Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

284

SUNRISE OF THE MILLENNIUM.

And under the domination of the same anti-Christian power of Popery, it was prophetically announced, that God's two witnesses would prophesy in sackcloth, a thousand two hundred and threescore days = 1260 years; i. e. until they were killed in the war which the beast from the bottomless pit should make upon them, when they shall have finished their testimony, at the expiration of the 1260 years, and about A.D. 2000. For the above reasons, and many others which might be mentioned, it is believed that the 1260 years of Papal domination over the church, will terminate in the predicted battle of the great day of the Lord, at the dawn of the Millennium. And by including the small additional numbers revealed in Daniel's last vision, the whole amount of 1335 days (years) would bring the commencement of a New Era of peace and holiness, after the overthrow of all antiChristian powers, even to the rising sun of Millennial glory, A.D. 2000.

II. The place of the battle-field is prophetically fixed at Armageddon, in the land of Palestine. Thus said John the Revelator:-" And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and to the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

The mountain and valley of Megiddo, to which allusion was had, were upwards of forty miles north of Jerusalem, and was anciently a noted battle-ground. Here the army of Jabin was discomfited by Israel, under Deborah and Barak; and the finishing stroke of

ARMAGEDDON DESCRIBED BY ALLUSION.

285

that war was given by the hammer and tent-nail of Jael, the wife of Heber, who thus slew Sisera, the chief-captain of the hosts of the enemy of Israel. On this tremendous battle-field, the good king Josiah was slain by the hosts of the Egyptian king, PharaohNecho. Hence it was noted as a place of slaughter, of mourning, of horror, and horrid remembrances.

The Prophet Joel foretold the future array at this battle-field in the last days. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat." The valley of Jehoshaphat is evidently mentioned by allusion, as descriptive of the valley of Megiddo, the battle-ground of the great day of the Lord. No more frightful spot could be found on earth than the valley of Jehoshaphat. It is a deep and large valley in the land of ancient Israel, noted as a place where children were frequently burned in the fire to Moloch, (a molten image,) amid the din of drums to drown the shrieks of the tortured innocents! and hence, it was called Tophet, the valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, (hell,) the valley of slaughter; and "may be rendered the valley of shrieking,"* a common receptacle of the unburied carcasses, and haunted by voracious beasts of prey.

The Scriptural representation of the place is awful. "Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For Tophet is ordained of old, deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brim

* Brown's Bib. Dic.

286 AWFUL DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.

nocents.

stone doth kindle it. Go forth into the valley of Hinnom, and say, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will bring evil upon this place, because they have filled this place with the blood of inTherefore in this place I will cause them to fall by the sword; and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake. For the wickedness is great. They have given a boy for a harlot! and sold a girl for wine!" Thus, in allusion to the horrors of the place, the wicked nations are said to be gathered for battle to the valley of Jehoshaphat, signifying that the battle of the great day would render the valley of Armageddon even more horrible in proportion to the greater number of unburied carcasses which would be left on the battleground at the close of that "great and terrible day of the Lord, when there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time."

III. Consider predictions of the array of the powers of Antichrist in the battle-field, ready for the awful encounter; their onset made upon God's witnesses; the victory obtained over the witnesses; and the subsequent feast of triumph.

The army of Antichrist will comprise a collection of troops from the whole earth, under the appellation of "Gog and his bands."-[See Ezekiel, chapters 38, 39.] "Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God, In that day when my people Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may

GOG AND HIS BANDS.

287

know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Art thou he, of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel? It shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. Behold I am against thee, O Gog, and all thine army, Persia, Ethiopia, Lybia, Gomer and all his bands, Togarmah, and all his bands, and many people with thee, like a storm, and a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, to take a spoil and a prey."

The above predictions were made more than five hundred and eighty years before the birth of Christ. And they will be fulfilled when the combined powers of Antichrist, led on by Infidelity, the Gog, the Generalissimo of all the anti-Christian hosts, shall encamp on the battle-ground of Armageddon, at the time appointed for the great battle-day of the Lord. This army will comprise all the enemies of God and holiness, from the chief captain of all the anti-Christian hosts, to the most insignificant, worthless wretch on earth. All Infidels of every description ; all sceptics, and adherents of every denomination of false, Christless religion; all counterfeiters, and unsound professors of true religion; all unbelievers, neglecters of the means of grace, and all impenitent sinners, although of moral deportment; all immoralists of every class; all merciless traffickers of the bodies and souls of human beings, binders of the chains of slavery, and tyrants of the helpless, dependent victims of their oppression ; and all whose names are not written in the book of life in heaven, will be arrayed on the battle-field of Armageddon.

But, for what purpose will they be thus arrayed in the battle-field? They will be there to consummate

288

DECLARATION OF WAR.

their long-devised plans of opposition to God, and to destroy the Bible and Bible religion from the world. They will be there to make a Declaration of Independence; to denounce and cast off the yoke of Jehovah's government; and, by one mighty effort, to wrest from the Almighty the dominion of this earth by force of the arms of carnal policy; of human “principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Probably their Declaration of Independence may be something in the style and spirit as follows:

War Department,-Head Quarters, on the battlefield of Armageddon. Whereas, the hosts in array, and their ancestors, have been long in possession of this world, called earth, both land and water, independent of any other known proprietor or superior claimant ; and Whereas a certain book of laws, and religion, called Bible, has by chance, crept into the world, in which some unknown claimant requires a tribute of exclusive homage, and reverence, and oneseventh part of the days of time, which chance to happen; forbidding the liberty of revenging an insult by murder on penalty of death; also prohibiting the enjoyment of unrestrained sensual gratification; or of stealing things that are wanted; or of giving favorable witness, to save a friend from trouble; and many other such like rules which have long been a torment to the world of rational thinkers ;—Now, therefore, I, GREAT GOG, GENERALISSIMO of the combined powers of Antichrist, and all their hosts, Do, both for myself and them, make and proclaim this our DECLARATION, That War exists with the book called Bible, and with its Author, and all who adhere to its hateful religion. If that book has chanced to have any author, we hereby denounce his claims and

« FöregåendeFortsätt »