CHAPTER XV
THE FUTURE DATES OF THIS SERIES.
Up to this point of our investigation we have been dealing exclusively
with past events and past dates; that is, with fulfilled prophecy. This
should be distinctly observed. We have been studying facts, not theories.
In our investigation of the dates of the "seven times" and of
the sanctuary cycle, we reserved for consideration in a separate group
all those which are still future. Here therefore we must cross the line
that divides the fulfilled from the unfulfilled; and here, losing the
clear light of history, we have to complete our survey of this series
of prophetic dates, guided for the most part by the comparatively dim
and doubtful light of analogy. We do not, be it observed, plunge into
the total obscurity which leaves no room for anything but baseless speculation;
there are still facts for our consideration, facts as to the dates of
the expiration of the prophetic times, and facts as to the predictions
of the word of God concerning the closing events of this dispensation.
We shall seek to confine ourselves chiefly to a statement of these facts,
and avoid as far as possible all unwarrantable speculation as to their
significance.
The dates we have now to consider are the few last of the long series,
numbering many score, and extending back over eighteen centuries, which
we have studied in the foregoing pages. All the previous dates in this
series have brought about stages in certain definite historical movements,
and the events which prophecy attaches to these future dates are mainly
final stages of the same movements. The analogy of the past, from which
we may judge of the future, is therefore a broad and strong one, as regards
the nearer dates; and the word of prophecy throws a flood of light upon
the closing events of this dispensation, which would seem to be indicated
by the more remote ones. The detailed and exact order of those events
is to some extent doubtful, but their nature is indisputable. When the
"times of the Gentiles" close, the millennial age begins, and
at the junction of these two great ages lies the glad fruition of our
"blessed hope," the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Daniel’s grand prophetic outline of the future places this
beyond dispute; the second advent of Christ in glory is there connected
again and again with the termination of the fourth, or Roman empire, in
its divided, ten-horned, Papal form. The stone cut out without hands falls
upon the feet of the image, breaking them and the whole image to pieces,
before it becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth. The Son of man
comes with the clouds of heaven, and receives dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. At
the advent of the Ancient of Days, the dominion of the persecuting horn
is taken away, and "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the
saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
all dominions shall serve and obey Him."
Numerous prophecies, both in the Old and the New Testaments, treat of
this solemn and glorious crisis, and of that which succeeds it. The 2,520
years of the "times of the Gentiles" extend from the fall of
Judah’s independence up to this crisis, from which dates a new chronological
period- the thousand years of the millennial age. Now, not only lie by
far the greater number of the events foretold by Daniel and the prophets,
and by our Lord and His apostles, as destined to intervene before His
return, already taken place, but by very far the longer portion of the
"times of the Gentiles" has, as we have seen, already elapsed.
Measured on the lunar scale, and from the earliest date, the period expired
187 years ago, at the beginning of this era of the "time of the end";
and measured on the full solar scale, from the latest date in the captivity
era, we are now within half a century of its final close. There is not
therefore chronological room for any large number of future events of
a critical character, nor are there many such on the scroll of prophecy.
The complete fall of "Babylon the Great," the entire removal
of the Mohammedan power from Syria, and the restoration to a larger extent,
and in a more corporate and national sense, of the Jews to their own land,-these
seem to be the principal remaining events predicted in prophecy as destined
to occur before the end of the "times of the Gentiles," "the
end of the indignation" against Israel, and the advent of the manifest
kingdom of God on earth.
Hence the future, prior to the second advent, is a question, not of new
and different historic events, but simply of fresh stages in existing
and progressing movements. How many more stages are there likely to be
in the fall of Babylon? How many more in the fall of Islam? How many more
in the restoration of Israel? This it is not for us to say; but we may
point out that only a few more dates are indicated by the chronological
prophecies we are considering; so that if the system we have sought to
unfold be true and scriptural, the remaining crises cannot be numerous.
Five of the dates which remain are the full solar termini of the respective
prophetic periods as measured from their latest starting-points in the
captivity, restoration, and bisection eras. They extend to the end of
the "time of the end" -to the full close of this closing era,
to the last events of this Gentile age. Grouping them according to their
astronomic and historic nature and connexion, they are as follows
I. Two of the calendar termini from the two last Nebuchadnezzar starting-
points of the captivity era-the years 1887 and 1898, which being only
calendar are not likely to be of great importance.
II. The three full solar termini from all the three Nebuchadnezzar starting-
points (that is, from the falls of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah),
the years 1917, 1923, and 1934, one of which is likely to be supremely
important.
III. The two solar termini from the two latest starting-points of the
sanctuary cycle, the years 1893 and 1906, likely to bring Eastern crises.
IV. The lunar closes of the supplementary periods of Daniel xii., the
added thirty and forty-five years-which, measured on the lunar scale from
the Omar capture of Jerusalem, run out respectively in the years 1889
and 1933.
Arranged in chronological order, the dates we have named lie, two in this
decade, two in the next, and the remaining five in the early part of next
century. 1887, 1889, 1893, and 1898 in this century; 1906, 1915, 1917,
1923, and 1933-4 in the next century.
We are not about to attempt any prediction of the specific events which
may be expected to occur in these years of crisis in the near future,
but we may point out that analogy seems to warrant the assumption that
the dates which remain will bring events harmonious in character with
those which have been brought by previous dates of the same series. The
series, for instance, which starts with the Zedekiah destruction of Jerusalem
and the burning of the temple, and which has already led us in the bisection
era to the Saracenic capture of the city and conquest of the land, and
in this "time of the end" to the "Universal Israelite Alliance"
and the European protectorate of Northern Syria in 1860, runs out in its
extended form of 1,290 lunar years in the year 1889. That year is consequently
likely to witness, not a Papal crisis in western, but a Mohammedan crisis
in eastern Europe, or some further and marked stage of Jewish elevation
and restoration, or possibly both. It is likely to carry forward another
step the cleansing of the sanctuary. This is also the case with the dates
1893 and 1906, both of which are termini of the sanctuary cycle, and have
to do with Palestine, not Rome.
On the other hand, the four still future years of the series which, starting
from the Babylonian overthrow of Judah, have already led us to so many
stages, first in the rise and subsequently in the fall of Rome Papal,
seem likely to bring fresh crises of a similar character, or further stages
in that fall of Babylon the Great, whose final judgment is to be the immediate
precursor of the marriage of the Lamb. Especially the three full solar
termini from the three latest Nebuchadnezzar starting-points of the captivity
era, are likely to prove years of solemn and terrible crisis to "Babylon
the Great," and of blessed liberation and uplifting to the people
of Israel, and to the true Church of God. The solar termini from earlier
stages of the captivity era have already brought most momentous events,
though only of the nature of preliminary stages. The solar terminus of
the period of "seven times" from Shalmaneser brought the Papal
overthrow connected with the French Revolution. The solar terminus of
the same period from Sennacherib brought Napoleon’s awful wars, including
the retreat from Moscow, in which an army of half a million of men perished
almost as tragically as did the hosts of the Assyrian monarch of old when
the angel of death passed over them.
The solar terminus of "seven times" from the captivity of Manasseh
brought the final fall of the temporal power of the Papacy; but from no
one of the Nebuchadnezzar starting-points has the period yet run out on
the full solar scale. The years in which it will do so are the four closing
ones of the series given above-1915, 1917, 1923, and 1934.
The question as to what events are likely to be brought by these future
dates is a deeply interesting one, which no reader who has intelligently
followed us thus far can avoid pondering, as we have pondered it, but
which no one who realizes as strongly as we do the utter folly of speculation
will venture to answer dogmatically. When we glance back over the many
stages of fulfilment which we have indicated in the past, we feel little
difficulty in anticipating the nature of the crises which may be brought
by the nearer intervening dates, though they afford but slender help when
we attempt to conceive the close. What is likely to be the nature of the
events of these earlier dates, the four in this century, and the first
in next century? In answering this question we need to remember that the
symbolic language of some prophecies, and the poetical imagery of others,
are too often permitted to create expectations for which, in reality,
they give no ground. The final fall of the anti-Christian Roman apostasy
is predicted, as we before stated, to occur in two contrasted ways: the
first, a gradual consuming; the second, a sudden destruction. The latter
is to take place at Christ’s coming, the former prior to that coming.
The instrument of the latter is to be the brightness of His epiphany,
the power and glory of His advent. The instruments of the previous consumption
are twofold: first, a spiritual movement; and, secondly, a political one.
The spirit of God’s mouth, or truth of Scripture, has been the one
agency, and the hatred of the "ten horns" the other.
We have seen both these agencies at work. In the Reformation movement,
and in all subsequent Protestant evangelistic movements, in the circulation
of the Scripture and religious literature, we have seen the first, the
spirit of God’s mouth, undermining and destroying the vitality and
power of the Papacy; and in the atheistic revolution born of the revulsion
from degrading superstition and of hatred to the lying pretensions of
the Papacy, we have seen the second-the kingdoms of modern Europe hating
and destroying the Romish Church and Papal power, and liberating themselves
through vehement revolutions and bloody wars from its yoke.
These opposite agencies are probably destined to continue, each in its
own way, the predicted consumption of the anti-Christian apostasy, until
the last stage of the great prophetic drama arrives, the supreme crisis
for which apostles and prophets and martyrs have waited, and for which
the Church has watched through many a century,- until the cry is heard,
"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out to meet Him." We ought
to expect, then, at the earlier of these future dates only such events
as have fallen out at the previous closes of the prophetic periods; nothing
supernatural, nothing unprecedented, nothing that cannot be perfectly
well accounted for by second causes, nothing that will irresistibly fix
the attention of the world, or even of the Church-events of a certain
definite character, that cannot be overlooked or misinterpreted by those
who understand the counsels of God, but which will no more disturb the
wicked or arouse men from their fatal dreams of peace and safety, than
did the fall of the temporal power of the Papacy in 1870. We may expect,
for instance, that ultramontanism may bring down on itself, during the
next few decades, even more marked and disgraceful defeats than it has
hitherto sustained; that the decadence of the Papal nations will, as time
advances, become more and more conspicuous, and more sharply contrasted
with the advance and prosperity of Protestant ones; that priestly encroachments
on the civil power will be less and less tolerated; that disestablishment
and disendowment will be everywhere the order of the day; that ecclesiastical
influence will wane, though true religion will increase on the one hand,
and infidelity, on the other. We may expect a further dismemberment and
final extinction of the Turkish power in Europe, and especially in Syria,
and that probably very soon. We may expect Russia, "the king of the
North," who is to figure so largely in the closing scenes, to become
mightier and mightier, and to aim at possession of the Holy Land We may
expect the Rabinowitch movement to grow, and similar movements to arise
elsewhere, issuing in the reception of Christ by a considerable number
of Jews, and in a preparation of heart in a still larger number to receive
Him when He shall be revealed in glory. We may expect the fuden-hatze,
which has been already so painfully conspicuous in central and southern
Europe, to grow and increase, and perhaps to extend to other lands, until
it lead to the voluntary exile of Jewish citizens from many countries;
and we may expect that the exiles will gather in increasing numbers to
Palestine.
That further and notable crises in these movements, already so far advanced,
are likely to occur at the still future dates of this series, there seems
little room to doubt. The light of analogy is here full and perfect; whoso
is wise, and will observe the providential acts of God in the past, will
understand the moral character of the events which may be anticipated
between these days and the close. Their precise political nature is a
matter of very secondary importance. If, for instance, in the past the
idolatry and corruption of Catholic Christendom were at a certain point
of time to be judged and punished by a fearful democratic revolution;
if a modern Sennacherib was to be raised up to afflict the Papal nations
of Europe with the scourge of war, it was comparatively unimportant that
the revolution began in France, and the conqueror’s name was Napoleon;
the number and dates of his battles, and the details of his career are
little, the episode as a whole is much. So, if now we know that worldly
ecclesiastical systems, the baptized heathenism of modern Europe, the
idolatrous and corrupt Papal system and all Church systems which in their
essential features resemble it,-if we know that all these are destined
to decay and decrease in power, we do not need to discern beforehand the
precise geographical or national features of the process, though it will
be profoundly interesting to watch the playing out of the last acts of
the great Papal drama, and to see again, as we have already seen so often
in the past, the predictions of prophecy transforming themselves into
the facts of history. If we know that Mohammedanism is to decay with increasing
rapidity until the Ottoman empire falls to pieces, and its place in Europe
and in Syria knows it no more, it little matters by what exact means the
change is to be brought about. The wise will note each stage of the process
and its date with exceeding interest, and will greet each one as it arrives
as one greets an expected guest. But whether the next stage will come
about by a Greek rising, or by some Armenian outbreak, or by some Russian
aggression, it little matters. Prophetic students can possess their souls
in patience, and calmly watch the unfoldings of Divine providence; they
know beforehand what the end will be, and they know that God has never
lacked means to accomplish His own purposes. Without pretending to predict
a single stage in the process or a single incident in the drama, they
foresee the character of the events to be expected, and can accurately
anticipate the close, which must come in its due season.
This is true as regards the intermediate dates, while as regards the closing
ones the case is somewhat different. We have watched the various acts
of a long drama; the same figures have reappeared continually on the stage,
their mutual relations have changed from time to time, and we expect still
to see them in a few more final configurations: but then the curtain must
fall on them for ever, and when next it rises we behold a glorious transformation
scene. The Gentile ages have rolled away, and the Lion of the tribe of
Judah reigns over a ransomed earth. The kingdoms of the image are gone,
the kingdom of the mountain is come; the wild- beast empires are no more,
but the Son of man and the saints have taken the kingdom. Babylon has
fallen, Rome has vanished, Jerusalem shines resplendent. The sanctuary
is cleansed, and Israel’s age-long exile is over. The martyrs are
enthroned beside the great Martyr, who resisted unto blood, striving against
sin; the millennial Sabbath has dawned, and Christ is King indeed, -no
longer in the hearts and lives of a little flock alone, but in all the
earth, and for evermore.
We cannot love Christ’s appearing, or long for the promised times
of the restitution of all things, the glorious millennial Sabbath, without
inquiring, "When shall these things be?" Nor can we, after the
careful study of chronological prophecy in the light of history and astronomy,
avoid the question, Which of the closing dates of this series is likely
to bring the promised consummation? The inquiry is one of so interesting
and important a character, that even if we were- from motives of cautious
reverence, and from the desire to avoid all appearance of presumptuous
speculation-to leave it aside, and close this investigation without any
consideration of this supremely important point, our readers would none
the less consider it each for himself. While therefore we almost shrink
from dwelling on anything but the facts of past history and the statements
of Bible prophecy, and while we are as unable as we are unwilling to attempt
any indication of that day and that hour which no man knoweth, yet we
dare not refuse, to those who have accompanied us so far in our study,
any slight guidance and help which we can afford towards the formation
of judicious opinion as regards the brief remainder of the "times
of the Gentiles" which lie still in the future. We have no more trodden
those closing stages than have our readers; we have no other means of
forming correct and scriptural anticipations than have they: but in our
long and careful study of the subject, we have noted some points which
may have escaped their observation, unless here indicated, and we are
especially anxious to guard others from a rash assumption that the last
date indicated by prophecy must needs, according to this exposition of
the subject, be that of the second advent. This is far from being the
case. The last of the Nebuchadnezzar dates in the captivity era was by
no means the most important stage in the fall of Judah; the previous one
was far more so. The last Nehemiah date in the restoration era was of
very inferior importance; the previous crises of that era, the two central
ones, having been the most momentous. Similarly the two central dates
in the Messianic era, and not the closing one, marked the times of its
supreme event; so that it may well remain an open question which of the
four Nebuchadnezzar dates of the series we are considering is most likely
to indicate the time of the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ, to establish the manifested kingdom of God on earth.
In considering this subject we must bear in mind the connexion in which
these dates are given. They do not occur in the gospel of St. John, nor
in the epistles of St. Paul, but in the prophecies of Daniel. Their object
is to measure the duration of Gentile sovereignty in the earth up to the
time of the restoration of Judah’s throne-up to the time of the accession
of the Son and Lord of David to the empire of the earth as God’s
King on His holy hill of Zion-up to the time when the heathen shall be
given Him for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
His possession; when He shall reign in righteousness, and rule in judgment,
and have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the
earth; when all kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations serve
Him; when men shall be truly blessed in Him, and all generations call
Him blessed. Up to this great public crisis of world-wide importance the
"times of the Gentiles" extend. They have not primarily to do
with the hope of the Church-with the coming of the Bridegroom to take
to Himself His long-loved and blood-bought bride; but the second advent
has to do with both, and in whatever connexion we view it, that advent
is one and the same event. We are not of the number of those who make
a chronological distinction between Christ’s coming for His people
and His coming with them, who teach that there will be a secret rapture
of the Church first, and a public epiphany afterwards; we see no Scripture
warrant for any such chronological distinction, though the moral distinction
between the two aspects of the second advent is exceeding broad. Prophecy
announces two advents only, not three. All along it has announced a first
advent to suffer and to die, and a second to rule and reign; but of a
third it makes no mention. Our Lord himself says that as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be; and He could hardly have used a stronger
figure to imply suddenness and universality of recognition. The passage
which describes the rapture of the Church speaks of a shout, and the voice
of the archangel, and the trump of God; while another passage distinctly
states that the event will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye. While, therefore, we see no authority for making chronological
distinctions between separate stages of the one advent, we see, on the
other hand, abundant reason in Scripture to believe that the millennial
reign of Christ will not be fully established in a day or in a year. It
must be remembered that He comes, not peacefully to ascend a vacant and
waiting throne, welcomed by a willing people, but to dispossess a mighty
usurper and to overthrow a great, rebellion, to right the accumulated
wrongs of ages, and to introduce moral order and righteous government
into the moral chaos created by the long domination of the prince of darkness,
the god of this world, the deceiver and destroyer of men. The second coming
of Christ is associated with the work, the strange, sad work, of judgment-of
the judgment of apostate Christendom, as well as with the rapture of His
Church and the restoration of His ancient people Israel. Like the cloud
of old, bright to the Jews and dark to the Egyptians, His advent in glory
has a different aspect to the Church and to the world.
"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in
all them that believe . . . in that day."
There can he no stages or differing dates for an instantaneous advent,
but there may be, and probably must be, many stages in the work of bringing
into moral order a rebel world. Just as an interval elapses between the
accession and coronation of an earthly monarch, so it may prove to be
in this case; and the last of the dates in the series we are considering
may mark, not the accession of the King, but rather the glad coronation
after all enemies are subdued and all rebellion put down. For some years
after he crossed Jordan, Joshua was engaged in conquering Canaan, before
be divided to the tribes their inheritance. David was king some time before
he reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem. Solomon was on the throne some
years before he dedicated his glorious temple. Human thought is of course
all unable to fashion to itself any conception of the progress of events
after the second advent, though reason as well as revelation compel us
to believe that crises of stupendous importance to Israel and to the Gentile
world must succeed it. The restoration of Israel appears to be incomplete
before the advent, for some of its principal stages, as it is clearly
stated in Scripture, will follow and not precede that event. To what point
in their restoration these final dates lead, it is not for us even to
suggest; we are only careful to guard against the assumption that the
last of them must needs indicate the time of the advent. On the other
hand, it does seem as if one of the principal closes of the "times
of the Gentiles" was to bring that supreme event, and some gleams
of light there are on this sacred subject which we may do well to note.
[The mere suggestion of a date for this great event will startle some
readers as presumptuous and wrong in view of our Lord’s own assertion,
"of that day and that hour knoweth no man," and of other similar
statements of Scripture. We will answer the very natural objection which
is based on such passages in a later chapter, as we could not do it here
without interrupting the continuity of our argument in this place; meantime
we hope that our remarks here will be read without prejudice on this score,
and that any weight they may appear to have may be fairly recognised,
according to the precept, "Prove all things, hold fast that which
is good.".]
The first nineteen or twenty years of Nebuchadnezzar, which witnessed
all the stages of the fall of Judah before Babylon, were the main and
terminal years of the captivity era. All that had gone before was only
preparatory. The fall of the ten tribes before the Assyrian conquerors,
and even the brief captivity of Manasseh, did not permanently shake the
throne of Judah, or compromise the independent sovereignty of the house
of David. The penumbra of the eclipse had indeed fallen on the moon, but
not as yet the dark shadow. All through these years Babylon was steadily
rising, and with the accession of Nebuchadnezzar, and his first campaign
against Judah, reached its climax. In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar
the throne of David fell, and the independent national existence of Judah
ceased until the "times of the Gentiles" should be fulfilled.
Hence those nineteen years especially form the important critical era;
the rubicon of history was crossed at one or other of the crises in its
course. It extended from B.C. 605 to B.C. 587, and the principal crisis
in it was the fall of Jehoiachin in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar,
B.C.
598.
The corresponding terminal years after the lapse of "seven times"
in full solar measure, extend from A.D. 1915 to AD. 1934. During these
years then we may expect to see the full and final fall of the anti-typical
"Babylon the Great"; and if that event is to answer chronologically
to the culminating point of the typical Babylon, it seems probable that
it will occur at one of the central dates A.D. 1917 or 1923. This Gentile
age closes, as we have seen, with an era, and not with a date. Most of
the critical years in that era are already passed; the first four or five
of the still future dates seem to be connected with eastern and not western
chronology, and are consequently scarcely likely to indicate anything
connected with "Babylon the Great." For its fall we should consequently
look to one of the four final dates, and for the reasons above stated
apparently not to the last. Which of the remaining three stands pre-eminent
above its fellows? It is impossible to say. One of them, AD. 1923, has
a distinct historical pre-eminence as corresponding chronologically to
the Jehoiachin overthrow of B.C. 598. Of the four campaigns of Nebuchadnezzar
against Judah this was by far the most fatal; indeed, we may say it was
not an overthrow, but the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah; it was emphatically
the breaking up of the nation and the fall of the independent sovereignty.
It was moreover the date of the captivity of the prophet Ezekiel, the
date from which he uniformly reckons the visions of the remarkable series
that were granted to him in Babylon and by the river of Chebar, visions
of the departing and returning glory; and the question naturally occurs
whether its answering year in this "time of the end" is not
destined to witness the return of the glory and the re-establishment of
the throne of Judah.
On the other hand, the astronomical features of this measurement of the
"seven times" are not as remarkable as are those of two other
measurements; that from the first of Nebuchadnezzar, and that from his
final overthrow of Zedekiah. It was in the year B.C. 606 that Nebuchadnezzar
first came against Judah, and carried Daniel and the Hebrew children among
others captive. At this time he was acting on behalf of his father, and
it was not until nearly two years later, B.C. 604, that he himself acceded
to the throne. That year is consequently, properly speaking, the first
of Nebuchadnezzar; and it was probably also the year in which he saw the
vision of the great image, in connexion with which it was said to him,
"Thou art this head of gold." This year has therefore some special
claims to he considered as a very principal starting-point of the "times
of the Gentiles." Measured from it the period runs out in A.D. 1917,
and it is a very notable fact that a second most remarkable period also
expires then. The 1,335 years of #Dan 12:12, the ne plus ultra of prophetic
chronology, which is evidently eastern in character, and consequently
lunar in scale, measured back from this year 1917, lead up to the great
Hegira era, the starting-point of the Mohammedan calendar, the birthday
of the power which has for more than twelve centuries desolated Palestine
and trodden down Jerusalem. The two periods lie thus:
B.C. 604 2,520 solar years AD. 1917 A.D. 622 +1335 AD. 1917
The year 1917 is consequently doubly indicated as a final crisis date,
in which the "seven times" run out, as measured from two opening
events, both of which are clearly most critical in connexion with Israel,
and whose dates are both absolutely certain and unquestionable. The 1,335
years’ measure is, as we before pointed out, the half week, or 1,260
years, plus the additional seventy-five, which in the prophecy is added
in two sections of thirty and forty-five years. The passage in which these
periods are announced gives no distinct indication of the events to which
they lead, nor does it state whether lunar or solar years are intended.
Prophecy indeed never does this; but the astronomic features of this period
seem to indicate distinctly that lunar years are intended, for seventy-five
years is exactly the difference between seven times lunar and seven times
solar, and hence the addition of seventy-five years to the lunar measurement
of the period makes it equal to the solar measurement. We have before
stated that both Jewish and Mohammedan chronology are strictly lunar,
and that chronological periods connected with eastern events seem to be
always calculated on this scale, while those connected with western or
Papal events are measured by the solar year.
The coincidence of the close of these two periods seems to answer a question
which will occur to every reflective mind,- the question, Are the supplementary
seventy-five years of the last verses of Daniel to be added to the latest
solar terminus of the seven times? The answer is, They may be; it is possible:
but it seems extremely unlikely, because of the astronomic fact just indicated.
The year in which these two periods-the one of over twenty-five centuries,
and the other of over thirteen centuries -run out together is astronomically
a notable one. We have before met, in the course of our investigation,
years such as 1848, in which several prophetic periods meet; but they
were only those from more incipient starting-points, and minus the seventy-five
terminal years. Here, on the contrary, we have a main starting-point,
the first of Nebuchadnezzar, as our terminus a quo for the one period,
and the acknowledged commencing date of the great eastern apostasy, Mohammedanism,
as that of the other; and we see that the latter in its extended form
meets the former, and expires with it in the future year A.D. 1917.
Thoughtful readers will weigh the facts and draw their own conclusions,
asking themselves, in the light of all the chronological facts mentioned
in this work, if the year B.C. 604 witnessed the rise of the typical Babylon,
and its supremacy over the typical Israel, what event is the corresponding
year in this time of the end likely to witness ? The fall of the antitypical
Babylon-the extinction of Gentile supremacy on earth, and the restoration
of Judah’s throne in the person of Christ? The secret things belong
to God. It is not for us to say. But there can be no question that those
who live to see this year 1917 will have reached one of the most important,
perhaps the most momentous, of these terminal years of crisis.
Yet we must also call attention to a further interesting fact connected
with the last possible measure of this comprehensive and wonderful "seven
times," that starting from the capture of Zedekiah and the burning
of the temple in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, and terminating
in AD. 1934. The termination of the "times of the Gentiles"
meets at this point the 1,335 lunar years, dated from the Omar capture
of Jerusalem-an event more momentous in its effects on Palestine and Jerusalem
than the Hegira. era of the commencement of Mohammedanism. No chronologic
prophecy of Scripture indicates any date whatever beyond this year, as
astronomic considerations forbid the thought that the supplementary seventy-five
is to be added to these solar measures.
Here then we reach the close of this long chronological section,-of our
endeavour like Daniel, to understand by books the number of the years
whereof the Lord hath spoken; and here, like that holy prophet, when he
was convinced that the end was close at hand, may we set our faces to
the Lord our God, to seek by prayer and supplication with confession that
He will fulfil His own word, and cause His face to shine once more upon
His sanctuary, which has so long lain desolate, and on His people, who
have so long been a reproach; that He will do as He has said, and speedily
send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive until the times of the
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of His holy
prophets since the world began-that the times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord!
What is the result of our investigation ? Is it not a strong confirmation
of our blessed hope? Is it not a conviction that we may well lift up our
heads, because our redemption draweth nigh? Slowly and cautiously we have
descended the long stream of time, with its turnings and windings, and
confluences with many tributaries. It has flowed through broad Assyrian
and Babylonian channels, through Persian plains, amid Grecian islands
and Roman provinces; it has rushed in revolutionary rapids, and broadened
in lacustrine empires; it has divided itself into a tenfold delta, and
is moving on to mingle its waters with those of the ocean of eternal ages.
We have carefully noted each chronological waymark as we passed it by,
and compared its position with that assigned to it in the chart of sacred
prophecy. Already we have verified nine- tenths of such waymarks; the
few remaining ones lie close together on the chart, and close ahead: can
we question that they will do so in the facts of history? Can we doubt
that the "times of the Gentiles" are all but over? We have not
been in this investigation following cunningly devised fables, nor elaborating
fantastic and baseless theories; we have been studying the mutual relations
of three sets of unquestionable facts: the occurrences of history and
their dates, the astronomic measures of periods of time, and the sacred
prophecies of the word of God. We have been studying facts written large
in the book of providence, the book of nature, and the book of revelation.
No sciences lend themselves less readily to the service of mere imagination
or of foolish speculation than chronology, astronomy, and arithmetic;
yet these are just the three that have led to these profoundly interesting
and important results. History is of course less rigid, and there is room
for some diversity of opinion as to the character and importance of the
events it records. But will any one question the critical character of
the conquests of the Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs, or of the Persian
restoration decrees, in the history of the Jews? Will any one question
that the fall of the western empire of old Rome, or the Hegira of Mohammedanism
are great dividing lines on the page of history? Will any one question
that the English or French revolutions had a momentous bearing on the
fall of the Papal power in Europe, or that Carlowitz and Kainardje and
the treaties of Paris and Berlin mark stages in the decay of the Ottoman
empire? Is it a mere matter of opinion that the condition of the Jews
has undergone a startling and marvellous change within the last century,
or that the evangelization of the world has received within the same period
an unprecedented impulse? Is there any uncertainty about the dates of
these events, or any difficulty in calculating their chronological distance
from the events of the captivity era? None of these things are obscure
or doubtful; they are evident and acknowledged facts; their relation to
the predictions of Scripture has long been seen and acknowledged by the
most cautious and reverent students of the prophetic word; never demonstrated
before, they are sufficient of themselves to prove the true scale of prophetic
chronology, for the chances are of course a million to one that so many
accurate correspondences as we have here indicated are not fortuitous.
Not a few of these facts have been noted and explained by other observers,
and placed on record even centuries ago; but as far as we know they have
never before been grouped together as we have here grouped them, and their
united testimony, which is strictly cumulative, seems to us to raise probable
proof to the rank of demonstration and moral certainty.
In a later chapter we will endeavour to answer objections and remove the
difficulties before alluded to, as sure to suggest themselves to the minds
of thoughtful students.
Index Preface 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Appendix A Appendix B
