Christ, Christianity and the Bible Part 14

Everywhere the evidence is manifest that the prophecy of Daniel announcing the rise of the "_clay_" (Daniel's symbol of the people) and the warning of Isaiah that "the nations should rush like the rushing of many waters," and "make a noise like the noise of the seas," are being fulfilled.

After "Clay," or Democracy, there remains only anarchy, or power in the hands of an absolute ruler. That absolute, world-wide ruler is declared by all the prophets to be the Son of G.o.d, and his kingdom is symbolized by a _stone_--a stone is the very opposite of clay.

THE CLAY IS HERE!

Centuries ago the Bible declared that in the closing hours of this age the whole world would be under arms, preparing for a gigantic and final war; that each nation would turn itself into a vast army, and that the whole earth would become a military camp and field of manoeuvre.

This prophecy is being fulfilled.

A universal preparation for war is going on with maddening haste.

Nations are seeking to outdo each other in their colossal preparation for the approaching strife. Armies are no longer mere levies or hired cohorts, every man in the nation capable of bearing arms or in any wise doing military duty is enrolled, and must take his place as a soldier. During the summer immense armies move out of their barracks and play seriously the game of war. Each nation has its field manoeuvres and theme of attack and defence. On every side is heard the tramp of marching feet, the sound of bugle call, the rumble of artillery, the sharp word of command.

Nations are vying with each other in the endeavor to cover the sea with the swiftest and most powerful battleships. Millions are being put into guns and ammunition. The money of the people is being poured out like water to obtain war material. Forges and foundries are working to turn out the most destructive implements. The a.r.s.enals are being gorged with cannon, with shot and sh.e.l.l. Enormous sums of money in gold are stored away in impregnable fortresses that, as the sinew of war, it may be ready to respond at a moment's notice. Never before in the history of the world has there been such a spectacle.

On land and sea men are silently, ceaselessly preparing for the irrepressible and impending conflict. Each nation feels its existence is at stake; not a thinking statesman who does not feel a.s.sured that, sooner or later, the clash will come. All feel it will be fierce, t.i.tanic, fateful and final.

The Bible foretold the great apostasy as manifested in the Roman Catholic Church, the rise of Protestantism, its ultimate breakdown in rationalism and open infidelity (that condition of which it should be said, "they will not endure sound doctrine"). It foretold the rising again of Romanism into the place of power and authority (as we see it to-day in the United States, where it holds the balance of political power and is fast becoming a social triumph).

Who would have had the hardihood to prophesy in the hour when Protestantism was delivering its terrible blows against Romanism, overturning the tables of the priests, who sold their infamous wares of papal indulgences, breaking idols and images in the churches, and driving the church of the priesthood, the ma.s.s and auricular confession swiftly downwards to the waters of the Mediterranean and, while it was repudiating this apostate church (which set up saints and images in the place of the Son of G.o.d, exalted works of merit instead of the cleansing power of the blood) continually cried aloud the glorious doctrine of justification by faith, and whose supreme watchword was--"The Bible and nothing but the Bible"; who, under such conditions as these, would have had the courage to proclaim that in the closing hours of this age, this aggressive and biblical Protestantism should break up by self-division, become fragmentary, its leading thinkers and teachers repudiating the Bible as the infallible Word of G.o.d? Who would have dared to say that Rome would come back, ascend into the place of authority, sit upon the throne of the world's respect and receive its honors? Who would have said that this church which has set itself up above the Bible, claimed the right to change times and seasons in defiance of a "thus saith the Lord," and has burned men at the stake for their love and devotion to this very Bible, should, at the last, by reason of the infidelity of Protestantism, its recognition of divorce and its indifference to a "thus saith the Lord," come forth as the defender of the Bible, the champion of the home and the guardian of the sacredness of marriage, concentrating all its thunders against the shame and indecency of divorce?

Yet these prophecies are written on page after page of this book, and their complete and amazing fulfilment looks us in the face.

What a picture is painted for us in the words that follow:

"This know, also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of G.o.d, having a form of G.o.dliness, but denying the power thereof."

"The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own l.u.s.ts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables."

It is a picture which finds its counterpart in the Protestantism of to-day--a Protestantism full of worldliness, having a form of G.o.dliness, a great religious profession, but denying its only power (the Holy Ghost), repudiating doctrine and listening to every fable of rationalistic philosophy sooner than to the truth of G.o.d.

In the letter to the church at Thyatira it is written:

"That woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess (a teacher) to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication (fornication in the book of Revelation signifies idolatry--image worship and, also, union with the principles and ways of the world) and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."

Jezebel was the Pagan wife of Ahab, king of Israel. Jezebel stands for the union of Paganism and Judaism. But Jezebel here represents a professed church of Christ. In Jezebel, therefore, you have a professed church of Christ in which there is a combination of Paganism and Judaism. This symbolic Jezebel teaches the servants of Christ to commit fornication--that is, not only identification with the world, but idolatry (image worship).

In its full detail, then, we have a professed church of Christ in which may be found a mixture of Paganism and Judaism. A church where the professed followers of Christ are taught to worship by means of images.

Could you find a better, more accurate delineation of the apostate Church of Rome--a Church which borrows the priesthood of Judaism and the idolatry and image worship of Paganism?

In this book of the Revelation there is still another picture.

In the seventeenth chapter a woman is seen seated upon a scarlet colored beast. She is arrayed in purple and scarlet. She is decked with precious stones and pearls, and in her hand holds a golden cup full of the abomination and filthiness of her fornication (idolatry). She is seen to be drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. The woman is, also, said to be seated on seven mountains and is, finally, spoken of as that great city which rules over the kings (nations) of the earth.

The woman is called "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

In the twenty-fifth chapter of the book, the BRIDE OF THE LAMB, the true church of Christ, is symbolized by a city--THE NEW JERUSALEM.

Babylon and Jerusalem stand always opposed to each other. Babylon is the centre of Satanic power and testimony--its name signifies mixture, confusion. Jerusalem is the centre of G.o.d's dealings and testimony--it signifies peace and righteousness. If, therefore, the city of New Jerusalem is a symbol of the true church of Christ and the church of Christ is called a "mystery," then this woman called Babylon, said to be a City and also called a "mystery," is a symbol of the _false_ church of Christ; and, being a harlot, and the mother of harlots, or churches like herself (and thus the _Mother Church_), and harlot signifying fornication, and fornication, idolatry--image worship--then a professed Church of Christ, which teaches and practises image worship.

The great city ruling over the kings of the earth in John's day and situated on seven mountains, or "mounts," is ROME; as the city represents the woman Babylon who is the symbol of the false Church of Christ, then you have a false church of Christ seated (and remember, the word is "_seated_") in Rome. A Church seated in Rome is a _Roman Church_; and as the city rules over the earth, over the world; and a world-wide rule is a universal rule; and the word for universal, worldwide, is, also, "catholic," you have a catholic church; and, _seated_ in Rome (Rome its capital centre), THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

This Church is said to be drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and the pages of history glued together with the blood of these same martyrs, and the burning, blistering record of the "Holy Inquisition," affirm that the astounding picture is true in all its crimson and scarlet details.

But the striking feature in the picture, and the one that is first presented to us, is that the woman (the Church) is carried by a beast. This beast is a symbol of government and teaches that the Church "rules" over the governments of the world, is sustained by the State, has attained to "temporal power." As the picture occurs in the _third division_ of the book, and that division relates to things still future, we have here a distinct prophecy that this Apostate Roman Church shall again attain to temporal power, become a State Church, supported and carried officially by the nations of the earth.

The exact.i.tude with which the picture has been painted, and that, too, at a time when Rome had not yet come into the place of full -blown apostasy and power; the startling way in which, step by step, the prophetic outlines have been fulfilled even in our day, are tremendously suggestive concerning the possibility of its complete and final fulfilment; and bid us ask most earnestly--whence came the mental eyesight which enabled the writer of the book to sketch out for us centuries ahead of time, that which the page of after history reveals to us as facts?

The social, financial, governmental, religious and moral condition of the present time have been portrayed in the book we call the Bible. The coming of a special cla.s.s called "rich" men as a particular characteristic of this age, the revolt of labor, and its cry against the wrongs of capital, were all set forth in the epistle of James, nigh two thousand years ago, with an accuracy that is not to be explained on natural grounds. So absolutely unnatural is it, that it is perfectly safe to say--these things are not such as a man _could_ write if he _would_.

That the book is not to be explained on natural grounds is evident from the fact that it is not a CONSTRUCTION, but a GROWTH; not an ORGANIZATION, but an ORGANISM, growing up from Genesis to Revelation like a tree from root through trunk and branch to leaf and fruit.

Each book of the Bible will be found on examination to stand related organically to one another; and that each occupies its necessary and sequential order.

In _Genesis_, you have the beginning of things, the germ and outline of everything afterwards revealed.

_Exodus_ gives the redemption by blood of a people foreseen and covenanted in Genesis, their deliverance by the hand of G.o.d from the power of the king and the dangers of the land.

In _Leviticus_, the redeemed people draw nigh to G.o.d by virtue of the blood of sacrifice and find access to the presence of G.o.d through the intercession of a priest.

In _Numbers_, this blood-redeemed people are seen on their journey to the better land; we read of their trials, their temptations, their unbelief, their backslidings and continual moral failure by the way, and the never-failing grace and love of a covenant-keeping G.o.d who leads them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.

In _Deuteronomy_, the people have the way over which they have come, and the dealings of G.o.d, rehea.r.s.ed to them, and are instructed and prepared for the land whither they go.

In _Joshua_, the _second_ generation (which stands always for regeneration) gets into the promised land.

_Judges_ tells how, after being blessed with all covenant blessings in the covenant land, the people fell into a state where every man did that which was right "in his own eyes."

_Ruth_, the Gentile woman, becomes the bride of a Hebrew Lord; and the covenant promise of G.o.d concerning Israel goes straightway down from a Gentile mother and a Hebrew father towards the throne which is set up in David and owned of G.o.d as the throne of Christ.

The books of _Samuel, Kings_ and _Chronicles_, take up the story of the kingdom, and the Old Testament leads us on through symbol, figure and open prophecy, to a Coming Messiah and a glorious kingdom till, when we reach the last verse in Malachi, we lean across four centuries of prophetic silence, waiting to greet that promised Christ who shall be born in Bethlehem; and who is to be called the Son of the Highest; who is to sit on the throne of his father David, "to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever."

We listen for the angelic song and the salutation to men of good will; and we are expecting, later on, to see Zion's king riding up the slopes to the Holy City and all the people coming forth to cry, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

When you open the New Testament you find four books--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The order of these books is fixed--it cannot be changed.

If _Mark_ be subst.i.tuted for _Matthew_, then the New Testament begins without an account of the birth or genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ; no intimation is given that he is born king of the Jews, and is the expected Messiah.

If _Luke_ be given the place of _Matthew_, little mention will be found of the Jewish kingdom of heaven; and our Lord will be seen with a leaning towards the Gentiles.

If the Gospel of _John_ begin the New Testament instead of _Matthew_, then we shall read of him who is Son of G.o.d rather than King of the Jews, and the expectation raised by Malachi will seem unfulfilled.

But the moment the order named is followed all is perfect, all is harmony.

_Matthew_ presents our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of _Abraham_ and Son of _David_; heir of the covenant _land_, and the covenant _throne_, and at once links the New Testament with the Old.

_Mark_ announces that this King of the Jews came into the world to be the _Servant_ of G.o.d and a blessing in his service to men.