The Moral Purpose of Prophecy

[Berean]

 

 

 
<h2>THE MORAL PURPOSE OF THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL </h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2>CHAPTER 12</h2>
 

Prophecies were not written merely as milestones to the kingdom of God. While the church may find joy in measuring the distance still to travel on the highway of time, by noting how many milestones have been passed and how many more there are yet to pass before the coming of Christ, it should be emphasized that this is not their greatest purpose. The prophecy of Daniel, chapter two, was given to teach that the rise and fall of empires is not due to the fluctuating fortunes of monarchs and dictators, but to the overruling providence of God (Dan. 2:20-22); that nations are overthrown when they oppose and hinder God’s moral purpose in the earth; that because men are selfish they cannot build a lasting empire; that God will establish a kingdom made up of people who have learned to obey the will of God. In Matt. 21:44 Jesus applies this prophecy in connection with the individual who either accepts or rejects the gospel. Our Lord does not employ this prophecy to declare that the fourth of the kingdoms (represented by the legs of iron) had come, therefore the end must be drawing near, but He did apply the setting up of the kingdom of stone – His own everlasting kingdom – in relation to the present and applied it to the moral choice of the individual.

Daniel, chapter three, shows the conflict between the kingdoms of God and of Satan. The king of Babylon, under Satan’s leadership (see Isa. 14:4, 12), sought to frustrate the fulfillment of the prophecy given by Daniel recorded in the previous chapter. In his efforts he endeavored to compel the Hebrews to break God’s moral Law. The book of Revelation applies this moral conflict between the law of the king of Babylon and the Law of God in connection with the present and in connection with the individual. The people in literal Babylon were to “worship the golden image” that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had set up. This fact is stated six times – Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 18. In the Revelation, God’s warning against worshipping the beast and his “image” is mentioned six times Rev. 13:15; 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4. “If any man worship the beast and his image.”

God’s care over His loyal children is illustrated by the fact that He “delivered His servants that trusted in Him” (Dan. 3:28). Daniel, chapter six, reveals the plottings of men and demons to turn people from their allegiance to the Law of God, and the testing and the triumph through God’s power of those who remain loyal to Him. Again, the emphasis is placed upon the deliverance of those who serve God “continually.” (See Dan. 6:14, 16,20-27.) The deliverance mentioned in Dan. 12:1 is not unrelated to the other deliverances mentioned earlier in the book of Daniel; but, rather, the previous deliverances illustrate the deliverance mentioned in Dan. 12:1. The purpose for which the last, long prophecy of Daniel was written was not to point to a supposed gathering of nations to Palestine for an “Armageddon” which has nothing to do with God’s moral purpose (a war between nations has no moral significance for the Christian’s own experience). Actually this prophecy says absolutely nothing regarding a supposed conflict of nations in Palestine; it says nothing concerning a military “Armageddon,” but it does point to the deliverance from death at the hands of spiritual Babylon of those who have obeyed the Law of God.

The time of trouble mentioned in Dan. 12:1 occurs at the time of the outpouring of the seven last plagues of Rev. 16. When Jesus (“Michael”) stands up He ceases to mediate on man’s behalf; no longer will His intercession hold back the winds of strife and world-wide commotion and trouble. To-day Jesus intercedes on behalf of those who are seeking Divine aid in the development of character. This prophecy warns of the time when Jesus’ intercessory work will cease. It is to this great decisive event that Dan. 12:1 points us. The eternal destiny of all the human family will then have been decided. Surely this is a most solemn moral reason for giving this prophecy. When Jesus completes His heavenly ministry the seven last plagues of Rev. 16 fall upon those who have rejected Christ’s last-day Message; they fall upon people because they have worshipped the beast and his image (Rev 16:2), and because they have planned the death of God’s people (v.5, 6, etc.). They fall upon “the seat of the beast and his kingdom” (v. 10); they fall upon “Babylon” (v. 19). To interpret the sixth plague in connection with purely military matters is distinctly out of harmony with God’s clearly-stated moral purpose for sending the plagues. The plagues are poured upon the devotees of a false system of worship; upon those who worship the beast and his image; upon those who, by following that false system of worship, are found living in disobedience to the Holy Law of God. The plagues are definitely said to be Babylon’s plagues. (See Rev. 16:19; 18:4, 8, 10, etc.)

In the first chapter of Daniel we see demonstrated the fact that eating good food is important in the life of the Christian. Clean, wholesome foods affect clean living and clear thinking. The Christian needs all the mental and spiritual strength he can muster in the great battle of life. In Daniel, chapter one, God shows the moral connection between food and religion; He indicates that the deep prophecies of Daniel will be better understood when care is observed in eating the best available foods.

In the other chapters of Daniel (which in this brief outline we have not directly discussed), their moral purpose is surely patent to all who have adequately studied them. In chapter four, pride is humbled. Chapter five teaches nations and individuals that there is a limit to sin and blasphemy beyond which they are not permitted to pass. The close of spiritual Babylon’s probation to which we are directed in Dan. 12:1, is illustrated by the close of literal Babylon’s probation mentioned in Daniel, chapter 5. The downfall of literal Babylon by armies from the east (Isa. 41:2; 46:11) occurred after their probation had closed (Dan. 5:27-30), just as the downfall of spiritual Babylon by armies from heaven appearing in the eastern skies (Rev. 16:12; 19:11-20) will occur after their probation has closed (Rev. 15:6-8; 18:4-8).

In the seventh chapter of Daniel we trace the onward course of the controversy between Christ and Satan from literal Babylon, the center of Satan’s kingdom, down to spiritual Babylon, which is now the center of Satan’s kingdom. Satan’s kingdom succeeds in persuading people that the Law of God has been changed (Dan. 7:25), but the Judgment sits (Dan. 7:9-18) and Christ’s kingdom will be eventually established and peopled by those who remain loyal to the moral law. (Dan. 7:14, 22, 26, 27.)

In chapters eight and nine the moral purpose of prophecy is conspicuously manifest. The emphasis is upon God’s true system of worship and Satan’s counterfeit system of worship. Verses 23-25 of chapter eight depict the work of both pagan and papal Rome; pagan Rome’s depredations were against the literal Jews; papal Rome’s depredations were against the spiritual Jews. Once again papal Rome, which is the center of Satan’s kingdom – spiritual Babylon of the book of Revelation – is connected up with ancient Babylon. The 2,300 days of Dan. 8:14, and the 70 weeks (of this time period) which were cut off upon the literal nation of Israel (Dan. 9:24) were to commence with the decree enabling the Jews to return to Palestine from their Babylonian captivity. The Babylonians had destroyed their temple and their beloved city, Jerusalem (2 Chron. 36:19; Dan. 9:16-19), and the providences of God enabled them to go out of Babylon and return to rebuild and restore the temple and Jerusalem and their national life. (Dan. 9:25.) Subtracting the 70 weeks or 490 years, allotted to the Jews as their probationary period, from the 2,300 days or years, leaves 1810 years. Many expositors have seen that this long prophecy terminates in or about 1844. But how do they apply this prophecy and in what connection? They apply it in connection with the return of the literal Jews to Palestine, and their eventual national rehabilitation. In this way they lose sight of the moral purpose of prophecy in connection with the present spiritual kingdom of our Lord. The coming out of Babylon by the ancient people of God is applied in Rev. 18:4 in connection with the moral choice of people who heed the call of Christ to serve Him and to leave spiritual Babylon, the place of false worship. In the New Testament, the “temple” is applied in connection with the moral condition of a group of people (the church) or of each individual. Thus the national application of events to transpire at the terminal of the 2,300 days’ prophecy forsakes the moral application employed in the New Testament. Today, God’s people are coming out of spiritual Babylon and are returning to spiritual Jerusalem, and are repairing the breaches in the wall of the city of our God, and the temple service of true worship is being rebuilt.

 

[Berean]

MORAL PURPOSE OF PROPHECY

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHRISTIAN REALITIES REVEALED IN THE PROPHETIC PICTURES OF THE APOCALYPSE

The Christian life is very real, and God desires to help His children grasp its realities. Rightly understood, the Apocalypse provides prophetic pictures which enable the Christian to visualize the actualities of the spiritual conflict. One writer has stated: “Could our spiritual vision be quickened, we should see souls bowed under oppression and burdened with grief. We should see angels flying quickly to the aid of these tempted ones, forcing back the hosts of evil that encompass them, and placing their feet on a firm foundation. The battles waging between the two armies are as real as those fought by the armies of this world, and on the issue of the spiritual conflict eternal destinies depend.” (“Prophets and Kings,” p.176.)

The more the Christian remembers that this conflict is constantly being waged, the more he realizes what is transpiring around him and in connection with his own salvation, the more alert, watchful and prepared will he be. Satan ever seeks to make the realities appear unreal or far-removed. The unseen and eternal become vague and shadowy. The urgency and the necessity for watchfulness are dulled by a multitude of worldly things – things which seem so very real, but after all are not the real things. Paul declared: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

Christians have to fight against the ever-present tendency to relegate spiritual realities to the background and to permit the temporal things of this world to hide the eternal, unseen things. To help the Christian fasten clear pictures upon his mind and to draw from them strength and comfort, God caused the prophets to employ arresting, colorful imagery in their prophetic descriptions. Educationalists rightly stress the value of “visual education.” Because God has endowed the mind with the ability to make pictures – to visualize what we read or hear – He has so inspired the writing of His Holy Word that it forms a long gallery of word pictures – “likenesses,” “similitudes,” “imagery.”

The historical incidents recorded in the Old Testament provide us with word pictures by which God teaches us spiritual truths. In them we are to see things world-wide in scope: corresponding likenesses in the spiritual realm, which are “spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). The New Testament, and particularly the Revelation, reveals the principle of “spiritually” discerning “spiritual things” in the historical narratives of the Old Testament. The natural eye does not see these “spiritual things,” and often interprets literally that which should be “spiritually discerned.” (See 1 Cor. 2:6-16.)

In the Old Testament, seven golden candlesticks provided the only light in the Jewish sanctuary; in the first chapter of Revelation those seven candlesticks represent the experience of the Christian church throughout the Christian era. (Rev. 1:20.) Like its divine Author, the church is “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14; John 9:5). The picture provided of a world in darkness only lit by the church should act as a stimulant to provoke zeal in letting the light of the Saviour shine forth in all its splendor. In a previous publication, the writer has shown that the Revelation, throughout, employs the principle that the things of the Old Testament provide imagery in depicting world-wide things in connection with our Lord and His church – and their enemies.

The Revelation is rich in word pictures, and sometimes errors are conceived and advocated by those who interpret literally all the details of these graphic descriptions, instead of symbolically as they should be interpreted. We cite but a few examples.

The doctrines of eternal torment and a red devil with a tail, etc., have their basis in taking with rigid literality figures of speech and symbols. (See Rev. 12:3, 4; Isa. 14:9-20:Ezek. 32:18-32; Luke 16:19-31, etc.)

The emblems of our Lord’s broken body and His shed blood- the bread and the wine used in the Lord’s Supper – are spiritual symbols By taking literally Christ’s statement: “This is My body . . . this is My blood,” Roman Catholics have been led into the error of transubstantiation. Protestants repudiate the idolatry of the Mass by interpreting Christ’s statement symbolically, and not literally. Error is often the literal interpretation of that which God intended to be applied spiritually.

The four celestial beings of Rev. 7:1-3 are not literally stationed in the four quarters of the earth, for the purpose of checking and restraining literal winds that blow from the four points of the compass. It is a symbolical representation of the Lord’s control, through His angelic ministers, of world affairs so that they do not prevent the completion of His work on earth.

“Ascending from the east” (v. 2): a message comes from Christ as the sun comes forth with increasing splendor until the meridian glory is reached. (See Rev. 18:1.) Thus light is to increase until the end. The prophetic picture concerning the coming of the angel from the east, four angels holding the four winds, and the sealing of the tribes of Israel, is not to be taken literally, but as a symbolical representation of the completion of the work of Christ on earth. A well-known writer has stated:-

” ‘The four corners of the earth,’ and the ‘four winds of the earth, are evidently phrases which are meant to convey the idea of the world-wide extent of the conditions which the Revelator is describing. The seal of the living God, and the white robes, and the twelve tribes are also symbols, for no one would suppose that a literal seal was to be actually stamped upon the foreheads of God’s servants; nor that the saints literally washed their robes in the blood of Christ, nor that the sealing work was confined to the twelve literal tribes of Israel, of whom all means of identification have been lost for many centuries. . . . Much of the real meaning of such passages of Scripture as Rev. 7 is lost when an attempt is made to deal with them literally. Beautiful truths are revealed in these symbolic passages, once we can define the symbolism which is used.” (“The World’s Finale,” pp.69-72, by A. W. Anderson.) (Emphasis mine.)

In order to enable His children to grasp the grandeur of spiritual truths that will strengthen and encourage, that will arrest attention and powerfully impress, God inspired His prophets to paint prophetic pictures that will make what He seeks to impart stand out as though literally happening before our eyes. It would help readers of the Apocalypse to obtain a correct understanding of the moral purpose of the Apocalypse if it were remembered that the church is pictured as if it were Israel dwelling in Canaan and re-living the experiences of ancient Israel. As the Christian life is powerfully illustrated by the typical experiences of literal Israel (1. Cor. 10:1-11, margin, etc.), so experiences befalling the Christian church and described in the prophecies of the Apocalypse are also depicted as if the church as Israel still dwells in the Holy Land. Many commentators have drawn attention to this fact A “Commentary on the New Testament,” published by the “Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,” says on its notes dealing with the battle of Armageddon: “We must remember that throughout this Book Canaan represents the locality of the church of God. The quarter from which enemies gathered against the earthly Canaan was the North. Then from the banks of the Euphrates came the Assyrian . . . the Chaldean, the destroyer of Jerusalem. . . . We are not to think here of any great battle to be fought on this actual spot [Megiddo]. This were to forget what is ever to be borne in mind, that throughout this Book, Jerusalem, Sion, the Holy Land and various localities in it are symbols of the Christian church, its sanctuary, or its enemies…. The battle is a figure, as naturally employed, as the words by which we describe the prevalence of good over evil, in which it is almost impossible not to use expressions borrowed from the battlefield – struggle, defeat, triumph, victory, and the like. The Visions of the Apocalypse are to the eye what metaphorical words are to the ears – symbols, ideal, not real, pictures of what is to come to pass.”

Anciently Israel was referred to as “a people near unto Him” (Ps. 148:14). The sanctuary and, later, the temple, the dwelling place of God, was located in the midst of Israel. Israel encamped about and near to the sanctuary, while the gentile world was far-removed; a people “afar off.” This physical fact is employed by Paul to picture a spiritual truth. Writing of believers now being the Israel of God and those not “in Christ” as the “Gentiles,” Paul says to those who had previously been classified as “Gentiles”: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh. . . . That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. . . . But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. . . . And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” (Ephes. 2:11-22). Thus Paul pictures the church now made up of Jews and Gentiles as if it were Israel living “near” to God in Jerusalem, while unbelievers are pictured as “Gentiles” “afar off.” Jesus, the Revelator (see Rev. 22:16), represents the church as if it were “with Him” “on the mount Sion” (Rev. 14:1). In Rev. 11:1, 2 the church is pictured as if it were “the temple” and “the holy city.” In Rev. 14:20 the destruction of the wicked is symbolized as grapes being trodden in a wine-press “without the city.” The city, of course (until after the 1,000 years), referring here to the church of God. The 1,600 furlongs or 200 miles refers to the circuit of the Holy Oblation where, in his symbolic vision of the church, Ezekiel pictures a mighty temple and city on the “very high mountain” “in the land of Israel.” John applies this vision concerning the city, temple and Holy Oblation in “the land of Israel” in a world- wide sense.

In his “Notes on the Book of Revelation,” the Rev. A. Barnes says on the phrase “And the winepress was trodden without the city”: “The representation was made as if it were outside of the city; that is, the city of Jerusalem, for that is represented as the abode of the holy. . . . The winepress was usually in the vineyard – not in a city – and this is the representation here. As appearing to the eye of John, it was not within the walls of any city, but standing without. And blood came out of the winepress. The representation is, that there would be a great destruction which would be well represented by the juice flowing from a winepress. Even unto the horse-bridles. Deep – as blood would be in a field of slaughter where it would come up to the very bridles of the horses. The idea is, that there would be a great slaughter. . . . The enemies of the church would be completely and finally overthrown, and that the church, therefore, delivered from all its enemies, would be triumphant.”

These graphic portrayals were designed to cheer the hearts of the faithful and to console them in their trials and persecutions. Satan, seeking to divert the eyes of saints from the assurance these verses contain for them that their foes would be overthrown, causes erroneous ideas to be promulgated that these verses have reference to a literal, military conflict in Palestine outside of the city of Jerusalem; that the 200 miles refers to the length of Palestine, etc.

As the enemies of God and of His church are not literal bunches of grapes (see Rev. 14:17-20), their gathering is not a literal gathering. God commands the angels: “Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth … and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city.” Those who are slaughtered in the destruction of Armageddon are said to perish “without the city” – the spiritual Zion, the spiritual Jerusalem. “For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance” (Joel 2:32). Thus “deliverance” is assured those who, heeding the call of Christ, “come out” of spiritual Babylon and enter into the spiritual city of Jerusalem.

The church is represented as being on Mount Zion “with” the Lord Jesus. (Rev. 14:1.) By a spiritual union they are just as much “with Him” (Rev. 17:14) as if they were there literally. When the kings of the earth – the governments of earth – “make war with the Lamb” His church is said to be “with Him.” (See Rev. 17:12-14; 16:14-16; 19:19, 20.) Thus the gathering of the nations to “make war against the Lamb” and His church is not a literal gathering to Mount Zion in the literal city of Jerusalem, but a uniting of the elements of Satan’s kingdom into concerted action against the Lord’s church, just as if there were two armies involved: one in Jerusalem, and the other gathered outside in “the valley of Jehoshaphat” – the valley of “God’s Judgment.” The gathering of the ripened grapes for the winepress outside the city of Jerusalem and Mount Zion and the gathering of all nations and people to fight against Christ and His church are both symbolic representations of the same events. The world’s harvest which is mentioned in Rev. 14:14-20 is pictured as growing in “the valley of Jehoshaphat.” Compare Joel 3:13 with Matt. 13:38-40, also Joel 3:13 with Rev. 14:14-20. By comparing Joel 3:2, 11, 12, with Matt. 25:31-33, we see that Jesus applies “the valley of Jehoshaphat” and the gathering of all the nations into it, as the symbol of the world-wide judgment of “all nations” at the time of His second advent. The literal application of these verses as a gathering of nations to war against each other hides the grandeur and the solemnity of the symbolic imagery portraying a moving, impressive picture representing the great Judgment day when all people – the sheep and the goats – will be judged and eternally separated.

Attempts to apply literally dramatic symbolical representations spoil the picture the inspired word-artist has painted and create absurdities, which not only hide the truth portrayed by the symbol, but which at times lead to superstition and error. As an example we cite Rev. 17:14:”These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them..” One earnestly writing in defense of the teaching that Armageddon pertains to nations in Palestine, after quoting Rev. 17:14, says: “Now it seems that when Jesus comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, the ten kingdoms will be in a position to oppose His cause.” Another verse which is quoted in support of the belief that the nations are gathered by Satan to Palestine, and that at the second coming of Christ these nations make war against the Lord, is Rev. 19:19:”I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.”

What consummate folly to imagine an earthly army literally attacking the Almighty Son of God and the hosts of heaven at the second advent! The second advent will be the occasion of a greater display of Omnipotent power than is humanly conceivable. The brightness of Christ’s coming destroys the wicked. (2 Thess. 2:8, etc.) When the heavens open, as stated in Rev. 19:11, instead of the beast and the armies of earth (Rev. 19:19, 20) literally making war against the King of kings and His heavenly army, they flee in terror from the glory of the Lord, calling upon the mountains to hide them “from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” (See Rev. 6:14-17.) It will be noted that in these verses the Revelator, as in Rev. 19:11-19, describes the same great day of the Lord, the same opening of the heavens, the same “kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man.” Therefore it is obvious that the gathering together of “the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies” “to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army” cannot possibly refer to a literal gathering of nations to Megiddo to literally fight against the Lord at His second advent, for “all men” – “every bondman and every free man” – will not be literally at Megiddo. Understood symbolically, we see that the unsaved of the whole world are represented as if they all served as divisions under the banner of Satan. The Revelator distinctly states that in this great army which he symbolically describes as being “gathered together” are “all men, both free and bond, both small and great.” (Rev. 19:17, 18.) When the Lord, at His second advent, destroys “all” the unregenerate, though symbolically portrayed as armies gathered together and slain together, yet literally they are slain by the Lord in all the world. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth” (Jer. 25:33). Thus the gathering together of “all the fowls that fly” to eat the flesh of “all men” (Rev. 19:17, 18) could not be a literal gathering together of the birds to the literal land of Israel, for “all men” will be destroyed by the Lord “from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth.” John obtains this imagery of the ignominy and the completeness of the destruction of the enemies of God from the prophecy concerning Gog and his army. (See Ezek. 39:4, 17-20.) This shows that Ezekiel’s prophecy (chaps. 38, 39) must be understood as a symbolical presentation of the world-wide spiritual conflict, which ends in the final destruction of those who serve under the banner of Satan. In Rev. 20:8, 9, we have the Lord’s interpretation of the prophecy of Ezekiel concerning the multitudes in the army of Gog – they are the multitudes deceived by Satan: the enemies of our Lord.

In Ps. 45:3-7 the Lord’s spiritual conflict is presented symbolically. In Heb. 1:8, 9 these verses are applied to our Lord. The same symbolic description is employed in Rev. 19:11-14 to depict the Lord’s return to complete His warfare against evil by destroying those who just previously endeavored to persecute and destroy the people of God. The Revelator’s description of Jesus coming with “the armies” of heaven to make “war” against the beast and the armies of earth is obviously intended to be understood symbolically. Will Jesus literally ride “a white horse” down the skies? (Rev. 19:11.) The Revelator had previously pictured Him at His second advent sitting on a cloud, with a sickle in His hand. (See Rev. 14:14-16.) Will all the multiplied millions of angels literally “ride upon white horses”? (Rev. 19:14.) Will a literal “sharp sword” come “out of His mouth”? (V. 15.) Our Lord’s “sharp sword” is His word. (See Heb. 4:12; Ephes. 6:17, etc.) Will He come literally “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood”? Will He then literally tread “the winepress”? (Rev. 19:13, 15.) Will an angel literally invite “all the fowls that fly” to come “unto the supper of the great God” and “eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men”? (Rev. 19:17, 18.) “The beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies” will not be literally “gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.” (Rev. 19:19.) Our Lord Jesus, the Revelator (Rev. 22:16), symbolically portrays the world-wide spiritual conflict. Any attempt to literalize this symbolic presentation hides the moral purpose which it was designed to portray.

A widely-read Christian writer, stressing the necessity of observing the symbolic character of the Apocalypse, says:-

“This book [Revelation] demands close, prayerful study, lest it be interpreted according to the ideas of men, and false construction be given to the sacred word of the Lord, which in its symbols and figures means so much to us. . . . In the Revelation the deep things of God are portrayed.”

In accordance with the principle enunciated, this same author has often symbolically applied, in connection with the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the same passages of Scripture which we have been considering. Graphically depicting the conflict between the forces of good and evil, in harmony with what we have shown is the correct interpretation of the symbolic “war” passages presented in the Apocalypse, this popular author says :-

“I saw two armies in terrible conflict. One army was led by banners bearing the world’s insignia; the other was led by the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel . . . company I after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe, and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God. . . . The battle raged. Victory alternated from side to side. . . . The Captain of our salvation was ordering the battle, and sending support to His soldiers. His power was mightily displayed. . . . He led them on step by step, conquering and to conquer.

“At last the victory was gained. The army following the banner with the inscription, ‘The commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ (Rev. 14:12), was gloriously triumphant. Now the church is militant. . . . But the day is coming in which the battle will have been fought, the victory won. But the church must and will fight against seen and unseen foes. . . . Men have confederated to oppose the Lord of hosts. These confederacies will continue until Christ shall . . . put on the garments of vengeance.” (Vol.8, pp.41, 42.)

Those who “come out” of Babylon (Rev. 18:4) and are gathered to be “with” Christ “on the mount Zion” have “the seal of God in their foreheads.” (See Rev. 7:1-4; 14:1.) Those who are gathered together to “make war with the Lamb and they that are with Him” (Rev. 17:14; 19:19) have “the mark of the beast” in their foreheads or in their hands. (See Rev. 13:16, 17; 14:9-11; 19:20.) So vital it is for those living in this great hour of destiny to clearly understand the issues at stake, so important are the truths the Lord presents in the Apocalypse, that He throws living, symbolic pictures on the screen of prophecy to arrest and grip the attention. By interpreting these pictures literally in reference to Palestine (they are given in a Palestinian setting, for the church is represented as if it were with Christ on mount Zion, etc.), Satan causes Christ’s important Apocalyptic messages to lose their meaning and their vitality.

 

[Berean]

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“CHRIST IN YOU” – THE ASSURANCE OF VICTORY

There is no more necessary and no more comforting truth taught in Scripture than that our Lord Jesus Christ reigns in the heart of every believer. The frequency with which this sublime fact is stated in the New Testament should surely impress us with its great importance. The apostle Paul, whose extensive knowledge of the Old Testament and whose special tuition under the divine Teacher (see Gal. 1:12; Ephes. 3:3, etc.) gave him a crystal – clear interpretation of the prophecies concerning the Lord reigning in the midst of His people “Israel,” triumphantly taught that the Lord Jesus reigns in the heart of each believer, as well as in the body of the church. He stated that he was especially endowed with wisdom “fully to preach the Word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ I in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:25-27, margin).

The prophecies of the Old Testament declare that God – “the Holy One of Israel” – reigns “in Zion,” and that by His Presence and power the enemies of Israel will be defeated and Israel triumph gloriously over them. See Ps. 2:1-9; Joel 2:1, 15,32; 3:16, 17,21; Obad. 17; Micah 4:2,7; Ezek. 39:7, etc. Isaiah declared: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall put him to flight. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord” (Isa. 59:19, 20). Notice Paul’s inspired application of this verse in connection with the “Gentiles” – “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” (Ephes:2:12) – who, by their acceptance of Christ as Lord, then become members of “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), being “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephes:2:19). Paul taught that the true Israel of God will be made up of sin-freed Jews and Gentiles: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sin” (Rom. 11:26, 27). Under the provisions of the New Covenant, God has promised to “subdue our iniquities” (Micah 7 19), to “take away our bent to sinning.” Because God will not force the will, we must cooperate with Him by yielding our hearts to Him in a daily surrender. Thus, day by day, the Lord writes His Holy Law upon our hearts, as He has so graciously promised to do. (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12.) We learn to say with the Psalmist: “O how love I thy Law! it is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97). “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11). “And He [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). “I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31). “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body… yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:10, 16).

The greatest problem in the world is, and has been since the inception of sin, that of personal, daily victory over sin. A hymn-writer has expressed man’s great need:

“And none, 0 Lord, have perfect rest,
For none are wholly free from sin;
And they who fain would serve Thee best,
Are conscious most of wrong within.”

Christianity is more than the good news that God forgives sin; it also proclaims that God promises power, daily, to over- come sin. Another hymn-writer has expressed the desire of the sincere heart for this “double” or “perfect cure”: “Be of sin the perfect cure, Save me from its guilt and power.”

Sin can be overcome only by Christ dwelling in the heart. This is the grand theme upon which the Apostle Paul frequently dwells. In his “much more” chapter (Romans 5) he declares with glowing eloquence: “Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life… much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ . . . But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:9-21). Sin brought man to a state of bondage from which he can never extricate himself. Being born with a sinful nature it is impossible for man to cease from sinning. (Jer. 13:23; 17:9, etc.) But a life free from sin is assured all those who permit Jesus to reign upon the throne of the heart. Sin, as a powerful tyrant, reigns upon the heart and will drag man down to eternal destruction, but Jesus will save from sin all those who put their trust in Him. Sin is powerful, but “much more” strength is given the believer to reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” “Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” lived out in the heart. With Christ living and reigning upon the heart, victory over sin is assured. In chapter six of Romans, Paul continues to emphasize this essential teaching of freedom from sin through the indwelling Christ. Instead of sin reigning in the heart (Rom. 6:12), the believer has Christ reigning in the heart and giving him freedom from the power of sin (see vs. 11, 12- 22). After describing the battle against evil and the sincere soul’s quest for holiness (Rom. 7), Paul then presents the secret of sanctification – the indwelling Spirit of Christ. He says: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death . . . if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you . . . And if Christ be in you . . . the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:2-11). Victory over sin is assured through the indwelling, living, pulsating power of the Spirit of Christ, Who enlivens the mortal body and gives power to resist evil. Having shown that believing Jews and Gentiles alike partake of these privileges, Paul then applies, in connection with a Christian’s victory over sin, Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of the Redeemer to Zion, the turning “from transgression in Jacob,” and the putting of the enemy to flight.

Old Testament prophecies concerning the Lord reigning in Zion, and the victory of His people, are not to be understood as being separate from the story of salvation from sin, for salvation from sin is the moral purpose for which they were written. This interpretation of Old Testament prophecies was no doubt under- stood by some devout Israelites in ancient times, but from the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit made this abundantly clear. Paul, in particular, was given special revelations to make these things clear to the Gentiles and to the “saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you. the hope of glory” (Col. 1:25-27).

In his “Greek Dictionary of the New Testament,” Dr. Strong says concerning “Sion”: “Figuratively, the Church (militant or triumphant).” Significant derivatives of the Hebrew for “Zion” are given as: “to glitter from afar, i.e., to be eminent; also to be permanent… strength, victory.” Each believer in Christ may know from personal experience the present glorious fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Lord reigning “in Zion,” for from the Lord Jesus reigning upon the heart will come “strength” to live a life of “victory.”

Victory over sin through the power of an indwelling Christ is “the hope of glory.” “The Spirit of truth… He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you… and I in you… and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” (John 14:17-23). “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” (1 Cor. 6:19). “God is in you” (1 Cor. 14:25). “Jesus Christ is in you” (2 Cor. 13:5). “Ye are of God . . . and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephes. 3:16, 17). “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20).

In the words of the hymn “Live Out Thy Life Within Me,” Frances R. Havergal has beautifully expressed the secret of personal victory over sin:

“Live out Thy life within me,
O Jesus King of kings!
Be Thou Thyself the answer
To all my questionings;
Live out Thy life within me,
In all things have Thy way!
I, the transparent medium
Thy glory to display.
“The temple has been yielded,
And purified of sin;
Let Thy Shekinah glory
Now shine forth from within.”

In another hymn she wrote:

“Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne.”

In Heb. 12:22 we read: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.” Sion is a heavenly mountain whose very name signifies sunny, and is the city of the living God. The expressions mount Sion” and “the heavenly Jerusalem” not only refer to the future glorious capital of the Messiah’s eternal kingdom in the earth made new (Rev. 21 and 22), but they refer to the present dwelling-place and throne of the Lord Jesus in His church and in each believer. Those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour enter “the heavenly Jerusalem,” and so long as they are loyal to the Commandments of God (Rev. 22:14) they are safe and secure as if in a mighty fortress. This expressive imagery is often presented in the Scriptures. Isaiah says: “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee” (Isa. 26:1-3). In these inspired words, the gospel prophet assures us that the gates into this “strong city” are thrown open to all those who keep the truth, and that those who picture themselves (see margin, v.3) as being kept safely within God’s appointed “walls and bulwarks” of “salvation” will be kept in “perfect peace.” Again we read from Isaiah’s pen: “Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.. . the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (Isa. 60:18-20). The Psalmist says: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise Thee: for Thou art become my salvation” (Ps. 118:19-21). “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov. 18:10). “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my Deliverer… He is my shield. my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour; Thou savest me from violence . . . He is the tower of salvation” (2 Sam. 22:3,51). See also Ps. 18:2; 144:2, etc.

This picture of an individual or of the church dwelling securely within the mighty walls of an impregnable fortress is carried over into the encouraging imagery of the book of Revelation, where the great struggle between the forces of good and evil is so graphically and so realistically portrayed that some, not discerning the moral purpose of the symbolism employed, think that a military war is therein depicted.

The best way to memorize is to reduce to a symbol that which we desire to commit to memory, and by the law of association that symbol brings to the mind all that is associated with it. Symbols present truths in the most arresting and most informative form. Mighty truths are thus condensed and made simple and clear. For this reason the Great Teacher presents the vital teachings of the Apocalypse in symbolic form.

The reader is urged to cultivate the symbol-picture of the soul as a fortress: when surrounded and assaulted by many enemies – pride, selfishness, envy, jealousy, greed, dark, negative thoughts, etc. – seeking to obtain an entrance into the citadel of the soul, the dark invader is repulsed and victory is won through King Jesus – the Light and Live-giver – dwelling within. To inculcate this teaching in the minds of His children, and to enable them to grasp these soul-stirring facts of salvation, is the moral purpose for which the Lord inspired John to present the symbolic pictures of the Apocalypse: they present Christian realities.

A widely-read author, who consistently applies the martial imagery of the Apocalypse as descriptive of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, employs the same Biblical imagery we have presented to teach that the individual’s victory over sin depends upon the indwelling Christ.

“When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan . . . The only defence against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness.” (“The Desire of Ages,” p.323).

In another book, this writer employs the same imagery in describing the power of the church to withstand the assaults of her enemies:

“The church is God’s agency for the proclamation of truth. and if she is loyal to Him, obedient to all His commandments, there will dwell within her the excellency of divine grace. If she will be true to her allegiance, if she will honor the Lord God of Israel, there is no power that can stand against her.” (“The Acts of the Apostles,” p.600.)

Individuals and the church are likened to “a city that is set on an hill” (Matt. 5:14). The Christian church and individual believers are represented in the prophecy of Ezekiel (chaps. 40- 48) as a temple built upon “a very high mountain.” Jesus said: “Upon this rock [Himself, “the Rock of Ages”] I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The New Testament teaches that the church is now God’s Zion, His city Jerusalem, and that prophecies concerning enemies being destroyed when attacking Jerusalem and God’s people have their moral purpose in relation to the victory of each individual believer in Christ and of the church as a whole.

In the book of Revelation, the storm center of the ages is the city of Jerusalem, the name of which means “foundations of peace”; Jerusalem, the city of “the Prince of Peace.” To correctly understand the Revelation, Jerusalem must be interpreted as the center of the battle between good and evil. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem was the center of national Israel, and many of Israel’s national enemies came against Jerusalem the city of “peace.” Though foes were without, peace reigned within the city when Israel was faithful. In this we see typified the church as a whole, and also each individual. Through their allegiance to the God of Israel, the church and individual Christians become the center of attack by foes who are stirred to ”war” against the Holy Son of God within. But, while spiritual enemies gather outside the walls of “the holy city” (Rev. 11:2, etc.), the heart is at peace with God.

Enemies of the people of God who literally gathered around and attacked ancient Israel’s literal city of “peace” are brought into the spiritual imagery of the Revelation as types of the enemies who spiritually gather around to attack the spiritual city. The Revelation carries this representation through until the end of the millennium; then, all the resurrected literal enemies of ancient Israel and all the enemies of the church will literally gather around the literal city (Rev. 20:8, 9) in which reigns the visible Son of God, the Destroyer of the evil which makes “war” on Him and His people. In Joel 2:32, deliverance from the foes without the city is vouchsafed to “the remnant” within Jerusalem: “For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom – He shall call.” As we have already seen, it is from this prophecy that Peter, in his Spirit-filled address, quotes on the day of Pentecost and applies it in connection with salvation through King Jesus, Who is “both Lord and Christ.” Instances are given in the Old Testament where national Israel found deliverance within Jerusalem through the power of God (see 2 Kings 18:17-37; 19:1-37; Isa. 37:32-36, etc.). At the end of the millennium, when the enemies of God and of His people gather to attack “the camp of the saints,” “and the beloved city” (Rev. 20:8, 9), they are destroyed through the almighty power of “the King of Righteousness,”‘ the Lord Jesus Christ, Who reigns within.

All the proper names, places and designations of the Revelation are employed in a symbolical sense until the Revelator’s description of the holy city – New Jerusalem – at the end of the millennium. Thus the Lord shows the principle to be employed in ‘rightly dividing” the Apocalypse and other parts of the Holy Scriptures. The millennium is the dividing line between the application of the spiritual and the application of the literal, just as the cross terminated the literal, national, typical system, and introduced the period of the antitypical, spiritual, or church application. The Revelation clearly reveals the triple application of the things of Israel, but as we have dealt with that theme in another book, we will not discuss it further here.

As the history of ancient Israel is applied in the New Testament as types or symbols depicting the experiences of the church, and as the church is represented as having taken the place of national Israel, even to its geographical setting in Palestine, so, in the Revelation the Lord has described the present-day experiences of His church in symbolical terms. Though buffeted by many foes, the church, “on the mount Sion” (Rev. 14:1, 20; Ezek. 40:2; 43:12; 47:1, etc.), as a mighty fortress, impregnable to the assaults of the enemy, will be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37). “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).

The great controversy between the forces of good and evil over obedience to the Law of God will culminate in “the final conflict.” To vividly portray this spiritual battle is the moral purpose for which the graphic symbolic pictures have been given in the Revelation.

 

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