The Last Reformation Part 11

2. They speak great things and blasphemies (Dan. 7:8, 20; Rev. 13:5).

3. Both are persecuting powers making war on the saints (Dan. 7:21; Rev. 13:7).

4. The chronology of each shows that the power rose to prominence about the time of the cessation of the pagan Roman Empire.

5. The length of time during which they were to continue is the same--forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days.

6. Both are to be gradually but finally destroyed (Dan. 7:26; Rev.

13:10).

These powers, then, appear at the same time, in the same territory, have the same character, do the same work, continue the same length of time, and meet the same fate. _These facts prove ident.i.ty._ We have, therefore, positive proof drawn from the parallel prophecies in Daniel that the first beast of Revelation 13 signifies the politico-religious system of Rome.

[Sidenote: Length of papal reign]

The identification of the little horn of Daniel 7 with the leopard-beast of Revelation 13 is now complete. That both apply to the papacy has been conclusively shown. We shall now turn our attention to the length of time that this power was to reign. Daniel limits the triumph of the little horn to "a time and times and the dividing of time" (Dan. 7:25). "Time," in the singular, of course, signifies one time. "Times," plural, without a designating number, signifies two times. "The dividing of time" is rendered in chapter 12:7, also in both texts in the Revised Version, "a half." So the entire period is three and a half times.

The seven-year period of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity is described as seven _times_ (chap. 4:25). We therefore conclude that the period of three and a half times signifies three and a half years. This agrees with the reign of the leopard beast of Revelation 13, namely, "forty and two months" (verse 5), or according to the Jewish method of computing time--thirty days to the month--twelve hundred and sixty days. Notice that this also agrees both in the manner of statement and in point of duration with the flight of the woman into the wilderness, as described in Revelation 12. She was to be nourished for "a time, and times, and half a time" (verse 14), which period is spoken of in verse 6 of the same chapter as "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

The terms ordinarily used to measure the duration of time may be and often are used in a symbolic sense; for time, as well as anything else, can be symbolized. Thus days may properly symbolize years; for they are a.n.a.logous periods of time, the diurnal revolution of the earth being taken to represent the earth's annual movement. Other standards of reckoning may also be employed symbolically, but the one here referred to is doubtless most frequently employed. Such a system of reckoning time was known anciently. The Mosaic law recognized two kinds of weeks, the first of seven days' duration, the last day of which was a Sabbath; another week of seven years' duration, the last year being a Sabbath of rest for the land. This fact explains such expressions as "forty days, _each day for a year_" (Num. 14:34), and "I have appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezek. 4:6).

There is no doubt that the year-day method of computing time is used in the prophecy of Daniel 9, the sixty-nine _weeks_ reaching from the time of the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. until A.D. 26, the year when Christ was baptized and entered on his personal ministry.

[Sidenote: The correct starting-point]

Applying the year-day standard to the period of twelve hundred and sixty days, we have twelve hundred and sixty years. The next question to arise is, What date shall we select as the proper time from which to measure this 1,260-year period? It is important that we correctly solve this question. Expositors have selected different dates. They usually point out some particular historical date having an important bearing on Rome's development; as, for example, A.D. 606, when Phocas, Emperor of the East, accorded the Church of Rome special recognition.

But the papacy grew up in the _West_. If we are to regard as of unusual importance political recognition of the claims of the papacy, why not give preference to imperial recognition in the very section that const.i.tuted the home of the papacy?

Before considering further the relation of the growing papacy to the imperial power in the Western Empire, I must call attention to an important fact generally overlooked or disregarded by expositors.

The 1,260-year period not only marks the time of triumph by the beast-power, but also _measures the period during which the woman, or true church, was to be secluded in the wilderness_. Two parallel lines of prophetic truth--respecting the true church and a false church--are therefore set forth as coexistent and in contrast with each other.

The correct starting-stake can not, therefore, be when the papacy had obtained complete ascendency, for this would be too late to consistently begin to measure the decayed state of the true church.

The date selected must be consistent with both lines of prophecy.

The apostasy did not take place suddenly, however, but was a gradual decline, a "falling away"; and the papacy, on the other hand, did not rise to great power suddenly, but grew up by degrees. It was at first "a little horn," but finally his "look was more stout than his fellows." Paul says that the "mystery of iniquity"--the seed of apostasy--was already working in his day and that later "that Wicked"

should be revealed in all its terrible features (see 2 Thess. 2:3-8).

We therefore have to deal with a sliding-scale, a gradual decline on the part of the true church, and a constant increase of that false, apostate power which finally culminated in the full-grown papacy.

Bearing in mind that the 1,260-year period measures both phases, we are obliged to select for our beginning a time about half way between both extremes, a time when, we might say, the "falling away" from the pure apostolic truth and standard was about half completed and when the papacy was about half developed. While the woman was secluded in the wilderness, the beast-power occupied the public view; and this was exactly the reverse of apostolic times, when the woman was exalted above all and before all, "clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." In other words, the extreme of darkest night succeeded the light of glorious day.

The period of the first apostles was the period of the church's purity and triumph. In their hands the cause was safe and the pure truth shown forth in beauty and power. But with the close of the apostolic era, the apostasy came on at a rapid rate, as the extant writings of the early church fathers show.

By the middle of the fifth century the light of the gospel was eclipsed in the darkness of Romanism. During this century the papacy secured political recognition of its claims to direct jurisdiction over all churches. This occurred during the pontificate of Leo I, who, because of his success in furthering the interests of the popedom, shares alone with Pope Gregory the t.i.tle of "the Great." To quote from the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Leo "entered upon a pontificate which was to be epoch-making for the centralization of the government of the church." Political causes combined to advance the claims of the papacy to universal recognition. Attila, with his fierce barbarians, invaded Italy and laid waste many of her fairest provinces and then advanced boldly on Rome, whereupon Pope Leo went out to the camp of the invaders and secured the evacuation of Italy. The pope obtained the full support of Valentinian III. In 445 Leo enforced authority in the distant patriarchate of Alexandria. In 444-446 he was in conflict with the Illyrian bishops. During this time in a letter addressed to them he laid down the principle that St. Peter had received the primacy and oversight of the whole church and that hence all important matters must be referred to and decided by Rome. He also proceeded to extend his authority over Gaul. In this effort he obtained from Valentinian III the famous decree of June 6, 445, which "recognized the primacy of the Pope of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the decrees of Nice (in their interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to this rulings, which were to _have the force of law_, should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of any one who refused to answer a summons to Rome."

The apostle John was banished to the Isle of Patmos in 95. Regarding that date as the close of the pure apostolic era, and 445, when the pope received from the emperor of the West official recognition of his claims to universal supremacy in the church, as representing one other extreme, we have but to calculate the time half way between these extremes to find the consistent starting-stake for the beginning of that time prophecy which is to measure both lines of prophetic truth.

From 95 to 445 is a period of 350 years. Half of this period is 175 years. Therefore 175 years after 95, or 270, is the correct starting-point.

Protestant church historians recognize the decline that came in the early church. Many of them, as D'Aubigne, Marsh, Rutter, Waddington, and others, point to the third century, or the latter half of the third century, as marking an unusual epoch in this declension. Others, however, who view things almost wholly from the external point of view, regard the accession of Constantine in the early part of the following century as marking the important epoch. With reference to this subject, I quote Joseph Milner, the English ecclesiastical historian: "I know it is common for authors to represent the declension of Christianity to have taken place only after its external establishment under Constantine. But the events of history have compelled me to dissent from this view of things."--Ch. Hist., Cent.

IV, Chap. I.

It is also evident from the facts of history that, in addition to the corruption of evangelical faith, that other phase of the apostasy--human ecclesiasticism--was also highly developed before the end of the third century. George P. Fisher says, "The accession of Constantine [A.D. 312] found the church so firmly organized under the hierarchy that it could not lose its ident.i.ty by being absolutely merged in the state."--History of the Christian Church, p. 99.

In the year A.D. 270 Anthony, an Egyptian, the father of monasticism, fixed his abode in the deserts of Egypt and formed monks into organized bodies. Dowling, describing the extravagance of monkery and the false standard of piety and holiness it created, declares that monkery "_actually affected the church universal_." See History of Romanism, pp. 88, 89. Very few marks of genuine piety remained. With the decline of evangelical knowledge came a reign of superst.i.tion and ignorance. Milner, adverting to the inst.i.tution of monkery in the _third century_, expresses his "regret that the faith and love of the gospel received toward the close of it a dreadful blow from the encouragement of this unchristian practise."--Century III, Chap. XX.

In another place the same historian, speaking of the absence of truth and the prevalence of error in the third century, says: "It is vain to expect Christian faith to abound without Christian doctrine. Moral and philosophical and monastical instructions will not effect for men what is to be expected from evangelical doctrine. And if the faith of Christ was so much declined (and its decayed state _ought to be dated from about the year 270_,) we need not wonder that such scenes as Eusebius hints at without any circ.u.mstantial details, took place in the Christian world."--Century IV, Chap. I. (Parenthetical clause is Milner's; italicizing, mine.) In addition to this quotation, and as if to give emphasis, the historian places prominently in a side-head the words, "_Decay of pure Christianity, A.D. 270_."

Measuring forward from A.D. 270 the alloted period of twelve hundred and sixty years brings us to A.D. 1530, a year which marked the beginning of Protestantism in its organized form. The first Protestant creed, the Confession of Augsburg, was made that year.

The description of the papal power under the symbol of the ten-horned beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7 presents a melancholy picture of world-events during the long period of twelve hundred and sixty years ending with the sixteenth century reformation.

[Sidenote: Principle of parallelism]

Before proceeding to give in chronological order a description of events following the reign of the beast, I wish to call attention to an important plan followed in the Biblical presentation of prophetic truth; namely, that the events are taken up by parallel series covering the same period of time. But in addition to this point, we observe the principle of _contrast_. When the history of political events is described, we have in contrast therewith a description of ecclesiastical events; and with the representation of a false church or an apostate state of Christianity, we have in immediate contrast the history of G.o.d's chosen people. Or perhaps the order is reversed, but the principle remains the same. While, in the nature of things, these distinct lines can not always be well represented symbolically as occurring at the same time, they are presented in parallel series, thus proving that they were to be fulfilled simultaneously.

In direct contrast with the power of apostate Christendom represented by the papacy, which for certain reasons I have presented first, we have in chapter 11 of the Revelation a brief history of G.o.d's true people that existed during the papal reign. In this case, however, a description of the apostasy and of the true church are presented in the same series and in such a way as to give special emphasis to the point of contrast as well as to prove their simultaneous fulfilment.

Thus we read: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of G.o.d, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth" (chap. 11:1-3).

It is clear that two powers in the Christian era are here represented, the one continuing "forty and two months" and the other twelve hundred and sixty days, or years, heretofore explained as measuring the length of the beast's reign, also of the woman's seclusion in the wilderness.

This similarity naturally suggests that we have here the same general facts set forth under other symbols. Jerusalem, the holy city, the temple, and the two witnesses therefore correspond to the woman of chapter 12. The crowd of uncirc.u.mcised Gentiles and their profanation of the city of G.o.d for twelve hundred and sixty years correspond to the beast-power of chapter 13.

Wonderful truth is represented in the vision of this chapter. The symbols are drawn from Old Testament history, from the religious life of the Jews--G.o.d's chosen people in contrast with the uncirc.u.mcised Gentiles. It is evident, therefore, that the true church and the false church of the gospel era are represented.

Notice carefully the symbols: holy city, temple, altar, worshipers, and living witnesses, or prophets. These represent the sum and substance of all divine revelation in the Mosaic age: holy city, Jerusalem--_the place where G.o.d set his name_; the temple--_divinely authorised, holy, acceptable worship_ based on careful adherence to G.o.d's commandments formerly given; the altar--_the great symbol of atonement, the reconciliation of humanity with the divinity_; the worshipers in one temple--_all of G.o.d's people in unity_; the prophets--_the divinely commissioned representatives of G.o.d bearing a living message for the people of their time_. These conditions represent the Judaic ideal. Whether they were ever able to reach their ideal or not, it is evident that the Jews had the conception of a unified, holy, acceptable service (see Isa. 4:3; 52:1; 62:1-7). The two witnesses referred to are clearly represented as prophets; for the work ascribed to them as attesting their divine commission is a repet.i.tion of the miraculous works of Moses and Elijah by which they established their claims to be prophetic leaders authorized by Jehovah. The witnesses seem to be distinguished from the worshipers simply on account of their power and message.

[Sidenote: The two witnesses]

These symbols represent the true apostolic church. It is the holy city, Jerusalem, his temple, whose holy, united worshipers obey the commands of G.o.d. The application of the "witnesses" particularly specified as they are in the description, requires further explanation. It is said, "These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the G.o.d of the earth" (Rev. 11:4).

Whatever these two witnesses signify in particular, they are the same as the olive trees and candlesticks spoken of. It appears that allusion is made to Zechariah 4, where two olive trees are represented as standing, one on each side of a golden candlestick, distilling into it their oil for light. When the angel was asked for an explanation of these two olive trees and the candlestick, he answered, "This is the _Word_ of the Lord ... by my _Spirit_ saith the Lord" (verse 6). We are to understand, therefore, that G.o.d's Word and Spirit are the "two witnesses" in his church; that is, they signify the divine element operating in his church. Just as the mediation of the prophets was necessary in the olden times to maintain constant contact with G.o.d, without which the religious exercises degenerated to mere formalism, so the living _Word_ and _Spirit_ of G.o.d were present in the apostolic church to elevate its service above mere human systems and forms of worship. That the Word of G.o.d and the Spirit of G.o.d are special witnesses is proved by many texts. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures ... they are they which _testify_ of me" (John 5:39). "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a _witness_ unto all nations" (Matt. 24:14). "The Holy Ghost also is a _witness_" (Heb.

10:15). "The Spirit itself beareth _witness_" (Rom. 8:16). "It is the Spirit that beareth _witness_" (1 John 5:6).

Of the uncirc.u.mcised Gentiles it is said, "The holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." This signifies the great apostasy that overspread the earth, defiling and perverting the true worship of G.o.d. The burden of this series, however, is not to describe the foreign element thus introduced, but to set forth in greater fulness the fact that during the same time that the idolatrous mult.i.tude of Gentiles trod down the holy city G.o.d preserved his own people. _The temple still remained_, and it had devout worshipers; _the two witnesses still prophesied_, although clothed in sackcloth, an emblem of melancholy and mourning. While the visions of the Revelator describe particularly the power of apostasy and iniquity reigning during the Dark Ages, they do not fail to give us the a.s.surance that at the same time G.o.d had a people whose names were written in the book of life (chap. 13:8)--"saints" (chap. 13;10).

And these were made the object of the most violent persecution (chap.

13:17; 17:6).

It is rather difficult to trace the true work of G.o.d during those times; for his "saints" were either ignored by the professed mult.i.tude or else regarded as heretics. But there existed in different countries bands of people who opposed the doctrines and ecclesiastical tyranny of Rome and who claimed adherence to the simple, primitive faith of Christ as expressed in the gospel. Among these were the Cathari, Lombards, Albigenses, Waldenses, and Vaudois. I will not say that all these so-called heretics are to be regarded as the true people of G.o.d, but from the few records that we have of them, derived chiefly from their enemies, it seems clear that there were among them many who were truly "saints" and who clung tenaciously to the true faith of Christ.

G.o.d's Word and Spirit were therefore prophesying, although in an unnatural condition, symbolized by the sackcloth state of the witnesses. We must also remember that even among the Catholic party were to be found n.o.ble persons whose hearts were true to whatever truth they had and whose emotions and aspirations at times broke over the bounds of traditional theology and gave expression to sentiments Scriptural and sublime.

The time period first specified in this special scene is the same twelve hundred and sixty years that marks the reign of the beast and therefore closes with the reformation of the sixteenth century. We shall have occasion to return to this series later and trace its predictions down to our own times.

CHAPTER XIII

ERA OF MODERN SECTS

[Sidenote: Another epoch predicted]

We have seen that the 1,260-year universal reign of the first beast of Revelation 13 ends with the period of the Reformation. The exact manner in which this should be accomplished is not definitely given in the prophecy, aside from the statement, "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword" (verse 10). This description would seem to indicate a period of captivity in which the papacy would be deprived of its great power, after which it would be finally destroyed; and this agrees with Paul's description of the papacy in 2 Thessalonians 2, where he speaks of that Wicked "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (verse 8). And Daniel, speaking of the end of the 1,260-year reign of the same papal beast, points out a reformation time when "they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (Dan. 7:26).