S
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.
G O R D O N S
’
.
A
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so
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u
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BO O K L ETS
A
A
Qu i et Ta l é mi rb Td os e s o Weep
Qu i et Ta l k a éou t Me Ba be of
.
Bet/z l efi em
T/ze
Con s u m m a t i on of Ca lv a ry
Cr ow d i ng Ou t M e Cé r i s / Cfi i /d
K eep i ng Tryxt
D e co ra e d b oa rds ,
ew : Ha bi t: of Pr a er
D e co ra e d
y
y
bo a rd s
fi l e Qu i etes t Ta lk
I6m o,
a er
fi e Qu i et Ti m e Wi th Da i l y Pra yer Pages
t
.
t
.
.
pp
.
,
p i
Co yr gh t,
F LE M I N G
H
.
1 9 1 9,
by
R E V E L L CO M PAN Y
1
10 3
'
fi %&e
DEC 3 l 919
New York
Ch
i
ca go :
Lon d o n
Edi nb
u gh
!
r
:
17
2!
1 58
Fifl h
North
Pa
75
t
Wab as h
t
e rn o s e r
i
Pr nce s
0
8
3
6
5
3
c
m
!
v
A
enue
Ave
u
t
7
.
Sq are
S reet
Pre fa c e
THE world i s trying t o catch its breath
Such
.
an upheaval in extent and in intensity has not
occurred f or centuries at the least Thoughtful
men have been trying to s ense it s meaning An
interpretation that is sane and s ufii ci en t to all
the facts has been d i fii cul t to get
The interpre t ation I have ventured to sugges t
here came s l owl y through the l ong years of the
The teachings of the Bible with which
fighting
it is coupled came more s lowly thr ough l onge r
It has all b een dug out simply to answer
yea rs
m y own q uestions
It i s given here in res pon se
to s trong pre s sure
Regarding the teachings of the Bi ble her e I
h a ve tried not to expre s s any personal opinion
My task has been simpler It has been to gather
ou t s uch p a s sages a s seem i n t h ei r fi r s t m ea n i n g
to refer to things that clearly have not yet taken
plac e and so are distinctly future ; and then to
put them together in what seemed the logical
conne c ted c ommon sen s e order
I would never have ventured on su ch a risky
thing a s seeming to f o re cas t the future but for
a deep and deepening c o nvi cti o n that the inter
p r eta t i on given here is in the main acc u rate
There can be no question of the full depend
,
,
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,
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P re fa ce
6
Word o f G od throu ghou t It s
wholly a matter o f interpretation
Thi s is the third little book I have vent u red to
send out ab o ut Christ s Re t urn The s t udied
limitation s of each will indicate the distinctive
di ffe r ence of each from the others and so the
“
t
i
definitive scop e o f the presen t one
e
u
Q
Ta l ks A bou t O u r L or d s R et u r n is confined t o
a detailed study of the New Testament teachings
on the subj ect
Qu i et Ta l ks A bou t th e Cr own ed
”
Chr i s t of t h e R ev el a ti on is dev o ted Wholly t o a
detailed study of the las t b o ok of the Bible
e
M
e
i
i
e
n
t
h
D
e
r
a
n
n
a
r
e
u
t
T
a
lk
s
e
t
h
e
o
o
W
p
g
f
Q
in t hi s
a nd Its R el a ti on to Ou r L or d s R e tu r n
division of its c ontents is confined to a detailed
st udy o f the Old Testament tea chings on the
subj ect ex cep t enough o f a rapid revie w of the
New T estament tea c hings to adj ust the two
groups of teachings together and so get a s u m
m a ry o f the tea c hings o f the whole Bible o n thi s
subject
The Scripture quotation s are from the Revi s ed
Version except where otherwise no t ed Where
they vary fr o m the English Revision it is b e
cause the American is judged i n those par t icular
ca s es to be more ne a rly accurate A number of
times I have made free paraphras e s s o as to ex
pre s s more clearly and fully the thou gh t of the
language underneath
S D G ORDON
a
b ili ty
of the
’
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’
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N ew Yor k Ci ty
.
.
.
HO U N D
THE
F R AN
CIS
HEAV E N
OF
TH O
‘
M PS O N
I F LED Him , down the night s and down the days ;
I fled Him down the arches of the year s ;
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind ; and in the mist o f tear s
I hid from Him and under running laughter
Up vi s taed hope s I sped ;
And shot precipitated
Adown Titanic gl o oms o f chasm ed fears
F rom those strong F eet that followed , f ollow ed
a fter
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
But wi th unhurrying chas e
And unperturb ed pace
D eliberate speed maj e s tic instancy
They beat— and a Voice beat
More in s tant than the Feet
,
,
,
,
A ll thi n gs b etr a y th ee, wh o b etr a yes t M e
t g
f th
m th
l v
u di u
g
t u
d
f i
p it t
G d
w
i m p l y q u i it l y p t y d i th i p
Th m p
th t I h v b y d
i
u gi g i givi g it f h
d h
p
th t i L v p u p
v giv
f th e a
d
p u u it f v y m
i d l f b oth A d th t i t h to y
b ok
th
d Ch i s t s R tu
Wa
1
Th e l o v e
’
o
r
er s ,
r en
e
s
,
a
rs
o
or
on
o
a
’
e
a n,
n
r an
a
n
er s ,
as
’
o
s
o
e
o
an
an
er
o
r
e
’
.
es
r
s
a
ns s
e re
ce,
s
r
e
rn
.
en
er a s
ea
e
on
oe
e r ra n
o s e, n e
ra
n
s
e
t d
a
a
g bl
ly i i
m
i
f F
it t i
G d
p
u p it g
a n d o f Hi
o f t h i s l itt l
er s,
s co
n
e
re s
r
e s
er
.
e
en
as a
’
o
a
n
e
a
a
s,
ro n
s
,
o r ra
e
s on s
o s e,
o
s
n
as
e rs s
s,
ex
n
ea
er
’
o
r
ea
’
God
of
’
.
s
,
o
as
s
so
ra n c s
en
o
nner
’
s
s ea
ur
er
s
e
The
8
Ho u nd
o
f
He a v e n
I pleaded outlaw wi s e
By many a hearted casement curta ined r ed ,
Trellised with inte r twining cha r itie s ;
! F o r th ough I knew Hi s l ove Wh o followed,
Yet was I sore adread
L es t having Him I must have naught beside !
But if one little c asement parted wide
The gust of His appr o ach would cla s h it to
Fear wist not t o evade as L o ve wist to pursue
Acr o ss the margent o f the wor ld I fled
And troubled the gold gateways of th e s tars
Smitin g f o r shel t er on th e ir clanged bars ;
Fretted t o dul c et jars
An d silvern chatter the pale p o rts 0 the moon
I s aid to dawn : Be sudden ; to eve : Be so o n
With thy young skyey bl o ssoms heap me over
From this tremend ous L over !
Floa t thy vague veil ab out me lest H e s ee !
I tempted all His servi tors but to find
My o wn betrayal in t heir c onstancy
In fai t h to Him t heir fi ckl en es s t o me
Their trai to r ou s trueness and their loyal d eceit
To all swift t hings f o r swiftness did I sue ;
Clung to the whistling mane of e v ery wind
But whether they swep t smoothly fleet,
The l ong savannahs o f t he blue ;
O r whether Thunder driven
They clanged His chariot thwart a heav en
Pla shy with flying lightnings r ound the s purn 0
their feet
Fear wist not to evade as L ove wis t to pursue
-
,
,
,
,
,
,
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,
,
.
.
,
,
’
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
.
,
-
,
,
’
,
’
.
The
of
Ho u nd
He a v e n
9
Still with unhurrying cha se
And unperturb ed pace
D elibera t e speed maj estic instancy
G a m e on the foll o wing Feet
And a Voice ab o ve their beat
,
,
,
,
,
Na u gh t
Me
th ee, wh o wi l t
s h el t er s
n ot s h el ter
.
I
sought no more that after which I s trayed
In face of man or maid ;
But sti ll within the little c hildren s eye s
Seems s ome t hing s omething that replies
Th ey at le as t are for me surely for me !
I turned me to them very wistfully ;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden f air
With dawning answer s there
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair
’
,
,
,
,
.
Com e then ye other children Nature s— sh are
“
”
With me ! s aid I ! your delicate fellow ship ;
L et me greet you lip to lip
L et me twine with you care ss e s
Wantoning
’
With our L ady M other s vagrant t r es p s ,
Ban queting
With her in her wind walled palace
Underneath her a z ured dai s
f
fi
u
n g a s your taintles s way i s ,
a
Q
From a chalice
Lu cent weeping out o f the day s prin g
S o it was done :
’
,
,
,
,
-
-
,
’
,
,
-
.
The
10
Ho u n d
o
f
He a v e n
‘
in thei r d elicate fellow ship was one
D re w the bolt of Nature s secre c ies
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face o f skies ;
I knew how t h e clouds arise
Sp u rn ed o f the wild sea snortings ;
All that s born or dies
Rose and dr o oped with ; made them shapers
O f mine own m oo ds or wailful or divi ne
With them j oye d and was b ereaven
I wa s heavy with the even
When she lit her glimmering taper s
R ound the day s dead sanctities
I laughed in the morning s eye s
I triumphed and I saddened wi t h all weather
Heaven and I wept together
And its swee t tears were s alt with mort al mine
Against the red thr ob o f it s sun s et heart
I laid my o wn to beat
And s hare c ommingling heat ;
But n o t by that b y that wa s eased my human
smart
’
In vain my tear s were wet on H eaven s gray
cheek
For ah ! we know not what each other s ays
These things and I ; in s ound I s peak
Th ei r s ound i s but their s tir they speak by
silences
Nature poor stepdame cannot slake my drouth ;
L et h er if she would owe me
D r op yon blue bosom veil o f sky and show me
’
The b reas t s 0 her tenderness
I
’
.
,
-
’
,
.
,
’
.
’
.
,
,
-
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
-
,
The
d id
of
H o u nd
He a v e n
1 1
milk o f her s once ble ss
My thirs ting mouth
an y
.
Nigh and nigh draws the ch a s e
Wi t h unper t urb ed pace
D el iberate sp eed maj estic in s tancy
And past those nois ed Feet
A Voice comes yet more fl eet
,
,
,
Lo !
,
n a u gh t con t en ts
n ot
Me
th ee, who
’
con t en t s t
.
Naked I wait Thy love s upli fted s troke !
My harne ss piece by p iece Thou ha s t hewn f rom
me
And s mitten me to my knee ;
I am defenceless utterly
I slept methinks and woke
And slowly gazing find me s tripped in sleep
In the ra s h lustihead of my young p o wers
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me ; grimed with smear s
I stand am id the dust o the mounded year s
M y mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke
Have pu ffed and burs t as sun start s on a s t r eam
Yea f aileth now even dream
The dreamer and the lute the lutani st ;
E ven the linked fanta sie s in whose blo ss omy twi s t
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist
Are yielding ; cord s o f all too weak account
For earth with heavy grief s s o ov er p l uss ed
Ah ! is Thy love indeed
A weed albeit an amaranthine weed
’
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
’
.
,
-
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
Th e
12
H o u nd
o
f
Hea ve n
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount !
Ah ! mus t
D esi gner infinite
Ah ! must Th o u char t he wood ere Thou cans t
l imn with i t !
My freshness spent its wavering sh ower i the
dust ;
And now my h ea rt is as a br oken f oun t
Wherein tear d r ippings stagnate split down ev er
Fr om the dank t h ought s t ha t shiver
Up on t he sighful bran c hes of my mind
Su c h is ; wha t is to be !
The pulp s o bitter h o w s hall tas te t h e rind !
I dimly guess what Time in mists confound s ;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
Fr om the hid battlements o f Eternity
Those shaken mists a s pace unsettle then
R ound the half glimp s ed turrets slowly wa sh
again ;
But not ere hi m who s u m m on eth
I first have seen enwound
With glooming robes purpureal cypress crowned ;
His name I know and what his trumpet s a ith
Whether man s heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest mus t Thy harvest fiel ds
Be dunged with ro tten death !
’
,
-
,
.
,
,
-
,
-
,
,
.
’
,
of that long pur suit
Comes on at hand the bruit ;
That Voice i s round me like a burstin g s ea
Now
“
A n d i s th y ea r th
S h a tter ed i n s h a r d
so
m a r r ed ,
on s h a r d
!
The H ou nd
of
H eav e n
1
3
L o, a l l things fly th ee, for thou flyes t M e !
S tr a nge, p i teou s , fu ti l e thi n g!
Wh er efor e s hou l d a n y s et th ee l ove a p a r t !
”
S eei ng n on e bu t I m a kes m u ch of n a u gh t
! He
s a id ! ,
An d h u m a n l ov e n eed s h u m a n m eri ti n g
How ha s t thou m er i ted
’
Of a l l m a n s cl o tted cl a y th e d i n gi es t cl ot !
A l a ck, tho u kno wes t n ot
How l i ttl e wor thy of a n y l ov e thou a r t !
Whom wi l t thou fin d to l ov e i gn obl e th ee,
S a v e M e, s a v e on l y M e !
All wh i ch I took fr om th ee I d id bu t ta ke,
No t for thy h a r ms ,
’
Bu t ju s t th a t th ou m i gh t s t s eek i t i n M y a r ms
’
A l l whi ch thy chi l d s m i s ta ke
F a n ci es a s l os t, I ha v e s tor ed for th ee a t hom e
”
R i s e, cl as p M y ha n d , a nd com e
.
.
H alt s by me that f oot fall
I s my gloom after all
Shade of Hi s hand outstretched ca r ess i n gl y l
,
,
‘
,
“
Thou
A h, fon d es t, bli n d es t, wea kes t,
I a m He Wh o m th ou s eekes t !
d r a v es t l ov e fr om th ee, wh o d r a ves t M e
.
C o nt e n t s
WORL D WAR J UST CL OSED
i
G m y—F t
l p i
P
f
B gi
w
i g Sp d — E t t
th
i l d —R l i gi —F m f g
R
Bitt
M th d
m
t
C t
—R l
t
N t l ity—App
i th vi t y
Th d i iv f t
THE S I G NI F I CANCE O F THE WAR
—A b h f
P pl i g q
ti
t
I t p t ti
Th
f ld i g i fi
S t
l t t tt m pt t w l d d m i i
—G t t i t
Ch i t i
fi ght P
C
fyi g
f ig ifi
t h t i ti —Th w p
l pl —Th id t t
THE CR I S I S CO M I NG IN T HE A F F AI RS
THE
e r e n ces
ex
e rs o na
e
nn n
nvo v e
e
ar
e
a ce s
e
en
e rn
ues
n e r re a
on
’
an a
r s
an
ca n
c
n
s
on s
so na
a
ca u s e
n
e
o
c or
e
o
no s
n
or
n on
n
n e n SI
cs
es
c a n ce
o
re a e s
e ac
ca u s e
.
s
a
ov
os
ea
u nc
a ra c e r s
ea
s
o
en
x
or
re e o
a es
o
re a
o ns
a an s
ac s
e rn e s s
a c or s
e
ex n
er
s
a re n
ec s
an
er
s
o
eu r a
e
n
e
ar a
er
.
E AR TH
O F THE
l y i g l I d fi g —Th w l d
it ti
t th
t i m —Th J w it ti
h —Th
pi it w l d — A l i ti
Th Ch
ti —A vi l k i g f k i g —Th p
f
—F i tph
t —Th
f Ch i t
ti
f j d gm t —S
d ph
i it ti
f
t —Th t iti p i d —Th
Ch i t
fi
i
d
w
g
J
i
e nd
s
ua
Fr
on
v s
’
r s
o
ex
-
s
r
s
e
r s
or
’
s
on
er
e
s r e u rn
e co n
e
ase
on
ra ns
on
ua
co a
n
o
en s
e
e
or
-
ase o
u
n
e rs
e
n
s re u rn
n
e
e
rs
on
a
n
-
e
n e
on
s e cu
ex
e
a
ons
na
n
-
u rc
e
o
na s
s
o
er o
e
e r.
THE N E W O R D E R
O N THE
THI NG S
OF
O L D E AR TH I M M ED I ATE L Y F O L L OW
ING THE CR I S I S
i d l—Th w l d w i d h
th
R i l l gi g—A G d ki gd m
th—Y t J w k i gd m —B t d i ll y
—
d
h
Th C h
dmi i
w
h i th
g
j
f
t t
f th k gd m —Th
m l w
t
d f l i f —B t
t i di l m l
h g —Th p p
f th k i gd m—It
l gth—N t th fi l th i g
Th e b ro k e n
ea
on
ac a
ea r
n
a
e
or
e
o
e
n
-
n
~
on
o
o
o ru s
c
e
-
a ra
u
e
ca
’
c
an
e
e
ra o r o
e
u re
c
an
en
an
e
in
e
o
es
e
o
o
u
ur
e
e sa
e
ce r a n
ra
ose o
na
IS
n
e
.
n s
e a
s
u rc
n
s o
a
ca
o
na
o ra
s
C o nte nts
16
THE EV I D E N CE
CAS E
IN T HE
twi l i ght—Am
I i H b kk k Z ph i h
J L
—
Th m
f
t
h
i
h
t
g
g
J m i h E ki l
D
il
—
h
Th m
f
t
l
w
d
w
H gg i Z h
g
i h I i h M l hi
i w fth m g fth N w
A b i f pi d
T t m t
h i g f th wh l Bi bl
m m y f th t
A
l
Th e
m e s s a ge s o f th e
Hos e a , M 1ca h , s a a h ,
o ng
a
os ,
a
u
an a
e
,
,
oe
es s a
e
an e
ar a
ra
es a
su
e s o
es o
sa a
,
r e
e n
e re
a
n
a
ze
,
e
,
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ess a
e
es o
a ac
,
re v e
en
ar
a
a
ec
,
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o
es o
ess a
e
e
e
.
o
e
n
ea c
s o
e
o e
e.
THE PR ES E NT O U TL OO K
t
iti f J
m
t Hi fi t
— Th
Th
i g
P i
P
C f
l g f ti —Th w l d d i ft b k t
— Th p
tJ wm
th
M d it
—M
d i ti
m t— Ch
h
l d iti
—Th
f i l i g i d t t—Th p
ti l tti
td
Th e
s ca n
n
re co gn
e
ea
ue o
e
e
en
na
ar s
o ns
co n
u rc
e.
A PPE ND I !
e a ce
e
e r ra ne a n
e un a
u
e s us a
on o
n
ac
co
o n e r e n ce
or
e
rs
s
’
s
o ve
e
o ns
o ra
es
e
o
ac
r
re s e n
e
co n
ra c
ca
o ns
a
The
18
Dee p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f th e
her ears had heard correctly It was our first
cl o se t o uch with the utter heartlessness and r e
fined brutal s elfishnes s of aggressive Pruss ian
militarism
We had gone up to Mecklenburg from Blank
e n b u r g in Thuringia in Central Germany the
lit t le town where F r oebel started his first kinder
garten Our Mecklenburg host was o ne o f the
inner group o f leaders in the Blankenburg Con
ference which corresponds roughly to Keswi ck
in England and to our own Nor th fi el d in M oody s
day
For ten day s there had been in attendance on
the Conference ne arly if not qui t e tw o t h ousand
persons They came from all over Germany
with a few from adj acent c o untries France and
Switzerland and Austria and Russia They ate
t o gether at noon at the large c o mmon dining
t ables under the t r ees nobility and mer chants
middle c lass and pea s ants all t o gether in a fine
Christian unity
And I have never looked into more th oughtful
earnest Spirit lit faces than those t hat l o oked up
in to mine daily du r ing t hose ten never t o b e
f o rg o tten days They bel onged to what is called
“
over there the G em ei n s h a ft t hat is the fell ow
ship gr oups thos e who had fell o wshi p together
with the L ord Jesus
The German Church seemed to divide into
thr ee gr oups The r e were the ra t ionali s tic lib
er a l s and radicals who were men t ally active a n d
aggressive There were tho s e orthodox i n be
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W o rl d W a r
The
J ust
Cl os e d
19
lie f who were per functorily proper and in a
deep rut And then there were the G em ei n s h a ft
These were little groups all over the empire
really converted people hungry hearted some
remaining within Church fellowship and some
wh o had formed independent congregations a s
in the Rhine districts
Those two pictures have lingered tenaciou sly
in my mind all through the war days the
heartlessly ambitiou s o fficers unscrupul o us ly
bent on their quarry regardless of methods who
repres ented the ruling dominating classes of the
empire And that democratic group of earnest
folk in their fine Chri stian unity who s tood for
the small minority
I was telling an American friend recently of
that Blankenburg scene And he blurted out
“
intensely
Where wer e all those people during
”
the war !
It s a question I ve often asked m y
s elf and a s often answered my own quest i on
most of them kn ew only a s much of the war as
the s trictly censored
government c ontrolled
newspapers allowed to s i ft throu gh to them
Some few wh o may have sensed t he real situa
ti on as I am persuaded some did d oubtles s
prayed much For what else could they do !
L iving under as despoti c a r égime as ever Metter
nich devised or Czar authorized with pris on o r
the firing squad awaiting prote s t what could
they do but bide their time and pray !
I have no thought of con sidering le ss than it
was or is the responsibility that rightly belongs
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The
20
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
War
f t he
to the Germ a n people But I certainly ha ve n o
sympathy with the attempt being made to b e
smirch the essential character o f the German
masses because they are German
Things are
bad enough without that The Germans have
their own natural characteristics but they a r e
fully the equals intellectually and in moral d i s
ce r n m e n t o f t hose against whom they fought
That makes their condemnation the gr eater
What is th e r ea l m ea ni ng o f thi s war ! Such
a stupendous event h as a meaning And the
thoughtful Christian i s con c erned t o di scern
clearly just what that es sential meaning is O f
course we re a l l c o ncerned inten s ely intimately
from ev er y s ta ndpoint But chiefly the Chri s
tian is concerned b eca u s e he i s a foll ower o f
Chri s t And it is of that deeper meaning that
I want to t a lk a bit here
Jesu s was a world man in s ize He di d not
come to the Jew merely That was only the
door He came thr ou gh the Jew d o or but He
came to a wor l d He did not come to Palestine
simply That was merely the door s ill He
step p ed acr o ss the Palestinian do o r sill but H e
came t o a world
He talked about a world though humanly He
came o f a pe o ple peculiarly clannish He liv ed
f o r a world He said And it was for a world
He died He said And at the last He talked to
t h e inner group o f disciples about a world cam
He was a world man in size and reach
p a i gn
and amb ition
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W o rl d W a r J u st Cl o s e d
The
21
And s o the true f ollower of Christ i s a worl d
man i n size and outlook and praying and think
ing And s o he i s intensely concerned about
thi s war because it i s a world war, really th e
fi r s t world war in actual extent
It ranks a s one of the world s most s tupendou s
events It ranks with the b reak u p of the R o man
empire by the northern invasion centering in the
sa cking o f Rome by Al aric It ranks with the
checkin g o f the Saracen invasion of Europe at
T o ur s in the eigh t h century and with the
Reformation and the Napoleonic ca m p a i gn i n gs
For all of these pro f oun dly a ffected the af t er
civilization o f E urope and the world Th e
f our years war has upset t h e life o f the world
industrially fin ancially socially and p olitically
a s has no other equal period of time And the
thoughtful Christian w an t s to get it placed in h is
thinking in clear b old true outline
I have b een trying hard for f our year s to s ee
things a s they really are with no prejudicial
c o l o uring in my glasses It wa s my privilege to
b e in the British Isles f or a year and a half on
an errand for t he Master before the war came
It t ook me from the S cottish Highlands to C orn
wall and to the Isle o f M an a n d Ir el a n d
I ate at the British board warmed by their
fires sheltered under their roofs slept in their
beds and knelt by their family altars And I
love the British people I f you want t o kno w
a real homey home g o to a typ ical E ngl i s h home ,
and Sc ottish and Irish and Wel sh
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Th e
22
o f t he
D e e p e r M e a ni ng
W ar
And f or s omething le ss than a year the sa me
errand took me up and down and acro s s the land
of the German s I ate their bread and salt
sheltered from s torm under their roofs slept
sweetly in their beds talked by their fire s o f the
deeper th ings and knelt with them in prayer
A nd I came to love the Ge rman pe o ple
Some
o f my deare s t f riends are on that side of the
Chan nel
There i s no homier home than the character
i s ti c Christian German home
And there t oo,
I learned something of aggres sive Prussian
militarism at least en ough to hate it with all
my s oul and to enli s t all my powers against it
But I have tried most ea rnestly t o put away the
personal s ide and to see things as they r eally
are without partiality or prejudice or wron g
passion as far as that i s po ssible
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Th e E s s en ti a l F a cts
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And I want here to gather u p and get in c l ear
outline th e es s en ti a l fa cts of the war And in
our next talk I want to try to get at a fair com
prehensive i n ter p r eta ti on of those fact s
Wh en the war br oke out we a ll said thought
les sly without much measuring of words that
it was the w o rst of all wars An d as ten s e weeks
grew into anxious month s and into face wr i n
kling hair whiting year s we found ours elves
“
saying very thoughtfully and measuredly The
”
worst war
It b egan s m a ll but moved fa st The cloud no
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W o rl d W a r J u s t Cl o se d
The
2
3
b igger than many another that ble w away grew
quick ly till all the world s sky wa s black a n d
all the world s life s ucked into the wild st o rm
An irresponsible man s quick passionate a c t
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another man s life swift ly ebbed out little Serbia
—
and giant Austria at o uts the n gradually but
swiftly all the world engulfed
The active belligerent s and the non active i h
cl u d e every imp o rtant nati o n of West and E a s t
and many s m a ll er on es It has been easier and
quicker to name those technically neutral than
those directly engaged And s ome of the neutral s
have suffered fr o m war c o ndition s far m o re than
s ome belligerents Tw o great n ational rev ola
ti ons the Russ1 an and the G erman and three
outstanding abdi c ations i n Russ ia Germany
and Au s tria stand out in the mix u p o f r ev ol u
tion s and the toppling of thrones and the f alling
o f crowns
All six continents have been involved reckon
ing Australia a s the island continent Five of
the six have been directly repre s ented on the
firing line Three of the six E ur o p e Asia and
Africa have had their soil ploughed with shell
and l ead and wet with preci ou s blood And
a fourth our own has been subje c ted t o vi olence
traceable directly t o the war inv o lving many
lives and million s of money All the seas of the
planet have been the s cene of fighting action
All the d omi n a n t r a ces have been involved
C elt and Saxon and Teuton L atin and G reek
a n d M agyar Slav and Turk and M ongo l I ndian
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The
D ee p e r M e a n ing o f the W a r
and African and everywhere the J ew not t o
attemp t to name the minor racial subdivisi on s
and blends Turbaned Indians almond eyed
Chines e dark hued Africans bearded Russian s
and olive skinned Portuguese have fought side
by s ide with French and B elgi an Briti sh and
American
All the d o m i n a n t r el i gi ons have been included
—
Three clas s as Christian Roman Catholic
Greek Orth o d ox
and Protestant Moham
m ed a n i s m tha t s trange mi x ture of Hebraism and
heathenism has been on opp o sing sides o f a con
And th o se clas s ed as
fl i ct f o r the first time
Brahmanism Bud
n on Christian o r heathen
d hi s m C o nfucianism Shint o ism Taoism have
been in the lis t s not to ment ion the numerous
m inor subdivisions and blends religi o usly
The Christian has fough t t he Confucianist a n d
the Shint oist has f ought with the Chris t ian a nd
against him Cath olic has been pitted agai nst
Catholic and Greek and Protestant and Brah
man Greek Orthodox has s ided with non
Chri s tian and against him It s been a pitiable
m i x u p until the non Christian w o rld has been
wondering about the Christian s claims to
higher standards
The mix u p of forms of government ha s been
curious Abs o lute autocracy and constituti onal
monar chy have worked with and again s t d em oc
r a ci e s
It s been intere sting t o note that whi le
the autocratic principle has been s uppos ed to
strengthen mi litary e fficiency yet it has been
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Th e
26
Dee p e r M ea n ing
o
f t he
W ar
soldier s They made war not against men
me r ely but against the civilization of the na
t i ons attacked The sacredness of womanhood
and of chastity of childh o od and old age wa s
tr ampled in the mire wi t h ghoulish glee The
civilized world s tood aghast The c ommone st
decencies of life were r uthlessly disregarded
Churches were desolated home s des t royed
manufact o ries s tripped of machi nery and
levelled libraries and art galleries l oot ed bank
vaul t s rifled p o pulations dep o rted pris oners put
to hideous torture And all this when n o pre
t ense of military necessity could p ossibly be
pleaded One c ould not credit the facts were
they not so carefully and reliably authenticat ed
And the evi dence constantly grow s that it wa s
done deliberately planned f or and initiated by
t he highest aut horities
I t is en ough to make Teutonic faces burn with
shame f o r generati on s t o come aye human
fa c es that fellow humans c ould sink s o low
It may well be d o ubted if the c ommon masses
of Germany knew what was going on The ut t er
disregard of every moral consider ation by the
G erman s could not have been more marked
And if such t hin gs could be made yet more
loathsome it was in this that all this wa s
ac companied by the use o f pious phraseology
The r e was the persi s tent attempt to cloak a l l
that wa s done under preten s e of partnershi p
with God The shocking blasphemy of religiou s
pretense made even worldly men indignant a n d
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W o rl d W a r J u s t Cl o s e d
Th e
2
7
Christian folk s ick at heart And yet this fit s
in naturally wit h the tr u e interpretation o f the
war as we shall see later
One particul a rly bright ligh t s hi ne s clearly
out That was the p er s on a l s a l va ge wor k done
am ong the Allied force s M edi c al science and
Chris t ian humanitarian e ffort as represented by
the Red Cr o ss never made s uch rec o rds bef o re
for thorough whole hearted intelligent and suc
ces s fu l w o rk n o r the h o me people in their n u
parallelled gifts An d the re s ults contributed
in c alculably to the v ictory
And n o such s ervice wa s ever done for the
m or a l wel fa r e of the men
It i s to the never
to be f orgotten credit of the Young Men s Chri s
tian A ss ociation that s o pr omptly s o e fficiently
and s o acceptably they thre w all the s trengt h
of their remarkably organized human machinery
into alliance with governmental effor t And
other s quickly f ol lowed their noble lead It i s
to be earnestly hoped that the ard o ur o f s uch
wo r k will not dim the eye to the essentials o f
real Christian s ervice at once s o s imple and yet
so radical
And th e cos t o f the war ! The variou s ex
pert s are s till figuring on e s timates f or restitu
tion But figures are c old things at the be st
The cost i n l i nes blotted out and crippled run s
int o many million s The co st i n coi n run s into
billions many times repeated And the co s t i n
—
suf
er
i
n
f
g broken heart s and broken home s
wrec k ed live s acidly emb ittered memories and
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The
28
D e ep e r M e a ning
o
f t he
War
violent s etback to civilization— this can never
be told in figures nor words
How cou l d neu trali t y be possible in s uch a
confl ict ! The techn ical di plomatic neutrality
that so me nation s wisely adopted f or safety s
s ake has been quite impo s sible to men personall y
In the earnest desire to limi t the sphere of the
w a r neutrality wa s urged upon us Americans
exten di ng even to ou r think ing But s ome of u s
wondered how it wa s possible where a m or a l
is s u e wa s involved
How could there b e neu
t r a li ty where right and wr ong were at s take !
If we could make millions o ut of European trade
’
wh y couldn t we con s istently expres s our utt er
n ational repugnance at the gro ss i m morality o f
the invasion o f our little B elgian br o ther na
tion even though the technicalities were agains t
such action !
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The Ca u s es A p p a r en t
a nd
R ea l
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us take a brief look at th e a p p a r en t ca us es
o f the war From the first the German govern
ment insisted that they were fighting in defense
o f their f atherland The common talk on that
si de of the Channel f or year s had been ab out the
menace o f English navalism And the c hronic
c ondition s o f unrest in the Balkans and the c on
stant undercurrent of intrigue in E uropean
p olitics c ould be easily turned and twisted into
an o ccasion to s uit their purpose
Further the imperial c onstitution gave the
Kaiser the right to declare war on l y in d efens e
L et
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Th e W o rl d
W a r J u s t Clo s e d
29
o f the country not otherwise S o that preten s e
was held t o strenuously O f course it has long
since been expl o ded int o countless fragment s
even on t he banks of the Rhine and the Spree
Great Britain entered the war apparently and
te c hni c ally because the neutrality of B elgium
had been violated The Congress of Vienna in
1 8 1 5 had tied Holland and B elgium up t o ge t her
regardless of racial and religious and language
di fferences The insistence of B elgium on living
her own national life had been approved b y the
Conference o f L ondon in 1 8 31
And the five other nation s immediately con
cerned France England Austria Ru s sia and
Prussi a had solemnly pledged themselve s t o
observe strictly her neutral statu s Her terri
t ory was to be respected and not invaded Ger
many admitted that she had deliber ately and
bru t ally broken her pledge to suit her purpose
Technically B elgium was defending her n eu
tr a l i ty a n d E ngland wa s k eeping her treaty
pledge
But one doe s n t need to s cratch the s urfac e
mu c h to get at th e r ea l ca u s e underlying the se
L o o k first at the real cause on th e G er m a n s i d e
And here one is saved the trouble o f expressing
any personal judgm ent on the fac ts i n the case
It is en o ugh simply to qu ote a Ger man a Ger
man scholar and historian Treitschke dead s om e
eighteen years before the war b egan
If the war finds embodiment in any one as i ts
r ea l genius and it s deepest in s piration it i s n ot
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0
3
o f t he
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
in t he Kais er nor v on Mol tke not H indenbur g
nor Tirpitz nor L udendorf guilty a nd r es p on
sible as these men are It wa s in this man
Treitschke whose intense s pirit and genius lived
again in the war
Heinrich v o n Treit schke wa s born in Saxony
a blend of Slav and Teuton blood He was tall
wi t h a s t rong fine face straight black hair and
kee n dark th oughtful eye s Hi s voice wa s
harsh due doubtless to hi s being stone deaf from
a childhood sickness His speech was intense
and abrupt and marked with an unmi s takable
Sax on accent
When he lectured a s he did every winter at
the Berlin University for years his lec t ure hall
was packed All classes eagerly came and
hungrily listened t hr ough his long lectures
Royalty and nobility o fficers and me r chants and
t radesmen
j o s tled elb ows dem o cratically and
good naturedly to hear thi s in t ense Saxon a d
v o cate o f Pruss ian supremacy
I need quote only a few sentences from his
lips quoting freely They will s o und blunt and
even brutal in English bu t n ot as terse and
blunt a s in his own Sax on a cc ented Germ an
m ade more empha t ic by his harsh voice
He
would say repeatedly
England has s tolen a
”
fourt h to a third of the surface of the earth
He hated England bitterly and made no bone s
“
o f his hatred
We had as go o d a right to it
a s sh e he would s ay
“
We ough t to h ave taken it We ought to go
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W a r J u s t Cl o se d
The W o rl d
3
1
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and ta ke it We must do it For the world s
good we mu s t take it We are the world s
natural leader s
Year in and year out for
over twenty year s Treitschke dinned this int o
Ge r man ears wi t h all t he burning intensity of
his intense spirit The real cause of the war
cannot be s tated so well and s o briefly as in thi s
German s own word s
On the o ther side England was fighting fo r
her world leadership and f or her life her free
national life And right well the English
leaders knew it The attack on Pari s through
Belgium was an attack aimed at the heart o f
L o ndon
And instantly the astute statesmen
of L ondon s o recognized it It is s aid that the
c o mm o n remark of the inner German circle had
been with variation s
Three weeks to Pari s ;
three month s to L ondon ; three year s to New
York !
’
Great Britain ha s been the world s leader for
generations In high ideal s of civilizati o n i n
sisted upon i n world movement in trade i n
prompt vigorous action when action wa s needed
she ha s been recognized as the world s earnest
insistent aggre s sive leader It ha s been a
growing world leaders hip s ince the new world
life o pened up
The venturesome Spaniard who discovered the
American C ontinent did far more He opened
the door s of a new world life The c enter o f
trade that had s wirled abou t the Mediterranea n
swu ng to the Atlantic and then slowly to th e
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2
3
Dee p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f t he
Pa c ific There came a new world con s ciousness,
slowly and yet really swif t ly
Trade pushed out of t he Gibraltar Strai ts
acr o ss the A t lantic A nd from the fi r st Great
B r itain f o rged to the front as w o rld leader n o t
me r ely in trade but in ideals Now Britain
She
was fighting for her world leadership
p oured out blood and coin for her ide al s and for
her life
It is o f intensest interest to analyze the victory
that ha s c o me It is of real value immens e
value t o rec o gnize clearly j u s t h ow v i ctor y ca m e
England s instant rec o gnitio n o f the challenge
t o France as meant f o r herself was the first s t ep
o f the victory t hat c ame so long after The
quick a s a fi a s h s ensing o f the wh o le situati on by
the c lear visi oned leaders o f L ond o n was the first
serious disturbance that threatened the German
plans
E arnestly patiently even pleadi ngly British
dipl omacy did i t s best i t s sh e er utm o st best t o
avert wa r But all e ffo r t s were s t ubb o r nly r e
pulsed and balked It be c ame clear that war
was de t ermined upon Then sharp qui ck t he
decisi o n was made to ally England with France
and make their cause one This must rank firs t
in the analysis of vic t ory
Thr ee t imes in three hundred years Engl a nd
ha d led in c hecking t he p ower o f t yranny that
t hrea t ened t o o verrun Europe In the end of
the Sixteenth Century Philip II of Spain had
caught t h e f ever of world d o minion that h as
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The
34
o f t he
D e e p e r M e a n in g
War
such prompt action and in time t o such decisive
,
vi ctory
u
s
little
Belgium
brave
little
Belgi
m
mu
t
B
u
t
7
'
Her rare courage in
be given the hero place
puttin g honour fir s t and daring actually daring
t o resist the greatest army ever ga t hered and
in the full flush of it s b old initiative gives her
the hero place Her boldne ss gave Germany a
check that thwarted her i n the thing m o st vital
to h er plan s namely l ightning speed of move
ment a check from w hi c h she never recovered
And France o utnumbered from the first bled
white dripping red at every pore never fii n ch e d
Tw o genera t ions o f her sons had been taught to
expect just su c h an attack And when it came
France s poken of c omm only as giddy and pleas
ure lovi ng made a new rec o r d among the nations
f o r c o urage sheer strength of s pirit that r e
fused to be whipped agains t tremendous odds
insist ed on refu sing to give up
And o ur own United States had a big share
in the vi ctory We were a bit sl o w and late
Three th ousand miles of i s olating brine had c ut
us ofi fr o m European politic s Our clocks ran
a bit late by European schedul e s Subtle Ger
man intrigue had slowed the governmental wheels
i h all a llied c ountries to an extent that may
never be ful ly kn own
If strong words ch os en with rare aptne ss had
been matched by strong dee ds as pr o mptly done
a lot could doubtless have been s aved o f time
and blood and suffering But that s pas t n ow
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Th e W o rl d
W a r J u s t Cl o se d
35
it go We did come in at last And when
we did we came with a ru sh full speed American
Am erican number s and American g old
Style
American manhood and American intensity at
its inten s est cam e in , and came in j u st in th e
nick o f time
L et
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Th e D e ci s i v e F a c tor s i n th e Vi ctor y
.
Th e d ecis i v e fa c tor s i n th e
v i c tor y
are worth
noting carefully The first f actor to be name d
’
is the Bri ti s h N a v y It didn t have to get ready
It wa s ready It always i s Silent non bluster
ing prompt e fficient almos t pain fully mod es t
at time s in statements o f i ts own achievemen ts ,
it went to work in s tantly
The seas of the world were swept clean o f
enemy efi or t s with sporadic exceptions Even
that new venom ous devil fi s h o f the seas the s u b
marine was being choked slowly but surely be
f o re the end came on land One wonder s t hat
more has not b een said ab o ut the victory of the
sea s running through those fir s t years It was
alm o st a bloodle ss vi ctory before the sub marin e
began its work
Th e Bri tish Navy cleared the s ea s o f the world
effectually blocked German ports cut G ermany s
cable communications and kept the German
fleet tied up in her harbours The o ne ex cep
tion when that fleet d i d come out and then made
a record run back empha s ize s the s tatement
The British Navy wa s a wall o f fire round about
the Ameri can nation and con t inent from th e
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Th e
6
3
D e e p er M e a n i n g
W ar
o f th e
firs t And when we came in wi th o ur splendid
millions of splendid men tha t navy was t he chief
fac t or in getting our men t o t heir j ob We
c ould never have d one wha t we did wi t h out the
English b o ats The various sta t ements run
a r ound two thirds as t o the num b er of o ur men
ca r r ied over in British bottoms to the scene o f
acti o n
C oming clos er to the day of decision there are
three fact ors t o ge t her that stand out a s de
—
i
i
u n ifi e d efi o r t
F och and the American
c s ve
men The little Welsh giant premier of the
B r i t ish empire had the genius t o see t hat the
allied effo rt m u s t be unified He had the daring
to put Bri t ish men and o fficers under French
orders though it to ok rare c o urage and i n
sistence t o get it done Absolute unity of ef
fort men of different nati ons intermingled till
the armies were o ne army in efi ect— thi s was the
keystone o f the arch that no German General
Sta ff could budge
Then Foch was put in command of that unified
army One brain d ominated all And such a
brain ! And yet m o re su c h a spiri t ! Su c h i n
tensity of spi r it t hreatening i t s slender tenement
by t he fi e r cen es s o f its flame And then the
American men eager fresh daring under able
fearless command were put in the crisis place
of t he fighting and at the crisis time
And chief of the three was Fo c h Back of
Fo c h the Generali ssimo was Foch the m a n In
his t eens he had witnessed t he humilia t ion of
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The
W o rl d W a r
J
u
s t Cl o s e d
37
his c ountry at Sedan And then it was that he
began praying a n d began training that some
day that wr ong sh o uld be righted His life wa s
one long preparation
Sixty six years were pa cked into a few months
A lifetime wa s s pent in getting ready f or final
events packed into le ss than a thi rd of a year
Hard work unsparing dis c ipline ceaseless s tudy
thorough thinking earnest praying and an n u
conquerable s pirit all under a ma sterful will
and brought to white heat when and where
needed and the s teel hard opposition wa s f orced
to melt away
Hi s books on s trategy had b een tran slated in t o
G erman a generation ag o and pored over and
criticized studied and analyzed and m a s ter ed
it was supposed Then the Prussian s had a
tas te of the man And they found the man more
than hi s b o oks They mastered the books but
were ma stered by the man
It i s of intensest interest t o mark Foch s part
i n the war from t h e very fir s t
The German
plan of action is n o w quite clear Breaking
through B elgium and L u x u m b er g like a whirl
wind their L eft drove due south planning a vast
encir c ling movement tha t would bag the wh o le
French Army and capture Paris B old enough
surely
But its success depended on every part work
ing
Belgium was the first se r ious check
Golden t ime was l o s t there And F o ch was in
command in the s outh in Fren c h L o rraine a nd
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The
8
3
De e pe r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
first held and then defeated the German L eft
That wa s a s erious blow Th e whole German
m o vement was imperilled Then it wa s F o ch
that wa s s ent by J offre s genius to the critical
pla c e in the First Marne And again he gave
the German s a stinging defeat It was the sec
ond serious blow in France
Then t he Germans made their d r ive toward the
Ch a nnel por ts And again it was F o ch under
Joffr e s orders driving hard all ni ght l ong to
get in touch with the British command t hat by
reinf o r c ement s and more by sheer force of
spirit checked the enemy at the fi r st grea t bat t le
of Ypres The enemy had reas on t o fear F oc h
from the b eginning They made his acquaint
ance at the very s tart That final victory was
piled on top of others dating from the very first
m onth of t he war
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Th e Bi ges t F a ctor
g
.
But the chie f thing in Foch hasn t yet been
men t i oned He is a man who p r a ys This is
the tap root underlying and fertilizing all the
rest B ehind his life o f discipline and study is
his keen fertile brain Back of his brain his
spirit indomitable unbreakable Back o f his
spiri t is hi s tou c h o f heart reveren t habitual
intelligent with God
A y oung Californian soldier has given a pic
ture which he has enshrined in memory as one
of the most precious of his life One day some
where i n France he made u se o f his off duty
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Wo rl d W a r J u s t Cl o s e d
Th e
39
leis ure t o look a round the little French tow n
where he was bil leted He went into the old
c hurch
As he s tood bareheaded respec t fully looking
a small slender gray haired man ente r ed with
the insignia of a general on his shabby uniform
He was acc ompanied by an orderly The young
m an didn t t hink of him especially at first but
then n o ted curiously that he went f o rward and
k nelt in prayer He waited Fully three
quarters of an h our pass ed
Then the small man rose from hi s knee s and
slipped quietly out to the street The young
soldi er followed and wa s star t led to see sol
dier s excitedly saluting and women and chil
dren stopping to st are with awestruck faces It
was F o ch And thi s i s said to be his constant
h abit
He begins and ends hi s day with quiet
unhurried prayer And he comm only slips int o
a c hurch wherever he i s for the quiet prayer
there
Ah ! This give s the final f actor the under
most thing in these decisive fact o r s and working
t hrough them
Back o f Foch back of unified
e ffo rt ba c k o f L loyd George insisting on the
united move was G od ! I am n o t dealing with
the significance o f the war here That fol l o ws
Only with the f actors And without doubt thi s
fac to r God the real God counts and weigh s
bi ggest
Fr o m the fi r st abrupt break over the B elgian
b oundary it has been recog nized that prayer
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Th e
0
4
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f th e
has been a great fact o r The praying spi r i t and
a tt itude o f Allied gener als and leaders have been
mu c h sp oken of In Oc t ober 1 9 1 4 when news
was br ought t o Kit c hener t hat J offre was d o ing
what seemed humanly impossible actually hold
ing the Germans at the Marne he is said to have
“
ex c laimed reverently
S o mebody s been pray
”
ing
That first tense tremendous year brought
s o me bits fr om the battle fi el d tha t s o me o f u s
like to remember still The st o ry of
the
”
Angels o f Mons
has bee n cri t i c ized a g oo d
deal An d i t is quite possi b le that it may have
grown as it passed fr o m m outh t o lip
Bu t c er t ain thi ngs ab out it s t and and s tand
out c lear and unmistakable Some t hing hap
pened that t ouched and awed and inspi r ed com
m o n s oldiers sheer out numbered withou t a
chan c e to resist and stand and fight and turn
the tide of action And it wa s a s omething n o t
schedul ed in the usual fighting schedule
It was a something that c hanged the men who
witnessed it and affected their lives A thin
wavering then br oken line rallied and held
agai nst vastly superior numbe r s Those men
believed it was some s ort o f divine interposition
It was in the first crisi s when the enemy m o ve
ment was intensest and the Allies the least ready
“
S ome of us like t o recall the st orie s of The
”
Comrade in White
They too came in those
first terrific c ri sis days I t was the Fren c h s ol
di er s that made the simple phra s e It was said
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THE S I GNI F I CAN C E OF THE WAR
G etti n g You r F
ooti n g
.
there s a God wh er e is He !
That tense
ques ti o n was asked me by a friend a war co rre
He st an ds high i n hi s profess i on h is
s p on d en t
He has
n ame appearing with his dispatches
s een s ervice on nearly every b attle front of the
war if not actually all
From my pers onal acquaintance with him it
did not seem to me lik e a cri t i c al skep t ical ques
t i on d oubting the existence o f God It was
rather t he earnest que s ti o n of an h onest m an
puzz led o ver the events with whi c h he came in t o
such close painful t o uch His letter spoke o f
the s iege days in Antwerp when the B elgians
besee c hing prayers fil led the churches And t hen
the sharp c ontrast when his errand to ok him into
S outh Germany where he heard the pe o ple in
the chur c hes thanking G o d for German victory
The ques t i on wa s wrung out by the experiences
and sigh ts he went through
That question has been asked no end o f times
asked in sore s t suffering in dire extremity in
puzzled perplexity and in cynical skeptici sm
Certainly the war h as s eemed an unanswerable
”
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2
4
The Sig n i fic a nc e
W ar
o f t he
43
puz z le to many earnest religi ous f ol k The
ques tion s have c ome thick and fast
”
“
Ha s Christiani t y broken down ! they as k
Individually it certainly has n o t br oken down
Th ousand s in the thi ck of the fighting have given
that an swer Certainly in principle and in t he
power kn own by countless numbers the answer
“
is an emphatic N
Yet there s more to s a y
“
”
here There s a pain fu l ye s that i n sists on
coming
Christianity ha s b roken do wn or at least
s omething has broken down that bore that label
in l ar ge capi t al s Certainly there was not enough
of the real article i n Central Eur o pe to prevent
t he hellish out break And there wasn t enough
o u ts i d e t o keep it from breaking o ut
The salt
in c ommon use had l o st its saltiness It didn t
keep things healthful The c ommon con v en
t i on a l type o f Ch r is t ianity certainly ha s br o ken
d o wn And it is a bad breakd own t o o
The real thing has n t br o ken d o wn for a very
goo d reason : i t ha s n t b een tr i ed I mean o f
c o urse commonly in the practical c onduct o f
national a ffairs Christ hasn t br oken down
’
He hasn t really got in yet And t h a t is n o t
expressing a critical personal expe r ien c e I t i s
simply repeating a commonplace o f Eur o pe
The chancellories of Europe have been
Machiavellian in t heir p olicies and man oeuvers
and intrigues f o r gene r ati on s con fe s sedly so
The Fl o rentine statesman has given hi s name t o
the unscrupulous unprin c ipled s ta t es cr a ft d es
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D e e p e r M e a n in g o f the W a r
The
44
of moral quality that puts expedien c y and
s u cc ess above right
Why does G o d permit it, with s o muc h
suffering by the inn o cen t !
has been asked
Others have p o inted to the pers onal blessings
that have come to so many who under stress o f
imm inent battle have decided for Christ Yet
on the other hand many have g o ne into rankes t
cynicism and skepticism
Much s pace has been given to certain go o d r e
The countles s ins t ances of bravery the
s ui t s
heroi c deeds the self f o rgetful sa crifi c es the
utter ab andon of all though t of self in the tense
action and tireless work both in the armies and
outside all this s o rt o f thing so th o roughly and
only admirable has g o t marked emphasis in some
quarters as being a sufficient g oo d to j ustify the
catastrophe having b een permitted War h a s
even been expl o ited a s valuable because it d oes
arouse the heroic
Yet surely it become s clear that it was not war
but the t er r ifi c em er gen cy made by war tha t
brought out t hese g o od results The daring that
thro t tle s a mad d o g o r st o ps a wild runaway
h o rse d o esn t usually c all o ut praise of su ch dogs
and h o rses but only o f the splendid c ourage of
the man who met the emergen c y at the r isk of hi s
own life
The emergency of being atta cked di d bring ou t
most noble t r ai t s All praise to t h o se wh o thre w
themselves passi onately into the breach There
is only c on t empt o r pity for those who would not
t i tu t e
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Th e S ig n i fi c a n c e
o f t he
War
45
meet su c h an emergency in whatever way thei r
c onscience permi tted The emergency was so
plain and the call s o impera t ive Yet common
place daily life is chock full o f m or a l emer
i
never
di
s
cerned
or
i
f
noticed
c
a
l
mly
n
c
s
e
e
g
disregarded
And the wild vagarie s o f prophetic teachings
o f which the p r ess ha s been s o full have been
enough t o make t he average s ane man forever
give all pr o phecy a wide berth except where he
may have had an inkling o f s ome poised pro
p h et i c teaching
It s been a time o f confusion earnest b ewilder
ment as t o wh y ! Clear simple analytical think
ing and teachi ng have been a t a very high
premium hard for common folk to get And
yet prayerful study has slowly made some things
stand out clear and sharp
There s a bunch of n e ts that may help u n
ravel the kn otty puzzle Perhaps it s ha r dly
needful n o w to sa y that it was n o t Armageddon
th ough that questi o n came so frequen t ly
Armagedd on has been used rhetorically for any
great decisive moral co nflict It is used on c e
in S c riptur e for the final bat t le between go od
and evi l God and Satan Clearly this was not
that
It i s n ot a ful filment of any particular
prophecy That i s qu ite unmistakably clear
The general trend and c haracteristic s of the age
are indi c a t ed in certain prophetic s ayings But
that is the m os t that can be said there We are
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6
4
The
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
o f the
living in the prophetic gap The thread o f u n
fulfi lled prophe c y is not picked up again u n til
.
th e J
ew
r en a ti on a l i z ed
is
.
It clea r ly has n ot been God acting in judg
ment on the s o called Christian nations for their
lukewarmn ess and so on God is not acting in
judgment at pres ent happily for us a ll The
day o f gra c ious opp o rtuni t y is being patiently
lengt hened out And it has n ot been God acting
to cleanse His Chur c h ex ce pt as it may be tru ly
said that all eme r gen c ies and sore expe r ien c es
are op p or tu n i ti es for t hose who will accept them
as door s in to a purer stronge r li fe
And it should be said very clearly and thought
ful ly that i t is n ot a part of God s plan In
deed i t has been dead set against God s plan It
has been only hear t breaking to Him G od
never needs bad t o get His good d one He never
use s b ad
Go o d never c omes out of bad
Though the emergency may call out the good i n
s p i te of th e b a d
”
And there is o ne other not to put in the
group unhappily th ough it pains one to be com
It is n o t the la s t war, i f the old
p el l e d t o d o it
B oo k of God i s trustworthy
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Th e S ov er ei gn ty
n
M
a
f
o
.
But negatives ar e only h al f an answer and
s ometimes a very tantalizing hal f Isn t there
m o re ! Yes there are some thin gs qu ite clea r and
u nmi st akable on th e p os i ti v e s i d e
The whole case
can be stated fully in one simple sentence Th e
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The S ig n i fi c a n c e
o
wa r was th e r es u l t of m a n
of ch oi ce a nd a c ti on
’
f t he
War
47
f hi s fr eed om
use o
s
.
I t sho uld never be forg o tten that the ini tiative
o f ac t ion o n the earth is in human hands Tha t
h a s been a primary dominant law of human life
on t he ea rth since E den G o d is ver y bold
Man is daring The devil is daring Go d i s
He is so
m o re daring than either or both
daring as to have made an experiment a daring
experiment the greatest experiment ever made
An experiment is putting c e r tain principles to
the test of experience The experiment if
succes s ful i s an exposition and vindica t i on
of the principle s In t hi s ca s e the ex p er i
ment is to vi ndicate both God and man the true
man
God made man in Hi s own image That is
He made h i m free wholly ab s olutely free to
choos e and act a s he would And He never i n
fringe s ou that utter actual freedom by so mu c h
a s the half blinking of an eyelas h or a third t he
width of a narrow hair
G o d is a sovereign Man i s a s overeign— i n
the realm of hi s will There he sits in imperial
s olitu de ch oo sing t o d o as he ch ooses In this he
is like G o d It is the God image He is like
God in the right of c h o i c e even when he i s mos t
u nlike Him in the way he uses his r igh t
This is fundamental God has pledged Him
self to thi s And when things g o wr o ng He
u ses His s trength to restrain Himself fr om i n
t er fe r i n g that s o He may p r es erve to man that
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The
8
4
D ee p e r Me a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
rar est gift L o ve is s ometimes st r ongest in its
res t r ain t s It reveal s i t self most in patienc e,
feeling to the hurting point but yet waiting
C o uld God have st o pped t he war ! Yes
qui c ker than you can think so far as mere p ower
is co n c er ned But there i s one t hing greater
—
t han G o d s p ower Hi s l ov e Some of us need
t o revise ou r ideas o f l ove It is a pure strong
intelligent sensitive con tr o ll i n g passi on
God cou l d have st o pped t he c ar nage and suffer
ing But for l o ve s sake He w o uldn t and He
didn t It w o uld have been infringing on man s
highest power his free ch oi c e and a c ti on There
is abundant evidence t ha t He went just as far
as He co uld— t o the ve r y edge— t o help wi t h out
tha t inf r ingement He helped only t hr ough
human c h a nnels
The sailor must have a c ompass and a n
an c h or : the compass to steer by in an open s ea
the anch o r t o steady by in t he sh a ll ows If he
hasn t t hem he d r ifts badly and mayb e w o rs e
he may los e boat and life We need c ompass
and an ch or to steer and s t eady by F or the sea
o f life is rough any time and awfu lly rough
s ome t imes
’
The anchor t o steady by i s— G od s l ov e Hi s
l ove is ab ove suspi c ion It is unfailing Never
allow y ourself t o ques t ion it in any fog or s torm
o r swamp
This is t he one anchor t ha t h old s
the only o ne
And the compass t o steer b y out on the sea
out of sight of land in the tangle and confusion
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Th e
0
5
of
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
the
t he intricate network of human wills God i s
working He i s preventing a di s astrou s sm a s h u p
tha t would be a wind u p
He i s c onstan t ly
shaping restraining steadying
It
w o oing
means further that in the long run His will of
love will be re co gnized and d one
Some day the lead of earth acti on racial
a ction will s wing from man s hands to G o d s
Yet even then t here will be no infringement on
man s i nd i vi d u a l freed o m of c hoi c e and action
N o I mus t c hange t hat sentence ab ou t the l ead
leaving human hands It won t It ll be in t he
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Jesus hands the one true f ul l reall y
human human
Bu t a t th e p r es en t ti m e man is the leader in
the a c ti on of earth G o d is the Helper We de
cide and act He stands ready t o help us in our
action when it s right With utmost reveren ce
b e it said G od wa i ts on m a n He does it de
li b er a t el y
That i s His plan The presen t i s
man s opportun ity
And God means it shall not be skimped but
had to the full clear to the tip edge He w o os
He guides He puts new s t r ength in the human
will that must decide and does decide His
H oly S p irit gu ides our mental pr oc esses He
s t i ffens our will when it chooses the right in face
o f a s ti ff fight
G o d gave man a start E den was the s t art
The simple E den pictu re holds in it the model or
pat t ern o f strong true life I t was a go od st art
It coul dn t have b een better An d at cert ain
L or d
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The Sign i fi c a nc e
War
o f t he
5
1
h
as
at
turning
point
s
He
given
a
f
resh
s
tart
e
gr
indicating the true way
G od chose a nation to b e not only Hi s me s
s enger to the others but to be that messenger
chi efly in the way it l i v ed and d i d th i n gs
When
that nation not yet f ormed a s a nation was
leaving E gypt s slavery God gave a model o f
action regarding war d ef en s i v e war
They were attacked by Pharaoh s force s The
The E gypti a n militarist s
a tta ck wa s overc o me
were overwhelmed But it wa sn t done by phys
ical force Force a ttacked but force didn t
defend The defeat was by direct divine inter
The leader ship was hu man
The
v en t i on
s trategy u s ed was daring M oses went forward
Through that human
as he wa s advised to d o
initiative God helped
That was the model o f action a s the new nation
sta rted off on it s career But when the Amalek
attack came M o ses didn t f ollow that model He
worked on another level And God helped him
on the level he chose
The same thing happened
again at another turning point the entran c e in t o
t heir nati onal domain
God gave Joshua the
mod el of action for taking Canaan The first
city Jericho wa s taken by supernatural power
alone acting through the human ini t iative sug
ges ted to Jo shua b y G od Then Joshua dropped
to the M o s e s level
This i s one rea s on why Je su s came and wh y
He came a s He came on the h u m a n level And
He refused to b e budged from th at human level,
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The
2
5
Dee p e r M e a n ing
W ar
o f the
in the subtle temptation o f the Wilderness a n d
t hrough out He was giving us a great fresh
s ta rt H e wa s in Himself a living out o f what
c ou l d be done on th e h u m a n l evel a s originally
planned
He repelled force without ever using force
And then He died p a r tl y to release n e w power
for us So we could do as He did keep o n the
h u man level keep sane take the lead a s we
were meant to do and have the p o wer to reach
the pattern He set anew
So in our personal live s to day L ight i s
turned on the path clear s imple light soft
divine light It shines n o iselessly unobtrusively,
yet alway s clear ly And it may be a l wa ys
r ecogn i z ed though perhaps almost uncon s ciously
And there s alway s strength given to wal k in the
light that s given If we step out and walk in
the light and ac cording to it more light comes
further light light on the next step And with
light unfailingly comes t he strength to walk in
it And so on t o the full noon of light and the
full flood of strength
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S a ta n
’
s
L a tes t A ttem p t
.
But now I want t o turn from this co mmon law
o f action t o the c oncrete burni ng question of thi s
war and its significance It can be said th ought
fully that the war ha s a thr eefol d s i gn ifi ca n c e
And firs t of all comes this : i t wa s S a ta n s
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’
l a tes t
e a r th
.
a ttem p t
to wor k
out
hi s
a m bi ti on on
th e
The Sign i fi c a nc e
o
W ar
f t he
53
Satan i s a m bi ti on s to rule the earth and b e
worshipped by man The single case of the third
temptation in the Wilderness ! put second in the
Luke account ! will s erve a s a key to the l ong
chain of related pass ages But be it keenly
marked, he can do it on ly thr ou gh hu ma n con
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s en t
.
For man was made undermaster of the earth
Man s fr eed o m of choice was Satan s one op p or
How d aring God wa s in giving man that
t u n i ty
grea t gift ! But His love wa s pledged in the
giving of it to help man be true in it The E den
temptati on like that of the Wildernes s throw s
an intense lime light here Satan ca n d o n oth
i n g without man s ye s
There s a significant pass age near the be
ginning of this old Book o f God It s really a
key pas s age unlocking do or s and problems all
the way through the Book and through life It s
the bit about th e attack of Amalek on I srael
s hortly a fter the departure from E gypt
Amalek attacked Under Moses instruction s
Joshua organized the defense Mose s prayed
It was a hard battle s winging now thi s way n o w
that But victory came with the s ettin g sun
for the man who prayed At the close c ome s
t h e i n ter p r eta ti o n
The last s entence reads com
“
mo u ly Jehovah hath s worn : Jehovah wi ll have
war with Amalek from generation to genera
’
tion
That reading is got b y the tran slators chan g
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Ex
odu
s
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16
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The
54
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
ing one letter in the Hebrew text to bring ou t
the supposed meaning The reading of the text
undern eath as it ac tual ly s t an ds without this
change is given in the mar gin o f both revi se d
“
versions English and American I t is this
a
h a n d ! i s l i f ted u p ! u p on ! or a ga i n s t ! th e th r on e
”
of G od
That is to s a y there wa s a conflict on in the
unseen s pirit world It was regarding s ome
thing on the earth The battle in Rephidim wa s
a manifestation or res ult of the spirit c onflict
There was actually an attempt being made
against G o d s rule in the earth How bold !
H ow blasphemously daring !
Israel and Amalek were as pawn s on the earth
chess board The great f allen prince was a t
In thi s
t acking b ehind a n d through Amalek
attack on Israel he was a t tacking God He wa s
attacking God s plan for the race that is to say
he was a t tacking t he nation through whi c h w ould
come the Man who was to be the world s Saviour
and King
And that warfare it is said here w ould be
renewed generation after generation The blas
It ha s
p h em ou s attempt would be repeated
been repeated many time s And as one thi nk s
int o the war just closed it becomes clear and
clearer and then q u i te clear that it i s the late st
renewal of that old conflict
Germany the leader of the Central Powers
i s the modern Amalek thr ough whi c h Sa t an wa s
re newing hi s old ambiti o u s attempt
The blas
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The Sig n i fi c a nce
o
f t he
War
55
pretension s of the Kais er the bold di s
regard of moral consideration and obli gati on s
the lawle ss n ess practi s ed to the utmost extre m e
po ss ible on s ea and land and actually gloried in
the horribly repul sive inhuman demoniacal p r a c
ti c e s del iberately planned and heartlessly dr iven
thr ough all t his fi ts naturally in They bec ome
telltale marks The origin can b e readily i d en t i
fi ed
The Sat a ni c fi n ge r prints are u n m i s ta k
able
Satan always u s e s a human doo r way in hi s
activitie s on earth Any one mu s t E ven G o d
us ed a human door He sent Hi s Only Begot t en
a s a m a n That first law the law o f man s n u
der ma s tery and leadership s tands It is at the
bottom o f all action Satanic and div ine
The Scripture has s ome plain tea c hing regard
ing Satan s ambition s and pl a ns There s a m a n
coming some day who will be Satan s man He
will be Satan s Je su s That i s he will personi fy
and stand for Satan as perfectly a s Jesus per
“
s oni fi e d and s tood for God
Paul calls him the
”
”
“
lawless one
and John
the Antichrist
When Satan s ucceeds in getting that man
then hi s supreme effort will b e made to get con
trol
Some of hi s previou s attempt s at thi s a r e
familiar T here s a long chain of them running
through hi story The unholy itch of tyrannical
w orld dominion by sheer brute force ha s a f
fli cte d w o rld rulers t hr ough the ages
The s tory
is a f amiliar one , running through the Pharaoh s
p h em ou s
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De e p e r M e a n t n g o f t he W a r
Th e
6
5
of E gypt and t he outs t anding Babylonian Med o
Persian G r eek and R oman m ona r c hs
We don t hear mu c h now o f J en gh i z Khan t he
Chinese Empe r o r o f t he Elev enth and Twelfth
Cen t uries But his vi c i o us swing wes tward over
all n o r t hern Asia Persia Armenia part of Asia
“
Min o r and Russia threatened to d eluge Chri s
”
The earlier Hun at t emp t under
t e n d om
Attila in the Fifth Cen tur y is m o r e familiar
Th e A r ab Mohammedan m ov e made savage i n
roads into the southeastern co r ner o f E ur ope
I ts aggr essive at t empt s la t er in t h e o t her cor
ner o f Eur o pe the s o uthwes t er n up thr ough
Spain in the Eighth Centu r y me t its death
bl o w in France at Chal on s happily for Chri s
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The later attempts o f Spain heading up in
Philip II and o f Fran c e under L ouis of the
record reign and record ego t istical pretensi ons
are well known And it is o nly a littl e o ver a
hundr ed years since Napole o n ran amuck over
E urope with su ch rare ability and a ggr es
s i v en e s s and success till he was finally disp o sed
of
As one t r a c es t hese name s and attempts he
finds one identifying mark in all that links them
t o gether Tha t is t he la wlessness r u thlessness
de c eit lack o f m o ral quali t ies repuls ive i n
humanities and magnifying of sheer brute fo r c e
t o the highest place T hi s reveals t he comm on
s our c e D evilish quali t ies reveal the devil s
a c tivi t ies And especially when so u n m i s ta k
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8
5
The
D e ep er M e a n in g
o f t he
War
and methods If he were pos sessed by an evil
s pirit the practices he authorized w o u ld n ot have
b een different and could have been wor se only
in extent and degree not in kind
As this interpre t a t ion became clear during the
progress of t he war it made o ne o ther thing qui te
clear too t ha t was the outcome It was per
The
cei v e d t hat t he Germans c ou l d n o t win
time wasn t yet ripe The stage wasn t yet set
for the final attemp t
The keys to ne o f t he ar c h
o f even t s was no t in pla c e The Jew wa s not
yet back and renationalized
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A Qu es ti on
f
o
L ev el s
.
This leads up to the question : Ca n a Chr is tia n
fi gh t ! Well i t all depends on wh er e the Chris
tian is in his Chr istian life whether he is on the
M os es l ev e l o r on an o ther level
The M o ses
level o f a c tion in w a r is t o use force th oughtfu lly
and praye r fully i n d ef en s e when a t tacked It
i s figh t ing for c e with force defensively in de
p en d en ce o n divine help
All the warfare of the Israelites fr o m the b e
ginning ou t hr ough the wh ole re c ord is o n the
M o ses level wi th four ex c epti o ns These ex
ce p t i on s are Pha r a o h s attack at the Red Sea
J o shua s t aking o f Jeri c ho the at t ack by M o ab
and Ammon during J eh os h a p h a t s reign and t he
attack by Senna cherib o f Ass yria in Hezekiah s
time In each o f t hese ins t ances there was vic
tory by divine in t erventi on with o u t the use of
for ce by the Isr aelites In t he first two the
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Th e S ig n i fic a n c e
o
f t he
W ar
59
action wa s by divine initiative in t h e second two
by human initiative
Indeed in such a confli ct a s thi s the Chris tian
F or
m u s t take a s tand becaus e he is a Christian
it is a conflict between God and Satan ; wh olly a
moral iss ue at stake T hi s indi cates the absolute
ne c essi t y o f an accurate interpretati o n of the
war a c lear ou t lining of the issue at stake In
s uch a war as this o ne mus t take s ides To be
neutr al is to fail God It is to be wrong This
was the curse p r onounced against Meroz
They
failed to take a stand in God s battle
The real conscientious objector mus t line up
Whether all o thers d o or n o t h e m u s t That is
if his obj ecti o ns are based on Biblical gr o unds
And there are none o t her except t hose so bas ed
di r e c tly o r indirectly And if he doesn t actually
figh t as of c o urse he cann ot if it be really a
matter of conscience he is under increased
greatly increased obligati o ns to d o something
els e
And it is a something els e of a very vital and
positive and practical s ort And that is this to
live su c h a pure strong life that his mere pres
ence on the earth is a p o sitive fac t or against evil
so rec o gnized in the spirit realm And he mus t
put the p o si t ive force o f that life into prayer
until the i s sue is decided
And a man s o d o ing will find clear lea di ng
step by step in the ci r cums t ances tha t c ome t o
him He will be gi v en wisd om to conduct hi m
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1
J u d ge s
The
60
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o f t he
W ar
s elf in a really Christlike spirit And he will b e
delive r ed from t he one thi ng obj ected to the
actual use o f armed f o rce against any per s on
It i s
Th er e i s a hi gh er l ev el G o d s level
clearly illustra t ed in the f our exceptional en
just
named
I
t
is
further
illustra
t
ed
n
m
t
a
e
s
e
g
g
in Jesus life He ins ist ed on living Hi s life
on the human level He was repea t edly a t
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t acked
And He repelled the attack in each
cas e with out physi c al force until He deliber
ately yielded to His enemies at the last
It is quite c lear t hat there was no physical
force used in the cleansing of th e temple but
only t he m o ral or spirit f o r c e of Hi s presence
The whip of small c o r ds was c learly used merely
in star t ing and dir ecting t he movements of t he
stock as in any cattle d r i v ing Study of the
a ctual tex t makes that quite c lear
—
But bu t the nati ons attacked were n ot u p on
t h a t h i gh er l ev el
And the Chris t ian Chur c h
wa s n ot and is n ot Th o se pers ons who may
have been were a small min o rity practically a
M o ses was not
n egligible minority in numbe r s
nor Abraham bef o r e him n o r Joshua after h i m
nor D avid The nati ons at t a c ked and the
Chur c h must needs meet the a tt a ck wh er e th ey
wer e
And so they did G o d w oo s t o the
higher le v el but He helps th o se wh o ask help
He helps t hem wh er e th ey a r e
And mark keenly when a Christian d o es fight
h ow he figh t s if he see c lear ly and keep true
He d o es n ot fight for v en gea n ce Vengeance i s
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The S ig n ifi c a nc e
o
f t he
W ar
61
righting wr on gs Tha t belongs t o G o d only a n d
And he i s not fighting f o r r e
ex cl u s i V el y
“
”
Revenge is getting even wi t h your
v en ge
enemy I t is hi t ting ba c k at a man simply b e
cause he h as hit you That is dist inctly u n
Christian It belongs to the devil It is radi
cally wr on g in prin c iple The Christian in fi gh t
ing on the Moses level is p r ote cti n g hi m s el f a n d
That belongs t o man
hi s a gainst the atta c k
And he i s pr otecting against p o ssible future a t
ta c k i n guardi n g the peace adjus t men t s
That at once suggests the radical di fference
b etween offen s i v e and d efen s i v e warfare The
ofi en s i v e of co u r se is always and wholly wrong
It is of the evil one The defensive is essential
It is n o t only right but obligatory whatever
level a man be on The man living on the God
level must defend himself and hi s agains t attack
bravely and to the utmo s t with spirit weapon s
u s ed t o the full
And this to o a n swers the q ues tion of hatred
Can one fight witho ut hating ! Yes and no He
can fight with all the intensi t y of his being wi t h
out hating personally the man o pposi t e him in
the tren c h or o n the line There need be no
But he cann ot fight without
p er s on a l hatred
the intensest hatred of the evil p r inciple i n
volved in the attack and of the whole system
that threatens h i s life and the lives and sa c red
honour of his loved ones and his coun t ry
And splendidly the Allied soldiers have shown
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R m ans 12 : 19
and
p a a ll
r
els
.
The
62
De e p e r M e a ning
o
f the
W ar
their fin e real ization of the di fference The i h
tenses t bitterest figh t ing by Allies ha s been fol
l o wed or interspe r sed wit h gene r o us humane
kindl y treatment o f the enemy w o unded and the
enemy pris oners One of the greatest surprises
of the war was that experienced by the enemy
wounded and enemy prisoners because of the
humane treatment accorded them
This then is the firs t part of the answer as t o
the significan c e o f the war It was Satan s latest
at t empt to work out his unholy ambi t i o n on the
earth Thi s i s fundament al
It s trikes at the
very root
But it does not cover all the ground There s
a further an swer In getting at it let me make
an abrupt break It will seem like getting en
t i r el y away from the subj ec t but it will actually
be drivi ng straight h o me to i t s very heart I
want to ask a q uestion : Wha t wi l l b e th e ou tcom e
of th e p r es en t o r d er of th i n gs o n th e ea r th !
Will it simply go on endle s sly without any ess en
tial change e xcept we would all h o pe get t ing
better !
There are three common an swers to the ques
ti on One is thi s that our L o rd Jesus wi l l r e
t urn t o the ear th in pers on and establish a new
ideal order of t hings called the Kingdom o r
Millennium And this is comm only c alled the
pre millennial teaching This was t he view held
by the Church o f the first few centuries It is
held t o day by small minorities through Chri s
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t en d om
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Th e S ig n i fi c a nc e
of
t he
War
63
A second answer is this things will get better
radually
through
the
preaching
o
f
the
Go
pel
s
g
of Christ until an ideal o rder of thin gs is
reached in all the earth and then at the cl o se
there will be a personal return of Chris t And
this has been the dominant teaching o f the
Church f o r centuries until qui t e recently It i s
c a lled the post millennium teaching
The third answer seem s t o be the chief teach
ing in the Church o f recent year s It is this
Christ will n ot return p er s on a l l y He d o esn t
need to He has returned and He i s continually
returning in spirit in the higher s tandards o f
life the nobler ideals the finer humanitarianism
the broader brotherhood and so on I supp o se
thi s might b e called the present m illenni al teach
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mg
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I wa s b rought up in a little S cotti s h Church in
this country where the post millennial view was
ta ught Then as a mere youth I heard the pre
millennial taught very simply by dear old
M oody and accepted it a s simp ly wi t hou t study
Then I got tangled There were so many sub
theorie s of this teaching There wa s su c h dog
m a t i s m each right and the others not
And I
threw the wh ole thing aside I s aid I will tell
people about the first coming of Christ and try
to live s o that if He d oes come I d be ready and
be glad
Then a fter s ome year s I wa s led to take up
the Bible itself and try to find out just what it
did teach I had a mental ho u s e cleaning of a l l
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The
64
D ee p e r M e a n in g
W ar
o f t he
books o n that subject I tried to f o rget all I d
read The slate was sp onged off qui t e clean at
least as c lean as I could make i t
Then I wen t a t t he old B ook i t self Sl owly
tho r oughly p r ayerfully br o odingly I pushed on
I was at t he j ob
t ill I g o t through its pages
ab out t w o years all my spare time in be t ween
appointmen t s I t r ied se v erely t o be wholly i m
partial f o r I was after the results s i m p l y for m y
own u n d er s ta n d i n g
At t he end a few t hings
sto o d out clea r quite clean cu t and clear There
are c ountless ques t ions I can t answer t o m y
self But the few t hings stand out sharp and of
these I want to speak very b r iefly here
What will be t he o ut come of t he present order
of things on the earth ! This : some day the
crowds o n the st r eets and r o ads o f the ea r th wi l l
b e startled to find the sun s light maybe at
no on c as t ing a shad ow ; a ligh t becoming a
shad o w ! Startled t hey will instinctively look
up t o see why
It will be because of the shining of a brighter
ligh t ac r o ss the sunlight There will be a break
in the blue overhead and Christ Himself c om
ing ou t o f the heavens The brighter light will
be the light o f His mer e presen c e I am speak
ing b r o adly he r e The important details are
t ou c hed in a l a ter c hapter
When He d o es c o me— n o one knows when
fou r ev en ts will take place a Ch u r ch event a
J ew event a wor l d event and a ki n gd o m event
Th e Ch u r c h ev en t in a word is this : The break
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The
66
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o f t he
War
main in for c e Family life g r ow t h cultivation
o f t he s oil industry all t his sor t of thing wil l
continue But there will be certa i n radical
m o ral c hanges An d this will continue for a
long time
’
But wh en will this be ! I d o n t know No
body knows The B o ok says plainly that we
w o n t kn ow and can t A n y fixing of a p o s
sible time is un s criptural But t he B o ok d o e s
s ay some t hing ver y definite that bears directly
on the ma tt er o f wh en I t says repea t edly that
the return o f Christ will be p r e ced ed by a cr i s i s
It will be a t remendous upheaval It will a ffect
the life of t he wh ole earth And it will be
greater in extent and intensity t han anything o f
the sort that has ever happened
And this gives t he clue to the further s i gn i fi
cance of t hi s upheaval The characteristics of
the whole run of time fr om Christ s utterance
up t o this terrifi c climax are c l e arly s t ated
Wars rum o urs o f wars famines pestilen c es
earthquakes false religious tea c hers d efec t i on in
the Chu r c h— these have been comm on to every
genera t i on
This wa r has witnes s ed the fiercest intensify
ing of s ome of these c haracteristics since Christ
talked o f them on Olivet Its extent has far
outreached any pr evious event o f the s o rt It
has c onvulsed t he wh ole earth practi c ally From
where the Pa c ifi c washes the eas t ern sh ore s of
Asia acr o ss Asia thr ough Europe across t he At
lantic t hr ough the American continent s clear out
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Th e S ig n i fi c a nc e
of
th e
W ar
67
to the we stern Pacific edge and across the P a c ific
O c ean until the two edges touch it h as swirled
actually encir c ling the gl obe Its action has swept
fr om the fr o zen water s o f the Arctic Circle in the
no r th alm o st t o the fiftieth degree of latitude
south
That s practically a s far a s there i s
habitable land In extent and in degree it i s
the greatest cri si s the earth has known
The very s tupendou snes s of it naturally sug
gests a working up toward a climax This seem s
t o give th e s econ d p a r t o f the an s wer as t o the
war s si gnificance It seem s like a sti ffened
index finger p o inting straight toward such a
crisi s a s the Book says goes before the return o f
Christ and the con s e quent change in the order
of t hings
And more yet the war situation had in it all
the element s t hat we are told will be in that
crisis time The pe o ple o f B elgium and North
eas t ern France had a taste a horribly bitter and
entirely characteri stic taste of the time of perse
cu ti on or tribulation that i s s aid to be coming
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G od
’
In d ex F i n ger
s
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.
There are two thi n gs that can be stated po s i
t i v el y
One i s this the world situation at the
time of the beginning o f the c om ing crisis
The
Book of God clearly specifies certain item s in
t hat situation
The Jew is back in his own land
renationalized
That m eans f ollowing their
passionate national instinct with the templ e
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The D ee p e r M e a n in g o f t he
68
War
rebuilt and the old ritual of sacrifices i n full
s wing
There s eem s to be a ci t y of world shipping and
w o rld commer c e in the valley of the Euphrates
There will be a c o ali t ion of Eur o pean or wo r ld
p owers A E uropean c oali t i o n m ea n s a w o r ld
coali ti on practically Europe is the axis of the
ac t i o n o f the eart h T o day Eu r o pe controls
Afr ica as the d o g the bone between its tee t h
And Eur ope with i t s working alliances con
trols Asia And quite clearly t he axis has r e
ce n t l y g o tten g oo d working c o nnec t ions wi t h the
American C o ntinents That c o aliti on may b e
gin as or be a purely pra c tical admini strative
affair Tha t is not specified
There will be at the head of thi s coalition a
man of domi nating s triking personality who will
become a great leader of evil And through thi s
leader there will be a time of trouble or pers e
cu t i on o r tribulation exceeding anyt hin g previ
ou s l y kno wn
It will be ma r ked by war pesti
len c e famine and by religious pers ecution
Th o se five features of the world situation j ust
pre c eding the c risis are definitely named Thi s
i s one thing t hat is clear
There s a s econ d thi n g that i s quite clear to
everybody There will be a new map of E urope
a t t he signing o f the peace treaty the technical
end o f the war There will be a wholly n ew
w o rld situati on A n d it is a p o ssibili t y tha t t hat
new w orld situation m a y shift gradually and
ye t swiftly i n to that fi ve fea t ured w orld situa
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'
The S ig n i fic a n c e
of
W ar
t he
69
tion o f the c risis the transition crisis that goes
before t he return o f Chri s t and the new order
o f t hings
But — bu t there s an a ci d t es t to apply an n u
failing test absolutely unfailing to o ne who a o
That is th e J ew The Jew i s
c e p ts the Bo o k
the a c id test to apply to world events When
the Jew goes back to Palestine and reorgani zes
hi s nation and when he make s a seven year
treaty with some king so authorized that mean s
certain things following
There will be a time of peace armed peace
then abruptly a break in the treaty and the b e
ginning of the persecution and the crisis Then
t h e crisis af t er running its brief length th ough
it won t seem brief will b e br ough t t o a close by
the pers onal return of Christ In c onnection
with His return th ere will be a quick serie s of
epochal event s and then the new order i n
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a u gu r a t e d
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And I want to s ay very thoughtfully this a
venturesome t hing to risk one s judgment up on
this : it is a wor ki n g p os s i bi l i ty th a t th is wi l l
o c cu r i n o u r gen er a ti on
That is to s ay tha t
the man of average age n o w living and all
younger barring the usual accidents o f si c kness
and death will wi t nes s thi s tremendous climax
and transition
I said a w o rking possibility I might say a
w o r king probabilit y I do say that to myself
That has grown to be a pr o f ound and deepening
co nviction But I use the more cauti ous w o rd
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7
The
0
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f the
here Yet I must f rankly s tate thi s merely a s
my personal j udgment on the e vidence in the
case j us t one man s opinion
But there s the tes t the acid test by which to
te s t any tea ching and any one s j udgment— th e
His action is the unfailing test The Jew
J ew
i s t he puzzle o f t he hist o rian and philo s opher
neve r yet explained by either By all the laws
of life he should have been wiped out r a ci a l l y
l ong ago thr o ugh t he mere circumstances o f his
surr o undings He has been s cattered among
the nations f o r centuries
That is the thing t hat invariably works to the
obliteration of r a ci a l i d en ti ty But the J e w ha s
neve r lost his identity He doesn t merge He
won t He c an t de s pite his own e fforts H e
is t he miracle of God being performed constantly
The Jew is God s index finger His mere pres
ence attests G o d s Word He is a living cer ti fi
cate of the certainty of this crisis coming and
the new order f ollowing of which the Jew i s the
keyst o ne
Wherever you meet or s tumble across o r bar
gain with a Jew whether dealing in b onds on
Wall Street or in St S wi th en s L ane o r on
L l oyd s or dealing in b ones on the B owery or
—
e
n
old Jewry or any Continental J u d ga s s e but
never be it marked a down and ou t er at a mis
sion n o r seeking alm s except in s ome dire ex
tr omi t y o f Gen t ile persecu t i o n as of la t e in
east ern Eur o pe— wherever you meet a Jew y o u
are reading a certified guarant ee God s living
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o f the
The S ign i fi c a nc e
W ar
7
1
human guar antee that these tremendou s event s
will w o rk o ut
Whether y o u find him handing down the de
ci s i on s o f a great nation s supreme b ench pre
siding o ver a world empire s highest judicat ory
organizing huge enterprises o f world shipping
or the military transporta t ion system of a great
or acting a s the
ambitiou s empi r e now fallen
world s banker or carrying a peddler s pack
al ong the country hi ghway there you are looking
at G od s index fi n ger pointing to cri s is and
Christ and coming Kingdom
This is a s econd significance o f the war It
i s the world s gr eatest cri s i s pointing to a yet
greater
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Wha t D oes
Cou n t !
Two women wer e seated side by side in steamer
ch a irs on the deck of an Atlantic liner c oming
west
They got to talking as wo men will do
or men The one wa s a little body with narrow
lines in her face but a gl o w in her eye s She wa s
telling her story Her home was in a c ountry
village in West Virginia She had longed to
become a member o f a certain woman s clu b the
L aurel L iter a ry Society
’
But her so c ial statu s wa s n t sati sfactor y
Her father was the village blacksmith And
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Ta k e n f r o m
c
ott M o n t gu
a
e
a
.
z
m a ga i n e
ar
ti l
c e
by
M
a r ga r e
tP
re s
7
The
2
D ee p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f t he
she wa s the village dressmaker Her c hildhood
s c hoolma t es were in Bu t t ry as she w ould t h e
hinges pr o ved t o o rus t y to her touch And of
course the denial only whe tt ed her intensity
It became a passion At last she t hought if she
—
r
c ould g o t o Eu o pe n ob o dy in t own had been
—
t o E ur o pe i f she coul d g o and wri t e a paper
o n her experiences they d wan t that and she d
get in
So she t oiled and skimped and saved f o r year s
held steady by her pu r p o se Then a sickness
swept h er savings away But again she went
at it And at the end o f some twenty years she
had enough and was off on the l ong planned
trip The party she wa s with got as far as
Brussels
“
Then
she said
we were in it
In
”
”
“
what ! her c ompani o n asked
In the wa r !
It had just broken o u t All their plan s were
broken Then she was in c luded in a small m o tor
ing party with a messenger t o Paris carrying
o ffi cial dispa tc hes They were hur r ying al ong
t he r o ad s ome distance out of Brussels when the
motor st o ppe d
The r o ad was blo c ked And the surroundings
were very strange They couldn t quite t ake i t
in The fields o f wheat on ea c h side were beaten
down
There were s t range br o wn lumps
scattered everywhere Then suddenly on her
side of the road a hand flung out o f o n e of the
brown lump s and a voice s aid
Water ! F or
”
G o d s sake water
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The
74
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
o
f th e
War
Pre s ence with her He was h el p i n g her H e
too wa s indi gnant heart broken
A nd s omething new broke out i nsi de of her
There was a new something in there And a
great pea c e was in her heart as she toiled on
Then t he morning br oke And the ambulan c e
c o rps c ame And then she had got t en on to
Paris and n ow she was on her way h ome That
was her s to r y And she s ank back in her chair
abs orbed wi t h the t elling
And her c ompani o n s a id
unthinkingly
Well n ow you ll get into the L aurel Society
”
won t y ou !
And the little woman with the
narr o w lines in her face i n s t antly s at bolt u p
righ t An d her eyes blazed until her c o m
“
“
”
pani o n s c heeks burned
Oh
she said you
don t understand I m n o t the w o man I was
I ve been made over new N on e of th os e l i ttl e
”
“
”
thi n gs cou n t n ow
Those l i ttl e things !
The plodding c onsuming ambition of twenty
years had be come l i ttl e thi n gs
And her companion rebuked and awed said
”
And the little w oman
Wh a t d o es c ou n t !
with the deep narrow line s and the burning
“
eye s said s o f t ly yet tensely
On l y J es u s a n d
”
l ove a n d h el p i n g fol ks
If the terrific emer
gen cy of thi s war may have done as much for
some of u s What a shifting o f perspective !
What an up s et of ideals ! Aye what a passion
of love burning up old things and taking posse s
s ion o f a life !
F or a fter all s s aid and done the war i s a
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The S ig n i fi c a nc e
o
f t he
W ar
75
plea By indirection it s a passionate per s onal
plea It call s us to the life of s urrender t o the
mastery of the Man who died Then the flame
th at burned in Him will burn in u s It will
burn up all lower purpo s e s It will b urn out
all lower fire s It will burn through into an
earnest life with Him and among men for Him
And s uch a li f e be it keenl y noted hasten s
the climax o f evil It arous e s and makes ten s er
It ha s ten s Hi s coming who stop s
t h e opposite
the crisis and begin s the new order For the
coming of Chri s t i s n t fi xed by a calendar but
by a condition When thin gs have come to their
dead wor s t He intervene s We help Him to
come back
Thi s i s the third b it o f th e a n swer a s to the
s ignificanc e of th e wa r
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TH E CRISI S C O M ING IN THE AF F AIR S
OF THE E ARTH
S tor m S i gn a l s
.
A e m s rs is a fork in the road You m a y go
one way and meet di s aster You m a y g o a n
other and find all well the di s as ter avoided and
maybe bet t er travelling
A friendly light shining at the fork help s you
to avert the disaster and take the s afe road So
a red lantern is hung up at night at the danger
ous place in the ci t y street The city ordinance
’
requires it It s a friendly light
The g overnment take s a cc o unt of possible
crises Its weather bureau s ave s millions o f
dollar s annually to the people For it tells o f
st o rms c oming and men get ready The provi
dent farmer in northern New England plans for
the crisis of winter c oming The supply of wo o d
and coal is put in and the fodder for the stock
and repairs to t he roof attended to
A s the west bound ocean liner on the Pacific
nears Yokohama on the way up fr o m Honolulu
about two day s out the sailors put everything
in snug trim s hape They know they are getting
“
”
near the b ig blac k h ole
where they re s ure
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76
The
C ri s is C o m in g
77
of dirty weather and maybe a good bit of it
Even a s quirrel lay s away a good s tore of nut s
for the c old n u tl es s winter and t he migratory
birds obey the divine instinct withi n and get to
a milder clime till the cold season is past
There have come s ome terrific cri s es in men s
affairs each with its own outstanding char
a c t er i St i cs ; the English Revoluti o n of th e Sev
e n t e en t h Cen t ur
t
he
French
of
the
E
ighteenth
y
the Russian and the German the two late s t that
have come a s tremendous detail s of the terrific
world cri s i s through which we have j ust been
pa ss ing
And in every ca s e the s e terrible upheaval s
have come a s a complete s tartling surpri s e to
the crowd s concerned Always a few have read
the sky and told of the s torm coming But they
have usually been looked at a bit suspiciously or
laughed at as b eing out of j oint wi th their time s
The c rowds knew better— until the st o rm broke
It s a friendly thing to hang a lantern out on
the road o n a dark night But bu t it s a
t i cklish thing to do People may feel so sure
they kn o w t he road The r e s t he mo o n And
t here s t he sky s brightest starry lante r n faith
ful o ld Sirius They can s ee There s no like
l ih o od o f a storm
And so they laugh or smile
in a s uperior way at the po o r li tt le lantern
you ve been at su c h pains t o hang out
So many have been mistaken in hanging out
danger s ignals Maybe you are Though the
old weather sharps are t he firs t to get ready for
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The
8
7
of
D e e p e r Mea ning
W ar
t he
the s torm while the sun s still shini ng and th e
crowd careles s “ Yet— yet the lan t ern man m a y
be r i ght Jeremia h was The ter rific events
that came pr o ved him the one man of his nation
who foresaw the s t orm that did come
D ear old L ord Robert s wa s right L aughed
at a s an old man in hi s dotage but with hi s keen
practised ear to the gr o und he kn ew the storm
was coming And he wa s right Nob o dy wa s
ready But the British Navy a l wa ys r ea d y
held things steady f or the wh ol e wor l d t ill the
Allies g o t ready But h ow much it w ould have
saved of precious blood and treasure and time
and bit t er memory if the friendly lantern had
been accepted
We have just been through the world s w o rst
crisis The thoughtful man agree s to that lan
guage the world s wors t crisi s But it s over
We re breathi ng more fully N ow t he o ne thing
o n the b o ards is reconstruction That s the word
of the hour rec onstruction And t he o ne thing
the great w o rld s statesmen have se t their brains
and their heart s on is that th i s s ha ll n ev er
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h a p p en
a ga i n
.
Our o wn President ha s done the exceptional
thi ng in g oing to Europe simply t o do hi s be s t
to make sure that thi s s o rt o f thing will never be
repeated And every true heart American and
British Cz ech o Slav and French sends up a
fervent prayer that it may indeed be so And
he w o uld gladly b ack hi s prayer with hi s deeds
and s acrifices
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The
C ris is C o m ing
yet—
79
And
and yet there s a storm s ignal hang
ing out in plain sight There s a weather bureau
t hat ha s been watching weather c o ndition s very
closely There s a Weather Chart And it s ay s
there s a storm coming a bad storm indeed the
worst yet But it ll clear after the storm a nd
t hen there s a long s pell of g o od weather the
best weather t he old earth has kn own since early
E den days And it ll last so l ong that people
will clean forget there s ever been a storm
Happily thi s isn t a matter of anybody s per
s onal Opinion It s wh olly a matter of l ea r n
i n g h ow to r ea d how t o read the storm signal s
hung out by the weather bureau We are greatly
blest in having a Wea t her Chart Our gracious
Our L ord Jesu s
F ather God has s een to that
has been at great pain s to spell its meaning o ut
plainly for u s It s a matter of learning care
fully the a b c of the Weather Chart language
and then s pelling out accurat ely j ust what the
Chart s ays And t o the learnin g of tha t lan
guage one may well give the best th ought he
ha s
In the fifth chapter o f this little book
The
”
E vidence in the Ca s e I have tried t o gather up
just what the Bible tells of c o ming event s It s
b een a long sl ow tedi ous j ob to gather it out
and put it t o ge t her I have tried to do it faith
fully and impartially for m ys elf t o learn ju s t
what the B oo k actually says And I am ear
n es t l y hoping that all who have read thus far will
go thr ough that chapter broodi ngly and prayer
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The
80
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f th e
War
fully with the open Bible at hand for cons tant
examination
Everything in this chapter comes out o f that
chap t er There book and chapter and verse are
given for every sta t ement And there is noth
ing here whi c h cannot b e found there with t he
full references Here the thing is put in simple
runni ng shap e for the busy man t o get at at
on c e There it can be dug out more fully an d
verified at lei sure
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G a th er i n g S ha d ows
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Broadly the f act to s tate i s thi s : there i s com
,
ing a cr i s i s in the a ffairs o f the whole earth In
sweep and in intensi t y it will s urpass the crisi s
just past though apparently it will not run s o
long It will c ome through a great evil king
coming into power It will r u n through two
stages the pe r secu t ion o f go o d by evil and t he
sh ort sharp j u dgment up on evil by G o d
It will be ended by the personal re t urn to the
earth of the L ord Jesu s Christ the great good
King And He will s et in moti on a n ew bl es s ed
or d er of t hi n gs on thi s s a m e o l d ea r th
which
will run a long time That i s the wh ole story i n
a n utshell
And I want to put down here in the simplest
shape just what the Bo ok says about thi s And
first of all n o tice th e gen era l con d i ti on of a ffa i r s
on the earth at the beginning of t he crisi s C er
tain cha r a ct er i s ti cs o f the t ime preceding the
crisis are spoken o f Naturally these will i h
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82
The
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
keepin g within it s technicalities ; on the part
of
the ma ss es an o pen lawlessness a b r eaking away
f r o m the r estraints of law
The r e will be a marked loss of moral tone i n
the s oc ial conta c ts o f the masses Sexual c on
d i t i on s are alway s an unfailing index finger t o
gene r al moral conditi on s An in t ensifying of
lo o seness in sexual rela t i onship will indicate t he
general moral b r eakd own Yet with all thi s
there wi ll likewise be an increased rec o gniti o n of
hi gh standards o f m o rali t y and o f high ide al s
and a living of t h e highest ideals b y many
The two dominant charac t eristic s will be the
tendency to c ombination and the tendency t o
the low mo ral ton e indi c ated by a disrega r d of
pr o per conventiona l ity and of law These a r e
indica ted a s the common characteristics of world
affairs a s the crisis draws nigh
Th e wor l d s i tu a ti on p o litically is c learly i n
There will be a ten kingd omed con
d i ca t ed
federacy or leagu e of nations It will develop
later into an eight kingdomed c onfederacy Its
territory will be nor t h of the Mediterranean Sea
There will be an ot her gr eat power lying mainly
sou t h of the Mediterranean
Whether thi s latter is a coaliti on o f nati ons or
not is not stated but it is of su ffic ient numbers
and p o wer t o atta c k and cope with the n orthern
league These two will b e in repeated armed
conflict At the head of the northern coalition
will be a king o f exceptional dominating evi l
pers onality
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The C ris is C o m ing
83
Apparently there will be a great city o f world
shipping and world commerce in the valley of the
Euphrates at or near the old s ite of ancient
Babylon There will be utter indi fference among
the c r o wds to the impending crisis They will
be go ing about their usual round of life abs o rbed
in t heir a ffairs business s ocial and domestic
wh olly obliviou s to what i s coming and so taken
c ompletely b y surpri s e
Th e J ew s i tu a ti on i s also indicated plainly
The Jew race will have been preserved p r a c
t i cally int a c t up to the time of the crisis Thi s
will be so in spite of its having been scattered for
c en t uries am o ng the nation s the t hing that i h
variably res ults i n obliteration of ra c ial identity
N o w t he Jew will be rena t ionalized in Palestine
after the centuries of denationalization The
temple will be rebuilt and the old system o f
s a crifices will be in full swing That doesn t
mean that all the Jew s will be gathered there
for it is made plain that they won t be
But the Jew commonwealth will b e r e es t a b
l i s h ed
There will be a s even year treaty made
by the new Jew nation with the king of the
n orthern c onfederacy This is the point when
this treaty is made at which the thread of J ew
i sh history is picked up by the prophetic pen
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Th e Ch u r ch S i tu a ti on
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i s likewi s e clearly out
lined There will be a marked falling away in
It will
t h e Church fr o m the s imple tru e f aith
Th e Ch u r ch
s i tu a ti on
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.
84
Th e
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
be s o marked that it is s p oken of as th e f alli n g
”
away
There will be a decided increase in the
Chur c h of false o r untrue religi o us teacher s
tea c hing other things than the G o spel of the
crucified Christ with crowds of f ollower s
A nd equally marked will be the decreas e in
pers onal l oy al ty and devotion to Chri s t Him s elf
There will be a c ommon attitude of rej ecti on o f
the t eaching o f C hr ist s p ersonal return to the
earth A mo cking or s coffin g or o pen a n t a g
on i s m toward the subj e c t will be c o mm o n
Then there is something m o re very di fficult t o
speak of because it is so heart breaking and
di fficult too be c ause it will naturally ar ouse
opp o sition and ridicule Yet nothing could be
more plainly stated It is this : t he Holy Spirit
will withdraw fr o m the Church as a Ch u r ch
He W
ill still remain in individuals wh o believe in
Christ But He will have wi t hdrawn f r om the
c o rporate Chur c h It will be a f o r c ed with
d r a wa l and done only at t he ve r y last possible
moment and then o nly with deepest grief on
His part
Indeed it i s H i s withdrawal that precipitat es
There is now a restraint upon evil
t he c risis
in the world Evil c ann o t d o n o w as it w ould
It is the presence of the H oly Spirit in Hi s
Chu r ch that pu t s t hat restrain t upon evil It
is when that gr aci ous powerful restraining pre s
en c e is withdrawn that the c r isi s comes thr ough
t he l o osing out of evil
The H oly Spirit came at Pentecos t fo r a spe cial
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The C ris is C o m in g
85
errand on the earth He had been in individual
men bef o re He came t hen as the Jew na t i o n
G o d s messenger nation to the world had c ruci
He came to make by Hi s
fi ed the Messiah
presence a new witnessing unit the Church He
wi thdraws from the Church which H e f o rmed
by His presence o nly because He Himself i s
b eing ign o red In i t s life and practical affairs
H e will have been left out gradually as L eader
and Master until the leaving out is complete
Now it makes o ne sore at heart to repeat what
the B oo k plainly say s that another spirit will
have taken the place o f the H oly Spirit It i s
called the s p i r i t of th e A n ti ch r i s t Antichrist
i s John s title f or the great evil leader through
who m the crisi s begin s It is a most s ignificant
title G o d s only Begotten i s the Christ The
An t ichrist is the very opposite He is the on e
Opp osed to Chri s t and to His coming to reign on
the earth
John tells how one may identi fy the tru e
Christian teacher and on the other hand the one
Wh o ! even though unc on s ciously ! is swayed by
the spiri t of the Antichrist The touchst o ne of
the true f ollower Of Christ i s that he is under
the sway of the Holy Spirit The distinguish
ing mark of the Holy Spirit i s a p as s i on for
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J
es u s
t h e Ch r i s t
.
Thi s is illustrated in the Book of Act s whi ch
is distinctively the Holy Spirit b o ok marked by
His presence and con tr ol That book i s f airly
a fl a m e with the Je s us passi on
John s own G o s
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The
86
of
D e e p e r M e a n in g
War
t he
pel tells what the meaning i s to him That book
i s all a fi ood with the pas si o n for Jesus
Now thi s J o hn plainly says is the touchstone,
the o ne unvaryi ng unfailing test The absence
o f this Jesus pas sion or the opposite o f it, r e
veals the Antichrist s pirit at work There may
be a fla t d en ia l o f t he di s tinctive deity of Jesu s
There may be a subtle use of certain c omm only
accep t ed proper p hr ase s but with a distinct
thi n n i n g ou t or wa ter i n g of th ei r m ea n i n g
Or there may be s o mething even subtler yet
simply an ignoring of Jesus a talking about
God th e F a th er wi t h a s tudied ignor ing of Jesus
There may be a failur e to p r o c laim the G o spel
o f the Cru ci fi ed and instead a di scussion of sub
jects quite proper in themselves a n d in thei r
own place
This is the s ub tle s p irit of the Antichri st It
i s t he very genius the mark of identifica t ion
o f the Antichrist This spirit spreads and
strengthens till the Antichrist himself appears
in pers on on the scene As the crisis c omes to
its o pening the presence of thi s s pirit will d i s
t i n ctl y mark the life of the Church
Then the Church will natu r ally take on more
of the conditi on s c ommon in the world at t he
time The inc r ea se in energy and kn owle d ge
will work out increas ed e fficiency There will be
increase in a spirit of aggressivenes s with a u s e
’
o f t he w orld s methods There will b e a spirit
of get together Church union which i s the true
s ta te and spirit of the Church will be highly
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The
87
C ri s i s C o m i n g
o f and s t riven for beca u s e it will make
for grea t er efficiency
And yet with all these c haracteristics there
will be an aggressive missiona r y propaganda
th o r ou ghly organized marked by the energy o f
the times Naturally the missionary movement
takes o n the dominant colouring of the home
Church
t hought
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Th e Per s on a l i ty
f th e An ti chr i s t
o
.
Th e s i tu a ti on i n th e
u p p er s p i r i t
wor l d
the
beginning of the c risis is indicated There comes
the hour when the Holy Spi r it withdraws t o the
upper world fr o m His dis t in c tive missi on to the
eart h It is at that time apparently and per
haps because of the Holy Spiri t s presence there
tha t something happen s i n that upper spirit
world
There is a conflict be t ween M ichael and Satan
with the h os t s on each side The initiative seem s
to be by Michael a s though to bring some old
quest ion t o a decisive issue Michael i s the one
“
spi r it per s onality called the ar c hangel
He
is sp oken o f as the one who stands for the J e w
in t hat upper world Satan up to this time has
his headquarters in the heavens s omewhe r e be
low the throne of God and above this ear t h
The i s sue of the conflict between the two is
deci s ive And Satan i s ca s t out of the heavens
and down t o the earth It is at thi s point that
there come s to the front on the earth the man of
at
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The
88
o f t he
D ee p e r M e a n in g
W ar
s t range pers onality wh o develops into the leader
c alled Antichrist These are the general c on
d i t i on s that are p o in t ed o ut a s prevailing as the
time of the crisis draws on
The crisis i t self c omes through a n ou ts ta n d in g
Hi s p er s on a l i ty is dis t in c tly ex cep
evi l ki n g
t i on a l and ou t s t anding ge tt ing f r equen t repeti
tion and mu c h space in t he rec o rd He is a g
gr es s i v e and d o mineering t o an extreme degree
He has a rema r kable eye and a face notable for
its stern harsh expression It is a b o ld i m
pudent shameless merciless fa c e not influenced
by human amenities
The m o st striking feature however is hi s
speech It is blasphemous peculiarly a r r o gantly
blasphemous Indeed this is said to be the i m
mediate c ause of his d ownfall He is startlingly
defiantly self assertive and egotistical magnify
ing hims elf ab o ve all even ab ove G o d Himself
He is a c unning specialist in de c eit Lying
a n d craf t iness bec o me a cursed comm onplace
under his influen c e and sway He is an exper t
in all sort s of deception Studi ously skilled in
entangled intricate sentences sentence s with
t ri cky crafty d ouble meanings He is sp oken
o f as a contemp t ible person probably with re fer
ence t o this mo r al trait
There is a str ange uncanny phase of his per
s on a l i ty that makes o ne rub his eyes to see if he
s ees straight He is not only in direct alliance
with Satan but he s eems t o be not merely h u
m a n more than human a blend of evil spirit
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0
9
War
The D e e p e r M e a n i n g o f t he
d o med lea gu e i s north or mainly north, of the
Mediterranean And this c onfederacy at the
end seem s to include the peoples of the Russian
c ountries who are s ingled out for spe cial men t ion
He makes it a defin ite part of his pr o paganda
to break down and undermine tru t h and honesty
displacing them with the rankest deceit and
lying and lack of h onesty The gr ossest c o rrup
ti on flourishes under hi s influen c e For th e
brie f time o f his sway hi s success seem s over
p o wering The language us ed indicates that he
runs riot rides ru t hl essly rough shod over all
ob stacles and seem s undefe a t able
The Jew seems a special obj ect of his hatred
With a ll the in t ensity of his outstanding char
a c ter i s t i cs he c o njure s up the w orst indignities
f o r the newly for med Jew nati on and for t he
things dearest and most sa c red t o t hem the
temple and the system o f sac r ifi c ial w o rship
He s eem s to vent his hatred of G o d agains t t he
Jews as though he recognizes them as G o d s peo
ple and distinctive repre s entative
S t range as it may s eem his a ct ivity is said to
extend t o the upper spirit w o rld Ma ny o f t he
h o st of heaven are c ontaminated by his power
and cas t do wn a n d t rampled up on though just
h ow is not made clear It is dis t in c tly said that
his power is n o t his own Clearly he is the one
chosen by Satan a s his representa t ive and en
dowed with all the power at his disp o sal In
him Satan i s doing hi s best and his wors t t o
drive through his own ambitions
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The C ris is C o m ing
Th e Ca r eer
f
o
9
1
th e A n ti ch r i s t
.
After coming t o the head o f the con f ederacy
there are fiv e d i s ti n ct s ta ges to hi s career
He begins as a man of peace armed peace
H e strengthens himself with the newly formed
J e w nati o n by making a treaty with t hem for a
seven year period The making o f this treaty
iden t ifies the Anti c hrist to the thoughtful ob
s erver of events Then he takes advantage o f
the treaty by deceit and by atta c k wo r king on e
group against an ot her and by bribes and s poil s
o f war t o d r ive t hrough his purp o se
Apparently that purpose is to be able to pa ss
through the land of Palestine as though the
J ew nation were possibly a neu t ral or bu ffer
For he at once passes through Pale s tine
s tate
and makes a n attack wi t h great f o r c e o n the
p o wer lying s o uth o f the Mediterranean in which
he meet s great success D runken wi t h hi s suc
c ess he retu r ns n o rth thr ough Palestine and hi s
h eart is against the Jewish tr eaty as though o f
n o fu r ther use to him and so not to be allowed
to h a mper his plans
Then he makes a second attack on the s outh
but thi s time he fails He returns nor t h agai n
thr ough P a lestine Appa r ently fil led with rage
o v er his defea t and t he failure of this s ec ond
campaign he vents his rage on the Jew The
treaty is abrup t ly and ruthlessly broken He
suc c eeds in doing t hi s by mean s o f intrigue and
for c e among the Jews
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9
Th e
2
D e ep e r M ea n ing
o f the
W ar
And he vents his spleen by stopping the sacri
fi ci a l w o rship and by the desec r ation of t he
Jewi sh temple This desecration is regarded a s
the very climax of blasphemous abominat i o n to
God It would seem as th o ugh he seats himself
in the holies t place s of the temple se t t ing him
s elf f o rth as God and requ iring that worship be
offered t o him This is t he point at which t he
persecution o f the Jew begins And while many
are untrue many others suffer a noble ma r tyr
d om
It is a time of so r est stres s
Then he mee ts an attack by the power of the
s outh He meets it with great f orces mi litary
”
“
and naval coming like a whirlwind
And
he has great success but n o t c omplete suc c e ss
Bad news reaches him fr o m the n o r t h and east
and he returns n o rth with great fu r y On hi s
way he passes t h r ough Pales t ine and makes hi s
headquarters at Jerusalem And it is there t hat
he meet s his end with great abruptnes s
There is a distinct check to his power a t the
first phas e o f the pers onal return of our L o r d
Jesus The persecu t ion of the Jew ceases And
t he visitati on of judgments b egins at this point
though the An t ichrist is not slain t ill la t e r
Then after t his check he makes a final sup r eme
e ffort rallying all p o ssible f o r ces for the last
great attempt Then c omes the crisis in his
career He is slain by the o pen appearance o f
Ch r ist out o f the open heavens Hi s career
seems to run through seven years m o st of these
events occu r ring in t he lat ter half Su c h seems
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Th e
C ris is C o m in g
93
to b e th e per s onality a n d career of this s tr a nge
evil king as outlined here by the Spirit of God
.
Th e Cr i s is
.
And now a look at th e cr i s is which come s
thr ough this evil king There a r e t wo d is tinct
phase s t o it And these two st and in sharpe s t
contrast wi t h ea c h other The first is the perse
c a t ion of the Jew and of the Church by the
ower
s
o
f
evil
The
second
is
the
exact
reverse
p
a brief partial vi sitation of j udgments o n evil
by G o d s direct interven t ion The whole thing
is spoken of a s a time of trouble s uch a s never
was since there was a nation even to that same
”
time
It i s of inten s e interest to note th e p r i n ci p l e
It is sim
u n d er l yi n g G o d s a cti on in all thi s
ply a wi t hdrawal a partial withdrawal It is
as though man s un s poken prayer the prayer o f
acti on and attitude i s being answered partly
God has been s o much blasphemed or ignored
practically left out of reckoning so far as pos
sible H e never ignore s any on e or leave s h i m
ou t o f His unfailing creative sustaining care
Now the r e s a partial withdrawal God sim
ply does less ; that is all The perse c ution c omes
thr ough t he wi t hdrawal of the H o ly Spirit a
partial withdrawal f rom t h e Church The visita
t i on of judgments comes through a partial wi t h
d r a wa l of t he C rea t or s preserving sustaining
touch in th e common life o f men and of the
earth and of the heavens
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The D e e p e r M e a n ing o f the
94
W ar
The i mm ed i a te wor l d s i tu a ti on j ust before the
crisis begins is stated The r e will be a series
of armed confli cts at the Medi t erranean Sea
swinging t owa r d and at t he east end between
powe r s lying nor t h and s outh of t hat Sea These
will be on a large s c ale inv olving gr eat numbers
Success sways back and forth These actions ar e
preceded by an attempted allian c e between these
two The terrible king comes t o the head of the
nor t hern power during a lull in these c onfli cts
He appears firs t as a man o f pea c e armed peace
The crisis is preceded and usher ed in by a
The center o f a c tion dur
ti me of armed pea c e
ing the crisis is t he Mediterranean c hiefly t he
eastern end and apparently extending t o in c lude
t h e valley o f the Euphrates
Just how fa r terri
t or i a l l y the persecuti o n ex t ends is n o t specified
I t would seem natural that i t would be severest
near the center of action But t he authority and
sway of the evil king so far as the p ower given
him by Satan is con c erned i s represented as b e
ing world wide And the visitation of judgments
s eem s to in c lude t he wh o le earth
The crisis begins with the persecution of the
Jew It i s dist inctly a religious persecution
It begins at Je r usalem The sacrificial worship
of the Jew i s abruptly stopped And the temple
is dese c rated evidently in the most extreme and
obnoxiou s way bot h t o the Jew and to G o d
Then f ollow s personal persecution of Jewish
m en and w omen many es c aping su ffering by be
ing un t rue and many suffering martyrd om
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The
C ris is C o m ing
95
there comes the persecuti o n o f the
Church Tha t is it is di rected against any one
wh o will not obey the manda t es issued There
will be a revival of empe r o r wo r ship an image
being set up in hon o ur o f t he An t ichris t king
and failure t o w o r ship will be punishable with
dea t h There will be restraint upon tra di ng ;
buying and selling being strictly li mited to those
wh o are l oyal t o t he king
The pe r se c uti on will be severe to the extreme
It wi l l be a time o f severe sifting Naturally
many who are in c hurch membership but have
no real touch of heart with C hri s t will balk at
the perse c u t ion and go with the outer crowd
M any will suffer a noble martyrdom And
many other s wh o ar e true a n d have learned
maybe thr ough sore experiences to live by faith
will be delivered being kept by divine power
through the perse c ution
The story of the Third o f D aniel will fin d
many a duplicate Refusal to j oin in the blas
p h em ou s emper o r w o rship will lead t o the i n
tensest fires of persecution but through quiet
superna t u r al intervention there will be delive r
an c e and so a w o nderful witness will be given
t o the ruler and t o the cr o wds of the reality o f
G o d and His p ower
During all t his period there will be marked
increase in demon activity some of it under
guise of Christian leadership Men pretending
to be the Christ and so leading the c rowd s
astray will add to the c o nfu s ion
More per
L ater
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The
6
9
De e p e r M e a n ing
o f t he
W ar
yet to the cr owds untaught and u n
dis c e r ning will be t he mira c les w r o ugh t by
Sa t ani c p owe r b ewilder ing in number and in
kind even to c al ling down fi r e f r o m heav en as
evid e n c e o f being G o d s messenge r s A mi r a cle
o f cour se mer ely means supe r na t ur al p ower at
work It may be o f G o d or i t m a y be of t he
devil Ar c hbish o p Trench emphasizes thi s in hi s
bo ok o n the mi r a c les
It will b e a t ime o f s ore pe r plexity to co unt
less numbe r s of c hurch member s untaught and
undiscerning Ye t there will be sure help and
an c h o r age f o r all wh o will be true even to the
p o in t of suffering There will be t h o se wh o have
learned to walk by fai t h and wh o n o w remain
true and give a s t eady ringing wi t ness t o the
tru t h
It will be a w ond r ous privilege t o be
wi t nessing in t he mids t o f the c hur c h c r owd s
c onfused bewilde r ed comp r omising and hiding
And there is special le a de r ship p r ovided by
G od for His pe o ple There will be t w o r emark
able men prea c hing t he t r ut h of t he c r ucified
Chris t and His p ower t o t he cr owds They will
be in Jer usalem They will be d r essed in
m ou r ning to emphasize t heir pr o test against the
o rder o f things g oing o n
And they will b e en t rusted wi t h super natur al
p ower All the a tt empts to ki l l t hem will fail
until their w or k is fully d one And they wi ll
have power to v e r ify t heir message by perform
ing mi r a cles restraining needed rain causing
plagues to c ome as Moses did in E gypt a n d
p l ex i n g
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Th e
8
9
o f t he
De e p e r M ea n ing
War
sighted first off the Nantucket L ight and some
h ours later it will be seen com i ng thr o ugh t he
And the wires
L o wer Bay and t he Narrows
will flash the word that he has arrived Ye t he
will actually have arrived only when h e s t eps off
of the gangplank at the Hob oken d o ck Natu
rally i t is somet hi ng like that
In t he midst of the persecuti o n suddenly there
will be some evidence in the sky of o u r L or d s
Jus t what
a p p r oa ch i n p ers on t owa r d th e ea r th
that sign i s is not speci fied It may be a light
very likely It was a light ab ov e the b r igh tness
of the sun that sm o te up o n Paul s s tu p efi e d gaze
on the Damascus road when Jesus appeared t o
him On the Transfigurati on M oun t t he chief
impression the dis c iples g o t was of light Jesus
fa c e wa s like the sun and his garment s dazzling
because o f the ligh t shining thr ough t hem
But if a light i t will be a very unusual light
a supernatural light clear distin c t of dazzling
s plendour instan tly rec o gnized as something
di fferent from sunlight It will p r obably be seen
clear ar ound the planet at nigh t time here and
daytime yonder twilight and dawn in between
The cr owd s everywhere will see it Instantly
there wi ll be an unexplained sensing of the fact
that this is something quite out of the ordinary
F o r with the light t here w
i ll be a s o mething else
i n d efi n a bl e but felt by the crowd s as somethi ng
fr o m God
Then there will be evidence to the ear a shout
the voice of the archangel , and the trump of God
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Th e
C ris is C o rn ing
99
a threefold announcement The shout is the
sh o ut o f a summons a ringing call to ac t i o n
The trump is al so a summ ons to action as of a
general giving mar c hing orders
Instan t ly there are f o ur di stinct happenings
to four classes of per so ns : To the Jew to the
dead who have had touch of heart with G o d to
t he foll owers of Chri s t who are living and to
the c ommon crowd s everywhere
Th e J ew will instan t ly recognize that this is
J es u s coming down t o the earth the Jesu s who m
their race rej e c ted and was t he means of putt ing
to death t he Jesus wh o c laimed to be t heir
Messiah There will c o me t o them the in t ense
inner convic t i on that He wa s He is their Mes
siah All t his will be through the touch o f the
Holy Spi r it upon them
They will be radically changed in heart and in
natu r e through that touch The common word
“
is converted
They will bec o me a nation be
lie v ing in and accepting Jesus as their Messiah
Thi s seems t o be true comm only o f the whole
Jewi s h people some o f whom will be in Pal es
tine nationalized and probab ly the larger part
s ca t tered a s now all over the world
Then there wi ll be a p a r ti a l r es u rr ecti on of th e
d ea d
At the approach of Jesus there will be a
supernatural life giving touch o f power upon
t he dead bodies o f all those who have had simple
true touch o f heart with God The break in t he
blue overhead will be f o ll owed by a break in t he
b rown underfoot And these will rise up out of
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The
1 00
De e p e r M e a n i n g
o
f the
W ar
the grave s Their human s pirits whi ch have
been in God s presence will re en t er thei r b o dies
At the same m oment s ome thing akin will
happen to th os e l i vi n g who a r e t r ust i ng the
Fa t her and Jesu s Chr ist the Savi our There
will c o me to their bodies likewise a superna t ural
tou c h making some radi c al c hange s o t hat as
they have hi t hert o resp o nded t o a law of gravity
t oward the earth n ow they will answer t o the
U pper pull o f a new law of gravity spirit gravity
It will n o t be any s pecial group or class of
Christians but all who in their hear ts are trust
ing Christ It will n o t be a matter of Chris t ian
at tainment but only o f trust ing Chr ist who died
f or u s Not what we have d one bu t what He
did
And th ese two gr oups t he raised u p and
the changed will have a w ondr ous meeting in
t he air a s they rise up together t oward their n ew
What a r e
center of gravi t y the L o rd Jesus
uni o n that will be o f loved o nes with each other
and all with our L ord Jesus !
A s these are caught up into the presence of our
L ord Jesus the Man of Fire the fir e t es t o f Hi s
mere presence will naturally at once affect t hem
Whatever there i s in them o f c haracter and of
life and of service t hat canno t stand that te s t
will become as ashes
Perhaps one t hinks quickly of those lost at
sea and of t hose blown to pie c es t oo small to
find and gather in the awful carnage o f thi s war
and naturally wonder s how they could be raised
The thing s eem s quite impossible But it mu st
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The
1 02
D ee p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f th e
in t ense disagreeable surprise of one finding that
a t hief has broken int o hi s h ome and carried ofi
his m o st valued treasures This is the b eginning
“
of t he day o f the L ord
It is the begi nning
”
“
o f t he end of the day o f Satan ; the full end
follow s very qui ckly
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Ou r L or d
’
s
Ar r i va l
.
This makes a n ew s i tu a ti on on th e ea r th a
radically changed situation The Chu r ch ha s
gone all th o se who have had heart t ouch with
God and with Chr ist The J ew is wh olly radi
cally changed in heart The cr owd s left behind
are startled and penitent The power o f the
An ti chr i s t ha s had a de c ided check
N ow there foll ows imm ediately on the earth
th e v i s i ta ti on of j u d gm en ts partial j udgment
and judgmen t i n p r i n ci p l e on t he system o f e v il
rather than up on t he race as such The ear t h or
land the sea t he rive r s and t he sun are affe ct ed
by plagues or seri ous di sturbances Wha t w ould
c ommonly be c alled afflictions and c alamities take
pla c e
An epidemic o f very distressing ul c erous sores
breaks out The water becomes unfit to drink
c ausing great suffering and death among b ot h
men and beasts The heat of the sun bec o mes
int olerably excessive The thr one or kingd o m
or administrati o n of the Antich r ist king become s
a fl e ct e d in some distres sing way which causes
suffering and checks its power
And the Euphrates River is a ffected as though
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The
C ris is C o rn ing
10
3
it were direc tly connected as the center o f
o pe r ation with the reign of t he Anti c hrist and
t he system o f evil These visita t i o ns cause gre at
suffering they hamper the p ower o f the terrible
pe r se cuting king Yet it is striking t o note that
t hey do n o t p r o duce penitence but the rever se
blasphem ous reviling o f God who is recogni z ed
as responsible The whole thing has a s t riking
parallel in the plagues of E gypt
At this p o int there is a rallying o f the forces
of evil It is a gigantic rally o f a ll resources
available again s t G od in utter defiance of Him
and Hi s p ower There i s a loo sening out o f
demons in countles s hordes They are said to
be loosened out at the Euphrates a s though that
were the center of Satani c power There is an
e ffort through demon activi t y to rally the kings
of the whole earth in a supreme movement
It seems t o be against both the Jew and God
as t hough it wa s striki ng at G o d to strike against
the Jew A veritable passion o f hate f or t he
Jew seems to take uncontr o lled passion of the s e
leaders and forces rallied They are sa id t o b e
gathered at Armagedd o n Ye t the terrible
climax of action b o th human and di v ine come s
at J eru s alem It lo oks as t h ough the action l n
elude s both places with the final supreme effo rt
at the Jew capital
The climax at Jeru s alem take s the f o rm of a
siege by all the nation s gathered ther e The
siege goes to the very wo r s t extremi t y for the
Jew the city i s taken the h ous es looted and the
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The
1 04
.
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
o f t he
worst unnameable h o rrors and excess es with
which we have lately been gett ing so t erribly
familiar take place It is a t t his point t hat
supernatural interventi o n takes place
Ther e occurs a terrible outstanding day It
is a dark day The sun becomes as black a s
bla c k haircloth The whole m oo n l ooks like
bl o od The natural f o rces t hat h o ld t he
hea v enly b o dies in place seem t o l o se thei r usual
power The stars fall as w o uld the fruit fr o m
a fig t ree in a v iolen t wind storm
This o c c urs ar ound the wh ole ea r t h where the
sun is s hi ni ng and where the moon is lighting the
night As a natural r es ult men a r e terr o r
s tri cken The sense of terror is so gr eat t hat
s ome expire of sheer fear T h er e i s the p os
s i bil i t y that this has been so in gradual degree
for some time But now it comes to a t errific
climax in this dark day
Then at eventide o f that day there com es the
great climax of intervention J es u s a p p ea r s ou t
of t he open heaven s over Jerusalem It is rec o g
n i z e d that it is Jesus Himself
But He c omes in
a splendour o f gl o r y imp o ssible f o r words t o tell
It is simply the gl o ry of His own presence but
it is dazzling blinding o verwhelming Not sim
ply the light blazing out from His person but
the m or e s ense of His presence is overwhelm ing
All hair splitting discussions about the essential
deity of J esu s instantly vanish int o thin air
The blinding Sinai experien c e w o uld s eem like
a mere prelude to thi s a mere r ehearsal
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The De e p e r M e a n ing o f the
1 06
W ar
for s ervice and been faithful in obeying
These now have a part wi th Him in the day of
His action
The mere pres ence of the glorified Jes us s ettles
the great conflict The An tichrist i s slain a n d
hi s i m mediate a s sociated leade r s The whole
syst em of evil in the earth called B abylon i s
j udged an d doomed and falls at one simple
str oke Apparently the mighty city of world
commerce in the valley of the Euphrate s which
ha s been the capital or center either actually or
practically o f the sy stem is demoli sh ed in the
earth quake
ch os en
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Th e A ci d Tes t
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f wa r fa r e i s noteworthy The
leaders are killed by t he s word that comes forth
ou t of th e m ou th o f Him who appears
The
s ame One who created thi ngs by a word now acts
in judgmen t in the same way The immense
number s who are gathered against Jerusalem b e
come t e rror stricken ; a confus ed tumult breaks
ou t among bot h men and horses There is an
utter l oss of self con fi d en ce or morale Dis co rd
breaks out in the ranks They take t o fighting
each other Pestil ence breaks out and a s tran ge
loss o f vitality affects them
It is worth remembering here what h as been
said a little hi t back that the principle o f judg
ment is s imply the partial withdrawal o f the
divine creator power that holds things together
and keep s li f e and vigour in man and beas t and
G od
’
s
m eth od
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The
C ris is C o m in g
1 07
in all nature
The j u dgment at thi s time i s
c haracteri stically up on the system of evil not
up o n men individually except a s i nvolved in
the other
And it b ecome s o f keene s t interest to note
that repeatedly we are t old th at the judgme n t is
not merely upon the system of organized evil on
the earth but far more signi fi c an t upon the
great evil prince himself and his hosts of evil
spirit beings ba c k of the system and working
through it against God Himself
The lengt h of time involved in all this visita
tion of judgment seems t o be seventy fi v e day s
It is the time intervening be t ween the two
phases of our L ord s return t he sign o f His
approa c h and His full arrival at Olivet And
the same c ha r acteris t ic o f abrupt suddenne ss and
swift ness is noted in t his c limax of Jesus arrival
as in the sign o f His approa c h
Then after a brief t ime of readjustment a new
order of things on the earth is inaugurated
Th e tr a n s i ti o n p er i od c o vers about six year s and
a quar t er of ordina r y re c k oning That is to say
from th e beginning of the c r isis up until t he
beginning of the new order will be t w enty three
hundred actual day s The word year d o es not
stand f o r the same definite peri o d of time
throughout history It is a variable term And
so the time is stated in actual days
Thi s tran s ition peri o d falls into three parts
The per s ecu t i on of J e w and Church runs
through twelve hundred and sixty actual days a
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Th e
1 08
De e p e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
little les s than three and a half ordinary year s
Th e v isitation of judgment s immediately fol
l owing runs through s eventy fi v e day s
Then
there i s a time of readjustment f oll owing c over
ing some nine hundred and s ixty fi v e days or
roughly about two year s and nearly eight
months o f ordinary reck oning It will again be
noted that while the s e p ortion s of time are s pe
cifi ca ll y named yet the day and h o ur o f our
Ip r d s return is not and will not be known
S uch s eem s t o be a summing up o f what thi s
Book of G o d stresse s a s a crisis c oming in the
I am not stating my per
a fi a i r s o f the earth
s onal opinion regarding all thi s My task i s
s impler I am simply trying m ost carefully to
s i ft out and put toge ther what this old Bo ok says
’
I t s a matter o f accurate reading of the Book
The c hief thi ng i s to kno w and t o n o te just what
’
G od s B ook does s ay The c onvi ct ion deepen s
wi th me continually that this B ook is absolutely
dependable as revealing G o d s purp o se and also
a s revealing what G o d see s will w o rk o ut on the
earth through the freedom of choice and action
whi c h He reverently unvaryingly insists that
man shall have
Happily t here is an acid test to apply to all
this— th e J ew Even i f a man doesn t believe
the Bible there s the Jew You can t get away
from the Jew the fac t of h i s existence By all
philosophy and reck oning the Jew should have
been obliterated r a ci a l l y centurie s ago H ome
le s s denationalized fl a gl es s persecuted scattered
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The
1 10
War
o f t he
D ee p er M e a n ing
says our L ord four time s in Revela
ti on the closing Book And a t t he b eginning of
“
that B ook it say s t he things th at must s h or tl y
”
come to pass
Repeated study makes it seem
quite clear that in ea c h case t he meaning seems
t o refer to the m a n n er o f His coming n o t t he
ti m e
The w ord swiftly or speedily could be
quite as a c curately used He comes wi t h a
sudden swift movement when He do es c o me
Yet there is an ind e x finger to point the way
Th e J ew i s G od s i n d ex fi n ger
When the Jew
re t urns to Palestine and f o rms again the Jewi sh
nation or commonwea lth the fin ger i s pointing
steady and true
And when once back renationalized he make s
a seven year treaty with a king at the head o f
a lea gue o f nations then that index finger i s
sti ffening and straightening out pointing n u
mis t akably to certain events and to the c oming
of the King
And the practical attitude of the simple
hear t ed true foll ower of Chris t is continually
stressed One w o rd fr o m our L ord s lips i s
“
typical o f all
But watch ye a t every seas on
making supplication t hat ye may ge t the vic to ry
in y our personal lives o ver all the ev il influences
in the world and s o b e pleasing and acceptable t o
”
Jesus when H e comes
A through express train was held up in the
far west by a heavy snow which b locked the
q u i ckl y,
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1
L uk e
s en s e
of
p
p a ra h ra s e d
th e
G re e
k
.
to
iv
g
e
the
a cc
u t
ra
e
The
C ris is C o rn in g
1 1 1
track s ome years ago It wa s a c ouple o f days
befo r e the way was clear Happily there was a
well stocked diner The passengers in one of
t he sleeping cars got togethe r and pr o p osed an
a cc om p l i s h m en t meeting to while away the time
E a c h one was to tell hi s accomplishment in a
s pirit of good na tured banter and j olli t y One
you ng man said he was a rising lawyer very
keen and Wide awake rapidly pushing his way
up to the t o p big fees c oming in and he ex
p ect e d so o n t o be moving up to E asy Street ; and
they all laughed a s he b o as t ed of his accomplish
ment A young lady t o ld that she was a rare
musi c ian People were spellbound a s she played
and sang So it went on through the little
cr owd each t rying to outdo the others amid
much merriment
F inally they had all s poken except one man
He was a farmer apparently His spare face
was deeply tanned and lined His hands were
those of a toiler his clothing plain He had the
appearan c e of a plain farmer who had prospered
The crowd looked his way He flushed up a bit
He wasn t quite of their soci al status and felt it
“
“
”
Well
he s aid
I m j ust a plain farmer
used to the stock and the open plains When I
have to go t o the city on b usiness I hurry
thr o ugh as fa s t a s I can It really s cares me in
t o wn the rush and the crowd the n o ise and auto
m obile s and all that It sort of f righten s me ; I
want to get back home
“
But — h e paused and flushed a bit more,
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The
1 12
D eep e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
J
bu t
then went steadily o n in a quiet l o w v o ice—
wife and I believe in prayer ; we believe in J es us
Christ ; we kneel down night s and m o rnings and
pray and we believe G o d hears us
He paused
A hush had swept s o f tly over the little sleeping
car gr oup Eyes bega n to glis t en A nd then
“
a woman s v oice softly began Nearer my G o d
”
t o Thee and they k new there was an uns een
Presence t here
Tha t was hi s a ccom p l is hm en t It s th e thi ng
tha t 11 c oun t as the finest acc omplishment the
biggest a c hievement when the King com es
Jus t to live true in the simple commonpla c e
r o und doing fai t hfully the day s tasks wi t h
a warm hand for one s fell ows and the heart a l
ways i n fr esh touch with th e great heart tha t
broke for all men and for u s
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1 14
The
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o f t he
War
Abyssinia and S ou t hern India with Chi nese
Church and Japanese and Indian All alike
plead the same bit of rhythmic prayer Th y
,
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,
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K i ngd om
co m e
.
It began nearly twenty centurie s a go And
t ime has never been able to c he ck or sl ow it s
rhyt hm or t o still its plea It began on the sh o res
of the Center of the ear t h Sea and has touch ed
and swee t ened every sea and sh o re every valley
and plain clear t o the ear t h s far t hest rim
Its key note wa s sounded by the Man who
came to the earth on a s pecial errand for Hi s
Fa t her So clear and Winsome so dis t in c t and
impelling was that key n o te s ounded that no
n o ise of war or trade or revelry has been able to
drown out it s sweet wooing music
Yet all thi s music is only an echo And the
echo i s always less than the original E a r th i s a
s ounding board that ha s caught the music of
heaven and keeps it s ounding and re so unding
ever m o re F o r the ori ginal mus ic is in the
heart of God and He never will be c ontent till
the symphony of Hi s heart dominates all the life
of the ra c e
G o d has an ide a l for man I mean an ideal
f o r his life d own on thi s old earth God i s a
practical idealist He br o ods over ideals for
man An d then He gives the wealth o f His love
and life and power to making the ideals rea l
This ideal thus far has been very c o stly to Him
It co st Him the thing dear est to Him But He
in sist s that it s hall come true regardless of cost
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O rde r o f T h ings
The N e w
1 15
There s an early picture that tells the whole o f
God s ideal s at a s ingle glance F o r s implicity
and win s omeness that picture stands out above
all others
God and man are walking together
in a garden M an s firs t home was a garden
It s a w ondrous garden There ar e fruits and
fl owers tree s an d shrubs s inging birds and rare
ani mals And there s a wo ndr ous stream o f
crystal clear water flowing through the mid s t of
the garden
And thes e two G od and man are companion s
together They ar e like each other They talk
a n d walk and work together
Indeed the man
helps God finish up the work of creation for
things haven t been named yet And things
must have names And so God lets man do the
thing he ca n do He sugges ts s ui table names f or
trees and birds and all the res t and God s ays
“
”
Thos e 11 be their name s
So they worked to
gether and talked together
I t s a wondrously homey picture of fellowship
and c ompanionship and service together It wa s
God s own plan Hi s ideal the ideal He still
carrie s in His heart But sin broke the picture
God s hi ghest gift to man free ch o ice His own
very likeness had in it the possibility o f trouble
It always ha s The power of choice was used
in making a wrong ch o ice That wa s the break
It wa s a heart breaking break to God
’
But Go d h as n ever lo s t heart He does n t
’
and He won t E den wa s hardly b roken until
the new E den on the same earth wa s planned
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Th e
1 16
of
D e e p e r M e a n ing
the
W ar
God put the E den music in the human hea rt
And it has never been lost Everywhere through
the centurie s there s been the wear y sigh over
l ife s disappointments and the intens e longing
for the real thing
E arly Norse folk
L iteratu r e tells the s tory
l o re and Celtic and Arab have pic t ured l o ngingly
an ideal future state of things G r eek sage and
L atin have written the s ame st o ry of c o ming
days which never came The tall th oughtful
Sp a niard s venturesome discovery of a new w o rld
br oke up the f ondly che r ished Atlantis ideal b e
yond the pillared Gibraltar S t rait s but it didn t
st o p the longing of men s hearts
Still the music of God persisted And still
“
men wr ote and dreamed More s
Utopia
s imply led the way for a long file o f f o llower s
up to this very hour The Eden music still
sings God s ideal has its e c ho in the heart of
the race and in every human heart It s a bit
of sure prophecy of a day th e d a y that s coming
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G od
’
s
I d ea l
for th e E a r th
.
.
God s ideal c entered in Jesu s The original
purpose in the coming of Jesus centu r ies ago
was t o s et up a kingd om G o d s kingd om a new
order of things the E den o r der And t he plan
could have w orked out then But again sin
wrong choi c e bad choice br oke the plan For
the plan hinged on man s c h o i c e and it still
hinges there When the kingdom does come it
will be through human choice
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The
1 18
De e p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f t he
force The only means of influencing men will
be by earnest patien t brotherly pe r suasi on
Broken hear t s will be healed prison d o ors
unhung a s being no longer ne eded B r oken
f amily circles completed abou t the cheer y fi r e
side amid a time of great rej oicing The calen
dar will always hang o pe n at May The poor
that big maj or ity has special repea t ed attention
There will be no hunger n o r c o ld n o r ill clad
n o unemployed begging f o r a chance to earn a
dry crust and no w o rkers fighting for a fair
share o f their sweat wet toil
I want to gather out just what this book o f
G od doe s s ay ab o ut this E den ideal o f His
There i s a fu llness and d efin i t en e s s of detail ed
s tatement , both surprising and pleasing And
then there i s much that follow s logically follows
as the natural result of thes e statements
I want to put it down here a s simply and
clearly as I can It will be noted again that I
am not expressing any pers o nal o pinion but
Sl m p l y gathering out what the Book seems to
s ay All that i s here can be f ound much more
fully in chapter five o f thi s little book
There is a great de al in that c hapter not here
But there is nothing here that cannot be f ound
t here with full references bo ok and chapter and
verse And it should be kep t in mind that while
there i s a sharp decisive t r emendous s ta r t t o
the new order o f thi ngs yet it will work out not
m agically bu t gra d u a l l y, following the common
law of life
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The N e w
O rde r o f T h ings
1 1
9
The N ew Order of Thi ngs i s a phra s e given u s
by o ur L ord Jesu s Hims elf It wil l be unlike
anything ever known in certain particular s It
will come by th e p er s on a l p r es en ce a n d r ei gn of
But H e won t be a s tranger to us
G od Hi m s el f
It will be the s ame One wh o made man s home
ready for him that creative week back in t h e
beginning o f things and who s pent the day with
our first fore f ather in E den
We wi l l recognize Him as the M an who walked
among u s on Pa lestine s hill s and valleys a s
Je sus s haring all our cormn on experiences H e
gave Hi s breath to u s and His presence with us
in E den and Hi s blood for u s o n Calvary
N o w He come s to give Hi s own presence with
u s again in a new intimate wondr ous way
The capital city of the kingdom will be marked
by the visible pre s ence o f God even a s was t he
tabernacle in the de s ert s and s The Trans
figuration Mount and the Forty D ay s after the
re surrecti on give together a b lend o f what Hi s
presence will be like
In the one He appear s in a dazzling blaze o f
divine glory Yet He is conversing quietly with
two men about things o f interest o n the earth
In the other He come s at unexpected time s
talking eating building a fire on the s and s for
c old men and cooking a fish f or their hu nger
and leaving them as He came
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A Cha n ged J ew L ea d i n g
.
Yet the
kingdom or mode of rule i s to b e
a
The
1 20
D ee p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
The Jews will again b e recog
Their kingdom
n i z e d as God s peculiar pe o ple
will be rest o red Their present rej ection as Hi s
messenge r nation is only temp o rary The Gen
t il e s or non Jewish nati ons have their o p p or
That o pp o r t uni t y will
t u n i t y as rulers now
have run to the full Then the c hange c omes
The times o f t he Gentiles rule will b e r u n out
The t ime of the Jew will have come
God Himself will reign but He will r eign
t h r o u gh the Jew
Jesus the S o n o f God will be
King of the Jew s a n d thr ough them o f t he whole
earth It will be a revival t hrough Jesus o f t he
old D avid dynasty The a ge long repr o a c h of
the Jew will be gone He w i ll be reckoned a
blessing instead of a thing to be cu r sed
There will be a gathering t o gether of Jews
from all parts of the earth t o Palestine E ven
their old time inveterate traditional enemies will
n o w eagerly help them back The Jew will be
th e fi r s t n a ti on of t he worl d at the head of all the
others Acceptance of his leadership will be
volun t ary and eager This indi c a t es the wh olly
new spirit in the w o rld Bu t it wi l l be a wh olly
new sort o f leadershi p a non mili t ary leader
ship
Je r usalem will b e the Jew c apital and so th e
wor l d ca p i ta l
But it wi ll be li t erally a new
Je r usalem There will be certain changes in the
surface of the earth at Palestine t hr o ugh that
t remendous earthquake Splendid rivers wil l
c onnect Jerusa lem wi t h the Mediterranean a nd
J
ki n gd om
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The
1 22
s hi n
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
It ll be as radi c al a change as that i n
’
.
the Jew
’
The change will be by G od s di rect touch m ak
ing them over new inside , s o changing at the
core everyt hing needi ng change The Holy
Spirit will be p oured out upon the Jew na t i on
individually and a s a nation The Jews will b e
come deeply peni t ent b roken hea r t edly peni t ent
for thei r past attitude toward God their r ejec
tion of Jesus t heir M ess iah An utterly n ew
spi r it will be in possessi on They will be liter
all y born again in sp i rit b orn anew born from
ab o v e
As a result they will b e a cleansed enn obled
holy pe o ple truly repres entative of a pu r e lov
ing G o d There coul d perhaps be n o keener
sta t ement than t hi s that what is c omm only
th ought o f as the c harac t erist i c Jewish trait
c omm ercialism selfis h cut throat c o mmerciali sm ,
is quite gone
In its place will be a passionate devotion to
G o d and ideal sympathetic brothe r liness toward
men The ver y a t mosphere of Jerusalem and
t he Jew nati on will be utter devoti on t o God and
c onsequent unselfish brotherliness t o ward all
There will be a fine spirit of unity am ong the
Jews them s elves
The Jews will become characteristically a
t ea ch er nation th e t ea c her na t i on
They will
b e endowed with special teaching gifts and will
deli ght in u s ing them They will be distin ct ively
a m i s s i on a r y nation With all their natural i n
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The N e w
O rd e r o f T hings
1 23
tens ity and versatile gif ts they will go out to all
nation s that have not been taught ab o ut the real
God That s the great maj o r ity of c ourse
Tw o thi r ds of the race to day reck o ning roughly
have never heard the s tory o f the Father s love
in sending J es us
The great illustration here i s Paul Paul s
s pirit and his whole career from the D amas cu s
“
”
road to the hired house
of R ome and the
headsman s block out s ide make a prophe t ic pi c
ture of th e new Jew nation The same pass ion
ate earne stness and undi s courageable persis tence
will drive the Jew out to tell the race of Jesus
The early c hapte r s of Acts give an o ther vivid
illust r ati o n The early Church of cour s e is e u
The brotherlines s and u n
t i r el y a Jew Church
s el fi s h n es s the j oy and simplicity o f daily life
the r eckoning o f their possession s in co mm o n
t hat none might suffer need the boldness in
prea c hing Jesus even t o persecution— these tell
eloquen t ly the new s pirit in the new Jew
The presen c e and influence o f the Jew will be
to the peoples of the wh ole earth as the dew s
of Pales t ine in olden days E vaporation fr o m
the D ead Sea filled the air with mois t u r e The
chill air of frosty Hermon di s tilled the moisture
with which the night air was heavily laden and
nightly the fertilizing dews re f reshed the land
It will be like that It will b e like a s the sm al l
warm rain of spring time touching the earth
with new li f e till y ou can see things grow The
pre s ence of the Jew will be like that
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W ar
The D e e p e r M e a n in g o f t he
1 24
Th e Chu r ch
’
s
Pa r t i n th e N ew Or d er
.
Th e Ch u r ch will ha v e a part in th e a d m i n i s tr a
It is direc t ly a sso
ti on of thi s J e w ki n gd om
.
with the King who rules over the Jew
and the world The word Church is used for
all wh o are trusting Jesus Chr ist as their
Saviour f rom al l communion s and from outside
of all
I t will probably b e f ound to include all in
every generation and every nati on and tribe who
have been true to God and to all the light that
has come t o them a nd so have been redeeme d
by the preci ous blood o f Calvary and united i n
the real Church
All these have been caught up and away at
the appr o ach o f Ch r i s t to the ear t h For the
one thing that c ounts t hat day is the Bl oo d of
Christ And that is the one t hing that m a ke s
the real Church , indwelt by the H oly Spirit
Bu t n o t a ll of th es e will be privileged to help
i n the service of the ki ngd o m days
That is to
Any o ne m a y have
s a y all may if they wi l l
that blessed coveted privilege It is r eser ved
for t h o se who are called and ch o sen and faithful
Th o se wh o hav ing accepted the c a l l t o salva
tion have been fa i th fu l t o the Master in th e
t hing He c h os e for t hem to d o
Bu t please n o te keenly tha t the r e is nothing
ar bitrary n o partiality ab out this It i s no t
chiefly a m a tt er o f rewa r ding t hose who have
foll owed full y and faithfully The mat t e r o f
ci a t e d
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The
1 26
D e e pe r M e a n i n g
of
W ar
t he
held them s teady in preparation f o r thi s mo s t
blessed s ervi c e The F o r t y Days o f Jesus ex
between
the
resurrecti
o
n
and
ascension
r
i
n
c
e
e
e
p
give the simple illustra t ion of the p ower o f t heir
new bodies and of their bles s ed ministry among
’
.
,
m en
.
Sa m e Na tu r a l
L a ws
.
Now a little abo ut the kingdom it s elf Th e
n a tu r a l l a ws of n a tu r e a n d of l if e wi l l of cou r s e
th ey a r e u n ch a n ged
r em a i n
as
After that
tremend ous upheaval in the heavens and the
earth attending Christ s arrival on earth thing s
will resume their usual rhythm under t he divine
creative touch The great basic laws of the
heavens will remain the same the laws that keep
the whole solar sys t em aswing The sun and
moon and star s will go their daily nightly e r r and
for men
But there will b e certain b en efi cen t c hange s
s een whether due to the heavenly lights o r t o
the atm o spheric conditi on s of t he ear t h o r b o th
The sun will give a s tronger clearer light
though without an undue unwholes ome exces s
o f heat The moon will shine more brightly
The rhythm o f t he sea s ons will continue There
will be a fine t emperi ng o f the elements the rain
fall and the dew and the winds so as to bring
only go o d results
There will result a renewed fertility t o the
soil and the destruction and absen c e o f poison
ous gr owths The blight o f dr ought o f u n
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The N e w
O rd e r
of
T h ing s
12
7
tempered heat and destructive storms wi l l be
go n e Malarial swamps wi l l change under the
new light o f s u n and m o on All these are u n
natural They were not in God s E den earth
They came with the break of touch with God
The curse of sin will be removed
The natural r ou n d of h u m a n l i f e will continue
a s before All the sweets of family life will
continue but in the finer atmosphere o f purified
love Home life with its sacred privacies the
exquisite charm of the fireside c ircle the c o n
stant miracle o f gr owth and development these
will remain the very heart and center of all
human life The delights of friendship of
s o c ial intercourse of music of the beautiful the
cultivation of one s tastes and p ower s and the
rare privilege of s ervice these will kn ow finer
growths in the new moral atm o sphere School
ing growing learning indu s try exchange o f
p r o duct s will continue of course for these be
l ong to natural human life The delight o f w o rk
will be discover ed anew It is only drudgery
that is unnatural to o mu c h w o rk more than
one s share a n d the absence of the finer m o tive
There will be the cultivati o n o f the soil of
plant life and animal life But there will b e
an intelligent thought ful interest in all o f t hi s
a due regard f o r the earth itself the soil and
the f uture and f o r all the people concerned
The cultivation will take all thi s int o acc ount
not simply individu al intere s t and not s elfish
amb ition
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1 28
Th e
D e e p e r M ea n ing
o
f t he
W ar
And o r ga n i z ed h u m a n l i f e wi ll be o n the
natural basis The family i s the unit Orig
i n a l l y the na t ion was simply an extensi o n o f t he
family p r in c iple The gr oup o f families ab out
t he o riginal s t em made t he c lan the g r oup of
c lan s t he tribe and t he gr oup o f related t r ib es
the nation So natural life will be o rganized o n
its o wn natu r al l a w each nation living its own
chara ct er is t ic life
Ge o graphi cal and racial and language a ffin
i t ies and natu r al rela t ed i nterests will control
the nati onal o rganiza t i o n and life The ea r nest
a t tempt n ow being made in Paris by t he states
men t here and t he remar kable gathering o f spe
t o rec o gnize these lines in
ci a l i s ts with them
adjusting bounda r ies i s a w o r king out of the
principle that will have full sway in the new
o rder
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C er ta i n M or a l Ch a n ges
But
ch a n ges
t here will be
.
c er ta i n
r a d i ca l
m or a l
There will b e cha n ges i n th e u n s e en
s p i r i t a tm os p h er e or surroundings of our earth
Satan will be under restraint He who s t a r ted
t he E den break and did his bes t in the wilder
ness with t he New Man to d o his w o rst he is
under b onds He wh o m our L o rd Jesus spoke
of as the p r in c e o f this world is out of a c ti on
abs olu t ely o ut
By simple logical inference the demons are out
to o They are in clu ded wi t h t heir c hi ef I t is
i nteresting that evil dem o n ac t ivi t y i s recognized
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The
1 30
D e e p e r Me a n in g
o
W ar
f the
A spirit of love and consideration will t a ke
p o ssession of men Instead of selfishness will be
a real brotherlines s Instead of cowardice a n d
slavish fear will be courage and fearles sness
Ther e will be a c o mmon recogni tion of God s
unfailing tender love and a deep reverence f o r
God and f o r God s Word and for God s other
children A fin e culture o f the s pirit wil l di s
place rudeness and b o orishness
There will be brotherly help for the poor t he
deficient and the backwar d And a detesta ti o n
of the i gnoble the selfish taking advantage of
others It will be a penitent changed God
fearing world That is to say all thi s will be t he
ble s sed c ommonplace It apparently will not
be univers al but it will b e the rule And no
doubt it will work out gr a d u a l l y after th e initial
start
There i s one divorce at least that will be
nullified at o nce the div o rce bet ween G o d and
our c omm on daily life Sat an secured that
di vor c e l o ng ago
It will pr omptly b e declared
null and v o id And so all life will be changed
by the happy reunion And God will have the
desire o f His heart in the new E den
A great discovery will be made t hat love for
G o d and love f o r one s fellows are the same
thing The theologian s emphasi s on l o ve to
God and the s o ciol o gist s emphas i s on love to
others will be out of date L ove for God work
ing o ut in l o ve for other s will be unders tood as
the real thing
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Th e N e w
O rde r o f T h ings
1 31
Then there will b e c er ta i n m en ta l ch a n ges a o
companying these moral change s There will
be a new mental alertn e s s and keenness The
veil wi ll b e taken from off the minds of people
It will be like the lift ing of a fog People will
see and understand b etter There will be quicker
and keener men tal proce ss e s
Dullnes s to truth lack of discernment o f
moral issue s and o f God s purpose s in life mis
under s ta nding ignorance
super s tition and
prejudice will give way to the opposite of thes e
Th ese will all be m or a l changes in the mental
realm a ffecting the mental li f e In di vi dual
gift s and traits and ta s tes and like s will r emain
as they naturally are , but be more f u ll and free
than b ef ore
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Cer ta i n Phys i ca l Cha n ges
.
There will also be cer ta i n m a r ked p hys i ca l
c h a n ges of a ble ss ed sort
There will be healing
of physi c al ailment s by di vine p o wer blindne s s
deafness lameness dumbne s s and all disea s e
and weakness There will be univer s al cessat i on
of death probably extending gradually D eath
at the age of on e hundr ed will b e regarded as
untimely
There will be a cess ation o f disea s e and a
marked increase of health and vigour and con
sequent length of life Quite pr obably the great
ages of the day s before the flood wi ll become
comm on again All this wi t h the ce ss ation o f
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The
2
3
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
war will lead to a great increase i n p op u l a
tion
Bu t u nder the changed condition s the earth
will show what it can do in sustaining a large
p o pulation It s chance in this will have c ome
The Malthus ian theory will be in the discard,
wi t h all it s theoretical cous in s The soil and
man will have a chance God i s right afte r
all
But man will b ecome again ma s ter o f nature
as o riginally planned Discoveries o f its re s ource s
and power have come slowly and lab o ri ously
thr ough the l ong year s As they have come life
has been brightened and eased The ele ct ric
current alone has d one s o much Now all thi s
sort o f thi ng will c ome more readily It will
c ome of course through effort and study
That s the delight of it And s o conditions o f
life will be eased and bettered
In all thi s we s hall fin d that the Go s pel days
were simply advance days sample days o f the
kingdom i n p a r t The healing the o rdering o f
death to be gone the mastery over st o rms and
nature the c urbing of demon activity t he teach
ing and preachi ng the feedi ng and binding up
of broken hearts all this was simply Jesus woo
ing men up t o G od s way and God s order of
things The fog was bl own aside a bit and a
glimpse given of the Kingdom plan when once
the King had sway
N aturally a l l thi s will make a decided change
in th e m ora l a tm os p h er e of th e ea r th Some one
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1
The
34
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
hous es and the like will have an enormou s i h
flu en ce on the moral atmosphere
,
,
.
and
Ch a n ged Id ea l s
Ci r cu m s ta n ces
.
And the c ommonly recognized and accepted
There will
i d ea l s of l i f e will be wh o lly changed
be a new moral quality in all community life
instinct wi t h a r obu s t vigour A spirit of
brotherliness will dominate While there will
be the freest play to individuality there will be
an earnest l oyalty to the interest s o f all and
especially t he poor and neglected and defi c ient
There will be c ombinations in all activitie s for
that is normal but they will b e u n s el fi s hl y whole
s ome in their spirit
And this will work out gradually and naturally
certain changes in th e com m on ci r cu m s ta n ces of
l i fe
The ideal o f community l i fe t o day i s the
city comm o nly s o regarded though n o t by any
means u n iversally so The cities of all the
w o r ld have grown in s ize en o rmously of late
decades
The o pportunities and advantages and con
v en i en ces of city life have been drawing t he vast
crowds The blend of city and country life as
the real ideal has bee n much sought after by the
moneyed pe ople who c o uld have what they want
And it is everywhere being i ncreasingly s ought
in city suburbs
I t is interesting to rec all the ideals common in
the palmy days of Hebrew ci v iliz ati on They
were wha t we would call to day a s i m p l e agri
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The N e w
O rd e r o f T h ings
1 35
cultural and pas toral people There were no
great c i t ies The country was the unit of life
and the ideal And thes e were God s people
with what might be thought of a s Hi s ideal s in
this regard
In th e idealized picture at the c lose of John s
Revelati on the center o f community life is a
But mark keenl y it is a ga r d en city
ci t y
The E den ideal wa s a garden T hi s Revelation
ideal i s a ci t y It is not built n o r organiz ed as
are any of o ur great characteri sti c w o rld ci t ie s
It would seem t o blend the ripe c ulture and the
conveniences of city life with the s implicity and
naturalnes s and greater purity phy s ically of
c ountry life The firs t m an was a gardener
The s econd Man wh o came as leader was an
artisan yet in a c ountry village probably wi th
a bit o f garden cl o se to the dwelling
Now the r e are c ertain changes that we are sure
of in city life The city slum our point of clo s
est contact wi t h th e heathen world will cer
t a i n l y go
There will b e pr o per h ousing and
and ventilation and envi r onment
dr ain a ge
There will be bette r f o od For c o mmercialism
of t he hurtful s o rt will not be tolerated
The unrestrained c o mmercial instin c t f o r i n
s t a n ce
that takes c ertain por t i ons out o f the
whea t that so fl o ur may profitably be st o red up
i n i mmense quan t ities with o ut danger of sp o il
ing will giv e way in the inter est o f better nutri
tion and health And that will na t ur ally make
changes in certain produ c tive en t erprises
The
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1
Th e
6
3
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f the
fo o d s that sud er deterio r a t i on by being chemic
ally p r epared and c hanged t o make a nice r lo ok
ing m o re salable t h ough less nutriti o us s om e
times hur t ful p r o duct will co me under t he ban
Excessive pri c es and the manipula t i o n of t he
marke t in the ir in t erest will be d one away wi t h
Ex c e ssive fo r ced cut throat compe t i t i on in
trade will be displa c ed by a wh oles ome natural
rivalry Th oughtfulness and cl oser appli c at ion
will make better g oo ds and these will get be tt er
pri c es And f r ugality will gi v e advantages
The schools and h ome life will ge t c ountles s c hil
The h o urs of
d ren o u t o f present day fact o ries
lab o ur will be su c h as t o permit h o me enj oym ent
and personal c ultu r e and leisur e Wages will
b e adj usted fairly to a man s labo u r and skill
a n d care
Under such changed c onditi ons men will pr ob
ably dis co ver and d evel o p pe r s onal traits and
p ower t hey had n o t kn o wn they p o ssessed And
t his will lead to an easier mas t ery of nature s
hidden fo r ces M o dern conveniences light ing
plumb ing t ransportat i on and the like will prob
ably be m o r e and be t te r and be wi t hin the rea c h
of all c ountry and city alike F o r increased
kn owledge of na t ur e s laws and s t ores and our
fuller better t ouch wi th nature will bring us
helps o f which we haven t ye t dreamed t hough
p repared for our use by the creative hand
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Ch a n ges i n Na tu r e
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There will be certain changes i n
n a tu r e
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We
1
The
8
3
D e e p e r M ea n ing
o
f t he
W ar
And the lower animal life will share the
B easts no t ed for fer o ci t y and
b lessed results
Sin
t rea c hery and poison will be changed
b ree d s ant agonism And ant agonis m b r eeds
And these unc o ntrolled be
w eapon s o f defense
Meat ea t ing beasts
c ome weapons of o ffense
will t ake t o a diet of herbs so a ffe c ting their dis
p o si t i o n There will b e a cess ati on o f c ruelty
to a nimals by man and o f danger to man
fr o m animals A sweet fellowship will again
spring up between man and beast and in all
na t ure
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Th r eefol d Pu r p os e of th e Ki n gd om
.
The p u r p os e of th e Ki n gd om is intens ely p r a c
tical as is everything that God plans I t is a
threef old purp o se It is first of all a ti m e of
I t will give o pportunity to test
Op p or tu n i ty
G o d s own plan f o r t he ear t h and f o r m a n
God s plan has never yet had a fair c hance
Men will ge t r eally acquainted with G o d s way
of doing t hings and Hi s wondr ous plan f o r us
In this it will be a t ime of vindi c ati on N o o ne
has been so much slandered and c ri ti c ized u h
fairly a s G o d Men will be having a real taste
of the plan in the heart of God for things down
here
Then it is a time of opportunity for man and
for the earth Man has been hampered by gen
er a t i on s of inherited t enden c ies of a n o t g o od
s ort It is true ful l true and ever will be that
as any one f ollow s s imply and fully all the light
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Th e N e w
O rde r o f T hings
1
39
that comes there come s unfailingly t he strength
to walk in the light And there come s more
light and then more strength
Ye t the race has been so r ely hindered by sin
in the w o rld The Kingdom time will b e a time
of rare opportunity for men on God s own plan
And it will be an opp o r t unity to o for the ear th
for nature to do her best unhurt by sin and by
sin hurt man s ignorance and crude immaturity
The original E den plan will have free s wing
fullest opportunity for nature and man and
—
r everently
f or God Himself
The second purpos e fi t s in wi t h this It i s to
t ea ch m en a bou t ou r gr ea t wo n d r o u s G od
M en
d on t know God That s the gr eatest b o ther the
c hief hindrance That s a bit of Satan s most
devilish cunning If men only kn ew G od
clearly it woul d make the most radical di ffer
ence Now it s to b e a time of making God
really known to men
The Jews will be the great teacher nation
They will have a pass ion for making G o d kn own
With all their r are talent and intensity and a g
r
i
s
s
e
v en es s
touched by the Holy Spirit they
g
will be utterly devoted to this And the Chur c h
wil l have a big s hare from it s headquarters up
in the heavens E very redeemed child of God
m a y help just as f ar a s he can in that bl e ssed
minist r y
It will be a time of world wide evangelization
Only that w o rd will take on a fin er deeper
si mpler meaning The evangel i s the story of
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The
1 40
D ee p e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
G o d s l ove t o ld out in terms of action o f sacri
fi ce and blo o d to ld in t he living language of
Nazareth and Cal v ary and the Third Morning
Af t er It will be a new ev a n gel i z a t i on o f t he
w o rld ti ll all men shall unders t and the throbbing
hea r t of G o d They will c ome t o kn o w that
Jesus was G o d all gone t o hear t f o r men
There are t w o periods of world wide evangeli
z a t i on in the old Bo o k of God the presen t Church
peri o d and t he co ming Kingdom period The
immediat e obj e ct i v e o f the Chur c h is t o make
G o d s Jesus kn own to all The Kingdom time
takes up the unfinished task and makes a full
clean well done j ob of it
There s a third purpose wh ich likewi s e twine s
in wi th these It is to p u t d own a ll op p os i ti on
to G od s bl es s ed r u l e of l ov e
Christ must reign
until He has put down and put ou t u t terly out
of action all c ontrary rule and authority and
power The only force us ed wi l l be moral
suasi on supplemented by love s help
The language used intimates that it will be a
gradual pr oc ess God wan t s to wi n His way
He wants every man o f his own free choice and
ac t i on to c u t with every u n G o dlike thi ng and
to let Himself come into His o wn place in man s
life ; and s o everyt h ing contrary to G o d is to be
abolished
The length o f time the Kin gdom runs i s closely
connected wi t h its purpose It is s ai d to be a
t h ousand years Thi s is spoken of i n one place
only and stated there six times It is intere s t
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1 42
Th e
D e e p e r M e a n in g
of
t he
W ar
ends with man gathered lovingly about God the
Father in a garden city They a r e cl o sest
friends a s only th o se akin and alike c an be
The t ree of life has grown into a grove of trees
G o d i s Victor The s acri fice of the Only Be
gotten wa s not in vain C al vary has f ertilized
and enriched E den
’
Yet in the midst of the B ook s m os t Winsome
pictu r e is s omething else a so mething very pain
ful ; bu t it s there a lake of fire It is kindl ed
by free choice ch o osing wrongly and persisting
incorrigibly in that choice God s B ook i s
faithful to the last lea f
Such is the pi c t u re in thes e old pages bold in
outline clear in detail rich in warm col ouring
It will be noted h ow its parts fi t t o get her It
makes a simple natural symmetrical whole It
is sane and practicable and w o r kable It t a kes
into a ccount actual conditi ons and needs and
mee t s them
And even more ye s much more it gives a su f
fi ci en t basis for the belief that the pi c ture can
be made a thing of life The p ower and the
pledge o f God are back of it It will be by
direct divine in t erventi on
It all centers in Jesus He has never yet
failed in anything He put His hand t o in old
time Syrian days o r since An d wherever He
is k n own there s confidence in Him His Name
pledges the thing
And s o that world wide prayer will have
b rought it s answer That murmur of mu sic
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The N e w
O rd e r o f T h ings
3
14
through the age s and around the earth has found
its an t iphonal response in the reality of life
The Kingdom will have come The New Order
of Things will have begun
An d i f ever haunting fear stretche s its crafty
chill hand up on the thermome t er of your h o pe
ask the first J ew you meet He kn ows You ll
have no trouble finding one wherever y o u are
He can tell He d o es tell not wi th the eloquent
tongue of hi s mouth but the yet more eloquent
tongue of his pre s ence
The Jew is a perpetual miracle G o d s c on
Indeed a s you think into i t as
ti n u ou s miracle
great a miracle as any ever done if not greater
and greatest The to oth of time hungrily biting
ha s made no impres sion on his r a ci a l id en ti ty
You may not believe in the i n spirat ion o f the
Bible but you are forced to believe in t he racial
inspiration o f the Jew plenary inspirati on
through the di rect s upernatural touch o f the
Holy Spirit
L ong ago time and Satanic hatred made a
working agreement to get rid of the Jew racially
They have d one thei r best to kill him off or
failing in that to merge his identity as a J ew
into that of other pe o ples But he is str onger
in numbers and in racial c onsciousness and in
the a c tion o f life to day t han ever
The Jew is the keystone of t he Kingdom arch
God ha s mira c ulously pre s erved him He i s
e ss ential to the plan When the Kingdom c omes
the Jew i s here waiting to fit into the keystone
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The
ni c he
De e p e r Mea ni ng
The Jew
.
K i n gd om i s
’
o
f t he
W ar
mere presence says
s
com i n g
The
,
”
.
The o fficer in command of a section of t r enches
and a sergeant were making their r ounds du r ing
“
a c omparative lul l in the firing
s omewhe r e in
”
France
All a t once the o fficer alm o st s tum
bled over t he limp form of a young bugler
“
“
”
”
D one for ! asked the sergeant
Yes
was
“
the reply
the poor fell ow s eviden t ly gone
west
But he hadn t quite yet There wa s a mo
mentary flashing up o f t he fast ebbing vitality
The ear caugh t t he words sp oken The lips
m oved and t he o ffic er bent tenderly to cat c h the
“
words :
Gone west !
yes sir
but
n o t d one for sir
t
u
s
b egi n ni n g
I see
j
”
and
and m oth er
Then a wondrous smile lit the boy s face a n d
then the head dr o pped back Things had b egu n
“
”
fo r him Things will be just beginni ng when
Jesus come s
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The
1 46
t e r p r et
De e p e r M ea n ing
o
f t he
War
impartially the meaning of the standard
b oo k
The thoughtful man g o e s to his bo ok One
must s tart s omewhere He must get his feet
He needs t o k now whatever there is that is a b s o
l u t el y dependable
H e m us t protect him self
agains t misun derstanding and r esul t ing injury
Whe t her he s sell ing a big bill of go o ds or p r e
paring a n imp ortant case for the c ourt o r trying
t o find how the belief and practi c e of his own
time c onnects wi t h th o se of past times and ot her
nations ; o r simply t r ying t o d o the higher thing
live an intelligent s trong Christian life and be
a t rue leader
The b o ok connect s him with the past It pu t s
him in working touch with other men of hi s
particul a r world A man can live only one
generation of time and be in one place at a
time himself And that s only one link in the
l ong c hain If hi s judgment is to be reliable he
m ust get in t ouch with the fa c ts t ha t c oncern
what he s thi nk ing ab out He wants t h e fac t s
tha t are really b eyon d d i s p u te He wants b o th
the facts of t he l ong pas t and the facts of the
rest of hi s w orld
A b o ok o f t his standard sort deals with facts
and with principles
Thes e two are blood
brothers The fact is the concrete illustration o f
a principle and the principle interprets the
meaning o f the f act A fact i s a tremendous
thing It is the one fixed quantity of life It is
’
t rue o f course o r else it isn t a fact It can t be
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The
E v id e nc e
i n t he
Ca s e
1 47
pu shed a side nor ign ored The man who tries
that finds after a bit that he has simply pushed
himself aside out of the rea l current The f a ct
remain s
A fact is alway s true yet truth i s not simply
a fac t nor a c o llection of facts Truth i s a fact
seen in connection with other fac t s that bel ong
with it Truth is a circle of facts so adj u sted
that ea c h i s s een not simply by itself but in its
relation to its brother fact s A fact out o f it s
rela t ion may lead a man badly adrift
Water w o n t run u p hill That s a very com
m on p l a ce fact
Yet there is probably not one of
us but has seen a stream or c o lumn or pipeful o f
water moving steadily decidedly up an incline
and perhaps a very steep shar p incline too Be
cause water s eeks it s own level That s another
fact about water
The column of water s een moving upward is
connected wi t h a larger body of water L ike a
man it doesn t live t o itself It can t The
man may try to and will find himse lf badly o ut
when the reckonings are footed up The water
is true to the simple law of i ts being It s par t
of s omething el s e And the connection controls
its movement s
What is a fact of a body of water s tanding n u
c onnected that it won t run up hi ll cea s es to be
a fact a s it comes into active connection with a
larger b o dy of water It does ru n up hill
It
gets into ri ght rela t ion with what it bel ongs to
Now the thoughtful Christian man wants to be
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1 48
The
Dee p e r M e a n in g
of
t he
W ar
true and to live t r ue He earnestly desires to be
sure of his footing He may be a leader among
men in things of the Chr istian life or he may
simply be living his life in a shu t away c o rner
with a limi t ed c ir c le o f influence But he want s
to kn ow ab out the sim ple vi t al things in a de
pendable way that so he may be true and a l
ways ring true and not find t hat he s made s ome
radical breaks or slips when the s core s fi n a ll y
figured up
How ca n he know ! E very man can t be a
speciali s t He may have to figure a good bit on
keeping the roof overhead o n bed and bread
for hi s little group and the like How can h e
kn ow !
There pe r haps was never a time when
m o ral issues were more obs c ured by b eautifully
shaded gray clouds than t o day
Theories o f life are as thick as shells have been
in t h e air in Northern France lately Cl o uds o f
subtle poison gas floa t about threa t ening t o di s
turb one s normal t hinking ab out t hings whe r e
vital prin c iples are at stake One is eager some
t imes for a spirit gas mask that wi ll supply pure
healthful air s o he can keep his b al ance and se e
true and straight
Pretty much everythi ng that our fathers u n
questioni ngly re c koned as set tled in the ma t ter
of religi ous belief is being ques t ioned or openly
attacked or ignored How ca n a man kn ow !
I m thinking most of the c ommon folk who are
abs o rbed in life s daily tasks and yet want to
know and t o be t rue
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The
150
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f the
War
open mind a n d above all a willingness to s quar e
one s spirit a n d daily practice with the B o ok s
spirit and teachings— these will bring to any
one however busy and undis ciplined b y special
s tudy a working knowledge of the c o n t ents and
spirit and purp o s e o f thi s remarkably s i mple
B oo k of God
Just n o w we want to turn to this Book for
only one t hing A thing on which i t speaks with
a degree of positive certainty no thing short o f
s t a r t ling And yet it s a thing o n which good
thoughtful men who think ab o ut su c h things
s eem less agreed than about anyt hing else ; and
on which the man who has studied most speaks
with t he m o st cauti on I refer to the futu r e
N o t the final future of the next life but the
future run of events on thi s earth before the
wind u p c omes
One o f the most striki ng most o utstanding
things of thi s Book is that it speaks defi nitely
and distinctly ab out future events on the earth
and s p eaks o f them t oo with a posi t iveness and
It i s
d efi n i ten es s that almost makes one gasp
t he one thing conservative books avoid doing a s
a rule And this is the m o st c onservative o f
books by a ll common consent Yet there is here
this daring f eature that marks it quite off from
all other s
It seems very plain to one reading th ought fully
th r ough thi s B ook that there is here a desire ye s,
m ore a settled dominating purp os e t o tell about
distinctly fut u re to be
a program o f events
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Th e
E v i de nce
i n t he
Ca se
15 1
worked out o n our earth It is not s imply a pr o
g r am of things whi ch God purp oses shall c o me
but als o qui te distin c t from that o f things t hat
are heart breaking t o Him and yet whi ch He
plainly sees will come
They a r e things which will work out of that
utter freed o m of a c ti o n by man w hi ch God u n
va r yingly insis t s u pon This program runs
thr o ugh the B ook fro m end to end di stinct and
clear It gr ows steadi ly in intensity of s tate
ment and in wealth of detail up t o the end
Now what I have attempted t o do here is quite
s imple
I did it fi r s t o f all f o r myself to get
s o me clear se t tled co nvicti o n
this way o r that
The putting it in this shape on paper was an
a f t erthought
It is this : to attempt to trace out
fr o m end to end the statements of this sort t o
get all o f them and then to put them together
in what seemed the logical connection and find
o u t just what the resul t i s
I should say that I tried to do thi s hone s tly
utterly regardless of the familiar theories on the
subj e ct and with out attempting to make a the o ry
to fit things int o I have not even attempted to
re con c ile all that ha s been f o und n o r t o explain
what seems unlikely but simply t o get the state
m ents into what seemed the comm on sense logi c al
order and s o let these Oriental page s tell their
o wn st ory to us We s terner s in the full connected
Wes tern fa s hion
And I have not tried to di s cus s the p r oba bi l i
t i es of thi s program in view o f the pre s ent world
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Th e
152
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
c onditions and ou t look That would be a fasci
na ting r o ad to travel But it i s s o full of spe en
la t i on pi t s and side di t ches that I have th ought
i t woul d make a c leaner j ob to stick to the one
thing and get that a s cle a r and simple as pos
sible
And I confes s hone stly that I am not eager t o
have any one s imply accept what I have put
down here pr o f o undly as I have c ome to believe
i t t o be in the main an accura t e interpretati on
Indeed I would mu c h rather t hat s o mething el s e
wer e done And that is t hat other s reading
here may attempt to do for them s elve s what I
have tried for myself
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How
to G et t h e S tor y
o
f th e Book
.
As a possible help t o such independent digging
I want to put d own here the things t hat I a m
clear are essen t ials to getting the story o f t he
B ook in regard to this particular bit of s tudy
or any other
Fi r s t o f all let me say that I have a deep
settled co nvicti on that this B o ok o ur Bible i s
the ver y W o rd of God It has been insp ired in
a dis t inctive sense by the Holy Spirit th r ough
t he men wh o wrote as has no o ther b ook That
co nvi ct ion has deepened and gr own steadily wi t h
the years of study until it i s quite unshakeably
settled
And with that conviction ha s gr own an a d
mi r a ti on a reverence and an abi di ng love for
thi s r emarkab le s oli t ary b ook And there h as
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D e e p e r M e a ning o f the W a r
The
1 54
to what he may find even though i t
cut straight across the grain of what he h as bee n
thi nking or living
Of c o urs e a man can s earch for s tatement s t o
b ear out his o pinions or practice Plainly thi s
is t horoughl y unscientific and uns c h o larly as
well as being unreliable and o pp o sed t o good
c ommon sense Yet there i s nothing c ommoner
in a c tual pra c tice Or he may h old in abeyance
wha t ever views o r theorie s he may have been
accustomed to believe and so at least honestly
attempt to b r ing an open mind to the s t udy
Me r e mental h onesty wil l requi re him to accept
what appeals t o hi m as being true
But there is s omething deeper yet than this
m o r e radi c al and harder to fit into actually
Th e l i f e m u s t b e s q u a r ed wi th th e m or a l s ta n d
a r d s of th e Boo k
One must keep in full o bedient
t ouch in hi s daily practices with the H o ly Spirit s
leadings in his own inn e r being
For there s a quality in the old Book d i fi e r en t
fr om all other bo oks It makes a p er s on a l a p
There s a living though inaudible voice
p ea l
! inau di ble to the physical ear ! speaking out of
its pages to one s inner heart Clearly and ear
n es t l y though so quietly it calls one insistently
u p to the m o ral standard of the B o ok
And a
m an s keenness of in s ight into the Book will
be in exact ratio to hi s ob edience to that quiet
m i n d ed n es s
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v 01 ce
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You can t live crook ed and think s traight
I m not thinking of the wicked man especially
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The
E v id e nc e
i n t he
C a se
15
5
in s aying that ; nor o f the nomin al Chri s tian
man but of the earnes t Christian If the way
he ch oo ses t o go cr o oks off even a little from t h e
straight line of the Spirit s leadi ng he will not
be as keen to get that S p irit s meaning in th e
Bo ok
’
Full rhythm o f one s spirit with the graciou s
Holy Spirit whether He i s speaking in the B ook
o r in your own inner b eing thi s is e ss ential to
insight into thi s rare B ook which has b een i h
spi r ed by the sa me Spirit who dwell s in one s
heart
Then th e p l a n you follow i n reading the B ook
makes an en o rmous difference M o st p e ople have
no plan The c ommonest habit is t o pick o u t
verse s and chapters with little or no thought o f
thei r connecti on It s r emarkable h ow you can
always get s omething to help n o matter h o w you
go at the B o ok It i s startling h o w few have a
gr a s p o r m a s t er y of the contents o f the B ook
I d o n t mean by that a sch olarly grasp nor a
prof ound insight into it I mean s omething very
simple so simple that it is within reach of the
busiest man o r woman wh o has had n o special
s c hooling above the o rdinary It is this a sim
ple w o r king kn o wledge in a general way of the
c o ntents of the Bo ok and of how the part s fit
t o gethe r It s not a bi g book Such mas terful
grasp of it can b e got by any one And it fairly
fl o ods the pages with light in a most s urpris ing
and enj oyable way
It can all be put in thi s way Ther e need to be
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1
The
6
5
D e e p e r M e a n in g
of
War
t he
four things simple ye t radical and essenti al
an act a purpose a habit and a plan The act
of glad surrender o f will and life t o the mast ery
of Jesus and to the inner voi c e of His H oly
Spi r it The purpose in everything wi t h n o
excepti ons to d o what He wishes The habit of
ge tt ing a bit of quie t un hurried time daily with
the Book when y o u re n o t a ll tired out And
then a fitting to gether all you do and get by
means of s ome simple comprehens ive plan
I t is essen t ial that we get in to th e a tm os p h er e
of th e Boo k
It is intensely and chara c te r istic
The expert in studyi ng a
a lly a Jewish b o ok
pain ting or pie c e o f sculptu r e to get at its v al ue
seeks t o get the p o int o f view o f t he artist Just
s o we sh ou l d read these o ld pages as a god ly
reverent Jew would lis t en to M o ses or Isaiah or
Amos as he sp oke his messages to t he crowd
We ought t o get the habi t o f r eading them a s
a n earnest
believing Jew of lat er times r e a d
t hem like saintly Simeon or the aged An na
We sh ould study t o see and hear as D aniel and
Matthew and Paul and John saw and heard if
we are to get the real spirit a n d intent o f what
is he r e
We Westerners are Gentiles in the comm on
language of the Bo ok That i s we a r e no t Jews
We are n on Jews We a r e fa r rem ov ed in time
and spa c e and atmosphere from thes e wri t ers
Ou r o u tl oo k and ambiti o ns and edu c ati o n are a s
diffe r ent as the Wes t still is fr o m the E ast
Our common West ern p o in t o f view is well
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De e p e r M ea n ing
The
158
t he Jew angle
o
f t he
War
The Jewish colouring i s n ever
out of the writer s eye nor o ut o f h is ink pot
.
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-
.
How
to G et
a
M as ter y of th e Book
.
N ow there is a p l a n of Bi bl e r ea d i n g which
ought t o be more used habitually used I t is
the scientific me t h o d It i s the sch olar s method
And yet it is also t he simplest of meth o ds sui t ed
for us common folk f o r the busy man for y o un g
pe o ple and f o r children It brings out the
fas c ination of the B o ok as doe s no o ther I refer
t o br oa d r ea d i n g
It is very much better to use a revised version
simply becaus e it is printed in paragraphs if
for no other reason I t isn t cut up into small
bits It runs al ong more like any other bo ok
and the paragraphs make a natu r al divisi on of
the subject matter It i s ea sier to get the r u n
o f the story
Br oa d r ea d i n g mean s reading t he Bible as you
would r e ad a st o ry book Of course there
sh ould be a reverence here as with n o ot her
b oo k That is to say y o u begin at the beginning
a n d r u n thr o ugh rapidly by the page
regard
less of chapter o r verse divisions
Read rapidly n ot has tily to get t he story
just as in the Ass ociated Press dispatches of t he
war or i n any reading D o n t try t o un der
stand i t all just n o w nor to remember it all
Just get the run o f it as a sto r y You may read
Genesis thr ough at three o r f our o r five sittings
’
When you ge t to the end o f Genesis don t s top
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The
E v id e n c e
i n th e
Case
It i s a con
E xodu s is like t h e second
t i n u ou s narrative
se c ti o n o f the story And so keep on thr ough the
Old Te s tament It is one continuou s s tory from
Genesi s to the clos e of E sther
That i s it is practically so The b oo ks of the
Chr onicles go over the same ground as the books
of Samuel and the Kings from a di fferent angle
the offic ial angle And E sther is a small story
o f happenings fitting into the larger s tory
Stick to the story reading throughout
When y o u come to L eviticus s imply note that
the first chapters tell about the offerings they
were t o make Then it tells ab out the r ul e s they
were to f ollow in making these o ff erings and
about the priests Then an incident i s given of
some trouble that happened In that way you
can have at y o ur finger ends in a general way
the story of that particul ar book An d s o on
thr ough
The second part of this broad reading plan i s
to fit the pa r ts t o gether The Old Testament o f
c ourse falls r oughly into two parts There i s
the story part fr o m Genesis t o E sther Then
t her e are certain bits that grew up in c onnec t i on
with the story that are gathered out and put by
themselves These form the second part of the
Old Tes t ament commonly called the poetical and
prophetic books The Psalms that D avi d and
Asaph and others wrote are gathered t ogether
The little books that S ol o mon wrote o r compiled,
or both are put by thems elve s
The s e with th e
ther e
K eep right on into E xod us
1 59
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The
1 60
De e p e r Me a n i n g
W ar
f the
o
boo k o f J ob are grouped to gether and comm onl y
c alled p o etical o r wisd o m b ooks
Then the larger part of this second divisi on is
the prophe t i c bo oks These are the messages o f
the men we would call prea chers Most o f t hem
were spoken and af t erwards written d own in
part Some few were written only n o t sp oken
They were ga t hered o ut o f the st o r y and pu t by
t hemselves Th ey really belong of course back
in the st o ry Only as they are read in that way
c an we get their real meaning The st or y of the
t ime gives t he se t ting of t he prea c her s message
And t he message its elf give s the local colouring
t o the s to r y
N o w the second part of the broad reading plan
is to fit this se c ond part of the Old Te stament
back into the first part the prea c her s message
back into the circumstances whi ch led him t o give
it to the people
Simply by t aking n o te of the historical sen
t en ces in t he reading o f the p r o phe c i e s we c an
turn ba c k t o t he place in the st o ry whe r e they
bel ong For instance Jeremiah t ells in t he b e
ginning of his b o ok tha t he w r ot e during the
r e ign of c e r tain ki ngs It is a simple ma tt er t o
turn back t o the d ouble rec o rd in Kings and
Chr oni c les and read the tw o parts t o gether
The Thi r d Psalm tells in the o pening i n s cr i p
tion that it was writ t en by D avid when he fl ed
from Ab salom his s on The fifteenth and six
t een t h chapters of Second Samuel give the st o ry
There are exceptions to thi s st atement Some
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1 62
The
D ee p e r Me a n in g
o
f t he
Wa r
When you try to gather up the teachings of
the Book on some one subj ect you will be familiar
wi t h the pages You can run t hr o ugh rapidly
gleaning out statement s and illustrations You
will come to have a br o ad gr asp of the B oo k
And you will c ome to have a broader view and
a balanced poised judgment
And better yet if you hone s tly meet the tu g
of the B oo k i n you r l i f e you will find a keenness
of spirit discernment and a quiet unshakeable
peace in your heart and a great quie t delight
as you come to understand God and His pur
poses better
One other word crowds into t hi s brief group
o f suggestions
Tr y t o for get what y o u have
been taught of the meaning Y o u can t o f
c o urse ; but tr y to That is let it come to y ou
fr es h as though wh olly a n ew b ook And so try
to find th e fi r s t m ea n i n g o f what y o u are reading
There are secondary meanings o f co u r se We
”
“
are so filled up with practical applicat i ons
“
”
and
spiritual applications
o f the gener al
t ruths tha t it is hard to hold these off and get
the first meaning as it came to th o se who heard
when the w o rds were spoken
And try to get the simple fi r s t meaning s en s e
what it meant to the man talking and the men
lis t ening t o hi m away back in the old time a s the
s to ry was being lived This simple firs t mean
ing the surface meaning i s the c hief thing you
want t o get to really unders tand the Book and
G o d and Hi s purposes and plans
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The
E v i d e nc e
in the
16
C ase
3
Now I ve gone into thi s s ort of reading quite
a bit s imply because I am eager that many may
have a f resh reverent go at the old Book itself on
the subj ect of God s future program f o r things
on the earth the ideal H e carrie s in Hi s heart
for our earth
D o you know the word br ood i n g! D o you
know the meaning of it ! I do not mean merely
the dictionar y meaning the philology o f it but
the living meaning the hear t meaning ! There s
a gentle lady I kn o w with a great mother hear t
who has been teaching me that meaning It is
not simply by what she has said ab out it but
much more by what she has been in herself as I
have been quietly watching thr ough the years
when she did not kn o w I was wa tc hing
I have wat c hed her as she has been brooding
over the wee tot that plainly need s something
but hasn t learned word language yet And I
have wat c hed her with gr owing boys restle s s
eager impatient of restraint yet wi t h no ugly
bad th ought undern eath and again w hen they
had plainly been di sob ed ient and wi lful and
knew it was so
Brooding in the definition of her living and
action seem s to mean putting a warm tender
heart o ver another with the will holding it
steady and quiet so a s to understand by th e f eel
of th e s p i r i t h o w thing s really are
It i s a culti
’
y ated spirit sen s itivene s s reading another s heart
and spirit It i s s omewhat akin to the phys i
’
eiau s trained finger on the patient s pulse or
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16
4
The
o f t he
D e e p e r Me a n in g
Wa
r
’
his keen p r actised eye on the patient s face on ly
i t is very much m o r e sub t le and sensitive It
registers that which would escape finge r and eye
and yet is a surer index of inner meani ngs and
c ondi t ions
N o w t his is the w o rd I want to use f o r medi
ta t ing over t his B o ok of God s o as to get i t s
spirit meaning There is a rea c hing in pas t
w o rds to t he t hough t in the mind o f the man
wri t ing And even deeper yet in to t he t h o ught
of t he Holy Spiri t wh o is breathing up o n t he
man and shaping his t hought and w o r d And
ye t it is not in t rica t e but simple It s r eally a
mat ter of one s attitude one s spirit a tt i t ude t o
ward God and His t ruth and His wri tt en w o r d
That attitude is like the se t ting o f a s ail which
catches the sligh t est puff of air and s wings the
b o at in t o line One needs to c ul t ivate t his
bro o ding habit with any b ook or subj ect whi c h
he wishes t o understand And it is peculiarly
the habit that lets one in the atmosphere and
spi r i t meaning o f the rare B ook of God
N o w turning to the subj ect of t his par ticul ar
chapter we want to get th e ev i d en ce i n th e ca s e
We want t o find out what this old B ook seems
to tell o f God s plan for future t hings d own here
It is pre t ty plain that He h as a plan He wou l d
be less than the man He has made if He didn t
have a plan And it woul d be likely that He
w ould tell us s omething o f His plan
I t w o uld be fair t o presume t ha t Hi s Book
would c ontain Hi s plan And t he t hing we want
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Th e
1 66
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o f t he
W ar
a s sharply contrasted as two d ifi e r en t thin gs
can be
Yet only a little reading o f this B o ok makes it
clear that there s a living spiri t in i t The same
H oly Spirit who gra c i o usly comes to live in u s
lived in men then He guided their sp e e c h and
pens He will guide our reading and under
standing One touch of the H oly Spirit make s
all the race ak in Oriental and O ccidental alike
An d so we may come t o a practical gr asp of our
blessed L ord s plan for coming days and a prae
tical grasp of t he evil one s opposi t ion t o that
plan And we can look ahead to the day o f
God s victory in the ear t h thr ou gh human ac t ion
.
’
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’
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’
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’
.
,
Th e M es s a ges
L
n
t
h
o
e
f
g Twi l i gh t
o
.
Turn now to the B ook this au t h o ritative Bo ok
I am supposing that the reader has his Bible
Open preferably a revis ed and is following the
foot note reference s
There is a slender but distinct chain of p as
sages beginning with words sp oken to Abraham
and running up t o the time of D avid I have
not quo t ed these L ooked at in the fl oo d l i gh t of
the later pr o phetic utterances it seems c lear that
they have a fullness o f meaning that no even t s
thus far at all satisfy Yet we are s o a c customed
to the teaching that they do find their fulfil ment
in the fir s t comi ng of Christ and the remarkable
.
,
,
,
-
.
.
.
.
G en e s
i
3 ; 26 : 1 5 ;
t e ro n o m y 1 8 : 1 5 1 9 ; 2 S a m
s
-
-
—1 5 ;
-
u
el
7
: 1 6, 1 8, 1
—1 1 ;
Deu
9 ; 23 : 3 5
-
.
The
E v id e n c e
i n t he
1 67
Ca s e
pr o gres s o f Christiani ty that I have omitted
t hem in this survey
The g r eat bulk of tea c hing is in these bo o ks
c alled prophe t ic We want first t o get a t a
glan c e the historical setting o f these b oo ks The
Old Testament is al most wholly taken up with
the stor y of the Jew nation This is the warp
int o which all t hreads are woven Roughly that
st o ry fall s into three parts There is th e m a k
i n g of th e n a ti on running from the Twelfth of
Genesi s t o the close of D euteronomy when they
ar e abou t to enter into their national domain
There is the time of th e n a ti on s gr owth up to
i ts greatest s trength and territory and glory in
t he reigns of David and Solomon Thi s runs
from the beginning of Joshua through the first
half o f First King s and to the cl o se of First
Chronicles Then there is th e ti m e of d ecl i n e
running to the end of E zra and Nehemiah
It is in thi s third peri o d that the prophetic
b o oks grew up A s the great kings g o the
great prophets come A s the night falls and
darkens the stars come out They shine clearest
in the darkest hour s It s a time of b o th moral
and material gl o om gr o win g ever denser wi th
some gleams of light springing up and then
things settling down again int o deeper darker
gl o om
The split u p o f the nation into two rival parts
is followed by it s complete break u p a s it i s
carried bleeding utterly broken into the land
o f exile Then follows the return o f some to the
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The
1 68
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o f t he
W ar
homeland a small ragged remnant a few piti
able thou s ands s t raggling and s t ruggling toward
some s emblance o f nati o nal life
It i s in this night time of disheartening gl o om
chiefly that s ome t hi ng new i s b o r n a li t er a tur e
the li t erature of the night r ea lly the li t er a ture
of a comi ng morning It fai r ly sparkles and
dazzles with the glori ou s vi sion o f the men who
w r ite These men write by the light of stars
They see the stars poin t them out and write in
their warm glad glow
This new literature of the night of the co ming
morning f alls int o t hree parts There are the
messages before the break u p and exile They
come slow thr ough the sl owly deepening twiligh t
of the coming night There a r e the messages
wri t ten during the time of captivity when t he
night has settled d o wn black and gaunt And
then there are th o se wri t ten as t he night seems
to gr o w less dark and the dawn seems c o ming
Yet the darkness n ev er yields t o sunrising The
new day st r uggles upward in t he gray east but
never gets up L e t us l o ok at these
There are eight of these pamphlets or lit t le
books in the fi r s t of the s e groups those writ t en
befor e th e ex i l e J onah Am o s H o sea Mi c ah
Isaiah Habakkuk Z ephani ah and J o el
J o n a h is concerned wholly with Nine v eh and
c ontain s nothing of what we are l ooking f o r
There are four that belong t o gether A m os
Hos ea Is a i a h and M i ca h These four men quite
likely were acquainted They m a y have been
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1
7
Th e
0
Dee p e r M e a n in g
o
War
f th e
also with a breaking up of the Jew nation that i s
of the whole nation northern and sou t hern d e s i g
“
”
n a t e d here as
the h ouse of Jac ob
Yet there
woul d be preservation of Jewish iden t ity in spite
o f their being s c a t ter ed am ong the na t i ons which
always tends to rub out racial identity
Bu t in sharp con t rast there is c onnected with
this a restoration or renati onalizati o n of the
Jew I t would be through a revival of t he old
D avid dyn as t y And t hrough this rest o rati on
the newly f o rmed Jew nation would be come a
leader of other nations And with this w o uld
be a rest o ra t i o n o f the Jew s homeland to a con
diti on o f remarkable fertility
“
”
In that day is the phrase connecting the s e
events This phr ase groups together the earth
quake the da r k day the national break u p and
the subsequent rest o ration There i s apparently
a p er i o d of judgment on the Jew when he i s
s ca t tered then a cr i s is of judgment with the
earthquake and the supernatural dark day fol
lowed by the renationaliza t io n
“
”
The phrase i n th a t d a y which is s o com
mon in all t hese prophetic b e oks in that or s o me
equivalent form is found first here in Amos
I t is used first in chap t er five where t he mean
ing seems clearly to b e the time when God would
be in contr o l of affairs and woul d be a ct ing t o
c arry out Hi s purposes Those who were look
ing forward to it as a time of pr o speri t y a r e
warned that it would b e a time of vi s itation of
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Am
o
s
5 : 1 8 , 20;
9;
,
.
The
E v i d e nc e
i n t he
Ca se
1
7
1
j udgmen t o n the nati on as well as the new pr os
r e anticipa t ing
i
they
we
r
t
e
y
p
Now t h e s t ri king thing to note is t hat t hes e
things are clearly gr o u p ed It is qui t e evident
t o any one that such a group of events ha s never
occurred in Jewish history If they are to oc c ur
it must be at some future time
Hos ea begi ns in the reign of Uzziah probably
a li tt le later than Amos and continue s into the
reign of Hezekiah He speaks to the southern
kingdom Judah The break u p o f the n o r t hern
kingd o m occur s during his activity and adds
solemn emphasis t o his warnings The nation
h a s sunk to its lowest ebb morally d o wn to the
Ahab standard which has t ened t he do o m of their
northern kinsfolk There is a vividness of illus
t r a t i on startling in its intensity and in its t ouch
ing upon the sacred intimacies o f life Th e re
is a fine tenderness and gracious pleading
blended with severe outcry against the evil so
bad and s o common
The first bit pu t s emphasis o n a time of r ar e
blessedness fol l owi n g a visitati on of judgmen t s
The nation is t o be br ought in to the wilder
”
”
ness that is judged
The valley o f A c h o r
“
is to be a do o r o f hope
Tha t is t hr o ugh the
m o st drastic judgment on sin there is t o be an
entrance int o a new life beyond when t he nation
“
”
would s i n g as j oy ously as when they had got
safely out of E gyp tian slave r y
N o w all this would not be of significance in ou r
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2
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H o s ea
-
23
2
.
J
osh
u
a
7
:
1 6—
26
.
1
7
2
The
De e p e r Me a n i ng
o
f t he
War
p r esent sea r ch but f o r the fact that it i s cou p l ed
di r e c t ly wi t h the Wins ome bit f oll owing The r e
is a day c om ing when for t heir sakes t he r e will
be a radi cal c hange in t he na t ure o f t he l ower
animals a c hange ba ck t o E den days Tige r s
and hyenas vul t u r es and serpen t s and s c orpi ons
will no longer be hu r tful n o r dr e aded Mili
There w o uld be the ten
ta r i s m is wholly g o ne
d er es t and m o st intimate relati on between God
and His chosen people
There w o uld be a wonderful rhyt hm i n
nature giving great fertili ty t o the s oil and
“
abundant cr o ps
L isten :
I will strike the
key n o te of a sweet rhythm
sai t h the L o rd
“
I will respond o r sing ba c k to the plea o f the
heaven s and so they shall sing ba ck t o t he need
of the earth with dew and rain and the earth
shall respond or sing back with gr ain and new
wine and oil and these shall all be in full
rhythm with Israel my people wh om I hav e
”
sown in the s oil of the pe o ples o f the earth
And yet the c limax w ould be t he eagern e ss with
which the people woul d respond t o God s l ove as
He calls them His own pe o ple
I will love
”
t hese wh o have been s o unl oved
The s e c ond bit to ca t ch one s eye is very brief
but striking
The nation is t o be br oken up
“
a s a n a ti on
It is t o r emain s o many days
Afterwards these c onditi ons are to be rever s ed
t he people t o ret u rn n o t only t o G o d but to the
David dynas ty And this is said to come in
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Ii
o s ea
—5
.
17
The
4
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
War
I n this
resent
survey
I
am
taking
the
book
o
f
p
Isaiah in two parts chapters 1 39 grouped with
the pre exile p r o phets and chapters 40—66 with
those after the exile I am familiar with the oh
j ect i ons to this by many saintly people f o r whose
ju d gment I have the deepest regard I have
been led to this decision, in getting the histo rical
setting of the messages enti r ely and only from
many times r epeated readings And I am fol
l owing that arrangement only to make a clearer
grouping of the teaching Thi s in no way a f
feet s the full explicit inspiration o f these remark
abl e page s by the Holy Spirit through t he
writers
Isaiah i s li ke a great piece of mus ic The
dominant or key n o te of the whole is struck clear
and vibrant at the very fi rs t
Then in a r e
markable group of paragr aphs he gathers up
the whole swing of hi s message n o t o nly the plea
t o his people but the full outline o f t h e message
delivered through the c ourse of hi s l ong mi ni s
try And then f ollows thr ough the succeeding
pages the variou s message s spoken at di fferent
times
It will b e noted that the topical arrangement
domi nates over the chr o nol o gical The writer
isn t con cerned with ge t ting the me s sages in t he
order of time in which they were spoken Th e
time note s are really incidental He i s ab s orbed
’
with the thing he s talking about Thi s i s char
a ct er i s t i c o f a ll the s e prophetic b ook s
It i s di s
1
9 Is a iah 2
I s a ia h I
5
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,
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1
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2
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-
.
The E v i d e nce i n t h e C a se
1
75
Oriental and is the comm o n method still
in the Orient It i s the popular method
Now a look at this op en i n g s u m m a r y of
Isaiah s wh ole message to find any i t ems that
have not happened yet The big thing that fills
Isaiah s eye is t hat the Jew nation is t o come to
a place o f world leadership among all the nat i on s
of the earth It will be through a v ol u n ta r y a c
ce p t a n ce o f Jewi s h leade r ship by all the na t ion s
It will be wholly a n o n military leadership and
all the nations will be on a n o n military basis
This is directly c onnected with a v i s i ta ti on of
Thi s
j u d gm en t sweeping over a l l th e ea r th
j udgment is universal and intense Men of all
classes will be terr o r stri c ken at the evidence of
God s presence and p ower in action before their
very eyes But it sh o uld b e k eenl y noted that
it is n o t a fin a l judgment on evil
It is clearly a cr i s i s of judgment lea di ng
thr ough to something else It is connected with
the Jewish world leadership and by s imple i n
ference precedes it The time when this is t o
“
come is c a l l ed repeatedly th eday of the L o rd
as th ough i t meant a time when He w ould be in
acti on righting all things that are wrong as He
is n o t doing at the present time
Then there i s to be a visitation of judgment on
t h e J ew also
It i s not spoken o f as a p er i od of
judgment but a s a cr i s i s of judgment
One
would naturally connect thi s with events long
t i n ctl y
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’
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1
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-
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2
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’
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l
Is a i a h
2
2
-
4
2
.
3
Is aiah
3
1
-
4
I
.
Is a iah
2
10 2 1 .
-
1
The
6
7
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
of
th e
Wa r
ago in Jew hist o ry but for th e f act that here it
is gr ouped with these other things tha t clearly
”
“
hav e not happened yet
In that day is the
c o nnecting link through out these pa r agraphs
Then f o llows a picture of the new Jew nation
afte r this crisis of j udgment and as a d i r ect r e
The Jewish leadership am o ng the
s u l t of i t
nati ons i s to be wh olly unlike anythi ng ever
kn o wn The Jews are t o b e a radically changed
peo ple This is to be thr ough G o d s direct
touch over coming natural ingrained traits of
c haracter The Jew will be commonly called
holy j ust as to day t he Britishe r is called plu cky
the Am erican aggr essive the French versatile
and the German a pl o dder
Jerusalem the Jewish capital and s o under
Jew wo r ld lead e rship reck oned the world cap
ital is t o be marked by the visible presen ce o f
G o d as was the taberna cle in the Wildernes s
sands This is par t o f t h e pi ct ure o f a n ew or d er
of t hi n gs o n t he ea r th f o l l o wi n g the crisis of
judgmen t o n the Jew and o n all the na t ions
“
”
And all this is said t o be in the latter days
This summary o f his wh ole message c l o ses with
a p a ssi onate plea t o t he na t i on mingled with
sharp denun cia t i o n and s olemn assurance o f t he
cer t ain t y o f t he judgmen t t ha t is coming
N o w here are fiv e th i n gs gr ou p ed togeth er in
this summary of Isaiah s message There i s to
be a visitati o n of judgment on th e J ew running
thr ough a period of time and then coming to a
1
9
s
I aiah 4 : 2 6
I sa iah 5
.
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1
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1
Th e
8
7
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f th e
t hey
are clearly tied together by the same chain
o f thought and even in the language used It
is a t ime of troub le when a coaliti on of Syria and
Israel is threatening invasion of Judah and
J er u s a l em
There is coming a judgment on the nation as a
punishment
This could refer wh olly to past
Jewish hist o ry But in contrast with that cer
tain items stand sharply o ut There is to c ome
a great light to t he nati on with gr e a t increase
of numbers and great j oy because of overwhelm
ing victory over their enemies
This come s directly as the resul t o f a great
king coming He sits on the thr one of D a vid
His government i s t o be without limit of p ower
or of time and to be a government of pea c e and
justice
There is to b e judgment on the enemie s o f the
Jews after the judgment on the Jew is c om
pleted
Thi s woul d seem wholly p a st bu t for
the fact that it is directly connec t ed wi t h a res
t o r a t i on of the J ew and wi t h a de c isive vi sita
ti on o f judgment on the whole ear t h
There is
a strikingly vivid picture of the enemy a d v a n c
i n g against J er u s a l em and then t he destruction
of t he enemy That is to s ay the enemy used in
a visitation o f j udgment on the Jew i s then
.
,
1
.
2
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8
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‘
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,
"
6
.
7
,
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,
,
I s a ia h
I s a iah
5 I
s a iah
1
4
7
I s a iah
.
IO
.
t ve
No
e
1 0 : 2 o- 2 1
7 8
-
3
.
9
1-
7
.
rs e 1 2 a n d o n .
6
.
7
I sa iah
V
e rs e s 2 8 -
32
.
V
e rs e s 2 3 2 7
-
.
The E v id e nc e i n t he Ca se
1
79
himsel f j udged decisively by a sharp turning of
the tables
Then t hi s group of paragraphs en d s with a
gl o wing pictu r e of Jewish res t oration and of a
new o rder of t hings on the earth under Jewish
leadership
Ther e i s a great K ing coming
He i s of the lineage o f D avid s family He is
m o st rarely equipped personally thr ough the
presence o f the Holy Spirit in unusual measure
A Jewish king yet his reign i s to be extended
over all the earth Hi s reign is abs olute meting
out j usti c e to the poor and oppressed and to the
oppressor It is a new kind o f rule He slay s
the wicked Yet it i s done with the breath of
His mouth
There is a radical change in the nature of the
animal s that have been dreaded the wolf and
leopard the lion and bear the asp and the adder
There is to be an utter ab s ence of all vi olence
because the knowledge of God would be s o wide
sp r ead
The Jew n ation is to be the rallying
center for all other nation s who will come o f
their o wn c h o ice
At this time t here w o uld be
a remarkable gathering of all Jews fr o m all par ts
of the earth where they have been scattered
There would be utmost harmony am ong the Jew s
themselve s Th o se who had been t heir inveterate
enemie s will n ow eagerly help them back to their
rest o red h o meland There w ould be c hanges in
the E gyptian ! Red ! Sea and in the E uphrate s
3
1
I
i
I s a ia h 1 1 1 5
s
I a i a h IO : 33 34
sa ah 1 1 1 2
1
.
2
s
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5
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6
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4
I s a ia h
11 :
6 9
-
5
.
-
-
.
I s a ia h
11
10
.
6
Is a ia h
1 1 : 1 1- 16
.
.
The
1 80
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o f the
War
River t o fa c ilitate their j o urney ba ck to P a les
tine It would be a s imilar experience to the
great histo r ic deliver ance out o f E gypt at the b e
ginning of their national history
And the se c ti o n ends with a great outburs t of
praise
Five times in the sec t i o n there occurs
“
the s t riking sen t ence for all this His anger is
n ot ! ye t ! turned away b ut His Hand is stretched
o u t still
! in judgment ! It oc cu r s once in the
summary and four times in this gr oup of para
“
graphs ! N ow at the cl o se it is changed
for
though thou wast angry with me thine anger is
Th e
tu r ned away and th o u com for t es t
period of gr aduated j udgment i s over The
cri si s of judgment a t the cl o se o f the period i s
past The sun i s shining again G o d smiles
d own upon a purified people entering upon a
new w o rld ministry
Immediately f ollowing this i s a small gr oup of
paragraphs about Babylon
It would at first
flush na t urally be supp o sed t ha t t his refers to the
an c ient city of Babyl on and the great dynasty
cen t ering there and that it had its fulfilment
cen t ur ies ag o But there are certain feat u res
plainly stated here that have n o t happened
N otice : the swing of action is w o rld wide
The armies o f the kingd oms of the nations are
gathered together in Palestine and overwhelm
.
.
1
.
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2
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,
,
,
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,
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5
.
,
.
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6
-
.
1
a
°
I
i
s a ah 1 2
Is a i a h 9
I s a i ah
2
.
: 12, 17
1 3,
,
-
4
21
27
6
.
I s a i ah
Isaia h
5
: 25
.
Is aiah
5
,
1 1.
The
1 82
De e p e r M e a n ing
of
W ar
t he
history It i s a commonplace to say that ther e
runs through the Bible a rhetorical use o f the
word Babylon for the whole sys t em o f evil in the
w o rld It begins with the G o d ignoring a m
bi t ion s building o f a great towe r a t Babel and
continues consistently to t he end of John s Reve
lation It will be noted t hat while t he ancient
city of Babylon has la i n in ruins for cen t ur ie s
the language us ed here i s not fully fulfil led in
conditions o n the o ld Babylon site t o day The
words fit into a past destructi o n and p o in t to
something m o re that hasn t ye t happened
Here then is a cr i s i s of j u dgm en t for th e J ew
tu r n ed i n to a c r i s i s of j u d gm en t for th e wor l d
s ys t em f ollowed by a restored Jew nation at the
head of the nations and a con s equent happy new
order of things on the earth
This s eems c learly to be the fi r s t meaning here ;
the meaning to th e m a n ta lki n g and t hen writ
ing and t o those of his own genera t ion lis t ening
and reading And quite as clearly su c h a gr o up
of events has never yet worked out
There f ollow s now a series of messages to the
nations surr ounding these Jew na t i ons Philis t ia
”
”
on the immediate c o ast M o ab to t he sout heast
Damas cu s to the n o r th s ome Af r ican country
”
bey ond Ethi o pia in the far s outh E gypt t h e
“
nearer south B abylon
the wilderness of the
”
sea ! in the far eas t Dumah or E dom in the
1 I
9 I sa ia h 1
6
1
s a i a h 1 4 2 8 33
n
d
a
5
3
4
Isa iah 1 8
I s a i ah 1 7
5 I
6 I s a ia h 2 1
1 10
s a ia h 1 9 20
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The
E v id e n c e
in t h e
Ca se
18
3
”
southeast Arabia to the far southeast then to
‘
,
,
the home people
the valley of
then
Tyre on the far northern coast
The one con
stant strain in all o f these messages is that God
is go ing t o act in j udgment righting the wrongs
In the message to E gypt there is promise of
ut t erly changed blessed conditions for E gypt
and f o r Assyria a f ter the j udgment
Then there i s a broad su mming up o f the case
for the whole world These nati ons seem to he
meant to stand for a l l the nation s This summing
up makes a most remarkable climax It run s
thr ough chapters twenty four to twenty seven
“
The whole earth is to be judged
It is b e
cau s e the laws have been broken the very laws
o f nature Yet it is not a final judgment nor
“
a judgment of all t h e race
Ther e is a spared
p o pulation These woul d be radically changed
in spirit by the experience they have gone
through The earth would ring with their j oy
ous songs
In the judgment there i s a terrific s erie s o f
”
earth quakes
The judgment includes the evil
leader s in the un s een spirit w o rld a s well a s
kings on the earth These ar e to be interned for
a later pun ishment The n f ollow s a gloriou s
reign o f G od on the earth thr ou gh th e r es tor ed
4
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J ew
n a ti on
.
Then follow s a jubilant s ong of prai s e over the
1
I sa iah
I s a ia h
21
11
23
.
2
.
5
Is a iah
2 1 : 13 17
-
Is a ia h 24 1 6
7 Is i
a ah 24 : 1 8
-
.
I s a iah
6
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-
3
23
.
I s ai a h
22
.
2 4 : 1 3- 1 6 .
The
1 84
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
o
f the
W ar
w o ndrou s new o rder of things o n the ear th
In
thi s certa i n items stand out The Jew is to be
t he first nat i on o f all the earth His leadership
wi l l be t o all the peoples o f t he earth as a feast
of go o d t hings to eat There will be a new op en
ness o f mind and heart t oward G o d and His
t ruth am ong all men Prej udi c e and ign o r a n c e
and ha t red o f G o d will disappear It is 31s
though a veil is n o w over their minds and thi s
will be t aken away There will be a univer sal
cess ation of death and of sorrow a n d of the
antagonistic feeling toward the Jew
There is to be in connection wi t h thi s new
order a p a r ti a l r es u r r e cti on o f t h o se wh o have
died that is a resurrecti on o f t h o se in t ouch with
“
Th y dead shall li v e : my dead b o dies
God
shall ari s e Awake and sing ye that dwell in the
d ust ! o f the gr aves ! ; f o r the dew of G o d is a
life giving dew giving life to t hat which has lost
”
life and the earth shall c as t forth the dead
The r e is the intimati on that s ome w o u ld be
spar ed G o d s visita t ion of judgmen t And the
wh ole group of events is chara c terized as G o d
a ct ing in j udgment to right the w r o ngs o f e a rth
And it i s dire c tly said t ha t He will a t this t ime
a c t in judgmen t against Satan the great evi l
spi r it leader
And then ther e is to be a gather
ing o f Jews from everywhere to Palestine
The gr o up of mess a ges running thr ough c hap
ters twenty eight t o thi r ty fi v e close up the
pr ophetical part of the first sec t i on o f Is aiah
1 I
9
3
sa iah 2 5 27
h
I s a ia h 2 7 1 2 1 3
I s a ia 2 7 1
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1 86
Th e
D e e p er M e a n ing
o
f the
W ar
r es er v e
i
and
and
The
enemy
l
r
e
ve
d
p
p
would be defeated by super natur al inte r positi on
and would find his attempt agains t the J ew turn
ing into a terrible fire f o r himself
Then Isaiah swings again t o the b les s ed new
order o f things c oming for his people
It will
be t hr ough a notable king coming His very
presen c e woul d be a protec t ion There would be
a c hange in t he character of the people b o th
m o ral and mental Men would be keener men
t ally with truer insight i nto character and con
trolled by high mor a l standar ds
All this w ould c ome through the Holy Spirit
being p o ured out upon them
Ju stice and right
eou s n e s s
and peaceful content would be the
blessed comm onplace But before all this there
w o uld b e a terrible crisis of j udgment
And
then an exquisite prac t ical w o rd is put in r e
ga r ding one s personal attitude towar d all thi s
meanwhile blessed are ye t hat go patiently
strongly on in the comm onplace daily round
amid all s o rts o f circum stances steadily b el i ev
ing in the victoriou s bles sed outcome which God
has pr omised
There is the vi v id abruptnes s of the sp oken
w o r d t o an intense responsive cr owd in this next
bit Isaiah is denouncing the enemy o f hi s people
t hen he l ooks up and breat hes o ut a prayer f o r
help
Then suddenly he see s the city su rrounded
by the enemie s a s he ha s s o often told Then
r o t ect
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2
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1
4
I
s a ah
31
—
4 9
s a ah
32
19
i
I i
2
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5
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I s a i a h 32
I s a i a h 32 : 2 o
3
Is a iah
6
.
32 1 5
s a a h 33
I i
.
.
The
E v id e nc e
i n the
18
Ca s e
7
with dramatic suddenness God reveals His power
interposing ; there s a gre a t tumult o f co nfused
terror among the crowds s urrounding the city
then the people s flee in precipitate confusi o n
and the Jew take s p o sses s i o n of the vast s to res
An d then Isaiah s eye is flo o ded
lef t behind
with the wonderful changes natural and spiri
tual surely c oming in the blessed restora t ion
The crisis o f judgment o n the nations absorb s
his speech as he brings his record of messages to
a close It is to be on all the nati ons It is a
judgment of indignation again s t the wrongs of
earth It comes up to a terrific heading or crisis
with terrible earth quakes and a break u p in the
rhyt hm of the skies
It is connected directly wi t h the land of E dom
a s th e immediate center of acti on It i s s poken
of as a day o f v en gea n c e that is n o t revenge but
a maki n g right of what has b een wrong And
t his is in behalf o f the Jews It should be
keenly n oted that it is n o t a general final judg
ment f or it is f o ll o wed by the new Jewish order
This new order of things is the subj e c t of t he
exquisite prose poem with whi c h he cl o ses
Diseased human conditions are all quite gone
The e arth i s changed back to a Garden o f E den
B easts of prey no longer disturb There
a gain
is a glad c onfidence in human hearts in place o f
withering fear There i s a wholly new moral
natur e in men And with great burs t s of j oyou s
singing they make the city of Jerus alem to ring
2
I s a i a h 32 1 4
I s a i a h 35
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1 88
The
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
Thi s i s one of the bits in Isaiah that the Chri s
tian heart has loved and glowed over in every
land through o u t t he generations But it has a
d epth and intensity of meaning to the Jew talk
ing and writing and the Jew listening and read
ing whi c h no non Jew ca n take in until it be
comes a reali ty t o our eyes with t hei r s
Now the intensely significant thing f o r us n o n
Jews to no t e is t hat these things are all grouped
toge t her in Isaiah s thought and pa ss ion There s
a t e r rifi c crisis coming and thr ough it the new
w ondr ous order c oming to the earth with the Jew
in t he c en t er Of c our se no such grouping of
even t s has ever occurred
M i ca h is the f ourt h of this quartette of
pr o phet pre a c hers whose time of activity runs
toge ther He comes in toward the close of t he
peri o d when t hese four men were God s sp okes
men t o the nati on His written message is brief
He begins abruptly with a crisis o f j udgment
c oming t o all the earth It is by direct action of
God It is acc ompanied by earthquake though
t hat w o rd is n ot u s ed f
Then he g o es on t o connect t his wi t h the sins
o f his own pe o ple And continues in t his st r ain
Then he comes t o t he fa vou r i t e subj e c t wi t h all
these Jewish p r e a c hers Ther e s a n ew order of
“
things c oming to the eart h I t will be in the
”
la tt e r days
The Jew is t o be a t t he head of
all the nation s of the earth The o ther nation s
come v oluntarily to his leadership
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1
Mi
ca h
I
: 2
-
4
9
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Mi
ca h
4
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1
Th e
0
9
Dee p e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
eign the Jew would b e a blessing t o the nation s
as showers up on the
as dew from the L o rd
”
grass
and be t he leader among t he nation s
I t woul d be s trictly a non military leadership
and the Jew a spiritually changed people And
the beginning o f all thi s is to be through a cri si s
“
of judgment upon the nations
At the cl o se the same thread s are gathered up
“
and kn o tted
When God s
indignation
agains t Israel s sin ha s spent itself He woul d
“
exe cute judgment
against their enemi es
Israel would be in the lead among t he nations
It would be jus t such a time as when they
came out of E gypt and the hosts of Pharaoh were
utterly destroyed but much more F o r now the
nations are to come humbly and reverently to
God and to Jewish leadership ashamed of their
past conduct This would be thr ough s o me out
standing revela t ion of the powe r o f G o d utterly
s ubduing the pride of the nati o ns
There follows these messages a smaller group
of three prophetic writers Habakkuk Zep h a
niah and Joel speak their me ss ages a little la t er
as things are heading up toward the climax o f
the exile
Ha ba kku k though s o brie f is o f inten s e i n
t er e s t because it is a discussion of the whole
problem of evil He i s troubled over evil nu
punished running riot am ong the leader s of
his people
G o d answers hi s cry with assurance
that Israel is to be puni shed t hrough the A s
r
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Mi
ca h
7
17
: 9—
2
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Ha ba kk uk
1
1
-
4
.
The
s yrian
in t he
E v id e nc e
C a se
191
But Habakkuk i s still tr o ubled becaus e
Assyria is s o evil It w o uld still be evil in the
lead He looks for a fur ther answer
And it
comes
The Assyrian i s to b e judged Then
the view broaden s out to the time when God
“
woul d b e in action to righten the wrongs in all
”
the earth
And there comes to the troubled man on hi s
knees a vision of God acting in j u d gm en t
It
should be n o ted that the action w o rds through out
are fu tu r e rather than p a s t as in our comm o n
”
versions i e
God com e th from Teman
His
glory cover eth the heavens and so on th r ough
verse 1 5
It i s s o indicated in the margin o f b o th
English and American revisions Habakkuk sees
it all as something distinctly future
The judgment i s up o n the nati ons ; it is
acc ompanied by earthquake and storm and
heavenly d i s tu r b a n ces
The scene of action i s
“
in the land of Pale s tine implying a gathering o f
the armie s of the nations there It is connected
with E dom a s the place fro m which God comes in
judgment
The c hief of the enemy f o rce s is
w ounded to death
The immediate objective is
n o t a final judgment on the race but is on behalf
o f the Jew I t is a vindication of the wr ongs
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9
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10
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H a b a k kuk I
H a b a k kuk 2
5
H a b a kk uk 3 :
1
3
S
v e rs e
12
5
-
2
-
11
2
.
20
4
.
1 1—
12
6
.
V
H a b a k kuk 1
H a b a kkuk 3
e rs e 1 0
.
7
12
1
1°
V
e rs e s 1
3
,
14
.
1
5
.
V e 11;
Ve rse 3
e rs
9
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-
1.
2
-
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Th e
1 92
gainst hi m
Jew nati o n
a
o f the
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
The result is a rest o r ati o n of t he
1
.
2
.
Z ep h a n i a h
’
brief message rings the s a me
change s The nations and kingd oms will be a s
and then God will pour out
s embled t o ge t he r
His indigna t ion up on them
The m ov ement i s
to be eart h wide But it is not a final judgment
on the common c r o wd of the race f o r it is fol
l owed by a c hanged o rder on the earth In thi s
the pe o ples are said to b e turned again to a pure
o r unmixed ton gue o r language It calls to mind
t he confusion or mixture o f tongues away back
at Babel and one wonders just what i t means
The J ew is not o nly restored to G o d s fav our
but becomes the famous nation of the earth
praised by all t he pe oples There is a reverential
w o rship of G o d by men of a l l the earth
J oel s in t ense message t ie s a tight knot on the
end o f this group o f pre exilic pr o phecies As he
writes Judah is st ill in Jerusalem and the tem
ple s t anding bu t they are a vassal na t i o n paying
heavy tribute and their northe r n kinsmen nation
has quite gone a disgraced captive in the
Euphra t es valley
Events are put in here in reverse order t he
t hing the Jew longs for put first then the process
by which it c omes The chief space and em p h a
sis are on t he tremendous crisis through which
thi ngs w o rk out There is to be a time of w on
d r ou s spiritual ble ssing in the world
It will be
s
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1
3
V
e rs e s
p
Ze h a n
9
i
a nd 1 3
ah
8
3
-
Ve
ph ni h 2
2
.
2 0.
4
Ze
a
r se 1
a
3
.
1 1.
1
The
94
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f the
W ar
supern atural interpos ition o f God s own pre s enc e
and power
Then comes the new nation of the Jews a puri
fi ed chastened h oly people dwell i ng in a land of
renewed fer t ility And God H i mself dwell s in
their mids t at Jerus alem Here then i s the same
conne ct ed gr ouping put very intensely A crisi s
o f judgment upon the Jew at the hand of the
nati ons is tur ned into a terrific crisis of judg
ment upon the o rgan ized nation s Then follow s
a restored Jew radically changed in charac t er
and a changed world with the Holy Spiri t
p oured out upon all men It i s a new w o ndr o us
order o f things with the Jew nation in t he lead
’
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Th e M es s a ges
o
f th e Ni gh t
.
Then there c ome the later me ss ages a s the long
night settle s down dark and gloomy over the
Jewish n ation There are six b o oks in thi s
group Jeremiah L amentations E zekiel Daniel
Obadiah and Nahum L amen t ations is the bi t ter
s ob over the desolate Jerusalem Obadiah i s a
mess age to E d om and Nahum to Nineveh
J er em i a h ha s a perm anent place in literature
a s having one ou t standing characteristic
Hi s
name h a s given a w o rd in our dictionarie s
j er emiad an utterance of great grief but used
cri t ically as though the thing were overd one or
as giving a certain s ati s faction to the one ex
pressing it
Yet there could be no m o re unjust impression
Jeremiah s wa s not an oversensitive nature mor
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The
i n t he
E v i d e nc e
C a se
1
bi d l y s obb ing over the plight of hi s people
95
He
had rare poli t ical s agacity keen discernment into
n ational condi t ions and the inevitable outcome
He was u t t erl y alone in this Yet the after r e
s u l t s proved him right he wa s the one man who
sensed t hings right
He had the rare courage to tell what he clearly
saw and to urge the proper national policy even
though it brought him bi t terest reproach broken
friendships and bodily persecution His s obbing
is that of a giant of s trength and love over a
s ituation which he had su ffered everything ex
cept actual d eath to prevent He lived to s ee
t h e heart breaking circumstances which he and
he al one had fore s een come sadly true
He is ab s orbed chiefly almost wholly with the
imme di ate inten s e situation of the nation as it
resi s t s the enemy and then is overcome and car
ried away Yet from the fir s t there are strains
of a distant future He lifts his eye s at times
fr om the boiling po l itical pot of his own day to
s ee gleams of national light ahead far ahead
“
In the very beginning he s ees all t h e familie s
”
o f the kingdom of the eart h laying siege to
J er u s a l e m
Thi s suggests a much broader m ove
ment than what actually happened in his own
’
lifetime when the nation s exile began But as
he i s u sing thi s as a plea for national reform a l
mo s t i n the s ame breath he speaks of a wondrou s
future
All nations in a new s pirit o f devotion to G od ,
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J e re m i a h
1 : 15
.
1
The
6
9
o f t he
D e e p e r M e a n in g
W ar
w ould a s semble at Jerusalem as a new world
center for reverent worship and would call that
city the throne of God At t hat time there
w ould be a reunited Jewish nation in the old
Palestine homeland and filling t he place of s piri
tual leadershi p among the nati ons
In the same message he sees a time of j udg
ment coming t o th e whol e ea r th with the heaven s
black and earthquakes disturbing the mountains
and hills But it is distinctly said to be n o t a
final j udgment but a crisi s looking forward to
so mething else foll owing
And again in the s ame connection he in s ist s
that the judgment coming to the J ew i s n o t a
final reck oning but by inference to b e followed
by something radically different
All this i s at
the beginning of hi s ministry
Then s ome twenty three years later when the
nati on had become a s adly humiliated vassal t o
E gypt he s win gs again t o the same t heme He
has specifie d the period o f exile as seventy years
Then he looks beyond this to some t hing else
something much m o re sweeping It i s to be a
visitation o f judgment on a ll the nation s of the
earth
One by one they are named then it is made
”
“
clear that a l l the kingdoms of the world a r e
meant And then the king of Sheshach or B aby
l o n is put at the climax It is distinctly coupl ed
wi t h a visitation of judgment on t he Jew It i s
,
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1
J e rem ia h
3: 17
-
18
.
J e r e m i ah
3
J
it
e r e m ia h
4 : 23—
28
.
1 98
The
De e p e r M e a n i n g
o
f the
W ar
1
doubl e crisis of vindication
The Jews are to
be a thoroughly harm onious reunited n ati o n i n
the land o f Palestine Bu t i t is to be a wholly
changed repentant purified people with a pas
The city
s i on a t e devotion for God and His will
of Jerusalem will be rebuilt on the mos t exten si ve
It is t o be a time of greatest j oy
s cale
And one s Gen t ile ear is caught by thi s that
the Jew is to be co me the p r o tector of the other
na t ions Thi s is put in a simple graphic way
very appeal i ng to those who were experiencing
the s ore s orrows of the u tterly broken captive
nation God would create a n ew thi n g i n th e
“
ea r th ;
a woman s hall encompa s s ! or compass !
a man
The word encompass is the same a s in the Son g
of Mose s where he speaks of G od finding Israel
“
in a desert in so r e need and He comp a s s ed
”
him about he cared for him
The word under
neath mean s to c ompass or put one s arms ab out
in a l o ving pr otective sen s e
Here it mean s that the renewed Jew nat ion
then weak physically a s a w oman character
i s t i ca l l y i s in c ompari s on with a man would b e
c o me the strong na t ion so acknowledged pro
t ect i n g the o t he r nations even as a man pr o tect s
a woman There c ould be no more striking state
ment o f the new positi on o f s tr o ng leadership
am o ng the nations of the earth than thi s wh ich
it conceives the Jew as having
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J e re m ia h
31
D u t on o m y
L i o
2
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3
Se e G e s e n i u s
’
er
e
ex
c
n
.
32 : 1 0
.
The E v ide nc e i n the C a s e
1
99
And the startling character of all thi s s ort of
thing its utter unbelievablene s s a s thing s looked
i s recognized i n the brief pa r agraph where God
solemnly rem inds them o f His creative power
I t wo u ld take nothing less than s uch p o wer a s
His t o do such a thing as t hi s
Ten years later yet there come s another s trik
ing p a s sage It i s accompanied by a bit of intens e
realistic action Jeremiah at God s b iddi ng
buys a bit of land in Palestine and pay s out the
money and has the deed carefully recorded It
would be about as un s hrewd a thing as one cou ld
do The city was even then being besieged
Re al estate wa s worthl ess The thing was u t te r ly
non Jewish commercially sheer waste of go od
m oney as things looked
But the leading is so
clear that Jeremiah pays o ut hi s carefully
counted money assuredly reckoning that nothi ng
is to o hard f o r G o d
Money ta lked that time if ever It recited the
creed faith in God when the storm hung
bla c kes t To his fellowc o un t rymen there could
be no intenser way o f emphasizing the thing
Jeremiah was insisting on It wa s thi s : the
Jewish n ation w a s to be restored as a free sov
e r ei gn s t ate
The pe o ple would b e gathered o ut
from all the countries where they were scattered
They w ould be a radically changed people
The capi t al city would become famous in the
e a r th The new Jewish nation would be recog
ni z ed b y all the nations and recognized as a
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J e re m i a h
32
a nd
33
.
2 00
The
De e p e r M e a n in g
of
th e
W ar
signal evidence of G o d s power and fai t hful nes s
The rest o rati on w ould in clude the revival o f
the royal h ouse of D avid That is there w ould
be a king reigning of t he D avidic lineage And
again the unlikeliness of thi s happening is recog
n i z e d in the supe r na t u r al p o wer of G o d r equir ed
even t he same as preserv e s the rhy t hm of day
and night of the s un s swing in the hea v ens
The b o ok closes wi t h a series of messages of
denun c iati on ab out the nations surr o unding
Pal e stine This s eries comes t o a c limax in a
This might easily be sup
message to Babylon
p o sed t o refer wholly and only t o the destru ct ion
of t he Babyl on of l ong ag o bu t f o r certain dis
tin c t features and a cer t ain gr ouping of events
There seems to be a sliding fr o m nearer to
farther event s here in speaking of Babylon and a
movement f r om the c i t y empi r e t o t he w o rld sys
tem o f evil A t the fi r s t t he des t ruction o f Babylon
i s by a gr oup o f na t ions and c an easily be i d en t i
fi e d with t he past hist o ry o f the ci t y and empire
“
But later Babylon is ass ociated wi th
the
“
”
”
nati ons and kingd oms
implying t hat all of
them are intended and is sp oken of as the domi
“
nating leader o f the na t ions that
made all the
earth tremble : the nat ions have drunk of her
”
wine ; theref o re the nation s are mad
Indeed
this grouping of the nations of the earth is d es i g
n a t e d as Babylon
It is on e of the numerou s
suggestions in the pr ophetic page s that the name
Babyl on i s u s ed for the whole organized w o rld
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J e re m i a h
5 0 and 5 1
2
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J e re m ia h
51 : 7
.
2 02
The
De e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
time in the homeland E z eki el is God s mes senger
to the people in exile His active mi nistry runs
His messages
t hrough some twen t y t w o years
are a blend o f denun c ia t i o n and pleadi ng He
had to resort t o per sonally heroic measures t o get
It suggests how utterly hardened the
a h earing
people were h o w unchanged in spirit by their
experiences
Near the beginning of hi s activity this s tands
out : there is t o be a crisis in whi c h God w ould
be a ct ing on their behalf I t is a double crisis
“
”
of wra t h pour ed o ut on their behalf t ha t i s
against their enemies and o f judgment up o n
themselves
As the direct result of this t hey
woul d be restored to their homeland a wholly
renewed people ut t erly changed in spirit a o
cep ta bl e as a sweet sav o ur to God who Himself
would be King over them
Some five years later w o rd came to the exiled
colony that the final siege o f Jerusalem had c ome
and the city fallen A special message is given
—
E zeki el in which this occurs the exiled nat i on
is t o be resto r ed The restorati o n is t o be under
the old D avid dynasty But it is t o b e a radically
c hanged nation made over n ew inside G o d
Himself will dwell in t heir midst indicat ing that
they are pleasing t o Him They would be a
s overei gn state again wh olly free f rom their
enemies with peace and contentment and the
land enjoying renewed f ertility Not only wou ld
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Ez e
Ez e
ki
ki
—
el
20: 33 38 , 4 0 44
el
33 : 23 31
-
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.
.
Th e
E v i d e nc e
in t he
Ca s e
20
3
their reproach be gone but they would be re
n own e d famous am o ng the nations
A little later all t his is repeated with many
variati ons and t hi s additional bit ; thei r r es t or a
tion w oul d be rec o gnized by all nati o ns as God s
own direct action in s upernatural power And
as a di rect result there would be a change d atti
tude toward God among the nation s
Then there c o m es the dramatic vision or par a
ble o f the dry bones There is a broad valley
full o f dry bones many bone s and very dry
Then the bones come together fit t ing naturally
and are covered with flesh but there i s no life
Then the breath come s in and they are a great
living company of people S o it is indicated
that the nati o n i s to be made over wh olly new
by the direct breath of God Thi s w ould be a
world event s o rec o gnized by all the nations
There is too the possible hint or foreshadow
ing here that the scattered denationalized Jew s
would some day b e renationalized b efor e t he
spiritual change came through the direct touch
of God It is as though through God s over
r uling providence b ut by their own e ffort with
out repentance toward G od they would again be
’
come a nation b e f ore thei r re storation by God s
intervention
Then there i s a r emarkable group o f para
graphs regarding event s that are clearly future
8
i f taken at their fir s t m eaning
It point s to a
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1
Ez e k i e l
3 6 : 2 1 36
2
-
8
E
.
z ki
e
el
38
a nd
39
.
Ez e k i e l 37
.
Th e
2 04
Dee p e r M e a n in g
of
W ar
t he
tremendous time of crisis 1 11 Palestine for the
Jew first and then for their enemies at the time
a d ouble crisis It is foll o wed by t he Jew utterly
c hanged in char acter being established as a
nation in Pales t ine And t he whole t hing b e
c omes famous am ong t he nati o ns o f t he ear t h
as God s dire c t supe r natural in t e r posi t ion on
behalf of the Jew
L oo k a bit cl o ser at this
There s an armed
invasion of Palestine It is at a time when the
Jew na t i on is in possession there and in quiet
sec urity n ot suspec t ing n o r fear ing any danger
The a tt a ck is by a group o f nations from the
ut t erm o s t parts of the north The names given
are easily re c ogni zed as of the land now kno wn
as Russia This nation or gr oup of nations a r e
j oined in their attack by ot hers
even many
”
peoples
Persia and E t hiopia are among those
spe c ified They are an immens e horde They
“
”
co me as a cloud
so many o f them It i s
cl ea r ly a terrific overwhelming movement
Then the se c ond phase comes The attack i s
repelled by what i s clearly superna t ural action
There is a tremend ous earthquake wi t h a terrific
st o rm of rain and hail and lightning Discord
brea ks out in the ranks o f the a ttacking force,
and they take to fighting each o t her The whol e
thing ends in a terrible de feat and utter rout
of t he enemies of the Jew
Then the Jew i s establis hed s ecurely in hi s own
land but it i s a new Jew nation u t terly changed
i n s pirit wholly devo t ed in heart to God
And
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Th e
2 06
D e e p e r M e a n in g
of
th e
W ar
point in his public career that b e interpr eted
N ebuchadnezzar s f o rg ott en dreams of the grea t
image And this proves t o be intimately allied
with t he great visions o f his later year s and
indeed to be a backgroun d for them a dis t inc t
foreshadowing of the broad outline s of the de
tailed f o ur visions which make up the latter half
of the b o ok
The dream and its interpretation give a broad
s weep o f history from the rei gn of t he Babylon
aut o crat o f that day on to a time in the future
when there would be a wh olly n ew di fferent sort
of kingdom on the earth s et up by super natural
interven t ion and to be world wide Thr o ugh
that long stret c h of time t here were to be four
great suc c essive w o rld kingd oms or phases of
world empire each with certain marked char
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a c te r i s t i c s
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Then there would come a sharp cri si s It
would come through super natural action
A
”
st one c u t out with out hands smi t e s the image
There would be established by G o d Himsel f a
ki ngdom c ompletely over throwing these preced
ing kingd om s taking their place and having an
au th o ritative rule in the wh ole earth
Here i s the repetiti o n of the outline with
which we h ave become familiar namely a new
order o f thi ngs on t he earth preceded or usher ed
in by what i s evidently a terrific cri s i s And i n
this cri si s the preceding world s ystem of gov
ern m en t i s s wept away
Thi s i mage fit s s o ex
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D i
an el
2
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The Ev id e nc e i n the C a s e
20
7
into the succession of Babylonian M edo
Per sian G recian and Roman kingdom s that it
has been universally so accepted by scholars
some rationalistic critic s t hi nk ing this so plain
that they claim it was written long after the
successive kingdoms had passed into history
Now a look at th e fi r s t v i s i on of the four
In
this vision D aniel sees f our beasts come up on
the shores o f the M editerranean Sea one after
the other The last beast ha s ten h o rns then
develops an eleventh which d isplaces three o f
the original ten and dominates the remaining
“
seven This la st horn ha s eyes like the eyes o f
”
a man and a mouth speaking great things
Then there come s a sharp crisis A new sort
o f throne appears clearly not o f man but of God
It casts down these men s thrones The beast ,
with the domin ating eleventh horn is slain
And then there is a new s o rt o f w o rld g overn
“
ment or dominion reigned over by one called a
”
Son of Man
The interpretation very s imply says that there
would be f o ur kings or kingdoms in t he e ar th
and that they would be displaced by a kingd o m
“
o f the saint s of the M o st Hi gh whi c h to
D aniel meant only one thing the Jews Then
follow s detailed information ab o ut the f o urth
kingdom and i t s ruler which are displaced by
the wholly new order the Jew kingdom It will
be noted how the broad outline fits into the
dream o f the great image in chapter two, namely,
a ctl y
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Da i
n el
7
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The
2 08
o f the
D e ep e r M e a n in g
Wa r
f our suc c essi v e ki ngdom s a cri s i s and then a
wholly new s o rt o f kingdom rul ing the world
The c h a r a ct er i s ti cs of the fourth kingdom ,
which produces this outstanding king are of i n
tense interest It is a ggr es s i v e t o a terrifi c ex
ten t It breaks down and devour s and des t roys
ruthl essly This is its chief trait At the close
it develops int o a ten kingdomed s tate o r confed
cracy And then under the influence of its
las t ruler it bec omes an eigh t kingdomed coali
tion
The chief attention centers on this last kin g
Hi s p er s on a l i ty is most s triking He has u n
“
”
u sual eyes
His look or appearance is a g
gr e s s i v e dominating or domineering t o an ex
treme But the m o st s triking feature i s hi s
s peech It is bold and blasphem ous startlingly
s o It is thi s that becomes the immediate caus e
of his downfall He is proud defi ant aggressive
s elf assertive especially agains t God and again st
the Jews He plans to make radical changes in
“
”
the times and the law re ferring apparently
t o s ome upsetting rearrangement of the common
adjustment s of t he calendar and the seasons
Hi s ca r e er is a s st riki ng as his pers on He
begin s in a small way increasing gradually i n
power until he becomes the abs olute autocr at of
this fourth kingd om He f o rges to the front
a ft er the kingdom has t a ken the shape of a ten
kingdomed confederacy It is under hi s rule
that thi s fourth kingdom develop s it s dread ful
characteri s tic s of devouring and smas hing down
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The
2 10
De e p e r Me a ning
o
f t he
Wa r
successful attack upon the Jews and their temple
and i t s sacrificial worship
.
The i n t er p r eta ti on says plainly that the ram
represen t s the Medo—Pe r sian kingdom and the
h e g o at Greece
It will be noted that this vision
fits into the same general outline as the first
There is a vindication of t he Jew indicated by
the cleansing or j ustifying of his temple in J er u
salem It is preceded by a terrific crisis f o r the
Jew whi c h centers at Jerusalem and in the tem
ple The c hief p o ints o f c ontact between t he
first and s econd vision is this cr i s i s immedia t ely
precedi ng a new Jewish order a n d particul arly
the p er s on a l i t y and ca r eer of the notable king
who i s the leader a gain s t the Jew in thi s
crisi s
The p ers on a l i ty of this king is mo s t striki ng
He ha s an u n usual face of fierce coun tenance
The word underneath means harsh stern He i s
hard of face impudent shameless me r ciless not
influenced by human amenities All this is i n
cluded in the language used He has under
“
standing o f dark senten c es
That is he i s
in entangled in t ri c ate sen
s t u d i ou s l y s ki ll ed
t en oes tricky crafty double m ea n i n ged sentences
He is assertive to an outst anding degree blas
even
p h em ou s l y assertive magnifying himself
to t he prince o f the host ! o f heaven !
The r e is a strange uncanny phase that make s
one rub h i s eyes to see if he is seeing straight
I t is the distinct suggestion not only that he i s
i n allian c e wi t h S a t an bu t tha t he himself is not
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Th e
E v ide nc e
in the
Ca s e
21 1
merely human but a blend of an evil s pirit and
a human being For his activity extends to the
spirits o f the unseen upper spirit world
He
“
became great even to th e ho s t of heaven ; and
s ome o f the host ! of heaven ! he cast down t o
the ground and trampled upon them
It is
“
plainly said twice that hi s might is not by his
”
own power
His is a strange personality
N o te hi s ca r eer He begin s a s king of Greece
in a s mall way He becomes exceeding great
in three directions presumably from Greece to
“
ward the south and the east and Palestine the
gl o rious land
Then it tell s of his s trange
activity in the u pper spirit world He is
blasphemously defiantly assertive even to the
prin c e o f the host ! o f heaven ! that is agai ns t
G o d Himself He makes special attack against
the Jew striking at the thing dearest to the
Jewish heart the sacrifices of the temple F or
“
he takes away the continual
that i s the daily
s acrific es
This implie s that at the time of his activity
the Jew is organized as a nation there i s a J ew
ish temple or place of worship and the old J ew
ish system of daily sacrifices i s in force again
“
It is striking t o note that it is because of trans
that
is
by
men
the
Jews
that
he
i
s
!
gr es s i on
!
able t o accomplish his purpose in taking away
the daily sa c rifi c e
“
”
so
He
cast down truth to the ground
revealing the very genius of the Satan s pirit
That i s he mak e s deceit and lying a cur s ed com
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Th e
2 12
D e e p er M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
And he di d a n d p r os p er ed
That
is he has p ower to run ri o t in his car eer d riving
through hi s purp o ses and plans wi t hout suc
He comes t o his end super
c es s fu l hindran c e
naturally n o t by human or o rdinary means He
”
i s br oken wi t h ou t h a n d
It i s the same phrase
a s is used of the st o ne that de s troys the great
world kingdom in c hapter two
The lengt h o f time of his desecrati on of the
temple is specified as twen t y three hundred
“
”
ev en i n gs a n d m or n i n gs
The statement i s
striking excep t ional
There is t h e dis t inct
touch of what would humanly be called genius
in t his sta t ement in order to make the exact
meaning clear The w o rd year is not a fixed
term The length of time the word indi c ates h a s
varied mu c h in the past The w o rd day ha s
man y and varying meanings But
evenings
”
and mornings could mean only so many a c tual
days
There is here the di stinct intimation o f a
F o r t he
restoration o f the Jewish kingd o m
sanc t uary or temple i s cleansed or justified The
t emple stood and stands f o r t he very hear t of
Jewish ideals a n d life A temple vindicated
after being insul t ingly desecrated w o uld carry
wi t h it the wh ole idea of the Jewi sh kingd om
rest o red All this is said t o happen in t he latter
“
time o f the world kingdom when the tran s
”
The extreme
gr es s or s are co me to the full
fullness o f the cup makes it spill out
It seems beyond ques t i o n that this strange
m on p l a ce
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Th e
2 14
D e e p e r M e a n ing
War
o f t he
use throughout the Bible it is used s ometimes
for a s even of d a ys and s ometimes for a seven o f
s
depending
on
the
sense
of
the
pa
s
age
r
ea
s
y
Here it seems clearly to mean the latter D aniel
i s thinking of s even ty yea r s he tells u s Gabri el
says there is to be a future period of s eventy
s ev en s of years into w hi ch the vision fit s
There was to be a period of seventy sevens of
year s of Jewish hi st o ry before the new order of
t hings the blessed restora t ion of the Jew king
d o m Thi s is broken up into t hree parts seven
sevens sixty tw o sevens and then a final seven
At the c l o se of this whole period the w o ndrous
climax o f blessing i s reached Sin would have
been j udged a new order of righ teousness i n
t r od u ced all the pr o phecies ful fil led and chi e f
of all the most Holy One anoin t ed as King
Now this se venty sevens p e r iod is adjusted to
the time when the blasphemous J ew hating king
would be i n action Sixty nine sevens would
”
run by Then the Anointed One is cut ofi
Then the blasphemous king appear s makes a
fi r m or strong covenant o r treaty with many
! Jews ! for one seven In the middle o f t hi s
peri o d he abru ptly breaks the treaty stops t he
daily sa c rifices and takes some extreme step in
t he temple whi c h is regarded as the very climax
o f blasphemy And later b o th the temple and
t he ci t y o f Jerusalem are destroyed
Now the cutting off of the Anointed One i s
easily reco gnized a s the cru c i fi xion o f Jesus
This be c omes a clear point of contact with actual
i ts
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Th e
E v id e nc e
i n t he
Ca se
21
5
hi story The period o f sixty nine s evens come s
t o a c lose then a c cordi ng t o Gabriel s explana
t i on leaving a peri o d of seven years yet in the
future Clearly at the time of this last seven
years the Jews are or ga n i z ed a s a n a ti on in
Pales t ine making a treaty with the temple
standing and the sacrifices being od er ed
N o w the fact that thi s has not occurred yet
sin c e the deat h of Jesus pushe s a ll this group of
e v ents distin c tly int o t he future It is of much
inte r est to n ot e t ha t t hi s makes a ga p between
the sixty ninth and the seven t ieth seven A l on g
gap running n o w nearly nine t een full centuries
And this gives c learly the Jewish situa t ion
when this te r rible blasphem ous king appears
The Jew is in his own land he is nationalized
and making a treat y The temple is standing
and the sac r ifi c es being offered This s uggests
t hat in these p r o phetic pages the chronology of
t he Jew naturally is recko ned only when he i s
organized as a nation
It also makes clear that the vision takes a o
count o f his to rical events up to the crucifixion
t hen i gn or es th e l on g ga p and again picks up
the thr ead clear at the end when the Jew is
again renationalized And this seems t o be the
common rule in all these pr o phet ic writings
Account is taken o f world events on l y wh en th e
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J ew i s
a n a ti on
.
It wi ll be remembered that the four kingdom s
of Nebuchadnezzar s dream and o f D aniel s first
vi s ion commonly recogni z ed a s B abylonian
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Th e
2 16
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f th e
W ar
Med o Persian Grecian and Roman cover the
wh ole swing of hist o ry from that time until the
new so r t o f di v ine kingdom is set up As the
fi nal break u p o f the Jew nation f o ll owing the
c r u c ifixi on oc cu r red in the time of the R oma n
kingdom this would make this l ong gap when t he
cou r se o f hi s to ry is ign o red or o mi tt ed come in
the time o f t he R oman kingdom That is fr om
the p oint of view o f these vi s ions the w orld
power in control when the Jew renationalizes is
seen as the con t inua t ion o f the Roman p owe r
And the vision closes with the assuran c e t hat
this blasphem ous desolator is finally and deci
s i v el y judged and disposed of and s o the dreadful
crisis is over
Th e fou r th v i s i on is the longest and the fulle st
“
of t he series
The broad ou t line is the s ame as
the othe r three There is t o be a future full
deliverance for the Jew from all his tr oubles
It is preceded by a terrific crisis and thi s c risi s
centers in a blasphem ous J e w ha t ing king This
fits the f o urth vision into place as the last of a
series covering the s ame event s and giving much
additi onal inf o rmation
There are three parts to the vision : the intro
duction chapter
to
The vision
proper is in chapter
to
inclusive
And there are added bits o f inf o rmation of i n
tense interest i n chapter twelve vers e five to
the end
Almo st a third of the whole space i s given to
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D i
an el
1 0—
12
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2 18
The
D e e p e r Me a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
fr o m one side to the ot her but leaving the king
of t he north in a s tr ong lead In t his conflict
vas t for c es a r e inv o lved D uring thi s c onfli c t
some of the Jew s take sides thinking t o carry out
the prophesied future o f their nation but they
fail
The long gap o f time alluded to the Gentile
gap which the vi s ions ign o re because the J ew
is not a nation seems t o occur in this case between
verses four and five of chapter eleven
At chapter eleven verse twenty one we c ome
to the direct p o int of contact with D aniel s ot her
visions that is the terrible end time king comes
on t he scene here a s th e ki ng of th e n or th
In the first visi on he appears at the head o f
the fourth o f the f our great kingdoms In the
sec ond he comes o ut of the kingdom of Greece
Here at the beginning he is co nnected with the
kingd o m of Greece and then lat er appear s as t he
king of the north in the confli c t be t ween n or t h
In E zekiel c hap t ers 38 and 39 it i s
a n d s o uth
huge hordes fr o m the Russian countries in com
binati on with o ther nationalities that invade
Palestine in the attack up on the J e w in t he
same grouping o f cri s i s and Jewish r esto rati on
It seems t o indicat e that this o utstanding end
t ime king comes out of the kingdom o f Greece
su c ceeds to the leadership of t he eight kingdomed
c onfederacy ; that this is chiefly a n o r t he r n c o n
federacy the standpoint o f the c ompass being t h e
Medi t erranean and either includes the Rus sian
c oun t ries, or ha s alliance with them
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The
E v id e nc e
i n t he
Cas e
2 1
9
It may help t o note the style o f recital here
There is firs t a general s ummary of the earlier
par t of the career of thi s king in chapter eleven
verse twenty two Then f o llows a detailed r e
cital in order of events as they o c cur un t il thi s
king meet s his end Thi s runs through chapt er
eleven verse twenty t hree to the end of the
chapter Then t here s a brief sum mary of the
peri o d as seen in the upper spirit world i d en ti
fyi n g all this as the time of trouble f o retold for
the Jew and giving closing events c onne ct ed
with h i s deliverance
This is chapter twelve
verses one t o four
Now a look at the p ers on a l i ty of this king a s
He is described as a contemptibl e
given here
pers on one to be de s pi s ed po s sibly with refer
ence to his lack of moral traits He is self
willed assertive and blasphemously egotistical
magni fying himsel f above all g o ds and utterly
unscrupulou s morally
Hi s ca r eer : h e i s n ot cho s en originally as ki ng
b u t seems to slip into that posi t i o n by cunning
fl a tt e r i es in a time of quiet and security
The
chief events in hi s career so far as noted here
are given in fi v e successive st a ges He makes a
s uccessful at t empt t o strengt hen himself with
the newly fo r m e d Jew n a tion by a league ; then
a pparen t ly by a tt ack w o rking o ne group against
another by bribes and s poils of battle In thi s
way he practically gets con t rol Possibly this i s
s imply p r epar a tory t o what f o llows for he goe s
thr o ugh P a les t ine ! whi c h is possibly a neutral or
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Th e
2 20
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
buffer state ! on his way to attack the king of
t he s outh
The a ttack is suc c ess ful and he return s
through Pales t ine wi t h great sp o il and now hi s
heart is agains t t he c ovenant wi t h the Jew pos si
bly a s of n o further use to him and not to be
allowed t o hamper his purposes
Again the
“
phrase occurs
he shall d o
seeming to indi
cate as before that he drives through hi s plan s
roughshod regar dl ess of c onsequences to other s
He make s a second attack against the south
this time unsuc c essful returns n o rth through
Palestine and vents his di s appoint ment and
rage again st the Jew breaking t he seven year
t rea t y again driving through r o ughshod and
s tr engthening the party a m ong t he Jews that
s ides with him against the treaty
It is at this time that he s tops the daily sacri
fi ces profane s the temple in the ext r eme manner
“
spoken of as se t ting up the ab omination that
”
maketh d esolate
and begins a persecution o f
the Jews It i s a time o f sore s t ress
Then he reaches the height of his career His
arrogant self assertive blasphemy seems to rea c h
its hi ghest point at this time Utterly lacki n g in
moral scruples he stop s at nothing t o strengthen
himself and drive through his plans
“
Then a t t h e las t he meet s an atta c k by t he
“
king of the south He comes like a whirlwind
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1
3
i l II
ni e l I I
Dan
Da
e
: 2 3 24
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29
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2
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35
5
D an
4
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i l
e
11 :
o
4
Dan
i l II
i l II
Dan
45
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28
e
25
e
36 39
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The
222
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
the end
And he is further t old the two
comm on characteristic s of the age preceding all
this There w o uld be intense a c tivi t y of move
ment o n the ear t h and great incre a se of human
of
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knowledge
Now foll ows an added bit to the vision a sort
o f s equel gi ving further detailed information
The lengt h of time o f the terrible cr 1 s 1 s would be
”
for a time times a n d a half
that is three
and a half years
The utter breaking in pie c e s
o f the J ew so t hat he could no longer resist
would be the end
Again certain moral characteri st ics of the age
pre c eding all this are given There would be a
moral intensifying b o th h a d and go o d toward
the end The pure would b ecome purer The
wicked grow more wicked The th oughtfu l
reverent student o f God s word would u nder
stand the significance of these events a s they
work out but the common crowd would not
understand
Then there i s a f uture period of time s pecified
There would run twelve hundred and ninety
days from the time the daily sacrifice is taken
away and the desecrating abomination s et up in
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Da i
n el
ph
u
d i R v l ti
12
t ph
q u iv l
f t h t h pt
i
G
H b w
d h lf
y
2
an
as
6
1 2 : 5 to th e
Th e
n
an
o
3
ra s e
e
e a
e
a
an
on
a en
c
a
e s en u s
ye a r s ,
o cc
rs
:
tw i
14
.
ra s e
.
D i
In t h i l tt
in
ce
an el
s
a
it i u s d
u s ed i v s e
e r ca s e
fo r 1 2 6 0 d a y s
s
n
e
er
e r.
e
a
cl o s e
a
re
ea r
Le x
.
i o
c
n
.
F or
a y e a r, a l s o
two
The
E v i d e nc e
i n t he
C as e
22
3
the temple Then there would be s omething of
a blessed s ort at the end o f thirteen hundred a n d
thirty fi v e day s
That i s the persecution of the Jew would run
twelve hundred and sixty days the equivalent
of three and a half years And then there would
be a fu r ther seventy fi v e days a f ter the perse
And this is b r oken up into
cu t i on had s to pped
tw o par t s t hi r ty days and then for t y fi v e days
m o re And this would brin g s o mething very
blessed to the man waiting earnestly s teadily
st rongly b elievingly waiting through all Oh
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s ta cl e s
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All thi s i s spoken of repeatedly a s coming in
“
”
”
the latter days or at the end o f the days
It will be noted that D aniel s visions quite fit i n
with what has g one befo re and give m o st s pace
t o the crisis and the terrible king r uling then
I t will be further noted that there is a s ort
of limited calendar given of that specified time
more full and expli c it than before The perse
cu t i on of the Jew runs through twel v e hundred
a n d sixty days
Then apparently the power of
the persecuting kin g is broken o r at least the
per se c ution of the Jew end s Then follows a
peri o d of seventy fi v e day s with a glad result
for th e waiting dev o ut J e w
F r om the desecration o f the temple until it i s
”
cleansed is to be twenty three hundred even
ings and mornings That is there would b e
twelve hundred and s ixty days o f persecution
s eventy fi v e of special events not named after
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Th e
2 24
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f t he
the perse c u t i o n is s t opped and then a further
peri o d of tw o years eight mon t h s and five days
r
e
c
koning
thirty
day
s
to
a
mon
t
h
a
peri
o
d
!
!
appar en t ly of readjustment before the new
Jewish order is in full swing in Jerusalem
The one c haptered O ba d i a h is a message to
the neighbouring nati ons of E d o m It speaks of
“
”
a judgment c oming t o a ll the nati o ns
and
c on n ects i t d i r ectl y with a rest o rati o n o f the Jew
na t ion as a pu r ified h oly nation closely asso
ci a t e d with G o d Himself
N a h a m i s a message to Nineveh
It con n ects
a terrific supernatur al judgment c oming on the
enemies o f the Jews with a full happy r es t or a
tion o f the Jew nation
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Now there remains the small group of b o oks
that grew up after the return fr o m the Babylon
exile the p os t cr i ti c mess ages Ther e are four
of these Haggai Zechariah the se cond part of
Isaiah and Malachi The th ousands who have
returned fr o m exile to Palestine are still in sub
i
t
o
Babylonian
authority
Their
situa
t
n
ec
o
j
t i on is full of perplexitie s and di fficulties
Ha gga i come s first Under hi s urgings the
building o f the temple ha s begun He en cou r
ages the workers by reminding them of God s
wondrous plan s for t he nati on There i s coming
a great shake u p in the heavens and in the eart h
and among all the nations In connection with
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The
2 26
D ee p e r Me a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
Jew nati o n
Jerusalem woul d be c omm only
“
sp oken of a s the city of truth and the h oly
”
m o untain
the land would enj oy greatly i n
crea s ed fertility and the Jew w o uld be come a
blessing among all the nati ons wh o had reck oned
him a curse The nations w o ul d rec o gnize G o d s
b lessing upon the n ew Jew nation a s a thing so
marked that there would be a great eagerne s s to
b e allied with the J ew
Then comes the famo u s cla s sic b it which i s
quoted in connection wit h Christ s entry int o
“
Jerus alem that las t tragic week : Beh old t hy
king cometh
lowly and riding up o n an
a s s even upon a colt the foal of an a s s
But here
with full ki ngly authority He is seen dest r o y
ing mi litarism s peaking peace to the nations
and ruling them from the Euphrates clear to the
outermost rims o f the earth
Then in a s t rik
ing bit the Jew i s used a s God s instr u men t of
judgment on G r eece In the cri sis of judgment
God Himself is s een overhead executing judg
ment and delivering His people
At the cl o se of Zechariah occur s a m o st r e
markable passage running through chapters
twelve to fourteen Jerusalem i s to become an
o cca s i on of j udgment on all the nations of earth
gathered there It is as though s ome irresistible
fas c ination of hatred f or the Jew had become a
ruling pas sion among men Through thi s judg
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l
2
3
Ze ch a ri a h 6
Ze c h a r
i
i
Ze c h a r
: 1 2- 1
ah
8
:
ah
9
:
5
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3 7 , 1 3,
9 10
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Ze ch a ria h 9
1 3- 1 7
.
Th e
E v i d e nce
in t he
C a se
22
m ent the Jew nation i s to be fully delivered
7
an d
restored It is to be a radically changed nati o n
In the utmost extremity of their awful crisi s
the Jew would see some One c omi ng out of the
heavens f or his deliverance They would rec o g
“
niz e Him as the o ne whom they had pierced
They w o uld be filled with deepest peniten c e
thr o ugh the spirit o f grace poured out up o n
them Thi s i s the s ub stance o f chapter s twelve
and thirteen
Then chapter fourteen goe s b a ck over the story
with fuller detail It i s a day of Jeh o vah a
day of judgment on all nation s The nati on s
a r e ga t hered against Jerusalem
There is a ter
rible siege o f the city Things go to the wors t
extreme The city is taken the h ouses looted
and all the unnameable horrors of war time run
riot
Then come s the deliverance It i s b y s uper
natural intervention Jehovah Himself appear s
“
out o f the heavens He is attended by all the
h oly o nes
His feet s tand on Olivet before
Jerusalem o n the east There is a great earth
quake Olivet split s into two halves t o ward the
north and south the line of cleavage running
east and west And s o the Jews are delivered
The day when this happens is marked out a s a
strange exceptional day in its outer appearance
It s a d ark day The sun fails to shine It i s
not day for the dayli ght s g one It i s not night
for the cl o cks show daytime Then at eventid e
the natural li ght come s ba c k again
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The
228
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f th e
W ar
There s a c omplete change in the surfa c e o f t h e
ear t h at Jerusalem caused by t he ear t hquake
Instead o f the i r riga t ing canals and pools by
whi c h the ci t y has alway s g o t its water t here are
rivers o f living water flowing freely lo o sened
out by the t r emendous upheaval They fl ow
west t o the Medite r ranean and east t o the Dead
Sea They are perennial They never run dry
G o d s meth o d of making war o r visi t ing judg
ment o n the nations is ou t s t andingly striking
There is a great tumult of d i s com fi tu r e fr o m G o d
among the masses gathered against Jerusalem
They bec ome terror s t ri c ken The ir b r eakd own
of self con fi d en ce is c omplete A strangely ter
rible f ear s eizes and h olds them in a death like
grip They take t o figh t ing each ot her There
i s a s trange withdrawal of vita lity from their
b odi e s
This supernatural vi s itation o f j udgment on
the armi es of the nations gathered turns the
t ables for the Jews They become vic t ors
through God s intervention and gat her the
spoils of which there is a great abundance g old
and silver and apparel
Then f ollows a new order of things on the
ear t h I t is world wide The Jew becomes the
premier nati on Jerusalem be c omes the w o rld
capital Annual pilgrimages are made there by
all peoples for a h oly harvest h ome festival in the
autumn And this is taken as the t o uchstone of
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uel
It
is
i t
n e re s
2
ti
ng
to
Ch o i
r
no
n cle s
t
e
h e re
J u d ge s
7
:
22 ; 1
Sa m
The
2 30
D e e p e r Mea n ing
o f t he
War
the close of the captivity or to find fulfi lment i n
the spread o f the Christian faith in all the world
Yet there i s even in such p o r t i o ns an intense
realism and a glory of J ewi s h r es tor a ti on that
such explanation s do not at all satisfy But
there are certain passages that stand sha r ply out
as not yet being fulfil led in their simple clear
firs t meaning There a r e s ome twelv e o f these
The Jew nati o n is to be used as a means o f
judgment 011 the nati on s in connection with its
own restoration Further under s ome coming
leader it is to be a mean s of blessing t o t he na
tion s a blessing in which justice and trut h
blended with gentleness shall be established in
the earth and all evil conditions removed And
in c onne c tion with this God w o uld b e dealing in
8
j udgment wi t h t he nations righting wrongs
The Jew nati on itself is to be radically changed
in character in to a devout God loving pe o ple
thr o ugh the Holy Spirit p oured out upon i t in
the day o f i t s restoration
And certain other
nati ons are to become t ributary
The Jew is t o
be come the leading nati on a l l o t hers being tribu
tary and gi ving help in gathering the scattered
Jews from all parts o f t he earth t o Palestine
This would come ab o ut through a judgment of
G o d upon t he nati ons because of their previous
trea t ment of the J ew
This thing o f Jewis h leadership is empha s ized
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4
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5
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I s a iah
3
Is aia h
5
I s a iah
1
5
I6
41
1
42
13 1
45
,
-
I4
7
2
.
4
.
Is a iah
5
.
I s a i a h 42
44
Is a ia h
—
3 5
49
.
1
-
12
21
-
23
26
22—
.
.
Th e E v i d e nc e i n t he C a s e
2
3
1
b y repetition but it is to be a new kind of leader
ship ; a teaching leadership They are to be a
teacher nati on
And the nati o ns wi l l c o me
v oluntarily and eagerly and will give of their
’
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2
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,
’
best to build up the Jew nation
It is reiterated
that all this new glorious order c o mes thr ou gh
a j udgment on the nation s on beh alf of the J ew,
f ollowed by the Jewi s h leadership
The intensely dramatic dialogue in chapter
sixty three pi c ture s G o d Himself with blo od
reddened garments acting in j udgmen t upon the
nati ons o n behalf of th e Jew And the acti o n
of judgment is in connection with E dom
Then
there s another of the wondrous pictures of the
new c hanged order of things There is t o be a
marked in c reas e o f heal t h and in length o f life
wi t h a corre s ponding decrease in the sicknes s
and weakness and disease that i s epidemic every
where and alway s There s t o be a radical
change in the lower animal creation
And the book ends with a distinct summing up
c limax a dramatic climax Ther e is a simple
graphic description of a crisis of judgment at
Jerusalem on the enemies of the J ew as a vin
“
d i ca t i v e of the Jew
hear the word
L isten :
of the L ord ye that reverently b el i ev e His word
.
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I s a i a h 54 3
3
I s a i a h 60 th ro u gh o ut
4
Is a i ah 6 1 2 3
6
I s a i a h 6 2 1 1 —6 3 9
1
2
.
-
i t
I i
a nd
7
n o
th e n e x
sa ah
65
t ve
no e
.
t
55 : 4
.
9 14 16
5
I s a a h 6 1 : 4—9
a t th e e n d o f c h a p e r 6 3
rs e s 1
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i
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t
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1 9 2 5.
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a nd on
—5
I s a ia h
8
I s a i a h 66
5
-
2 0.
2
Th e
3
2
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f the
Wa r
Your br o thers t hat hate you that c ast y o u out
f o r your l oyalty to His word they s a y ironically
sneeringly L et Jehovah be glorified ! as you
Bu t
believe ! that we may see your triumph
it is they that shall be put to shame not y o u
Then the coming day c o mes up bef o r e Isaiah s
“
eye c lear and distinct : Hark ! a vo ice o f con
fu s ed tu m u l t fr o m the city Hark ! a n answer
ing v o ice fr o m the t em p l e ! Ah ! it is the voi c e
of God rendering a well earned rec ompense t o
His enemie s and yours
And he g o es on t o
asser t that all this will come with unexpected
suddenness when it does come
T hi s c ri si s i s to be foll o wed by a remarkable
leadership of the J ew among the nations The
judgment on the nation s at thi s time i s to be
world wide a righteous vindication by God Him
self
Al l nations will come t o recognize in it
the g o odne s s and power of God
And one s ear is caught with the distin c t state
men t that the new order of things t he kingd om
is to b e a time o f world wide evangelizati o n
The Jew bec omes God s messenger t o all na t ions
to the farthes t extremes north and west and
south and east in cludin g those who have never
heard of God t he great unevangelized maj o rity
An d these in turn c ome to love their Jewish
missionaries and help in the m o vement to mag
n ify Jerusalem the city of God where He dwells
M a l a ch i i s the closing b o ok o f this a s of the
wh ole pr o phetic group The returned Jew i s
pretty wel l settled as a vassal people under their
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The
2 34
.
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f the
War
line The full outline is f o und in chapter s thre e
and four of this little book There is a ti m e of
It will
cr i s i s coming in the a fi a i r s of the earth
be first of all a cr is is of j u d gm en t on th e J ew
thr o ugh a great evil king at the head of a league
of nations
This will be turned into a cr i s i s of j u d gm en t
on a l l th e n a ti on s of t he world
And this in turn
will be foll o wed by a J ewi s h r es tor a ti on as a
nation thr ough a great righteous King coming
Then there wi ll be a new blessed order o f things
on the earth under Jew leaders hip with this
great King reigning over the Jew and over the
whole earth
Th e J ew s i tu a ti on at the beginning o f the
crisi s may be briefly summed up t hus : the J ew
ha s reorganized as a nation aft er centuries of
denati onalization He i s settled in Palestine a s
his h o meland The temple has been rebuil t
And the old J ew s ystem of sacrifices is in full
swing A seven year treaty i s made with the
king of a northern lea gue of nati on s
It is at this poin t when t he treaty is made
that the thread o f J ew history is picked up by
the pr o phetic pens after t he long gap when the
Thi s seven
J ew th ough a race is not a nation
year treaty i s abruptly broken by the king of
the northern league when it ha s run out j us t
half it s length It i s at thi s point that the crisi s
begins for the Jew
Th e wor l d s i tu a ti on at the opening o f the cr l s l s
i s indicated a s follows : there will be a ten ki ng
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Th e
E v i d e nc e
i n t he
Ca se
2
d omed confederacy or league of nation s
35
This
develop s la t er into an eight kingd o med league
or coalition Thi s lea gu e will be north or
mainly north of the Mediterranean Sea and
s eem s to extend to and include the Russ ian peo
ples lyin g north o f the Black Sea and the
Caucasus
There i s ano t her great power lying mainly
s outh of the Mediterranean, whether a con
f ederacy of power s or not i s not stated But
it is of s u fficient number s and power to a t tack
and to cope with the northern league These
t wo p owers or coalition s are in repeated armed
c onfli c t
The head of the northern league is a king of
ou t standing dom
inating personality who c omes
out of the kingd o m of Greece slips into the posi
t ion of leadership by cunning c r af t and rem a ins
a t it s head until t he crisi s is over
It is he who
makes the seven year treaty with the newly
formed Jew nati on and becomes the persecutor
in their terrible crisis
There i s a tr a n s i ti on p er i od between th e
present order of things on the earth a n d t he n ew
o rder coming It runs from the b e ginning of
the time of the crisi s up to the beginning o f th e
new o rder of things This transiti on period
cover s twenty three hundred ac t ual days that
i s six years four months and twenty days reckon
ing thirty t o the m o nth It seems to be put in
this way because the word year doe s not s tand
for an exact period of time t hr ough history
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The D e e p e r M e a n in g
2 36
o
f the
W ar
Thi s period di vides into thr ee part s The
J ew cr i s i s or pe r secution runs twelve hundred
and sixty days o r three and a half years The
wor l d cr i s i s immediately following runs a p
fi
v
e
for
seventy
days Then there i s
r
n
l
e
t
a
y
p
a time of readjustment before the new order is
inaugurated r u nning through nine hundred an d
sixty fi v e days that i s two year s eight month s
a n d five days
Briefly thi s i s the general outlook of the
reverent thoughtful Hebrew about t he future a s
the Old Testam e nt peri o d comes t o i t s close
There is a great king c oming a king o f the Jews ;
through Him there would be a wond r ous Jew
kingdom The time of Jew s u fi er i n g is then at
an end Instead the n ew Jew kingdom w ould
fill and b less all the world Thi s was the domi
nant thought with Simeon and Anna as the New
Testament period begins and a s they reverently
hail the virgin Mary with her Babe in the
temple
Now I am not di s cu s sing the likelihood o f
these things being so nor yet at t empting to
speculate as to h o w they would fi t o r not fit
into the pre s ent world situation My task is a
mu c h simpler one I am simply gathering up
wha t s eem s the c onsensu s of statements of the
prophetic wri t ings taken at their first meaning
t o th o se w r iting regarding things that very
evidently have not taken place
And I am not expre s sing any pers onal judg
m ent regardi ng these things
But I have a pro
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The
2 38
Dee pe r Me a n ing o f the W a r
It i s striking to note the radi c al change s that
have taken place in the world movement during
the gap of time between the Old and New T est a
ments There has been a marked shift The
center of civi l izati o n ha s swung from As ia to
E urope from the Orient to the Occident The
center of world leadership has swung racially
from Shem to J a p h eth
The B abyl onian p ower has quite gone The
Grecian has risen reached flood and gone And
n o w Rome ha s sway Nebuchadnezzar s image
has w o rn off its head and arms and thighs in the
action of life and i s down to i t s legs The g old
and silver and brass values in th e principle o f
autocratic governmental rule have given way to
the iron The seat of world empire ha s m o ved
f rom the E uphrate s to the Tiber
It i s interesting to note s ome of the character
i s ti c di fferences between t he tw o parts of the
Bible a s we pas s from one t o the o ther The
Old Testament is distinctively the Kingd o m
B ook after the few opening pages I t traces the
Je wish s tory and l o oks f o rward wist fully and
s teadily toward a Jewish world kingd o m
The New is chi efly the Church Bo ok n ot
wh olly but chiefly It begins in the G o spel s
with the King claiming the kingdom and giving
w onderful samples of kingdom days and king
dom power It ends in the book o f Revelati o n
with the kingdom e stablished aft er a sharp crisi s
All between these two relates to the Chur ch
In the Old there i s no Church It comes int o
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The E v id e nc e i n t he C a s e
b eing on the day of Pentecost
2
39
The Gospels are
really sample days of the kingdom The Church
i s not named there except in a few ins t an c es
and then only toward the c l o se of Jesus life
when His rej ection is clearly foreshad owed and
only t o the inner groups o f di s ciple s who are the
nu cleus of the Church
The teachings of Jesus to the inner circle of
t h e apostles the B o ok of the Acts and notably
t he E pistles span the wh ole Church period
Here is given the characteristics o f the Church
period clear to it s end wi t h a distinct gr owth in
t eaching as the group of epi stles taken in
chronological order develops
The B ook o f
Revelation i s addressed to the Church and i s
meant to teach the Church about t h e group of
event s that will come at the end of the Church
period just before the kingdom period begins
We turn now to the New Testament and a s
in the Old we will follow mainly the chronologi cal
order The point o f vi ew of the s e writers is
To them Jesus i s the promised King
q uite clear
of the Old Testament pages H e ha s c ome t o
carry out the Ol d Hebrew prophecies and set up
the kingdom The s e men are Jews Naturally
the old prophecies colour all their thought s
They live in the shado w o f their sacred writings
The Old Testament Jewish outloo k and hope are
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t h el r s
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The apo s tle s in the G o s pel s have no thought
of Je su s b eing rejected and crucified
Thou gh
M a tth e w 1 6 : 1 8 ;
.
’
The
2 40
D ee p e r M e a n ing
o
f the
W ar
’
persistently told of this they can t seem to take
it in Thr o ugh out the B o ok of Ac t s and in the
Epistles mos tly interwoven into its pages the
leaders one th ough t is that as Jesus was r e
ject e d at His c oming He must return to c arry
out t he original plan It is Hi s rej ection that
nec essita t es a second co ming
But fi r st of all c ome the t eachings of our L ord
Himself in the Gospels There are four tea c h
ing paragr aphs in M a tth ew Along in the cl os
ing year Jesus sends o ut the Twelve o n a spe c ial
mission t o t he Jews in Palestine
The i n s tr u c
tions given them are c learly o f l o cal or i m media t e
application But there c omes a break or shift
between verses sixteen and seventeen
The paragraph verses seventeen to twenty
three in clusive speaks of experien c es of s ore per
s ecu t i on that t he dis c iples did not have at that
time This missi on t o the Jews by His dis c iples
is connected her e with His coming again When
He d o es c ome the Jew appears t o be nationalized
“
”
The phrase t he citie s of Israel w ould natu
rally sugges t t hat So tha t when He come s
again His disciples ! the Church ! would be wit
n es s i n g in the midst of s o re persecution to the
Jews nati onalized in Palest ine The passage fi ts
int o the method in t he pr o phecies of t ouching
the pre sent then reaching for wa r d to s ome fu
tu r e time i gnoring event s in b etween
The t r a n s fi gu r a t i on scene is introduced with
the statement that s ome o f Hi s d i s ciple s would
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M tth
a
ew
1 0: 5 4 2
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The
2 42
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o
W ar
f t he
minds the Jew di saster and Hi s own com ing in
power to set up the new Jew kingdom
It sh ould be noticed that in what foll ows Jesus
is talking to four o f His apostles They are
Jews by blood but they are n o t Jews r ep r es en ta
For they had broken with their nation
ti v e l y
in following Jes u s They are representatives
of the Church f o rmed later with themselves as
the leaders So the words are spoken to th e
Ch u r ch through these leader s
It will mak e things clearer to note the mean
ing o f two w o rds us ed in this talk The Engli s h
w ord generation may mean either a race or
family s t ock or all t he person s living at one
time The word which Jesus actually u s ed here
has the same alternation of meaning The sens e
of the passage in each case must de t ermine what
w o rd should be used in translation It bec o mes
quite clear that the grouping of event s spoken
of here has n o t o ccurred The generation o f
pers ons l iving at that time has passed away but
the Jewi sh r a ce has not The sentence w ould
“
more accurately read thi s r a ce shall not pass
”
aw a y
The word elect occurs three times
It clearly
means either the Jew or the Church It might
mean ei t h e r In verse twenty two it m ight mean
either But in verse twenty four it clearly means
the Church for the Jews were being led astray
then and have been ever since ab out their M e s
si ah The effort spoken of here is to deceive i f
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M tth
a
ew
24 : 34
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M tth
a
ew
24 : 22, 24 , 31
.
”
f
Th e
E v id e nc e
in the
Ca se
3
24
possible, the follower s o f Chri s t that i s the
Church This fixe s the meaning o f the word
elect in thi s talk
’
N e w look at Je su s an swer to their thr eefold
question It falls naturally into three parts
The common char acteri stics of the time befor e
a n d during the event s talked of wo ul d be wars
rumour s o f war s f amine s and earth quakes
Among His followers there woul d be disloyalty
dissension false religiou s teachers an d a los s o f
pe rsonal devotion to Chri s t with a gr eat i n
crease of mi s sionary activitie s
At some future time there would b e a p ers e
ca ti on or tr i bu l a ti on
It woul d b e o f Chri s t s
“
”
f ollowers i e for m y n a m e s s a ke
It would
begin with the desecration o f the Jewish temple
in the extreme way noted by D ani el so linking
it up with the pers ecution o f the Jew a s oc
”
c ur ring a t the same time
Thi s tribulation come s to an end and i s f ol
“
”
lowed immedi ately with a vi s i ta ti on of j u d g
m en ts by G o d on the world ma r ked by disturb
a n ces in the heavens a ffecting the whole life of
the earth In connection with this three thi ngs
”
happen
The si gn o f the Son o f Man i s seen
in the ski es He i s not s een yet but s omething
s upernatural that make s the crowds realize that
He is in action for there i s an in s tant change of
“
”
attitude t oward Him They mourn or are
Then Je s us H imsel f
p en i ten t for t heir conduct
i s seen coming on the clouds of heaven with
M a tth ew 24 : 4 1 4
M a tth e w 24 : 9—28
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Th e
Dee p e r M ea ning
o
W ar
f th e
great glory And the
el ect , i e Chri st s
f ollowers are caught up openly before all eyes
with the great s ound of a t umpet
It will be noted carefully that the time of
trouble commonly spoken of as the tribulation
f alls here into two part s There i s th e tr i bu l a
ti on p r op er and then there is immediately fol:
lowing a v is i ta ti on of j u d gm en t The line o f
The
di fi er en ce between this is m os t s triking
two stand in sharpe s t contrast In the tr i bu l a
tio n evil is at work persecuting God s people
In the vis i ta ti o n of j u d gm en ts God i s at work
against the forces o f evil Satan s day i s fol
“
”
which h as be
l owed by the day of the L ord
n
u
in this visitation o f j udgments This talk
g
really seems to give a simple broad pr o gram o f
events in the transition period
It will be noted keenly that the des truction o f
Jerusalem with a pre di ction of which this chap
ter begin s is directly c onnected with a p e r s ecu
In thi s it differs sharpl y
t i on of the Ch u r ch
from the destructi on which occurred under
Titus
It seems to be speaking of another
des truction under d i fi er en t circumstance s and so
p o ints to the future
The remainder o f the talk gives further de
tail ed information ab o u t this stup endous twin
ev ent Jesus tells His disciples that by i n t el l i
gently watching the course of events one would
kn ow relatively when He wa s c oming The Jew
r ace would be preserved intact un t il the s e event s
h a d worked o ut
This w ould be o ne of th e
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The
2 46
D e e p e r M ea n in g
o
W ar
f t he
marked not onl y by a s hake u p in b oth earth an d
heavens b ut before thi s by terrifying signs i n
the heavens and the crowds would be terror
stricken by them
There is her e a s triking appeal to His f ol
lowers m V l eW of the di ffi culty of keeping true
to Him during the persecution
A free reading
will give a much more accurate impression o f
what He says in thi s ple a than do the Engli s h
“
Bu t watch ye at every s eason mak
versions
ing supplicati o n that ye m a y ge t th e v i ctor y ! in
your personal lives ! over all these prevailing
evil i nfl uences ! that will mark the time ! and s o
”
s ta n d a cc ep te d b efor e th e S on of M a n
Thi s is the s ubstance of the teaching bits in
these f our Gospels from Jesus own lips He is
coming back to set up a new order o f t hings on
the earth In connection with His c oming there
This
will be a visitation of j udgments o n evil
will be preceded b y a persecution of Christ s
followers
Thi s latter is connected with a witnes sing by
H is disciples to the Jews gathered as a nati on
in Palestine At His c omi ng His f ollowers will
b e caught up into the heavens and all the o thers
left o n the earth An d in the new order of
things on the earth His foll owers or some of
them are to be associated with Himself in the
administration o f affairs
And now a look at the Book of Th e Acts The
s ta rtli ng leave taking of Jesus from H i s di s ciples
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L
uk
e
The
E v id e n ce
the
in
Ca s e
2 47
on Olivet up into the air out of sight i s aecom
by
the
s
tatement
given
by
the
two
men
i
n
d
a
e
p
“
or angels — thi s Jesu s
shall so come
in like manner a s ye b eheld Him g o ing into
”
heaven
Thi s would natural ly fix the fa ct
of His return a s well a s the m a nn er of it firmly
in their mind a s th e chie f o b j ective in co mi ng
days
Peter s sermon on Penteco s t connect s the out
pouring of the Holy Spirit which they had just
experi enced wi th the pas sage in Joel But he
doe s not s ay that it was a fulfil ment o f the Joe l
pass age a s of cou r se it wa s only in part Joel
”
“
s aw the Spirit poured out on a l l flesh
H ere
He i s poured out on a limited group and in suc
The wondrou s
ce ed i n g day s on other groups
signs that Joel s ays will accompany the out
pouring of which he speaks do n o t occur
Peter s point o f view is gotten in his quotation
from the One Hundred and Tenth P s alm taken
with a s entence in hi s next s ermon in the four t h
chapter
Je su s whom the heaven must
re ceive u n ti l th e ti m e of th e r es tor a ti on of a ll
”
th i n gs
spoken of by the prophet s Thi s out
pouring wa s a ble ss ed prelude to the full out
pouring a t some future day in connecti on with
the tremendou s occurrences in earth and heaven
when Chri s t would come out of the heaven and
r es tor e a l l thi n gs to the ideal held in H i s own
heart
The fir s t Chu rch counci l at Jerus alem m akes
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’
Ac
ts
Ac
t
s
2 : 1 4 a nd
o n.
2 48
The
of
D e e p e r Me a n in g
W ar
the
c lear further the p oint of view o f these Church
leaders and the obj ective in all their intens e
activi t ies
Naturally it rests back wh olly on the
Old Tes t ament o u t line James t he p r esiding of
fi cer of the coun c il makes t he summ i ng up which
is a c cep t ed as the council s deliverance on the
subj e ct being co nsidered
And t his really presents a future pr o gram or
outline o f future events as they saw t hem The
p r eaching whi c h they we r e doing was to prepare
t he way f or a Jewi sh res torati on and t hr ough
th at there would be a world wide m ovement for
Clearly to them the J ew
t e t ching men o f God
i s l re s toration was through the personal return
o f Christ
i nd now a b rie f look at the E pistles omit ting
mere allusions an d taking the ou t standing tea c h
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f
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,
ing paragraphs Usually each paragraph speaks
03 some one phas e all together giving the con
n e ct e d outline
The F i r s t l e tter to the Th es s a l on i a n Church
speaks of what Christ s return w ould mean to
His f ollowers both dead and living
The L o rd
would come down out of the heavens wi t h a
sh out with the voice of the a r changel and with
t he trump o f G o d a t hreef old publicity Then
the believing dead w ould be raised the living
believers would be j o ined with them a s they are
’
caught up into Chris t s pres ence s omewhere in
the heavens
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“
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2
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Ac
2
1
t
s
15,
Th e s s a
t v
and no e
l i
on an s
1 4- 1 8
e rs e s
4 : 13 18
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.
The
25 0
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
W ar
will be withdrawn That is the Holy Spirit will
r eve r se the action of Pente c ost
Then He came upon the Church Now He
withdraw s fr o m the Chu r c h He wa s in indi
v idual believers before Pentecos t
He will r e
main in indi vidual believers after this with
That He Wi thdraws is tremend o usly
d r a wa l
signifi c ant o f the c ondition of the Church It i s
“
a fo r ced wi t hdrawal The falling away ha s
bec ome the dominant factor there It i s a heart
bre a king bit of trut h
His withdrawal gives evil f ree rein The law
less one c omes t o the front and has sway for a
time And then he is slain by the blazing out of
the presence of Christ a s He arrives on t he earth
“
”
th e d a y
One phase of
for believers i s
tou c hed upon in the F i r s t l etter to Cor i n th
As believers are caught up th e fir e tes t o f t he
mere p r esence of Christ the Man of Fire will
be applied to their character and life All in
t hem t hat can t stand that presence will bec ome
a s ashes
The remarkable re surrection chapter of this
letter the Fifteenth has two pertinent para
graphs There is first a sort of br o ad program
of event s given
Christ s own resurrecti on was
a fi r s t fruits At His r eturn His own will be
raised up even as He was That is there wi ll be
a partial resurrection a re surrection of b eliever s
“
”
Then f oll ows the Kin gdom
which ru ns u nt i l
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1
2
1
1
C i th i
C o i th i
or n
ans
r n
ans
—1 5
.
—26
.
The E v id e nc e i n the C a s e
25 1
all contrary rule and authority on the earth i s
“
quite overcome E ven the la s t enemy shall be
”
—
abolished ! or made inoperative ! d ea th
“
Then there i s a bit o f mys tery
that i s
really i n for m a ti on for th e i n n er ci r cl e the be
“
”
There would b e a radical change in
l i ev er s
the bodies of believer s adapting them to the new
conditions as the trumpet tell s of the appr o ach
of Chris t B eliever s who had died would be
raised out o f their graves and li v in g believers
would experience a change in their bodies
In R om a n s there is a stri king bit concerning
the whole created world about us animal and
vegetable The blight of sin is there too We
don t kn o w God s real creation It s blighted
wonderful as it i s But at His co ming there s
t o b e a new t ouch of life there delivering it t oo
and changing it back to Eden Ideals
3
Then there is the great Jew section of Roman s
And this b e it noted is a part o f the Gospel
Paul preached everywhere F o r thi s Roman s
epistle is the outline of Paul s G o spel The Jew
was not u tter l y cast off by God as His messenger
nation Their rej ection was p a r ti a l for a c er
tain limited time E ven thi s had been a mean s
o f blessing to the non Jewish nations
The pe r iod of Gentile or non Jewish world
leadership wa s limi ted in time I t was only for
a certain well d efi n ed though unkn o wn lengt h of
time At the cl o se o f that time there would be
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-
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-
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-
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1
1
C i
i
o r nth a n s
1 5 : 50 52
’
-
3
Ro m a
.
ns
9 to 1 1
Ro m
.
ans
8 : 20—
22
.
Th e
25 2
De e p e r Me a n i ng o f the W a r
Jew restoration Jewish world leadership
would displa c e the Gentile leadership The J ew
kingdom under Jesus their Messiah Christ,
w o uld be world wide and of untold bless ing to
all the race
There is a teachi ng paragraph in 2 Peter
emphasizing the j u d gm en t p ha s e o f the day of
the L o r d It seems to refer to the earth being
wholly burned up and replaced by a new earth
If s o this woul d refer to what takes place in the
final crisi s at the cl os e of the kingdom time as
re f erred to in the beginning of t he twenty fi r st
But it seems p o ssible
c hapter of Revelation
even probable that a better translation woul d
make clear that it refers rather to the shake u p
tha t takes place in the vi s itation of judgment s
following the tribulation
There will b e str ong antagonism to the teach
ing of the second coming of Chris t as the age
runs t oward its close But the long delay is a
touch of G o d s patient love He is not unmind
ful nor slack c oncerning His pr omises But a
strong long suffering t oward men makes Him
h old out the present day o f opport unity to the
very last limi t
J o h n s chi ef E p i s tl e give s much emphasis to
the gr eat evil leade r o f the crisis time
H e give s
him another t itle the An ti ch r i s t It is a most
si gnifi c ant title G o d s only B egotten is called
t he Christ equivalent to the Hebrew M essiah
The Antichrist is the very o pposite o f God s
a
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,
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2 Pe
t
er
3: 3 13
-
.
2
1
J
ohn
2 : 1 8 23 ; 4 : 1 6
-
-
.
254
.
T he
D e ep e r M e a n i n g
o
f t he
W ar
s piration the Antichrist himself appears in
,
,
person on the scene
J u d e s little one chaptered epi stle speaks o f
this same s p i r i t of An tichrist There were cer
tain leaders in the Churc h even in hi s day who
denied the only M aster and L ord Jesu s the
Christ
The Book of the R ev ela ti on wil l b e gathered
up quite b riefly as it h as been ra t her ful ly
“
treated in Qui et Talks on the Crowned Christ
It deals almost wh o lly with
of the Revelation
the crisis time set s it in relation to the new order
following and give s briefly a p r ogram of events
a f t er the new order has run i ts f ul l course
Chapter s fou r to twenty vers e three i n cl u
s ive deal with the crisi s t ime Chapters four
and five describe Je s us s tepping again d i r ectl y
into the action of a ffairs on t he earth Then
follow s a serie s of views of the crisis from dif
fer en t angles so a s b etter to understand t he
wh ole thing
It will be remembered that we f o und that the
c risis time fall s into two parts the tribulation
pr o per and the visitati o n of judgments i m m ed i
ately following The distinguishing m ar k of
each of these two part s is simple and easy to
pi ck out In the t ribulation evil i s working
against God s people In the vi s itation o f
judgments God i s act ing in judgment against
evil
Th e F i r s t V i e w ou t lines broadly th e wh ol e
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1
1
R v l ti
e
e a
on
6 7
-
.
The E v i de n c e i n the C a s e
cr i s i s
25 5
ti m e,
both the tribulation and the visita
ti o n of judgment s The period begins as a
time o f peace Antichrist seems t o appear
first a s a man of peace armed peace
Then
f ollow s quickly the tribul ation and then
“
the visitati o n of j udgments put ve r y briefly
But it shoul d b e k eenly noted that there is a
n
t
i
Chap t er seven
a
r
e
h
e
s
s between these two
p
is the paren t hesis It fit s in b etween verses
eleven and twel v e of chapter s ix
This can easily
be noted by observing that in the j udgmen t s the
earth i s badly br o ken up by a great ear t hquake
and that chapter seven beginning with the c om
“
”
mand that the earth was n o t t o be hur t u n ti l
the event s of this sev enth chapter have taken
place
In this parenthe s is there are two s ignificant
things The Jew nation in its corpora t e com
“
”
sealed by the c oming upon it o f
p l et en es s is
the Holy Spirit This is the time when the Jew s
recognize and accept Jesus as their M e s
siah Then John suddenly sees a great number
less company of the redeemed who have come up
o u t of th e tr i bu l a ti o n
the great one and are
before the throne of God This is the time when
the blood washed Church is caught up out o f the
earth
There the parenthesi s closes And now
“
”
the earth i s hurt a s the visitation o f judg
ments take s place
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5
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6
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1
3
5
Rev l ti 6 2
R v l ti n 6 1 2 1 7
R v l ti on 7 : 9 1 7
e a
on
e
e a
o
e
e a
:
2
.
-
-
.
4
.
6
Rev l ti 6 3 1 1
R v l ti n 7 : 1 8
Reve l ti n 6 : 1 2 1 7
e a
e
on
e a
o
a
o
-
-
.
.
-
.
The
25 6
De e p e r Me a ni ng
Th e S econ d V i ew
W ar
o f t he
’l
outlines the s econ d phase
of the crisi s peri o d namely the v i s i ta ti on of
j u d gm en ts It falls in t o tw o parts partial judg
ments on the earth and then a l oo sing out of
the powers o f evil as th ough to comba t G o d a nd
sh o w t heir defiance of Him and His j udgments
And the r e follows a terrific sway o f dem ons on
the ea r t h
They are loo s ed at
the great River
E uphrates as though tha t is the c enter or head
quarters ou the earth of the Sa t anic f o rces It
will be n o ticed tha t thi s c o mes as fur t her detail
of t he brief statement in chapter six verses
t welve to the cl o se
Chapter t en is a pers onal intervi ew with J o hn
with cer t a l n fea t ures which he is n o t to tell and
with the m o st solemn ass urance that God will
certainly carry out His purpose as outlined
Th e Thi r d Vi ew is of affairs in the ci t y of
Jeru sa lem during the t r ibulati o n Two m en
clothed in mourning to emphasize thei r message
bear wi t nes s to God s truth during t he time of
persecuti o n The length of the perse c uti on and
o f their witnessing is put in tw o ways f orty two
months and twelve hundred and sixty days ex
a ct l y equival ent term s reck o ning the month a s
thir t y days
These two men have power to work miracles
and to protect thems elve s supernaturally till
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3
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4
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3
‘
R v l ti
R v l ti
Rev l ti
e
e a
on
e
e a
on
e a
on
8
a nd
9
2
.
t
h
u
h
u
t
9
g
I th
ugh o ut
ro
I
ro
o
.
.
Reve l ti on 8
a
12
6—
.
The
258
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
W ar
f the
ple ni potentiary full p o wered He combines all
evil traits and is blasphemous to the extremest
“
”
degr ee He make s war with the s aints and
over c omes them withi n a limit of forty t wo
months The persecution of G o d s people is car
r ied to the utmost extremes
It i s m ost s i gn ifi
cant that t hr ee times i t speaks of hi s having been
s ome one wh o had been slain and is now living
a gain
H e awakens u n iversal wonder and a d
m i r a t i on and has a chie f a ss ocia t e who s tir s the
crowds on his b ehalf
As the perse c uti on i s at it s worst the scene
abrup t ly shifts again to th e u p p er s p i r i t wor l d
John is sur prised suddenly to see a gr eat com
pany bef o re the throne There are one hundred
and f o r t y f our th o usand of them the number of
corporate c ompleteness These are they wh o
have been redeemed out of the earth The
Church has been caught up and away The
tribulation has run its co urse
Once again the scene shift s to the earth
The
visitati on of judgment s is intr o duced with a
series of warnings : a warning o f judgment i m
pending ; a warning tha t the Babyl on sys t em i s
d oom e d
There s a pleading call t o the c r owd s
on the earth and s ome hear the call and resist
the evil at the c o st of t heir lives Then the
vi s itation of j udgments itself occur s s tated in
vivid langu age and o ccurring in two parts It
wi ll be noted again that the Chu rch is caught
-
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1
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-
,
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’
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,
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,
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,
1
R v l tio n
R v l tio
e
e a
e
e a
n
1 4 : 1—
5
.
1 4 : 6—
20
.
The
E v ide nc e
in th e
Cas e
25
9
away between the persecuti o n and the visitation
of judgments
Th e F i fth V i ew deals with the se cond part o f
the cr isis the v is i ta ti on of j u d gm en ts when the
”
righte o us wrath of God is poured out There
i s a visitation of j udgment upon the earth or
land the s ea the rivers and the sun causing
“
great di s tres s ; then upon the throne o f the
b east
And then upon the Euphrates River
a s though it is c o nnected with the throne or gov
e r n m en t of the Anti c hrist
Then there s a c ombative movement o n the
part o f the evil power s Through t he activity
“
o f demon s they s eek to rally the kin gs of the
”
whole world to fight against G o d at a place
c alled Armageddon And the final a c t in the
visitation of judgment i s a great st o rm and
earthquake and the full victory o f God against
t his supreme attempt of organized evil It will
be n o ted that A r mageddon is n ot a battle o f
nat i ons among them s elves but of a l l against G od
Th e S i x th Vi ew deals with th e s ys t em of ev il
i n the world upon which judgment i s visited i m
media t ely after the tribulation It appear s here
a s a blasphemous b east carr ying a g o rge o usly
atti r ed woman Up o n the woman s f o rehead is
“
seen the inscription
mystery Babylon the
great the m o ther o f the harlot s and of the
”
abominati ons o f the earth
The system of evi l
in the world is c o mmonly spoken o f in Scripture
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2
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R v l ti
R v l ti
2
3
e
e
e a
e a
on
I5
on I 6
,
1
16
3
-
v l ti
R v l ti
9
.
16
4
.
Re
e
e a
e a
on I6
on I 7
1
-
12
.
a nd 1 8 .
The
2 60
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
of
t he
War
as Babylon It has s o metimes operated through
gove r nments and s ome t imes thr o ugh t he o r gan
i z e d Chu r c h sys t em of the w o r ld
Here at the
las t t he Chur c h is dis c ar ded as an agency and
the system finds i t s embodiment in a ci t y
This sys t em o f e v il t hr oughout hist o ry passes
thr ough seven g ove r nmen t al phases and a t t he
end it becomes a ten kingdomed c onfederacy or
“
a league under o ne head t he g r ea t evil leader
This leader has a n excep t ional uncanny c areer
running t hr ough four phases He wa s ; then he
wa s n ot ; then he co m es u p o u t of th e a bys s and
then he goes into perditi on He seems to be the
human embodiment of Satan o ne who has been
in action as a man befo re and is n ow brought
b ack from the dead for thi s cri si s
At the last this league of na t ions under t his
“
terrible Satan leader unite t o fight agains t the
”
Armageddon is a wa r against God
L amb
And then t hese are all defeated de c isively by our
When our L ord
L o rd Jesus when He appears
app e ars a t this point of c onflict with evil and
vi c t o r y over it He is attended not by all o f Hi s
“
foll o wers but by those called a n d chosen and
”
fai t hful
That is those who have an swered the ca l l to
salvati on responded t o the servi c e for whi c h they
we r e ch os en and were obedien t ly fa i thfu l to the
Mas t er in t hat bi t of s ervice Chapter eight een
gives the detail of the fall of this great system
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1
Re v l ati
e
1 6, I 7
on I7
3
2
.
R v l ti
e
e a
o n I7 :
“
9
-
R ve l ti
a
e
13
.
on I 7
18
.
The
2 62
D e e p e r M e a ni n g
o f t he
W ar
in bare outline There i s c o ming a gr ea t cr i s i s
t o the earth through an evil world leader This
crisis falls into t wo parts a trib ul ation or perse
cu t i on f o r t he Jew and for the Church and then
a visitati on of j udgment upon evil
This crisis comes to a close by th e p ers on a l
r etu r n of th e L or d J es u s
There are t w o phases
or parts t o His return The firs t is thi s : t here
will c o me s omething s ome evi dence in the
heavens that will indicate His appr o ach to t he
earth and will be s o rec o gnized c ommonly by
all At thi s e v idence o f His appr o a c h the b e
lieving dead shall be rai s ed fr o m their graves
living believers will experience some change i n
their bodies and these two groups shall be caught
up into Jesus presence in the heavens Then
will i mm ediately f ollow on the ear th a visitation
of partial judgments
The second phase o f Je sus coming is this : at
some t ime later He will openly appear out o f the
heavens acc ompanied by some of His foll owers
f o r the final act of t he visitation of judgments
Then will f oll o w the new order of things on t he
earth Ch r ist rei gning and some o f His f ol
lowers ass oc iated with Him in the reigning
The wor l d s i tu a ti on at the time when the crisis
begins briefly is a s follows : there will be a ten
kingdomed confederacy under a remarkable bl as
There will be an
p h em ou s s el f assertive king
utter indi fferen c e to these impending event s
men pursuing their accust omed round up to the
v ery moment when the crisis and then our L o rd
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The
E v i d e nc e
i n t he
C ase
26
3
comes It looks a s t hough there w ould be a great
city of world commerce and shipping in the val
ley of the E uphrate s at or near old Babylon
Th e s i tu a ti on i n th e Ch u r ch at the opening of
the crisis briefly is as foll o ws : there will b e
a marked falli ng away fr o m the simple Gospel of
the Cr u ci fi e d Chr ist There will be a common
rej ection of Chris t s coming personally a s econd
time and more a mocking and s coffing attitude
toward the matter
The Holy Spirit will have withdrawn from the
Chur c h as a Church though o f c ourse n ot fr o m
individual believers It will be be c ause of t he
practical ignoring o f His presence and leader
ship The s p i r i t of th e An ti ch r i s t will be ani
mating the teaching and leadership o f t he
Church either in a flat denial of the deity o f
J es us or a practical or actual ign o ring o f t h e
distinctive Christ message
Th e J e w s i tu a ti on at t he time
The Jew will
be back in Palestine renationalize d wi t h the
temple rebuilt and the old system o f sacrifices
in full swing He will have made a seven year
treaty with the king at the head of the ten
kingdomed league
And n o w I want to try to gather up into on e
br i ef br oa d s u m m a r y the teachings of the entire
B ook Old and New T estaments in bare ou tline
There is t o be a time of crisis o n the earth
The situation at the time in the w o rld in the
Church and in Jewry will be as j ust described
The crisis will come thr ough t he leader ship of a
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D e e p e r M ea ni ng o f the W a r
Th e
2 64
great evil king a t the head of a league of nation s
It will center about the east end of the Medi
Sea
It will pass through tw o
t erranean
stages
First will be a p er s ecu ti on carried to great ex
tremes of th e J ew a n d a l s o of th e Ch u r ch the
f o ll owers o f Chris t It runs t hr ough a li t tle
less than t hree and a half of our actual years
Then there is an exact reversal o f the situati on
There comes a visitation of partial judgment by
G o d on evil This apparently runs through
se v enty fi v e days
This c r isis is br ought to a cl o se by t he p er
His
s on a l r etu r n o f t he L o rd Jesus t o the earth
return is in t w o phases There will be some
supe r natural eviden c e in the blue heaven s over
our head s that He is appr o aching It will be
c o mmonly so reco gnized A t thi s ti m e the Jew s
recognize tha t Jesus is their Messiah and they ex
r
i
n
c e a c hange o f heart by the touch of the
e
e
p
H oly Spirit The believing dead a r e raised an d
t o gether with all living believers are caught up
out o f the earth up into the presence of the a p
The persecut i on ends And
p r oa chi n g Christ
the crowds left on the earth bec ome penitent
Th e s econ d p ha s e come s a little later a p
During tha t
p a r en tl y seventy fi v e days la ter
time there has been the visitation o f plagues
whi c h i s f ollowed by an organized m ovemen t of
all the nati ons against God and against the J ew
as His peculiar people Chris t appears openly
in the heaven s at Olivet attended by His r e
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2 66
The D e e p e r M e a ning
o
f t he
W ar
circumstances and di fficul tie s steadily b el i ev
”
ing in the blessed vict o riou s outcome
And the other is one of the many hi t s o f the
“
sort fr o m our L ord s own lip s : blessed is tha t
wise servant whom his L ord when He c ometh
shall find attending faithfully to the simple
round of daily duties in the corner where hi s
”
lot is c ast
with hi s heart in tune with h is
absent L ord
,
1
.
,
’
,
,
.
2
I s a ia h
M a tth
32 : 2 0
e
w
p
a ra
24 : 4 6
p
ph
a ra
ra s e d
.
p h ra s e d
.
VI
T H E PR E S E NT OUTL OO K
Di s cer n m en t
.
A Y OU N G mother hol di ng her babe in her arms
entered the old weather gray Jewish temple A
light shawl was draped over her head It made
her gentle face s tand out with un consciou s
artistic grace It wa s a grave young face
Purity wa s in every line The awe of f resh
maternity lit it up with a rare holy light
There was marked s trength in the quiet s teady
look of her eyes She came in with the modest
shyness of reverence Her husband was by her
s ide He was a thoughtful bearded man of
matured year s but without the light in eye and
f ace tha t marked the woman s He wa s of the
st eady plodding sort
They had come the s e two with the bab e to the
temple for the simple cerem onial rite s required
in the Hebrew law They brought the o ffering
of the poor a s they presented themselves to the
priest a n d did as wa s the custom o f their re
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l i gi on
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And a s they pass ed within the temple pre
ci n cts there came up an old man named Sime on
He gazed intently into their face s and then i m
There was an intens e
p etu ou s l y stopped them
fire b urning in hi s eye s A pure holy light lit
u p hi s lean strongly marked f ace
Hi s e ye s we re
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2 67
Th e
2 68
De e p e r M e a n i n g
o
W ar
f t he
fixed with a raptur ed l ook on t he Babe an d hi s
a r m s stretched out as t h o ugh to t ake Him
W o ndering yet under a gentle compul sion o f
spirit t o yield t he y oung m other permitted him
to take her child And the old saint in l ow
hus hed voice yet clear vibrant tones a reverent
rapture lighting up hi s wrink led face s ai d ,
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Now lettes t Thou Thy s ervant depart L ord ,
Accor di ng to Thy Word in p ea c e ;
F or mine eyes have seen Thy sal v ation
Which Thou has t prepared before the fac e
of al l people ;
A light to light en the nations ;
And the glory of Thy people I s rael
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He recognized in the young Babe the promi s ed
Messiah of hi s people and the Saviour of the
w o rld His mind and his eyes were lightened
by reverent s tudy of the ol d Hebrew Scriptures
and
by the H oly Spirit He discerned t h e
stupendous thing tha t was happening The
Christ had come This Babe was He
And the young m other and her husband lis
tened and wat ched wi t h tense spirit and marked
keenly his w o rds Then the old man raised hi s
frail hands tremblingly and sp oke the benedi c
ti o n of God up o n them and thei r h oly charge
And they bowed reverently to re c eive the bless
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A little group had gathe r ed wa t ching and l i s
tening and wondering And as the old man s
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The
27 0
D e e p e r M e a n ing
o
f t he
W ar
Ju st two persons outs ide the small inner per
s onal cir c le directly concerned dis c erned re co g
understo o d wha t was happening Yet
n iz e d
lo o king ba c k we all see plainly en ough n o w the
c lear evidences given t he shepher d s open vision
t he inquiring wise men the exceptional star the
nation s offi ci a l d om a stir with questionings and
the remarkable fulfilment in detail of the Scrip
ture regarding the particulars of His birth
Discernment is r a re Spiri t discernment as
well as mental sane and clear o f events i s sim
ple a n d rare Yet any one may have i t in some
go o d degree for it s a matter o f cul t ivation A
will str ongly held in tune with G o d s habitual
br oo ding over the Book of G o d the life held
t rue and the spirit held ever open upward will
bring some simple unders t anding o f God s plans
I t will bring disce r nment of how t hings are
working out Both Simeon and Anna are illu s
tr a t i on s of this
We are standing ju st now at a great turni ng
of the road in w o rld affairs This is c omm o nly
recognized by all The w o rld wi l l never again
be the same E pochal events have taken place
and a r e ta ki n g p l a ce It i s a rare privilege to
be living at such a time And it is a rare op p or
t u n i t y to study the world si t uation and try to
discern simply clearly s anely the s ignificance
o f present event s
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Th e N ew
Wor l d
Un i ty
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Shall we not then climb the mountai n top
The
P re s e nt O u t lo o k
2
7
1
where one can see far and with Bible in hand
and k nees habitually bent shade our eyes fr om
the near by l ower lights that are s o apt to d i s
tract and try to get s o me clear b r oad view o f
the wh ol e wor l d ou tl ook o f our own t ime
We have been making a review of the teach
ings of the Bible regarding the futur e There
is coming a stupend ous unprecedented crisis
then immediately the Christ then the Kingdom
Certain things have been noted as characterizing
the world situation as the c r isis o pens Four of
these stand out : the renati onalization o f the
Jew a c o aliti o n of Eur o pean p owe r s a possible
city of w o rld c ommerce in the valley of t he
Euphrates and certain condition s and tendencie s
within the Church
Now with these in mind let u s take a thought
ful lo ok a t the w orld situation o f the present
moment It i s a fascinating si t ua t ion from any
point of view Hist o ry is in the mak ing befo re
our very eyes But we want now to l ook only
f o r th o se things that pr o perly bel o ng t o our pur
i
n
ose
t hese studies
p
The bigge s t t hing at the moment i s the Peace
C onfe r ence at Paris It can b e said thoughtfully
that it is the most remarkable statecraft ga t her
ing o f hist o ry It is distinctively a world gath
ering The nearest approach to it is the Con
gress o f Vienna in 1 8 1 4
But that was Europe This i s the whole
world There monar c h s ruled Here there are
no monarchs but leading statesmen of Eur o pe
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2
7
Th e
2
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o f th e
W ar
Asi a and the Americas An d mos t of thes e and
a l l of t he chief leaders among them , a r e electe d
by t he comm o n vote
Gathered wi t h them are hundreds o f experts
military and naval in finance e conomi cs geo
graphi c al lines map making s t atis t ics ra c ial
gr oupings lab our in t erests and so c ialistic t ea ch
ings ; with int e r preters and t ransla t o r s by th e
sc o re and c o rr es pondents un co un t ed
The C on fe r en c e is being ac c epted as t he
world s tribunal The nations of the e ar th
small and large O r ient as well as O cc ident are
presen t ing their claims to it as to the world s
Sup r eme Ben c h
And the biggest subj ect being discussed is the
L ea gu e of Na ti on s
Thi s is of intensest interes t
The main purp o se is to see that t his t hing will
never happ en again this thi ng of such a w o rld
war The best b r ains of men and the u tm o st
skill and experien c e are abs o rbed in this one
—
i t m u s tn t h a p p en a ga i n
noble purp o se
It is fascinating t o recall that t he Congress of
Vienna had just got to this matter and were
plann ing some sort o f a comb ination o f nations
to prevent future war s when— Napoleon broke
l oo se again and every one hurried off to stop
him
The same thing ha s occurred at interval s
thr ough the last th r ee hundred years Kings
s ta tesmen publicists and c omm on folk have
s t udied and written and ou t lined and pr o p o sed
on thi s matter of a L eague of Nations bu t With
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27
Th e
4
De e p e r M e a n in g
o
f t he
War
among t he nations was never s o s trong n o r so
near some sort o f realizati on The world situa
ti o n seen in t he Bible at the crisis t ime is n ot a
coalition o f a l l nati ons I t i s simply a t en king
domed c o ali t i o n o r c o nfederacy la t er an eight
kingd omed and it centers in Eur ope and at the
M editerranean
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Th e M e d i t er r a n ea n — Th e J e w
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second thing that cat c hes the eye is not
quite so much on the surface yet not far from it
That is th e d i s ti n ct d r i f t of th e wor l d s tr a d e
m o v em en t ba ck to th e ba s i n of th e M ed i t er
r a n ca h
The leadership of the w o rld and the
center of w o rld p olitics and a c ti o n has never
swung fr o m Eur ope s ince Greece ascendancy as
a w o rld empire
But t he t r ade movement whi c h is in reality
the life c urrent o f t he nat i ons had a wide swing
Up until the Six t eenth C en t ury t he M e d i t er
r a n ea n was t he w o rld s trade c enter
Wi t h the
discove r y o f the western c on t inen t s and the
gr e at oc ean highways there gradu ally c ame a
change Trade m o ved out a cr o ss the Atlan t ic
and around the various continental o cean
routes
But since the opening of the Suez Canal in
1 8 69 the w o rld t r ade c ur r en t has swung ba c k to
the Medite r r anean The Medi t erranean has been
sp oken of as the w o rld s greatest trade r oute
The Euphra t es valley is in t he swi r l of acti o n
of the Medi t erranean th ough n ot in i t s drainage
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Th e
P re s e nt O u tl o o k
27
5
b a sin The lure of eastern trade and control has
been s trong o n E uropean statesmen For a
generation Britain has controlled the main
water route the Mediterranean through to the
Orient The Mediterranean is practically a
British sea c o ntr olled at both of its g r ea t ex
tremes Gibraltar and Suez by Great Britain
At its roots the war wa s a struggle for the
Ger
control of the Mediterranean trade route
many unable t o get into the waterway contr ol
“
“
doctoring
Turkey
the Sick
s ucceeded in
”
and pushed her ambition for
M a n of E ur o pe
control of a new route to the E a s t by land
The Euphrates is on the great highw a y o f
trade between Orient and Occident lying on the
edge o f both It seems well authenticated that
Napoleon in the flood of his power had plan s
drawn f or a city on the Euphrates f rom which
he coul d rule E ast as well as West The twin
valleys o f the Tigris Euphrate s have been the
world s granary and can be again
Huge engineering o pera t ions there under one
o f England s prominen t civil engineers with
abundant capital at hand were under way b e
fore the war With E ngland now in control
there and with the world s cry for food it would
be natural f or its development to b e pushed It
is not at all out o f the probabilities simply from
the general outlo ok to see a ci t y of world com
merce spring up That is a second thing o f i n
t er e s t on the horizon
There s a third t hing of yet ten s er intere s t
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27
6
The
D e e p e r M e a n in g
th e p r es en t J
ew
War
o f t he
m ov em en t
The movement for
rena t ionalization by the Jew is more matured
and aggressive at present than i t has been at a n y
previ ous time It has received the o fficial a p
pr oval of the Briti sh Government Vari ous
commi ssi ons are at w o rk making c areful thor
oughly digested preparations f o r establishin g the
new Jew nation as s oon a s the nece ss ary official
de c isi ons are made
The Jews of the world f all i nto three group s
religi ously the liberals the radicals and t he
or t hodox The fir s t two seem to have little o r
no interest in returning to Pales t ine Many o f
them are o pp o sed They are the minority of the
whole Jew p o pulation of the world And mos t
o f them are in the United S t ates and England
The at t empts at merging the Jew racially i s
found among these gr oup s
The big maj or i t y o f the Jew p o pulation clas s
as o r t h o d ox m o st o f Wh o m l ook for the c o ming
of their Messiah By far the vas t maj o ri t y o f
the Jews are p o or pitiably poor The lar ger
part of them are found in Wes t ern Russ ia a n d
t he ea stern parts of Germany and Aus tria
P o land and the Balkans and adj acent countri es
That is to say the maj ority o f t hose natural ly
glad of the opp ortunity o f g o ing t o a Jew home
land with full civil and religi ous rights are near
by P al estine roughly speaking
It should be carefully n oted tha t this present
J e w movement may not c o me to a head
The
tide may g o ba ck o n the bea c h before i t ri se s
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27
Th e
8
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
of
t he
W ar
per sonal i t y of Jesus b lending deity with hu
mani t y the peculiar signi ficance and value o f
His death as apart f r o m that of a n y other the
fact o f His actual resurrec t i o n
I am t hi nking o f su c h things a s the need of a
man s own pers onal c h o ice as the decisive thing
in de t ermining his future and the heart break
ing final resul t f o r the m a n who insists o n
s hutting or leaving God and J es u s out of hi s
r eckonings
The mere fa c t that a man i s a leading member
‘
or an ofii ci a l in a chur c h gives no clue to day
either as t o his beliefs on such things or be it
s aid though t fully and with sore heart as t o his
moral character i f you d on t kn ow a n yth i n g
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el s e a bou t
hi m
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There is plainly a marked increase in thor
o u gh n es s of organization in e fficiency in a ggr es
sive methods grouping of statistics and the like
There seems to many a s harp de c rease in spiri t
p o wer spirit discernment and spirit atmosphere
I t seem s very di fficult to think that the Holy
Spirit is in contr ol of the Church I t d o es n o t
s eem di fficul t t o think that another spirit h as got
dominance in s ome instances
Akin to this there i s another marked develop
ment religi o usly growing o ut of the war ex
i
n
r
It is o f a most startling s ort
There
e
e
ces
p
is a marked increase of d em on a cti vi ty I d o n o t
mean to s a y that it is commonly s o re c ognized
The fact t ha t it is not makes it more d e adly
It has been very nat ural tha t the huge n u m
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The
P re s e n t O u t l oo k
27
9
b ers killed in acti on has caused great concern
am ong their l ov ed ones The question o f i m
m o rtality has been up all anew Attempts to
commu nicate with the dead and t he tea c hing
th a t t his can be done have increas ed by leap s
and b ounds
Such teaching u nder the variou s names o f
occult
s piritualism spiriti sm p sychic research
ism and the like has swung to the fore with
s peed and force apparen t ly to an unprecedented
d egree among Church pe o ple a s well as o utside
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The literature of the subj ect published by
r eputable houses has greatly increased
It should be not ed that in all thi s teaching
there i s a distinct blurring over or ignoring of
the plain teachings of the G o spel A man s
choice of Chris t or lack of choice ha s nothing
to d o with h i s future apparently The future
life is made a s o rt of vague c ontinuation o f the
pr a ct i c es and custom s common n ow
The revelation o f G o d s Word regardin g the
awful consequences of sin unrepented of and of
t he need o f the atoning bl oo d of Christ is quite
ignored or positively rej ected It is one o f the
significant things in t he present o utl ook And it
i s m o re o ne of the marks of the world situation
at the crisis time
It would be fascinating to trace other char
The
a ct er i s t i cs of the w o rld situati o n to day
speeding up of the wheels everywhere i s t r em en
dou s The energy releas ed and fired by the war
i s finding outlet in commercial life and will yet
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Th e
2 80
D e e p e r M e a n in g
o
f th e
W ar
Feverish res tlessn ess in countri es mos t
and in lab o ur and
a fi ec t ed by war c o nditions
s o cialistic ci r c les was never gr eate r Na t i on a l
deb ts were nev er s o big and m oney neve r so
abun dant and free generally speaki ng wit h
some no t able ex c eptions
Vas t enter prises a r e being talked o f Tu nn els
unde r the D o ver Calais S t raits and a t Gib r al t ar
and at the Bosphorus are being dis c u ssed
The p o ssibility of al l rail service fr om L o ndon
t o Cairo and down in the Sudanese distr i c ts of
Central Africa is sugg ested And a similar ex
tensi o n of rail servi c e fr om L ond o n a c ross
E ur o pe and int o far T okio th r ough B ombay and
Peking finds space in t he public prints With
out doubt we are on the edge o f a t ime o f u n
precedented material expansion and pros perity
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Th e R ea l Tes t
f L oya l ty
o
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But m o r a l c on d i ti on s c ommonly what shall be
said the r e ! C ontinental s t a ndar ds o f m o rality
a r e quite dis t in c t fr o m Bri t ish and Ame r i c an
As one c r o sses the English Channel fr om the
Cont i nent he is imp r essed wi t h the fac t that
England has a cons cience on m o rals It woul d
be quite na t ural if t he r e h a d been a fur ther
l oo sening up o f s t andards o n t he C o nt inent dur
ing the war despi t e wise a tt emp t s a t restraint
All t hat com e s sifting in c ol o urs su c h p os s ibility
I t makes o ne s o r e at he a r t to n ot e t he swift
ex t ensi o n o f con t inen t al s t andards of morality
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The
2 82
D e e p e r M e a n i ng
o
W ar
f th e
t o uched all our life very closely food fuel cloth
ing travel time of risi ng and g o ing to bed and
so on almost endle s sly Everyw here the sever
est eco n omie s have been enforced It has a f
fect e d o ne s speech
A f ew words mus t be
added here and there t o make loyalty quite clear
in t he ten s er air of war time s There h as been
a g o od bit of complaint
But t hi s sort of thi ng i s nothing n ew to the
true follower of Christ He has kn own war ex
p er i en ces of this sort long bef o re the war came
He that insists
an d will on through peace days
on living true t o Christ in a sane clear full way
will know some sore experience s
Trench li fe
i s not so new to hi m He will appreciate the
t hree imperatives of actu al trench life i n France
There need s to be the quiet time daily off al one
with the Master over His Word S o food c om es
for hear t a n d brain and life S o there come the
clearer understanding the purer hear t t he
straight life the warm sym pa t hetic t ouch with
others and above al l the keeping true in all o f
this to the M an who died
And there needs to be the s teady f aithful do
ing of one s all o tted task There is no finer t est
of fidelity t o our L ord Jesus t han in being tru e
t o t he co mm on t a sk in the corner where He has
put u s
And there must be a comrade There is the
u nseen ever prese nt Comrade
Jesus lived down
h ere , partly to be a c omrade with us
He s ent
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2 T m o hy 3: 12
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Th e P re se n t O u tl o o k
28
3
H is other Sel f the Holy Spirit to b e our con
s t ant C omrade And the cl o ser our comrade
s hip with Him the truer will b e our comrade
ship with our fell ows And we all need human
c o mradeship to keep us human and s ane and
sweet and p oised
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And so with food and work and a comrade
we shall hold true through the days of strain
and stress intelligently patiently s ympathetic
ally true to Him who died and t o o ur fellows
and t o our world And so we has ten the better
d a y that s s urely coming
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A p pe n d i x
Notes
th e
on
a n y m o m en t,
s ecr et r a p tu r e
or
t ea ch i n g
.
M OS T premillennialist s seem to hold to the
t eaching which i s variously d es cribed a s the
any moment theory the secret rapture and
”
the pre tribulation rapture the o ry Briefly
i n t he main t he teachi ng is that o ur L o rd s r e
t urn so far as His foll o wers are concerned may
o ccur a t a n y m o m en t that it will be s ecr et in that
there will be no outer evidence o f His having
returned except the strange unexplained d i s
appearance of f oll owers An d that this will cc
cur b efor e the tribulation or persecuti on And
this conception has quite taken h old o f the heart
and imaginati o n of th o se a cc ep t ing it S ome
rarely sweet poems and imagined in c idents have
bee n bas ed up on it
It is interesting and instructive to trace the
o ri gi n o f this bit of teaching There seems to
be no trace of it in a n y literature previ ous t o
about eighty year s ago It s eems to have arisen
wi t h a notable L ond o n preacher E dwa r d Irving
and t o have g o tten its wide circulati o n a n d a o
ce p t a n ce thr o ugh a c hief leader in England o f
t h e Plym outh Brethren J o hn N D a r by
E dward Irving was an ear nest g o dly Scotti sh
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2 84
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2 86
App e n d ix
’
pamphlet in which he traced the teachi ng through
Darby back to Irving Wi t h his s c h olarly mas
t er y of the o riginal text and his inexorable logic
he laid bare t he fallacies inv olved He i h
sisted on the true Scripture tea c hing that the
second coming o f ou r L or d w o uld be qui te a p
parent to all in bo t h of its phases that the
Church would witness thr ough the tribulation
and that certain unmistakable outward sign s
would indica t e the approach of Christ But
D arby s insistent dominance a s a leader had a l
ready given the Irving view an established place
am ong his followers and s o commonly am ong
premillennialists
There used to be a well kn own prophetic con
f erence that met yearly at Niagara on t he L ake
in Canada It broke up ab out twenty years ag o
The real reas o n for its dis co nt inuan c e was t h e
growing belief among certain leaders there that
“
”
the any moment teaching was not Scriptural
And so the conference fell apart
Certain able scholars habitually in attendance
pointed out the true Scripture teaching I t is
interesting that t here i s no passage of Scripture
that s peaks directly or indirectly of the s ecr ecy
of the rapture
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
’
,
.
-
-
-
-
.
.
.
.
,
,
.
,
,
.
“
Th e
H o p e o f Ch ri s t s
Tr e ge l l e s L L D
So n s L t d L o n d o n
,
,
C
.
.
,
Pri nted
.
i
Se co n d o m n g b y S P
l s h e d b y S a m e l Ba gs t e r
’
p ub i
,
u
.
1 7: t he
U ni ted Sta tes
f America
o
,
.
.