02.22. Jerusalem's Capture in the Light of Prophecy

XXII JERUSALEM’S CAPTURE IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY

I THE Christian’s pulse beats high these days, and his gaze is upward. Will the clouds soon part and the Lord appear? is the anxious thought of his heart. Some have ventured the opinion that His second coming may be the event that will bring this war to the end. What surprise it would effect in the battling armies, if the members of the Body of Christ were caught up out of their ranks and no dead bodies be left behind! The capture of Jerusalem by the British, and their allies has greatly stimulated this feeling just now. So much has been said about the Jews returning to their own land, and so commonly is it related up to the second coming of our Lord, that the two events have come to be associated as one in the popular mind. But nevertheless they aredistinct and separate. In the first place, the capture of Jerusalem may precede, by quite a period, any return of the Jews to Palestine on a large scale. The war must end first and the terms of peace be agreed upon, including the setting aside of that land for the people to whom it really belongs. Of course, this is going to be done sooner or later, but just when it will be done who can say?

We might take this occasion, however, to speak of a mysterious prophecy in the sixteenth chapter of Revelation which points to it, in the judgment of some. It is the pouring out of the sixth vial "upon the great river Euphrates," whose water is dried up "that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared." The Euphrates is regarded as the symbol of the Turkish power, and its drying up is the receding of that empire from the extensive boundaries of its European and Asiatic domain into the narrower compass of its birthplace, a receding which really began at the rebellion of Ali Pasha in 1820, and has been continuing to the present hour.

"The kings of the East," or "the kings that come from the sunrising" (R. V.), and mentioned in the prophecy, are taken to mean the Jews. F. C. Jennings, in "The World Conflict in the Light of the Prophetic Word," translates the phrase, "that the way of the kings of the rising again of the sun might be prepared." The text is confessedly difficult, and we are unable to say that Mr. Jennings is justified in this rendering; but his observations upon it are interesting at least. The "sun" in his judgment is here used symbolically of Christ, whose rising again refers to His coming to deliver Israel from her oppressors and to set up His Kingdom on the earth. Malachi’s words come into mind, where Christ in His future relationship to Israel is described as “the Sun of righteousness" Who shall "arise with healing in his wings." But to quote Mr. Jennings:

"I take it, then, that in harmony with these Old Testament promises, as well as with the tenor or very atmosphere of this book, the Supreme Ruler’s-the Sun’s-the King’s-earthly people Israel is surely to be seen under the term, ’the kings of the rising again of the sun.’ Itis their way that is prepared by the drying up of the water of the Euphrates; it is for their return to their land that the Gentile that has his foot on Jerusalem is to be pushed back whence he came.

"Now, make of it what you will; say, if you please, that it is but a coincidence, or a series of coincidences; yet it is an evident fact that, as Turkey has been pushed back, so has the Jew gained a footing again in his land. A century ago he could not own a foot of it, or hardly set his foot on it, save under extremely humiliating conditions; to-day there are more than double the number of Jews in Palestine than returned there from Babylon in the days of Ezra."

II In the second place, while the return of the Jews to Palestine--the budding of the fig-tree--may be a sign of the Lord’s second coming, it is not necessarily a forerunner of it. The reference now is to that first stage of His coming coincident with translation of His Church. In other words, as the writer understands the prophecies, Christ’s coming for His Church does not await that return or any other happening. The capture of Jerusalem sends a thrill through our souls as though He were very near; it makes us feel His nearness as before we did not feel it; and yet if the capture had not been made, it would still be our duty to be looking for His coming at any time. In other words, the second coming of Christ, as previous chapters have pointed out, is an event of two stages, or a grand drama of two acts: There is a coming in the air for the Church which is His body, and which will be translated to meet Him there (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18); and then, after an interval, a coming with His saints and His mighty angels in judgment, and for the deliverance of His people Israel from their persecutors. As this deliverance is to take place in the Holy Land, it is evident that ere that time Israel must have returned there in increasing numbers, and have rebuilt "the waste places" as the prophets have foretold, and even reestablished their temple worship. But there is time for this between the translation of the Church and the date of its occurrence.

Especially is this true if the Jews continue to return there more and more before the translation takes place, and then complete the repopulation of the land after that event.

It is this thought really that gives the intense interest to the capture of Jerusalem. And yet we would not speculate or contribute to false hopes. Especially would we cultivate the spirit of sobriety, and quietude of heart, and that patient waiting for Christ which James, the brother of our Lord, urges with such fervency upon the sojourners of the dispersion to whom he wrote: “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

III This caution towards sobriety and quietness is very necessary in view of the extravagances to which this hope has led in other days. Even in Paul’s time, men were neglecting their business and their ordinary duties because of it. This is why .he urges the Thessalonian Christians to “study to be quiet," and to attend to their "own business," and to work with their“own hands," for the very practical reason that they might“walk honestly towards them that are without," and that they themselves might "have lack of nothing."

Wild fanaticism dishonours the Lord whose name we hear, and so do idleness and busy-bodyness, which commonly go with it. Our rent must be met, and our grocer paid, and our families cared for just the same even if the Lord is at the door. "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods." As the leaders of our nation warned us when this war began and when some people became hysterical, “This is no time to rock the boat." And this reference to the war suggests another reason for soberness and fidelity to present duty. Nothing would please the powers of darkness better than the cry of "Lo, here! or Lo, there!" that might divert the minds of easily excited people from the solemn task: that now devolves upon this nation. Even if we Christians were to be caught up tomorrow, it behooves us to remember what our duty is to-day--a duty to the government under which God has placed us, and a duty to the people whom we would be compelled to leave behind. The people who would be left behind? Oh, the sadness of it! Let us not be so absorbed with the things that are coming on the earth or the glory that awaits the risen saints of God, as to forget the lost and erring that are all about us.

Oh, for the sounding out of the Gospel message in these days! Oh, for the proclamation to go abroad in new and mighty power: "To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

"Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God."

QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON 1. Are the Lord’s coming for His Church and the return of the Jews to Palestine simultaneous events?

2. What events must precede that return on a large scale?

3. Of what has the Euphrates been regarded as a symbol?

4. According to some, who are meant by “the kings of the East"?

5. How does Mr. Jennings apply the prophecy in Revelation 16:1-21?

6. Have you read that prophecy?

7. What spirit should we cultivate while waiting for the coming of Christ?

8. Why should this spirit be cultivated?

9. Have you read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18?

10. What is our duty to the Government in the present crisis?

11. What is our duty to the unsaved?