(At the Nottingham Conference, May, 1894.)
Taken from Things to Come Magazine, 1894)
NOW, will you turn to the 8th
chapter of Daniel, and there see
the last representation made to
the prophet of those things
which were to come to pass. This
vision appears to him in the
land of Persia. The golden head,
which represents Nebuchadnezzar,
the lion, which represents the
same Babylonian dynasty,
disappear now. It is near its
consummation, and Daniel is
occupied with the three other
kingdoms out of the four. He
begins now with the second: "And I saw in a vision; and it
came to pass, when I saw, that I
was at Shushan in the palace,
which is in the province of
Elam; and I saw in a vision, and
I was by the river of Ulai.,
Then I lifted up mine eyes, and
saw, and, behold, there stood
before, the river a ram which
had two horns: and the two,
horns were high; but one was
higher than the other, and the
higher came up last."
That is a symbolic
representation of the rest of
the second great world empire,
the one that succeeded the
Babylonian. It was the
Medo-Persian, and the Persian
came up last, and was higher
than the other. Then you see (in
the 4th verse) the ram pushes
"westward, and northward, and
southward; so that no beasts
might stand before him, neither
was there any that could deliver
out of hi$ hand; but be did
according to
his will, and became great. And
as I was considering, behold, an
he goat came from the west on
the face of the whole earth, and
touched not the ground: and the
goat had a notable horn between
his eyes. And he came to the ram
that had two horns, which I had
seen standing before the river,
and ran into, him in the fury of
his power." That is Alexander
the Great who came from the
west. One horn alone represents
him, because he stood alone, and
died without any posterity. He
overthrew the Persian Empire, in
three pitched battles, and took
the sovereignty of the known
world, or so much of it as he
chose to attack. "And I saw him
come close unto the ram, and he
was moved with choler against
him, and smote the ram, and
brake his two horns: and there
was no power in the ram to stand
before him, but he cast him down
to the ground, and stamped upon
him: and there was none that
could deliver the ram out of his
hand." He becomes very great,
and when he has become very
great, Alexander dies of fever
at about the age of thirty, at
Babylon, and from him comes out
four notable ones. That is a
perfect historical fact. Every
student of history knows that
the kingdom of Alexander the
Great was divided amongst the
four generals. The kingdom was
continued under these four
generals until the Roman Empire
sprang up and took its place. In
prophecy, commas, conjunctions,
full stops, often divide
centuries. Out of one of those
four kingdoms which formed the
Grecian Empire comes up a little
horn, the eleventh power which
is to come up when the old Roman
Empire shall be divided into ten
kingdoms, corresponding with the
ten toes of the male, and the
ten horns that we saw on the
beast.
Here you have again one little
horn coming up, probably from
one of the small kingdoms which
now lie just outside the Turkish
empire, and are still, or till
lately were, nominally under its
control. That is the probable
place where this little horn
arises. It may seem strange that
such a power should arise in
such a small place, but you
have only to remember the life
and career of Napoleon the Great
to see how possible it is. He
almost conquered the world, and
nearly fulfilled this prophecy,
but just stopped short. So too
with Antiochus Epiphanes; he
nearly fulfilled this prophecy;
and yet that it was not
fulfilled by Antiochus is clear
from our Lord's words in Matthew
xxiv. 15. He says, "When ye
therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place"; so
that in Christ's time this
abomination of desolation had
not yet been set up, and I
venture to say it is not come
yet, but I think we are not far
from the time when he will be
seen. Oh, brethren, bear that in
mind, when the awful man, the
man of sin, comes in the light
of the success which he will
secure in this world,
Christianity will seem to many a
failure, for we are told that
the world will run after him.
What has this man, this King to
do? You get the answer in the
nth verse, "Yea, he magnified
himself, even to the prince of
the host, and by him the daily
sacrifice was taken away." But
there is no temple now in
Jerusalem, some may say. Yes,
but it does not follow that
there will never be one again.
The temple will be built again.
In the 13th verse, one saint
asks another how long these
things will be, and the reply
was, "Unto two thousand and
three hundred days." But I will
not enter into this subject of
dates; it would take us away
from the' questions which I am
anxious to impress upon you.
When Daniel had seen this
vision, he is very desirous to
know its meaning.. Look at the
20th and succeeding verses of
the 9th chapter. The events now
spoken of are to happen at the
end of this dispensation. "At
the time appointed the end shall
be." God knows all that is
coming. None of these things can
take him by surprise. The ram
with the two horns is the kings
of Media and Persia. The rough
goat is the king of Grecia, and
the horn between his eyes is the
first king. And in the latter
time of
their kingdom, when the
transgressors are come to the
full, a king of fierce
countenance, and understanding
dark sentences, shall stand up,
and his power shall be mighty,
but not by his own power; and he
shall destroy wonderfully, and,
shall prosper and practice, and
shall destroy the mighty and the
holy people. Then a little
later, in the 26th verse, we
read: "Wherefore shut thou up
the vision; for it shall be for
many days." In the second
epistle of Paul to the
Thessalonians, he warns them to
let no man deceive them by any
means, for that day shall not
come except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of
perdition, etc, When the
hindrance has been removed which
has held. him back, then the
wicked one shall come, whom the'
Lord shall consume by the
spirit of his mouth, "even he
whose coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power
and signs and lying wonders, and
with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received
not the love of truth, that they
might be saved. And for this
cause God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should
believe a lie." It is of the
greatest importance that our
hope "is built on nothing less
than Jesus and His
righteousness." If you are not
built upon Christ man will lead
you astray, and you will believe
he is one sent by God, and
accept him as your king.
Now turn to the 12th chapter of
Revelation. You will see that the
dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the
remnant of her seed. In the
Bible a woman is a symbol of a
religious system, true or false,
with this distinction, that when
it is true it is simply a woman,
when it is false it is a harlot.
All prophecy circulates around
the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea, and as the seer stood upon
the shores of the sea he saw a
beast rise out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten
horns; and here my mind goes
back to the ten toes on the
image in Daniel, and the ten
horns, and it looks very like
the same thing, does it not?
Yes, the identification becomes
more complete. "Upon his horns
there are ten crowns, and upon
his head the name' of
blasphemy." The beast is the
fourth 'empire, the monster, and
it is like a leopard, the
Grecian Empire; he has also the
marks of the bear, the
Medo-Persian Empire. So you see
he comprises the four Greek
Empires. Who gives him his
power? Nebuchadnezzar received
his power from God, but* this
monster receives his power from
the devil. "The dragon gave him
his power, and his seat, and
great authority."; The whole
history is fraught with the most
momentous consequences. And,
dear brothers and sisters, to be
ignorant of these things is to
expose us to great perils.
Now let us turn to a more
pleasant subject. Look at the
19th chapter of Revelation. When
this beast is apparently just
about to consummate all his
purposes, what happens? Read the
11th verse, "And I saw heaven
opened, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him
was called Faithful and True,
and in righteousness he doth,
judge and make war. His eyes
were as a flame of fire, and on
his head were many crowns; and
he had a name written, that no
man knew, but he himself." That
beast had ten crowns, but on
Christ's head are many crowns.
"And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his
name is called The Word of God,"
etc..
I want, in conclusion, to point
out the remarkable condition of
the world at this moment. Can
you tell roe, either in the army
or the navy, or the State, in
poetry, in art, in science or in
literature, a man that stands
head and shoulders above his
peers? Bismarck and Gladstone
are virtually gone. These were
two men who did stand head and
shoulders above all, others. But
the world at this moment does
not possess a single man who
can take the lead. Never did the
world want j a man more than it
does to-day. Let a man come
who. will solve those problems
that are puzzling the minds of statesmen,
the social questions of the day;
let a man come who will show a
way by which all nations can be
bound together in one common
bond of brotherhood, based on
commercial and social union,
and that man will carry the
world with him. Hear this quotation from the
Times: "What
is it that all Europe is.
looking for? It is 'the king of
men.' The man who can challenge
for his own the shield of
Agamemnon, now waiting for the
challenge, is the true emperor
of the east, and the easiest
escape from our present
difficulties."
And hear also what Dean Alford
says, " In proportion as the
general standard of mental
cultivation is raised, and man
made equal with, man, the
ordinary power of genius is
diminished, but its
extraordinary power is
increased, its reach deepened,
its hold rendered more firm. As
men become familiar with the
achievements and the exercise of
talent they learn to despise and
disregard its daily examples,
and to be more independent of
mere men of ability; but they
only become the more completely
in the power of gigantic
intellect, the slaves of
pre-eminent and unapproachable
talent." (Alford's Greek
Testament, 2 Thess.) The world
is on the lip-toe of expectation
for this great one.
Finally, let me remind you that
God's purposes cannot be
frustrated. He made the world
for His glory, made man for His
glory, and what He purposed for
Adam and Eve must be fulfilled
in the human race, when every
foe shall be conquered, and Christ alone
shall reign.
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