
thighs (Greece), the iron legs (Rome), have already appeared
before men. But the feet of the Image, "part of iron and
part of clay", have to do with a time yet future. The
break between the legs and feet corresponds with the break
between the sixty-ninth and seventieth "weeks" of
Dan. 9:24-27. The present dispensation comes in as a
parenthesis during the time that Israel is outside the Land,
dispersed among the Gentiles.
What, then, is represented by
the "iron and the clay" toes of the feet of the
Image? If we bear in mind that this portion of the Image
exactly corresponds to the seventieth week, we have an
important key to the interpretation. Dan. 9:26,27 treats of
the seventieth week - the "one week" yet remaining.
These verses speak of the Prince (of the restored Roman
Empire) making a seven years' Covenant with the Jews.
Thus the prophecy concerning the seventieth week presents to
us two prominent subjects - the Romans, at whose head is the
Antichrist, and apostate Israel, with whom the Covenant is
made. Returning now to Dan. 2 we find that when interpreting
the king's dream about the Image, the prophet declares
that the "iron" is the symbol for the "fourth
kingdom" (v. 40), which was Rome, who succeeded Babylon,
Persia, and Greece; the "feet" with their ten toes
forecasting this Empire in its final form. Thus, we have
Divine authority for saying that the "iron" in the
feet of the Image represent the peoples who shall yet occupy
the territory controlled by the old Roman Empire. In a word,
the "iron" symbolizes the Gentiles - specifically
those found in the lands which shall be ruled over by the
"ten kings".
Who, then, is symbolized by
"the clay"? Here we are obliged to part company
with the commentators, who unanimously take the clay to be
the figure of democracy. So far as we are aware none of them
has offered a single proof text in support of their
interpretation, and as the Word is the only authority, to it
we must look. Assured that Scripture is its own interpretor,
we turn to the concordance to find out what the
"clay" signifies elsewhere, when used symbolically.
In Isa. 64, which records the Cry of the Remnant at the
End-time, we find them saying, "But now, O Lord, Thou
art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we
are all the work of Thy hand". Again, in Jer. 18 the
same figure is employed. There the prophet is commanded to go
down to the potter's house, where he beheld him
manufacturing a vessel. The vessel was marred in the hands of
the potter, so he "made it again another vessel".
Clearly, this is a picture of Israel in the past and in the
future. The interpretation is expressly fixed in v. 6:
"O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?
saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's
hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel". How
clear it is then that "clay" is God's symbol
for Israel.
In its final form, then, the
revived Roman Empire - the kingdom of Antichrist - will be
partly Gentilish and partly Jewish. And is not this what we
must expect? Will not that be the character of the kingdom of
that One which the Antichrist will counterfeit? Such
scriptures as Psa. 2:6-8; Isa. 11:10; 42:6; Rev. 11:15, etc.,
make plain the dual character of the kingdom over which our
Lord will reign during the Millennium. That the Antichrist
will be intimately related to both Jews and the Gentiles we
have proven again and again in the previous chapters - Rev.
9:11 is quite sufficient to establish the point. Therefore,
we should not be surprised to find that that part of the
Image which specifically depicts the kingdom over which the
Man of Sin shall reign, should be composed of both
"iron" and "clay". It would be passing
strange were it otherwise. It is indeed striking to note that
the "clay" is mentioned in Dan. 2 just nine times -
the number of judgment!
In Dan. 2:43 we read,
"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall
not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with
clay" - a verse that has sorely puzzled the expositors.
We believe that the reference is to the coming intimacy
between Jews and Gentiles. The apostate Jews (members of the
Corrupt Woman) shall "mingle themselves with the seed of
men" - the Gentiles. This is amplified in Rev. 17, where
we read of the great Whore, "with whom the kings of the
earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication". "But they shall not cleave one to
another" (Dan. 2:43) is explained in Rev. 17:16 -
"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast,
these shall hate the Whore, and shall make her desolate and
naked", etc.! There is a remarkable verse in Hab. 2
which confirms our remarks above, and connects the Antichrist
himself with the "clay". The passage begins with
the third verse, which, from its quotation in Heb. 10:37,38
we know, treats of the period immediately preceding our
Lord's return. In vv. 4 and 5 we have a description of
the Antichrist, and then in v. 6 we read, "Shall not all
these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb
against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which
is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with
thick clay". The reference is clearly to this
"proud Man's" fellowship with apostate Israel.
We are satisfied that Hab. 2;6-8 is parallel with Isa.
14:9-12. Isa. 14 gives us a glimpse of the Antichrist being
scoffed at in Hell, by the "chief ones of the
earth" because he, too, was unable to escape their awful
fate. So in Hab. 2, after stating that he "gathereth
unto him all nations" (v. 5) the prophet goes on to say
"Shall not all these take up a taunting proverb against
him". The taunt is, that though he had leagued himself
with the mass of Israel (laden himself with thick clay), yet
it will be "the remnant" of this same people that
shall "spoil" him (v. 8).
Another scripture which shows
that in the End-time apostate Israel will no longer be
divided from and hated by the Gentiles is found in Isa. 2,
where we are told, "They strike hands with the children
of strangers" (v. 6 R.V.). As the context here is of
such deep interest, and as the whole chapter supplies us with
a most vivid picture of the Jews in Palestine just before the
Millennium, we shall stop to give it a brief consideration.
The first five verses present to us a millennial scene, and
then, as is so frequently the case in the prophecies of
Isaiah, we are taken back to be shown something of the
conditions which shall precede the establishing of the
Lord's house in the top of the mountains. This is clear
from the twelfth verse, which defines this period, preceding
the Millennium as "the Day of the Lord". The
section, then, which describes the conditions which are to
obtain in Palestine immediately before the Day of the Lord
dawns, begins with v. 6. We there quote from v. 5 to the end
of v. 10: -
"For thou hast forsaken
thy people the house of Jacob, because they be filled with
customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the
Palestines, and they strike hands with the children of
strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold,
neither is there any end to their treasures; their land also
is full of horses, neither is there any end of their
chariots. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the
work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have
made. And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is
brought low: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock,
and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of the
Lord, and from the glory of His majesty". This most
interesting passage shows us that apostate Israel will be on
terms of intimacy with the Gentiles; that she will be the
mistress of vast wealth; that she will be given up to
idolatry. Their moral condition is described in vv. 11 to 17
- note the repeated references to "lofty looks",
"haughtiness of men", "high and lifted
up", etc.
If Zech. 5 be read after Isa.
2:6-9 we have the connecting link between it and Rev. 17.
Isa. 2 shows us the Jews as the owners of fabulous wealth, as
being in guilty fellowship with "strangers", and as
universally given to idolatry. Zech. 5 reveals the emigration
of apostate Israel )the woman in the midst of the Ephah) and
the transference of her wealth to the land of Shinar. Rev. 17
and 18 give the ultimate outcome of this. Here we see
apostate Israel in all her corrupt glory. She is pictured,
first, as sitting upon many waters (v. 1), which signified
"peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues"
(v. 15). These will support her by contributing to her
revenues. The huge bond issues made by the nations to obtain
loans, are rapidly finding their way into Jewish hands; and
doubtless it is the steadily accumulating interest from these
which will soon make them the wealthiest nation of the world.
That which has half bankrupted Europe will soon be used to
array the Woman in purple and scarlet color and gold and
precious stones and pearls (v. 4).
Second, the Woman is seen
sitting upon the Beast (v. 3), which means that the
Antichrist will use his great governmental power to insure
her protection. How this harmonizes with Dan. 9:27, where we
read of him making a seven-year Covenant with them, needs not
to be pointed out. Then will poor blinded Israel believe that
the Millennium has come. No longer the people of the weary
foot and homeless stranger, but mistress of the greatest city
in the world. No longer poor and needy, but possessor of the
wealth of the earth. No longer the "tail" of the
nations, but reigning over them as their financial Creditor
and Dictator. No longer despised by the great and mighty, but
sought after by the kings of the earth. Nothing withheld that
the flesh can desire. The false Prince of Peace their
benefactor. Yes, blinded Israel will verily conclude that at
long last the millennial era has arrived, and such will be
the Devil's imitation of that blessed time which shall be
ushered in by the return of God's Son to this earth.
But not for long shall this
satanic spell be enjoyed. Rudely shall it be broken. For,
third, Rev. 17 shows us the ten horns and the Beast turning
against the Whore, stripping her of her wealth, and
despoiling her of her glory (v. 6). This, too, corresponds
with Old testament prophecy, for there we read of the
Antichrist breaking his Covenant with Israel! As we are told
in Psa. 55:20, "He hath put forth his hands against such
as be at peace with him: he has broken his covenant", cf
Isa. 33:8. And this very breaking of the Covenant is but the
fulfillment of the Divine counsels. Thousands of years ago,
Jehovah addressed Himself through Isaiah to apostate Israel,
saying, "And your Covenant with Death shall be
disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye
shall be trodden down by it".
Concerning Antichrist's
relations with the godly Jewish Remnant, that has already
been discussed in previous chapters, as also his final attack
upon Jerusalem and his defeat and overthrow in the Valley of
Armageddon. Apostate Israel, the Beast, and all his Gentile
followers shall be destroyed. The faithful remnant of Israel,
and those Gentiles who befriend them in the hour of their
need, shall have their part in the millennial kingdom of
David's Son and Lord (Matt. 25). Thus has God been
pleased to unveil the future and make known to us the things
which "must shortly come to pass". May it be ours
to reverently search the more sure Word of Prophecy with
increasing interest, and may an ever-deepening gratitude fill
our hearts and be expressed by our lips, because all who are
now saved by grace through faith shall be with our blessed
Lord in the Father's House, when the Great Tribulation
with all its attendant horrors shall come upon the world.