Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/biblefre/topics09/t09750

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09751
                  TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS

    This period of mourning, during which the witnesses shall
 prophesy in sackcloth is 1260 days. The same period is named in
 several places in this prophecy. In Daniel it is stated that the
 youngest horn of the sea monster shall have dominion for a time,
 times, and a half time.
 # Da 7:25
 This is understood to be a period of three and a half years,
 forty-two months, or 1260 days.
 # Re 11:2
 The woman was fed of God in the wilderness for 1260 days.
 # Re 13:6
 She was nourished a time, times, and a half time, or three and
 one-half years, or 1260 days.
 # Re 13:14
 In five different passages the same period of time is named, and
 evidently covers in each case the same period of the history of
 the Church. The day being used as a symbol for a year, we know
 that 1260 years, the horn spoken of by Daniel, which speaks
 great words against the Most High, shall have dominion; that for
 the same period the Gentiles, the enemies of the saints, shall
 be in power; the two witnesses testify in sackcloth, and the
 woman, the type of the true Church, flee into the wilderness.
 This remarkable period is that of the power and glory of Papal
 Rome. It becomes us, once for all, to settle when this period
 began and when it ends.

    It is somewhat difficult to mark the exact point in this
 development of the Romish power, which may be regarded as the
 beginning of the 1260 years. But I believe that the consummation
 of the usurpation can be pointed out to the year.

    In A.D. 527 Justinian ascended the throne of the Eastern
 Empire. Before his reign the schism had begun between the Greek
 and the Roman churches. He healed that schism by force in favour
 of Rome. If the reader will open Gibbon, Vol. IV, p. 528, he
 will find an account of a terrible persecution, inaugurated by
 this monarch, in order to make all conform to the Papal rule.
 "His reign," says Gibbon, "was a uniform, yet various scene of
 persecution . . . Churches with their congregations were
 surrounded by Catholic soldiers, and the houses were burned with
 the congregations in them." At this period, then the Church is
 drenched in blood in order to make the Romish power universal.
 The witnesses certainly prophesy in mourning. What more? In A.D.
 531, Justinian, the ruler of the Eastern half of the old Roman
 world, the ruler of the countries where the churches still
 protested against the arrogant claims of Rome, decreed and
 enforced by arms the subjugation of the whole Church to the
 Roman Pope, and in A.D. 533, he bestowed upon him the title of
 "Rector Ecclesiae," or Lord of the Church. (D'Aubigne's
 Reformation, Vol. I, p. 42). In A.D. 533 the "Man of Sin" was
 certainly fully revealed. The Papacy was completely established.
 The universal claims of the Pope were sanctioned by imperial
 power. Here, then, is the beginning point.

    During the long period extended from A.D. 533 to 1793, a
 prophetic period of 1260 years, the two witnesses, the OT and
 NT, remained in sackcloth. Even where the light had begun to
 spring up and the Protestant Reformation had taken the place of
 Romish faith, there was still intoleration. Puritans were
 persecuted in England, Baptists in Lutheran Germany, Calvin
 burnt Servetus in Geneva, Quakers and Baptists were punished for
 their religion in the American colonies.

    "War was made upon them." Near the close of the last century
 [the eighteenth century] the most determined attack ever known
 was made upon the Bible. Voltaire and Rousseau led in France;
 Frederick the Great in Germany; Tom Paine, Hume, Gibbon and
 Bolingbroke in England; Thomas Jefferson and Paine in America.
 At last the culmination was reached in France. The nation rose
 in a crusade against all religion. The Convention, composed of
 the representatives of the mightiest nation then upon the earth,
 by national law abolished not only the Bible but God. They
 decreed that France would worship no gods but Reason and
 Liberty. Atheism became the law of the State.

    This is the only instance known to all history of a
 deliberate enactment abolishing all religion. Most fitly might
 such an event be styled the slaying of the witnesses who testify
 of the Lord. For 1260 years the testimony of the witnesses had
 been in part suppressed; in 1793 it was enacted that they should
 testify no more, or henceforth should be silent as death. It was
 decreed that time should date no more from the Christian era,
 and that the week itself should be abolished because it was a
 Bible division of time. Let it be borne in mind:
    (1) That the war was waged by the power from the bottomless
 pit; an infidel power.
    (2) The witnesses were slain by the state which has done more
 than all others to build up and uphold the temporal power of the
 Pope. They lie in the street of the great city.
    (3) It is just 1260 years, the prophetic period, from the
 time when the Pope was styled "Lord of the Church" by imperial
 authority, until the state of the abolition of the Bible and of
 God by "the eldest son of the Church," or from A.D. 533 to A.D.
 1793.
 (Johnson TPNT 460-461)
09752
                  THE TRIUMPH OF THE WITNESSES

    After three days and a half the witnesses came to life. This
 implies that they regain their power and influence. The French
 "Convention," which inaugurated the Reign of Terror, guillotined
 all the royal family and many thousand citizens, decreed the
 dethronement of God, and made itself a terror to mankind,
 continued in existence for a little more than three years, and
 in about three and a half years the French nation began to
 recover from its madness. Its atheistic laws were repealed, and
 Christianity was acknowledged as the religion of the State. This
 was not all. The resurrected witnesses were in sackcloth no
 longer. The age of religious toleration had come. With the
 beginning of the present century [the nineteenth century] a
 movement began to sweep over the civilized land in favour of
 religious liberty.

    The exaltation of the witnesses has followed. With the
 nineteenth century began a mighty movement to extend the
 circulation of the Bible. It is now translated into every
 written tongue of the earth, and the Bible societies have made
 it the cheapest book in the world. To all who are not able to
 buy it is freely given. All are free to study it for themselves.
 Ours is also the age of missions. At the same time began a
 movement to preach the truths of the Bible to all nations. The
 result of this exaltation is that in our age we feel the heaving
 of a great moral earthquake. It is stated that a tenth part of
 the city shall be shaken down. Already Rome has lost its hold
 upon the governments of Italy and France. The trend of events is
 now towards the falling of the wicked city, the overthrow of its
 confirmed supporters, and the repentance of the others. These
 results are in the future; their fulfilment may yet require
 generations. We cannot name times and seasons, but the result
 will come.
 (Johnson TPNT 460-461)
09753
                   AN ANALYSIS OF PART I

    With Re 11:18 closes the first great division of the Book. It
 brings one series of visions which reaches from the time of
 John to the end of the world to a close. It will aid those who
 have studied the preceding chapters to study the results in a
 condensed analysis.

    The first four chapters are not prophecy, except as the
 history of the Seven Churches is outlined. The future history
 of the world and the Church is symbolized by a sealed book. It
 has seven seals. These are seven epochs that reach into the
 future until the end of time.

    THE FIRST SEAL.--The White Horse. The Era of Triumph. The
 Glorious Period of Roman History. A.D. 96 to A.D. 180.
 # Re 6:1,2
    THE SECOND SEAL.--The Red Horse. The Era of Blood and of
 Civil Discord. Beginning A.D. 193.
 # Re 6:3,4
    THE THIRD SEAL.--The Black Horse. The Seal of Calamity, and
 of National Distress. Beginning about A.D. 200.
 # Re 6:5,6
    THE FOURTH SEAL.--The Pale Horse. The Era of Famine,
 Pestilence and Death. About A.D. 240 to A.D. 270.
 # Re 6:7,8
    THE FIFTH SEAL.--The Era of Persecution. The last effort of
 Paganism to blot out the Christian name. A.D. 303.
 # Re 6:9,10
    THE SIXTH SEAL.--The Seal of Revolution. The Era of the
 Overthrow of Pagan Civilization. Beginning about A.D. 310 and
 extending to A.D. 350.
 # Re 6:12-17
    THE FOUR WINDS.--A vision of destructive forces that shall
 destroy the Roman Empire, but held back until it shall be
 Christianized. The Four Winds represent Four Northern Invasions,
 also indicated by Four Trumpets. Fulfilled from A.D. 340 to
 A.D. 395.
 # Re 9:1-17

              THE FALL OF THE OLD ROMAN EMPIRE.

    THE FIRST TRUMPET under the Seventh Seal.--The Gothic
 Invasion fulfilled by the Invasion of Alaric. A.D. 409.
 # Re 8:7
    THE SECOND TRUMPET.--The Vandal Invasion. The Conquest of
 the Seas. A.D. 422.
 # Re 8:8
    THE THIRD TRUMPET.--The Invasion of Atilla the Hun. The
 Scourge of the Rivers. A.D. 440.
 # Re 8:10,11
    THE FOURTH TRUMPET.--The Final Overthrow of Rome by Odoacer.
 The End of Ancient History. A.D. 476. These Four Trumpet
 Invasions are the Four Winds which were withheld.
 # Re 8:12

         THE FALL OF THE EASTERN OR NEW ROMAN EMPIRE.

    THE FIFTH TRUMPET SOUNDED.--The Mohammedan Uprising. The
 Saracen Empire. A.D. 632 to A.D. 782.
 # Re 9:1-12
    THE SIXTH TRUMPET.--The Euphratean Angels Loosed. The Rise
 of Turkish Power. A.D. 1057 to A.D. 1453.
 # Re 9:13-21

                   REVIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY.

    THE LITTLE BOOK and the Seven Thunders.--Symbols of the
 Reformation of Luther. A.D. 1518.
 # Re 10:1-11
    THE OLD PATHS SOUGHT.--The Church Measured. From A.D. 1516 to
 the present time.
 # Re 11:1,2
    THE TWO WITNESSES.--The Two Books of the Word of God. In
 Sackcloth for twelve hundred and sixty years. Slain in 1793.
 Resurrected near the beginning of this century.
 # Re 11:3-12

                     EVENTS YET FUTURE.

    BABYLON FALLS.--Yet Future.
 # Re 11:13
    THE SEVENTH ANGEL SOUNDS.--Christ comes. The judgment. This
 ends the first part of Revelation and ends the world.
 # Re 11:14-18
 (Johnson TPNT 462-463)
09754
                          REVELATION 12

    I believe that the first series of visions ends with 11:18.
 The book would be complete if it ended there. This series shows
 the judgments inflicted upon the great opposing powers which
 persecuted the Church, or in any way affected its history. There
 is portrayed first the overthrow of the great secular power
 which occupied the world as known to the apostles, and then
 follows a symbolism which foretells the opposition from a great
 spiritual power, a wicked city, which is finally overthrown by
 the exaltation of the Witnesses, and this inaugurates the
 seventh trumpet, and the final triumph of Christ.

    The second series of visions, in part, goes over the same
 ground. Its purpose, however, is to portray more fully the
 fortunes of the true church, its struggles with anti-Christ, the
 final overthrow of this wicked spiritual power, and in
 inauguration of the era of universal righteousness and peace.
 (Johnson TPNT 463)
09755
                        REVELATION 11:19

    In my comment on this verse under the preceding chapter I
 have said that it ought to belong to the 12th chapter. The
 reader will observe that the language with which the first
 series opens in is quite similar to the opening words of the
 verse that begins the second series. "I looked, and, behold, a
 door [was] opened in heaven"
 # Re 4:1
 is the opening sentence of the prophecy, language which implies
 that the secrets of heaven are to be revealed. In the second
 series it is said that "The temple of God was opened in heaven."
 # Re 11:19
 Even the Ark of the Testament in its most secret place is
 brought to view. There is to be a revelation of facts connected
 with the temple of God. We have already shown that the reference
 is, not to the Jewish temple, which no longer existed, but to
 the spiritual temple, the Church of Jesus Christ. Its door is
 opened; its history is foretold; the visions now beheld will
 relate to its fortunes, sorrows, trials, triumphs. Its history
 will be traced until it reaches its heavenly destiny. This is
 symbolized by the fact that the holy of holies, the type of
 heaven itself, is seen. The thunders, earthquake, etc.,
 foreshadow the commotions, revolutions and judgments which will
 take place in the fulfilment of the symbols.
 (Johnson TPNT 463)
09756
                    THE MEANING OF THE BEAST

    As the monster with seven heads and ten horns is introduced
 three times in Revelation, in
 # Re 12:3 13:1 17:3
 one explanation of the meaning of these symbols will suffice for
 all. Though the form varies somewhat, the ten-horned monster of
 # Da 7:7
 is without doubt the same. Comparing the accounts we learn that
 "the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
 sitteth," the harlot of
 # Re 17:9
 and they are also seven kings or kingdoms. In
 # Re 12:3
 these heads have upon them diadems, the crown that always
 signifies royalty, but in
 # Re 13:1
 there are no diadems upon the heads. This may imply that the
 heads that had once worn the crowns were uncrowned in the period
 which is now pointed out. The ten horns, however, have diadems.
 In
 # 17:12
 they are said to be ten kings or kingdoms which had not yet when
 John wrote, received power, but shall receive it in the period
 pointed forward to in the symbols. Still another fact is pointed
 out in
 # 17:10
 Of the seven kings, five were fallen when John wrote; that is,
 had passed away; one of them existed; one was yet to come; the
 beast himself was composed of all the seven and yet assumed such
 a form that he became an eighth.

    These facts will enable us to point out what is signified. It
 is some power that fights against God, that is a deadly enemy of
 the Church, that oppresses the Israel of God, that is used as
 Satan's instrument that overcomes the Church for 1260 years,
 that is blasphemous; that has existed as seven kings, or
 kingdoms, for such may be the meaning of the word, and that
 shall reappear again to be ten kingdoms. It will be seen that
 the form of this beast varies at different times, and we must
 expect the power meant to assume various forms. Let us note the
 great world powers which have arrayed themselves against God in
 oppressing his people during their history.
    (1) Egypt enslaved the Israel of God, those whom he called
 "My People," with a grievous bondage. At that period Egypt was
 the greatest of the world powers.
    (2) Next Assyria, many hundred years later, carries the ten
 tribes into captivity, from whence they never returned. Assyria
 was the destroyer of the kingdom of Israel and the oppressor of
 the kingdom of Judah.
    (3) Babylon, the great Empire of Nebuchadnezzar, erected on
 the ruins of Assyria, conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem and
 the temple, and carried the people into captivity.
    (4) Persia overthrew Babylon, and succeeded to the sway over
 the remnant of Israel and Palestine.
    (5) Greece, or rather the Macedonian Empire of Alexander,
 overthrew Persia, and the fifth of the great world powers became
 the ruler and the oppressor of God's people. Under the
 successors of Alexander their sufferings were terrible. Here,
 then, we have Five Kingdoms, or great world monarchies, which
 had been used by the dragon for oppression, and which had passed
 away before John wrote.
    (6) One now is. Rome had overthrown all before her and
 occupied their dominion. The Roman monarchy existed when John
 was on Patmos, and he was seen there by the edict of a Roman
 Emperor.
    (7) One was yet to come. There was to be still another of
 these world powers, which should appear after John's time. It is
 to be an anti-Christian world power. My opinion is that it
 refers to the Eastern or Greek Empire, the Roman Empire in the
 East, continuing to exist as an Oriental despotism after the
 fall of Rome. This Empire was a persecutor also. No Emperor
 persecuted more cruelly than Justinian. In
 # 17:11
 we are also told that there is an eighth head who "is of the
 seven." This is the beast. This means that the spirit and power
 of the whole beast, embracing all the seven heads, passes to an
 eighth kingdom or rule. Wherever we find this rule we find the
 beast fully manifested. This signifies the temporal dominion of
 the Papal power, a sway that derived its power from the kingdoms
 of the earth.

    The beast with seven heads and ten horns is, then, the great
 world power in its opposition to God's people, manifesting
 itself in the various great worldly states which have fought
 against the saints. Of the heads of the beast Rome was the
 greatest and the most terrible of persecutors. Hence, while all
 the opposing world powers are generally signified, Rome, Pagan
 and Papal, is specially pointed out. There can be no doubt about
 the allusion of John to the heads signifying also seven
 mountains on which the harlot sitteth
 # 17:9
 No phrase was oftener applied to Rome by Pagan poets and
 writers, as well as Christian Fathers than "the seven-hilled
 city." The eighth head is stated also to be an embodiment of the
 whole beast.
 # 17:11
 Hence, I believe we are justified in declaring that Rome is the
 seat of the beast.
 (Johnson TPNT 468-469)
09757
                THE MORTAL WOUND THAT WAS HEALED

    It is shown, however, that the beast received a wound on one
 of its heads that was mortal. One of the kingdoms was overcome
 by the sword. This blow would, in the ordinary nature of things,
 destroy it and the beast. In some remarkable way this would be
 healed. This was wonderfully fulfilled. In AD 476, the last of
 the Roman Emperors of the West was hurled from his throne, and
 Italy became the prey of contending barbarian hordes. It seem
 seem as though the fate of Rome was forever sealed. Nineveh
 fell, but it was to rise no more. Babylon fell before the armies
 of Cyrus, and after a few generations it became the abode of
 "doleful creatures."
 # Isa 13:21
 Tyre fell, and on the bare rock, which was once the seat of a
 mighty city, "the fisherman spreads his nets." Other cities have
 fallen and lost their glory, their dominion, their existence,
 and have been converted into heaps of ruins, where wild beasts
 have lurked, serpents hidden, and desert winds howled; but in
 the case of Rome, the deadly wound was healed. Mysteriously,
 wonderfully, the captive city, by the development of a new
 power, binds her conquerors in the chains of superstition, and
 by establishing a spiritual dominion over the souls of men, she
 yet succeeds in holding the secular authority over a vast
 portion of the world. The sway of Rome under the Popes became,
 in spite of her conquest, mightier than her sway under the
 Caesars.
 (Johnson TPNT 469)
09758
                        FORTY-TWO MONTHS

    It yet remains to consider the period during which it shall
 be given this dominion to have power over the saints. We have
 found that this period of 1260 years, since a day is a symbol of
 a year, has been several times mentioned. The "Holy City," the
 true Church, is trodden down by the Gentiles for 42 months; the
 two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth for 1260 days; the woman, or
 the true Church, is driven by the dragon into the wilderness for
 1260 days, and the beast exercises power for 42 months, which is
 the same period once more. There can be no doubt that the
 treading down of the Holy City, the two witnesses in sackcloth,
 the flight and sojourn of the Church in the wilderness, and the
 power of the beast, all take place during the same period, begin
 at the same time, are different parts of the same history, and
 end at the same epoch. It has been already found (chap. 11)
 that this period began in 533. The period, then, of the greatest
 power and glory of this "eighth head," which is the beast
 himself, would end about 1793, or about the beginning of this
 century. At this time there is certainly an exaltation of the
 two witnesses, a return of the Church from the wilderness. There
 is also a fatal shock to the temporal power of Rome. In 1798
 Napoleon Bonaparte effected the conquest of Italy, and the Pope,
 a prisoner, was a supplicant at his feet. In 1804, he ordered
 the Pope, who was now his puppet, to come France to crown him
 emperor of the French. In 1805, he assumed the title of King of
 Italy. During the years of his power he ruled the Pope with an
 iron hand, broke up the old European system, emancipated the
 nations from the terror of Rome, and when he fell, the temporal
 authority of Rome had received a fatal wound. The influence of
 the Pope in the politics of the world was broken. Since then
 Rome has been occupied as the capital of free Italy, and the
 Pope has become "The Prisoner of the Vatican."
 (Johnson TPNT 469)
09759
                    THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

    It is, then, plain that the number 666 is the number of the
 name of the beast, and this is the man's name. Six hundred
 sixty-six is English. John did not write in English, hence those
 words in English will not give the word we seek. 666 are the
 Arab characters for the numbers, but they were unknown until
 many hundred years after John wrote, and hence afford no help.
 John wrote in the Greek language for readers who understood that
 tongue. The number is evidently, then, to be expressed in Greek
 characters. The Greeks did not express numbers by figures, but
 by letters, just as among the Romans, X stood for ten and C for
 one hundred. Six hundred and sixty-six could be expressed by
 spelling out the words in the Greek language, or by using the
 letters which were symbols for various quantities. Let us try
 the latter method: 30=L, 1=a, 300-t, 5=e, 10=i, 50=n, 70=o,
 200=s. 666=Lateinos. And what is this name? The number of a man;
 the Greek method of spelling the name of Latinus, the reputed
 founder of the Latin race. The Romans were a Latin race and
 spoke the Latin language. The Romish Church is continually
 officially called the Latin Church, to distinguish it from the
 Greek Church, the other branch of the great ancient schism; the
 Catholic sacred books are written in the Latin tongue; the
 worship is conducted in every country in the Latin alone, and
 when a Catholic council convenes, all its conferences are
 conducted in the tongue of the ancient Latins.  There is, then,
 a Latin Church, whose official and sacred speech is the Latin
 language, which has for its seat the ancient Latin capital. That
 Church is the great Apostate Church, upon whose head the names
 of blasphemy have been written, which has claimed universal
 dominion upon the earth, and has slain the saints of the Most
 High. Its name is the number of the beast, and that name,
 Lateinos, the name or number of a man, is 666. It does not
 destroy the force of this that these numerals and letters can be
 so combined as to spell out other names. This name is one that
 at once points to a power which has displayed every mark which
 is assigned to the beast.
 (Johnson TPNT 471-472)
09760
                          REVELATION 14

    The gloomy picture of the terrible foes of the Church, given
 in chap. 13, is calculated to fill the saints with fearful
 foreboding. A persecuted, suffering Church, beholding these
 mighty enemies, their terrible work, these fearful struggles of
 the future, these triumphs of the wicked, might almost be led to
 despair of the final victory of the Redeemer's cause. Hence, for
 the encouragement of the saints, their eyes are turned, in the
 fourteenth chapter, upon a brighter vision. The dark clouds are
 lifted off the future, and they are enabled to look beyond and
 to see the glorious fruition of all the tears and sorrow, the
 struggles and trials of the Church. The vision of this chapter
 cheers the saints and encourages them to press on in the hour of
 darkness, by leading them forward to the final triumph of
 righteousness at the end of time.
 (Johnson TPNT 472)
09761
                     THE LAMB ON MOUNT ZION

    The Lamb on Mount Zion in the midst of these saints is a
 prophetic picture, and the thought should be, What do these
 symbols signify? These saints stand forth as the representatives
 of a class. "They are firstfruits to God and to the Lamb."
 # Re 14:4
 As the first fruits, devoted to God, were representative of the
 whole harvest, so these stand forth as the representatives of
 the harvest of souls. We are to behold in them as they stand on
 Mount Zion with the Lamb in their midst, a picture of the Church
 in some age of the world. Let us observe the facts stated of
 them:
 (1) The Lamb is in their midst; a characteristic of the holy
     saints.
 (2) They are pure, unspotted, undefiled, not fornicators, nor
     sullied with unholy desires.
 (3) They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. They are sheep
     that hear the Shepherd's voice. They are obedient to all his
     commandments. They follow his example as well as his words.
     They live a Christ-like life.
 (4) In their mouths are found no guile, and they were without
     fault before the throne of God.

    Whenever the Church of God becomes purified, ceases unholy
 fornication with the world, these are the marks which it will
 exhibit. I believe this to be a picture of the Church, yet to
 come, which shall have put on the white robes and have only
 Christ for its King.
 (Johnson TPNT 473)
09762
                             BABYLON

    What is meant by this city Babylon? The term only occurs in
 the NT in
 # 1Pe 5:13
 and in the Book of Revelation. It is shown in this passage that
 Babylon virtually signifies the same as the "beast and his
 image," while in
 # Re 17:5
 Babylon is shown to be the mystical harlot who sat on the seven-
 headed and ten-horned beast. In chap. 18 the fall of Babylon is
 again declared, and it is said that all the kings of the earth
 have committed fornication with her.
 # Re 16:8 18:2,3
 Of this spiritual Babylon the old Babylon on the Euphrates was a
 type. It was
 (1) A wicked world power.
 (2) It oppressed God's people and led them captive.
 (3) It was only when it was overthrown that Jerusalem was
     restored.
 (4) In addition it might be added that it was at or near Babylon
     that the confusion of tongues took place.

    This old Babylon in some way is a type of the Babylon meant
 by John. The facts stated of the spiritual Babylon are that it
 was
 (1) identified with the beast;
 (2) a mighty oppressor of God's people;
 (3) that it led them captive;
 (4) ruled the earth;
 (5) is a harlot, or idolatrous church.
 It has been found in the preceding chapter that the beast and
 its image point to Rome; it will be found in
 # Re 17:3-6
 that the woman who is called "Mystery, Babylon the Great," who
 sitteth on the beast, is the great apostate church which has
 ruled the nations. This passage shows the means by which this
 dominion shall be overthrown. It will be done by a pure and holy
 Church, filled with missionary zeal. It is the preaching of the
 ancient gospel which shall bring Rome to destruction. When this
 shall be done is not revealed, but I am led to cherish the idea
 that it is not so far distant as some suppose.
 (Johnson TPNT 474)
09763
                          REVELATION 15

    With this chapter begins a detailed account of the closing
 judgments upon "the beast and its image and those who have the
 mark of the beast." Their overthrow, as the great city Babylon,
 has been seen in
 # 14:8-10,
 but in chaps. 15, 16, the Seven Last Plagues which come as
 judgments and tend towards the overthrow are given. The 14th
 chapter gives a summary of future events; the 15th, 16th, 17th,
 18th and 19th chapters present the same events in detail. These
 chapters are all connected with the fall of spiritual Babylon,
 and open with these words: "I saw another great sign in heaven,
 great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last
 plagues."
 # 15:1
 The opening of the seventh seal carries the reader to the
 triumph of Christianity over Roman Paganism.
    The SEVEN TRUMPETS lead us onward to the overthrow of the
 western Roman Empire by the Goths, Vandals and Huns, and the
 ruin of the Eastern Empire by the Saracens and Turks. The last
 trumpet of the seven reaches to the close of secular history
 with the trump of the Archangel.
    The SEVEN BOWLS also give the history of an epoch, and, like
 each of the series of seven, bring us to the end of that epoch.
 They present the series of calamities that first weaken and then
 destroy the power of Papal Rome. Each one of three series of
 seven leads to the completion of a well-defined purpose.
    The SEVEN SEALS have a definite object, and lead us to the
 accomplishment of that object in the overthrow of Roman
 Paganism.
    The SEVEN TRUMPETS have a definite object, and lead us to the
 fulfilment of their design in the overthrow of the Roman
 Empire.
    Equally definite is the object of the SEVEN BOWLS, and
 equally certain that the last bowl will accomplish the utter
 overthrow of that blasphemous power, which is variously
 described as a "city of immorality," "the great city Babylon"
 # Re 18:8,10
 the scarlet adulteress, and the seven-headed and ten-horned
 beast.
 (Johnson TPNT 476)
09764
                           REVELATION 16

    Interpreters are not agreed whether the pouring out of the
 bowls relates to past or to future events. Almost all, except
 Roman Catholics and Rationalists, are agreed in the view that
 they refer to a series of calamitous events which were to befall
 the Papal power. The reader will observe that the first bowl is
 poured upon the earth, and it became a noisome and grievous sore
 upon "the men which had the mark of the beast, and which
 worshipped his image."
 # Re 16:2
 phraseology that we have found to refer to the supporters of the
 worldly power and spiritual claims of Rome. See notes on
 # Re 13:14-18
 The fifth bowl is poured "upon the throne of the beast,"
 # Re 16:10
 and his kingdom is darkened. After the sixth bowl, evil spirits
 come out of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. After
 the seventh, the great city, Babylon falls. These bowls,
 therefore, indicate a series of judgments upon the anti-
 Christian powers, variously styled the dragon, the beast, the
 image of the beast, the false prophet, and Babylon. As these
 have been found to symbolize the world power which found its
 embodiment in Rome, and the last two to point especially to the
 spiritual despotism of which the Papacy is the chief expression,
 we must expect the great fabric to be the chief sufferer from
 these judgments. As, under the seven seals, Old Pagan Rome was
 judged and brought to an end; as, under the seven trumpets, the
 Roman Empire under its new form is judged and its destruction
 symbolized; so, under the seven bowls, we have symbolized a
 series of judgments which weaken and destroy Papal Rome; and,
 with the seventh bowl, the Great City, the type of the Apostate
 Church, falls.

    There are historical events occurring within the last century
 which correspond so surprisingly with the symbolism that the
 interpreters regard them as the fulfilment. While not insisting
 that these are the events foreshadowed by John, and while
 admitting that the pouring out of the bowls may be future, I
 incline to the opinion that prophecy is being fulfilled in
 "these last days," and I will point out certain events
 corresponding to each bowl, which may be the things signified.
 (Johnson TPNT 478)
09765
                 FULFILMENT OF THE FIRST BOWL

    As the bowls of the wrath of God are a series of events
 leading to the destruction of this false power, we must look for
 the first of the bowls, not while it is at the zenith of its
 power. We have found that a number of distinct prophecies seem
 to point to the year 1793 as a period when its power will give
 signs of decay, and its hold upon the nations weaken; hence, we
 need not look for the first bowl before this. Let the reader
 note the nature of the plagues to be sent. It is described as a
 grievous ulcer, that afflicts those who have the mark of the
 beast. An ulcer is not only a painful and dangerous sore, but is
 often malignant and foul with corruption. The term is often used
 to describe moral corruption, and the ulcers described may be
 moral or spiritual.

    Can we find aught in history about the end of the 1260 years
 of Papal dominion that corresponds with the symbolism? For many
 centuries France was the stoutest and staunchest of the
 supporters of the Romish Church. It was Charlemagne, the emperor
 of France, who bestowed the temporal power upon the Popes. It
 was to Avignon in France that, at one time, the Papacy was
 transferred for seventy years. The ruler of France was long
 styled "the eldest son of the Church." It was France that had
 perpetrated the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the dragonnades of
 the Cevennes, and the banishment of the Huguenots. The French
 nation had the mark of the beast to at least as great an extent
 as any other nation. In 1793, exactly at the close of the period
 of 1260 years, there breaks out in France a fearful moral ulcer
 that had long been festering. The French Revolution, the
 uprising of enslaved masses who were maddened into fury, sent
 Catholic king, royal families, nobles, and priests to the
 guillotine by tens of thousands, impelled the nation in its
 madness to publicly declare itself atheistic, leavened it with
 scepticism, and broke the hold of Rome to such a degree that she
 can never more control France. The ulcer was awfully corrupt and
 deadly. At one time 200,000 citizens of all conditions and both
 sexes were in prison, and often in Paris alone, fourscore were
 sent to the scaffold in a day. As the result of breaking forth
 of this ulcer, the mightiest Catholic nation was convulsed with
 civil war, every Catholic country in Europe was deluged in
 blood, and the Papal power received a shock from which it can
 never recover. The first bowl, the breaking forth of grievous,
 painful, malignant ulcers, most fitly represents the breaking
 out of the French Revolution, its awful excesses, and
 irreparable injury done to the great spiritual despotism by the
 events of which it was the beginning and the cause.
 (Johnson TPNT 479)
09766
                 FULFILMENT OF THE SECOND BOWL

    Again we ask if, in this series of calamities, there is one
 that smites the Catholic powers from the seas? Under the second
 trumpet a great and burning mountain fell into the sea. The
 Vandal power swept the Mediterranean, destroyed the Roman navy
 and then laid siege to the old Imperial Rome. From the sea
 spiritual Rome, under the second bowl, is weakened. The
 symbolism is fulfilled in the mightiest naval strife ever known.
 In 1780 France and England, upon the ocean, were nearly equally
 matched. Among the shores of the struggling colonies of the
 United States sometimes the English, sometimes the French
 fleets, rode in triumph. At Yorktown, the superiority of the
 French at sea cooped Cornwallis in until Washington compelled
 his surrender. With 1793 begins another contest for the mastery
 of the seas. It continues after Napoleon sits on the imperial
 throne, and did not end for twenty years. France, again a
 Catholic power by Napoleon's concordant with the Pope, rallies
 under the imperial flag with herself, Catholic Spain, Portugal
 and Italy, in the struggle. Protestant England and Catholic
 Europe strive together upon the ocean. The old Catholic powers,
 those which in the past have been the vile instruments of Papal
 wrong, the nations whose kings have committed fornication with
 the great spiritual harlot, suffer the loss in this long and
 deadly struggle of six hundred ships of the Line, the largest
 war vessels that then went to sea, besides the thousands of
 ships of smaller size. At the close of the contest, the naval
 power of Catholic Europe had been swept from the ocean. Once the
 Pope had claimed the dominion of the seas, and had given away
 newly discovered islands and continents, but now that proud
 claim has gone forever.
 (Johnson TPNT 479-480)
09767
                  FULFILMENT OF THE THIRD BOWL

    This bowl will symbolize another event calamitous to Rome.
 The seat of the disasters is described as the rivers, and we may
 expect some historical events, connected in some way with
 rivers, that result in the injury of the Papacy. There are two
 marks given which help us to locate the seat where the plague of
 the third bowl is poured.
    (1) It must be a region of rivers and fountains of waters.
    (2) It has evidently been the scene of terrible persecutions
 of the people of God. When the judgment is inflicted the angel
 of the waters exclaimed, "Thou art righteous, O Lord," etc.
 # Re 16:5,6
 A land of persecution is to become the scene of calamities which
 are justly visited upon it for its sins.

    (1) The river system of northern Italy, we have seen, was
 indicated under the third trumpet. If the reader will look upon
 the map he will find it crowded with rivers. The streams rush
 down from the Alps and haste away to the sea. The river region
 of Italy has always been a battle ground where the fate of Italy
 has been decided. Here Attila the Hun, the "blazing Star," the
 wormwood of the rivers, laid Rome prostrate at his feet. See
 # Re 8:10,11
 This bowl seems to point to the same locality by the use of the
 same language.

    (2) But the locality marked must have been the scene of
 persecutions;
 # Re 16:6
 none more terrible, more bloody or more continued, have been
 known in the dark history of Rome. This very region was the home
 of the Albigenses. Against them the Papacy had hurled its
 fanatical legions from generation to generation. The blood of
 the Protestants of the Alps had for centuries dyed the rocks and
 streams with crimson.

    (3) In the year 1796, a general, aged 27, led a French army
 across the Alps. On the river systems of Italy, on the Rhone,
 the Po and its tributaries, he battled with the Austrians and
 their allies. It is remarkable that every one of his great
 conflicts were fought upon the rivers. The battle of Lodi was
 fought on the Adda, Arcola on the Adige, Marengo on the Bromida.
 I will briefly give the results of the struggle. In 1796
 Bonaparte entered Italy. The next year his armies took the city
 of Rome and proclaimed an Italian Republic. Previously an
 armistice had been granted, for which the Pope paid 21,000,000
 francs and gave up a hundred masterpieces of art to be carried
 to Paris. In 1798 Pope Pius VI was carried as a prisoner into
 France to die. His successor was not elected in Rome, which was
 still in the hands of the spoiler, but in Venice. Other results
 that follow from this invasion will be given under the fourth
 bowl. Ah! how triumphantly the long persecuted Waldenses, as
 they saw the Pope carried a prisoner into exile, must have
 joined in the voice from behind the altar: "Even so, Lord God
 Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments!"
 # Re 16:7
 (Johnson TPNT 480-481)
09768
                 FULFILMENT OF THE FOURTH BOWL

    It is evident that the ruler, symbolized by the sun, shall be
 the means of inflicting great suffering upon men. As we have
 found that these calamities are directed against the Papacy, it
 would flow that the sufferers are those who have received the
 mark of the beast. Though these adherents of Rome are in great
 anguish from the calamities that befall them, still they do not
 repent of their crimes. Like ancient Egypt under the plagues,
 Rome will still persist in her wicked deeds, still refuse to
 liberate the people from her spiritual slavery.

    In 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte became the ruler of France, and
 soon became the virtual ruler of all Papal Europe. Spain,
 Belgium, Holland, Italy, and Austria were at his feet and either
 ruler by his satraps or at his dictation. No such scorching sun
 had arisen in the political horizon for more than a thousand
 years, and I do not know that the world has ever seen so great a
 scourge of man. From 1796 to 1815 he was engaged in war without
 a moment's cessation. He converted Europe into a great camp and
 every nation was blackened and torn with wars. In his wars it is
 estimated that 2,000,000 men perished by the sword, and none can
 tell of the want and misery and despair that brooded over the
 bleeding and desolated lands that were tracked by his armies.
 This scorching sun, which parched, burnt and entered Italy; in
 1797 his armies entered the Papal dominions, and a peace was
 made by which the Pope died in captivity. The next Pope was
 elected in 1799, not in Rome, which was held by French soldiers,
 but in Venice. In 1800 he was permitted to return to his
 desolated capital as the dependent of France. In 1804, Napoleon
 Bonaparte determined to have placed upon his head the old
 imperial crown as emperor of the Romans, and the Pope was
 compelled to journey by land to Paris in order to gratify his
 master by serving in the ceremonial. Four years later Pius VII
 was dragged from his palace, as his predecessor had been, and
 sent a prisoner into France. His states of the Church were
 confiscated. The grant made by Charlemagne nearly 1200 years
 before was resumed, and, until the fall of Napoleon, the Pope
 was without temporal possessions.

    Napoleon had broken the spell of Rome. He taught the world
 that the power of the Popes might be successfully dared; a
 noteworthy service to the human race. The Pope, from that time,
 ceased to be a powerful factor in the control of nations. But,
 notwithstanding these scourgings, the Papacy has not abated its
 exorbitant and blasphemous pretensions. They repented not to
 give God glory.
 (Johnson TPNT 481)
09769
                 FULFILMENT OF THE FIFTH BOWL

    There are few students of the Bible, whether Catholic or
 Protestant, who deny that Italy and Rome are the throne of the
 great world power of which the seven-headed beast is the symbol.
 Then, the scene of the calamities of the fifth bowl will be
 Italy and Rome. That has been the seat of the beast so 1300
 years. In the very seat of his power the beat shall receive a
 blow that will fill his kingdom with darkness, and those who
 worship him with anguish. Something shall occur that will cause
 great dismay and anguish to the Roman priesthood and devotees.
 Have any changes occurred in Italy and Rome which have caused
 them to gnaw their tongues in pain?

    In the year 1848 the people of Rome arose in rebellion to the
 Papal authority and drove Pius IX into exile. A few months later
 he was restored by a French army. Nor did he dare remain when
 restored, save under the protection of French bayonets. With a
 French garrison he continued to rule his circumscribed territory
 until 1870. In that year France was compelled to withdraw her
 soldiers to defend her soil from German invasion. That was the
 opportunity of Italy. The Papal army was scattered by the
 soldiers of Victor Emmanuel; the Pope shut himself in the
 Vatican, and Rome became the capital of new Italy. The temporal
 power of the Pope is gone forever. The Italian government has
 seized upon the overgrown possessions of the church. The lands
 it claimed have been confiscated, monasteries and convents have
 been closed, and universal religious toleration declared.
 Protestant churches and schools are founded in Rome itself, and
 statues have been erected under the shadow of the Vatican to
 martyrs whom the Papacy had slain. It is said they "blasphemed
 the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and
 repented not."
 # Re 16:11
 What better illustration of this than the Pope has been declared
 infallible!

    That the reader may see that there is beyond doubt something
 in the symbolism which points to such a fulfilment as has been
 suggested above I will quote an old work cited by Albert Barnes,
 written by Robert Flemming and published in 1701, nearly two
 hundred years ago. It is called the "Apocalyptic Key," and
 contains the following on the fifth bowl: "The fifth bowl which
 is to be poured out on the seat of the beast, or the dominions
 which belong more immediately to, and depend upon, the Roman
 See; that I say this judgment will begin about AD 1794, and
 expire about AD 1848." As a matter of fact Bonaparte invaded
 Italy in 1796, and in 1848 the Pope was driven from Rome. Since
 that date, though returned and protected by the French until
 1870, his temporal power has been at an end.
 (Johnson TPNT 481-482)
09770
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