In the interest of reaching every truth-seeking mind that desires to escape the path that leads to
destruction of both body and soul, as long as this issue lasts, this tract will be distibuted free of
charge.
| GOD ALONE KNOWS THE FUTURE | 5 |
| FORETOLD IN PICTORIAL MODE | 6 |
| A LION, A BEAR, A LEOPARD AND A NON-DESCRIPT BEAST | 7 |
| LEOPARD-LIKE BEAST, THE | 19 |
| The Fall Of Protestantism | |
| And The Rise Of Despotism | 24 |
| TWO-HORN BEAST, THE | 25 |
| Type Of "The Image Of The Beast" | 28 |
| SCARLET-COLORED BEAST DRIVEN BY | |
| BABYLON THE GREAT, THE | 30 |
| Whom Does Babylon Personify? | 36 |
| FINAL PHASE OF THE BEASTS, THE | 38 |
| "The Sea" Locates | |
| The Territory Of The Five Beasts | 39 |
| "The Earth" Locates | |
| The Two-Horn Beast's Domain | 39 |
| "The Wilderness" Locates | |
| The Scarlet-Colored Beast's Domain | 40 |
| TWELVE-STAR-CROWNED WOMAN AND | |
| HER REMNANT, THE | 42 |
| Out Of Babylon's | |
| Dominion Into Their Own Land | 46 |
| A New Division Of The Land | 48 |
| GENTILES WILL BE DRIVEN OUT OF | |
| THE HOLY LAND, THE | 49 |
| Who Is Gog? | 50 |
| LORD WILL SPOIL AND JUDGE THE | |
| NATIONS, THE | 51 |
| CURRENT EVENTS THAT MAY FULFILL | |
| PROPHECY | 53 |
| DANIEL ELEVEN--THE SUMMARY | |
| "That Which Is Noted In The Scripture" | 57 |
| The Identifying Acts | |
| Of The King Of The North | 59 |
| A Number Of Regimes | 61 |
| The Key | 63 |
| North Defeats South-- | |
| Takes Egypt And Palestine | 65 |
| In The Glory Of The Kingdom | 66 |
| Overflown By A Flood-- | |
| Loses Egypt And Palestine | 67 |
| Again Rising To Power | 67 |
| The Historical Record Of | |
| Flattery And Forced Christianity | 69 |
| History Explains | |
| His dividing The Land For Gain | 72 |
| The Second Regime Of The South; Defeats | |
| The Fourth Regime Of The North | 73 |
| Both Spoke Lies | 77 |
| Against The Holy Covenant | 79 |
| Pollutes The Sanctuary, | |
| Takes Away The Daily | 81 |
| Disregards A God | |
| And The Desire Of Women | 82 |
| The Fifth Regime Of The North | 83 |
| Review | 86 |
| Declares War--But Not | |
| Against The King Of The South | 88 |
| His Last Act | 89 |
| Conclusion | 91 |
| TAKE IT TO HEART AND PROFIT | 91 |
As we are living in a time in which we can expect anything, but be sure of nothing, therefore all
including alike statesmen, diplomats, and militarists, will doubtless be surprised at just what will
emerge from the present European conflict.
At this moment (1941) Hitler's dread legions are continuing their inexorable drive upon the world's "Mistress of the Seas," and so far nothing has been able to withstand the fury of their onslaught, with the result that Europe stands in terrified amazement, and the whole world in alarmed wonderment at what is ahead, willing as was Nebuchadnezzar in his day, to give almost anything to know, but
The wise men of today can no more tell the future than could the wise men of the prophet Daniel's time (Dan. 2). If you think this an extravagant statement then meet the challenge: "Produce your cause saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall
The One Who foretold the rise and fall of Babylon and of the nations succeeding it, is the only one who knows what will be the outcome of the present "distress of nations." Luke 21:25. For light, then, on this momentous question now uppermost in every rational mind, we turn to the God of the prophets, Who bids us look to the writings of His ancient seers. There, all the world events that concern His "sons" (Isa. 45:11), are
The world's history in prophecy is recorded first, in literal terms; second, in parabolical terms; third,
in typical terms; and fourth, in pictorial terms. For the sake of brevity, and in the interest of
facilitating comprehension, precluding the possibility of side-tracking, this silent messenger presents
its message in the pictorial mode.
The kingdoms that have gone down, the kingdoms that still exist, and the kingdoms that are yet to come, whose legislations involve God's people, have been pictorially chronicled by both Daniel and John the Revelator.
Now in order that even the most skeptical and unbelieving mind be persuaded, the subject-matter of this tract is introduced with the symbolisms whose prophetic import has already become history:
"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove
upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first
was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted
up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had
three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much
flesh.
"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a
fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." Dan. 7:2-8.
These four great beasts said the angel, "are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth." Dan.
7:17.
Prior to Daniel's vision of these beasts, Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon while in a
quandary as to the duration of his kingdom, was shown in a dream a great image composed of four
metals. Its head was of "gold"; its breast and arms were of "silver"; its thighs, of "brass"; its legs, of
"iron"; and its feet, of "iron mixed with miry clay." Interpreting the vision Daniel said to the king:
"Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over an the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:... And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the Iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Dan. 2 :38-44.
Plainly, the four metals of the great image symbolize, as do the four beasts, a succession of four
kings in their respective periods. The feet (right and left) of iron and clay obviously represent two
divisions of kings (rightists and leftists) in a fifth period -- the time in which the God of Heaven shall
"set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." The toes of the feet, indicate, of course, a
multiplicity of kings in both parties, the rightists and the leftists.
In another symbolism, a ram and a threephase goat, Daniel saw that the goat in its first phase (that
of the "great horn" -- the king of "Grecia"), trampled down the ram ("Media and Persia"), and that
after the great horn broke off (Alexander's passing away), four horns came up in its stead (the
kingdom divided into four parts), and that finally from one of the four, came a fifth, the "exceeding
great horn" (Rome). (See Daniel 8:9, 20, 21-23.)
Some think the "exceeding great horn" -- the fifth -- symbolizes Antiochus, who ruled one of the four divisions, but this cannot be, because the exceeding great horn's coming out of one of the four, symbolizes a fifth kingdom not one of the four expanded. Moreover, the term, "exceeding great," in contrast to the term, "great," denotes a greater kingdom than Alexander's. And as Antiochus' kingdom in its greatness
The Roman Empire is the one that was much greater than Alexander's, and therefore
Daniel 8:9 says that the "exceeding great horn" came out of one of the four horns of the goat, but
does not tell out of which one. Daniel 11:5, however, explains that "one of the princes" of the
kingdom of the south was to have a great dominion. This prince, therefore, is symbolized by the
exceeding great horn, and shows that it came from the horn which symbolized the Ptolemaic Dynasty
-- the southern division. Here is shown what history fails to chronicle concerning the origin of Pagan
Rome.
Now we see that though in Daniel 2 and 7 the names of the kings are not made known they are
revealed in Daniel 8. And as Daniei 2 and 8 corroborate Daniel 7, it follows that the four metals of
the great image, and the four great beasts, are symbolical of the four ancient empires: Babylon,
Medo-Persia Grecia, and Pagan Rome, respectively.
The following four maps show that history corroborates prophecy.
The feet and toes of the image (Dan. 2), being a mixture of iron and clay, forecast an empire which cannot cleave together, the clay causing it to break into parts -- into separate kingdoms: some large, some small, "partly strong, and partly broken."
Obviously this scripture describes the present family of kings in their intermarried state (mingled
"with the seed of men"). Coming as a result of the crumbling of Pagan Rome, they make a fifth and
multipartite empire. Thus this prophetic picture clearly foretells that the rulers of today, unable to
cleave one to another (Dan. 2:42, 43), are doomed to continual ruptures and hostilities among
themselves.
Map 5 shows the modern divisions, prior to World War II, of the ancient world.
As widely accepted, the fourth beast's two-phases -- one with ten horns, the other with seven horns
along with the "little horn" (Dan. 7:7, 8) -- portray, first, Pagan Rome, and second, Ecclesiastical
Rome, and the "little horn" (the hornhead), the power that then ruled, was religious-political.
These four beasts coincide respectively with the "gold," "silver," "brass," and "iron" of the "great
image."
In this prophetic four-beast symbolism, along with its historical fulfillment, we see the passing political events and the consequent changing political status of the world from the time of ancient Babylon on down to the time of Christianized Rome. The great image, however, brings us down to the present, the time in which we find ourselves ruled by its toe-kings. But as Daniel's series of beasts delineates but a part of the world's history, another series is necessary to complete it. The only other such series is in The Revelation, the first symbol in which is
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and
all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the
beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war
with him?
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was
given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And it was given
unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all
kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
"If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Rev. 13:1-10.
The composite make-up of this beast -- mouth of a lion, feet of a bear, body of a leopard, and ten
horns -- is faithful witness that he is a descendant of Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), Grecia
(leopard), and Pagan Rome (ten horns). Hence this beast is the melting pot of the four ancient
world-empires, and must, along with its seven heads and ten crowned horns, characterize the world
of today.
The beast's forty-and-two-month period, falls in the time of Ecclesiastical Rome -- the empire after Pagan Rome; whereas
Furthermore, this symbolization shows that Inspiration reckons the Protestant world still a Roman
world. This we know from several angles, the first of which is in the fact that the beast's forty-two
months' period parallels that of the little horn's "time" (12 months), "times" (24 months), "and
dividing of time" (6 months). The work against God and His people in both records is forty-two
months long.
The horns of the non-descript beast's having no crowns, and the horns of the leopard-like beast's
having crowns, point out that the latter symbolizes the world after the crownless horns (kings that
were to arise -- Dan. 7:24) of the former beast were crowned.
Now, as we have seen, it is clear that Ecclesiastical Rome (the second phase of the non-descript beast) was a combined church and state power (a horn-head, having "the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things" -- Dan. 7:8), and that the Protestant Reformation caused the separation of the two. So while Ecclesiastical Rome's rise and reign are prefigured by the non-descript beast's horn-head, her downfall is depicted by the leopard-like
It being true that the wounded head symbolizes a religious body, and that there is no distinction in
appearance between the wounded head and the six uninjured heads, then the fundamental truth is that
they all are figures of religious bodies. Moreover, as these symbolical prophecies deal with the
Western Civilization, the home of Christendom, the heads definitely characterize the Christian
denominations, just as do "the seven churches of Asia" (Rev. 2, 3), the one difference being that the
churches of Asia perhaps cover a longer period of time than do the heads.
Furthermore, whereas the beast's receiving the deadly wound pictures Christianized Rome humiliated unto death (deprived of her civil power), its recovering from the wound pictures her exalted unto life again (having regained her civil power). And as the wound was inflicted by the hand of the Reformation it could never have healed had the hand continued wielding at it the sharp two-edged sword. The healing, therefore, vividly depicts
Though there is but one right interpretation of each Bible doctrine, yet a multitude of conflicting
interpretations are in the Christian world today, with the result that it is split into many sects and
schisms (heads), with no two believing alike. Therein lies decisive evidence that these churches are
divest of the Holy Spirit, and are running ahead in darkness. Because of professing to teach the
Truth, but teaching instead the doctrines and commandments of men, they are reproved by having
"the name of blasphemy" written over their heads (Rev. 13:1).
Even now, in the closing hours of the gospel period, the church says: "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing", -- neither truth nor prophets, -- though in fact she is "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev. 3:16, 17), and about to be spued out if she fails now to anoint her eyes with this fresh, extra oil. And being unmindful of her wretched condition, she is now ready not only to reject the last message that comes to her with warnings and reproofs just before the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5), but also again to crucify the Saviour should He in person rebuke her, thereby repeating her rebelliousness of old, as symbolized by Moses'
Detail by detail, we are thus far enabled to see that the healing of the wound is indicative not only of the church's failing to carry the Protestant Reformation to completion, but also of the world's governments' soon reverting to the despotic principles of the Dark Ages -- to the rule of action before the wound was inflicted. This repetition of the past is to be brought about by
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he
spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. And he
doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to
do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image
to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both
speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he
causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand,
or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of
the beast, or the number of his name.
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it
The power that is represented by this two-horn beast will identify itself with "the false prophet,"
for together they are "cast alive into a lake of fire." Rev. 19:20. From this it is plain to see that the
wonders which the beast does in the sight of men, and by which he deceives them "that dwell on the
earth" (Rev. 13:13, 14), are wrought by the false prophet (Rev. 19:20) "in the sight of the beast."
Rev. 13:14. Clearly, then, the beast's civil authority, combined with the prophet's supernatural power,
points to a union of beast and prophet -- an affiliation of state and of church representatives.
Having only two horns, not ten, the beast therefore depicts a local, not a universal, government. Nevertheless, he will influence all Christendom to "make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live"; that is, he will engineer a world-wide governmental setup, re-enthroning the principles of the
This beast represents a man who stands at the head of a nation, and whose influence goes far and
wide among the kings of the earth. He is further identified by a number -- the mystical number "six
hundred threescore and six." Rev. 13:18.
The prevailing belief that the number "666" is the numerical identification of some other power, is the spawn of the Prince of Darkness, and is calculated to conceal if possible the identification of this two-horn power. Inspiration puts the number on the two-horn beast, and there we must leave it. When the number is finally made up, the servants of God will be able to convince all the "wise" as to just whom the beast symbolizes. We now see, though, that no one who studies the Word of God, need be deceived when this power does appear on the stage of action. Yet notwithstanding God's warning against giving allegiance to the beast, the world fails to give heed, with the result that even after his number is made up, "he causeth all, both
The passage, "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand," denotes that all who, after hearing the truth, continue to pay homage, either religiously
or secularly, to the image, "shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of His indignation." Rev. 14:9, 10.
A full realization of the glorious reward that awaits mankind will even now compel men to shout for joy! And a like realization of the dreadful penalty that awaits all who fail to make God their refuge, will cause them even now to weep and gnash their teeth. That all might realistically see these alternative prospects, and be impelled thereby to repentance, the Lord has been at supreme pains not only to record a graphic description of the evil which, through the instrumentality of the beast Satan has determined upon the whole world, but also aforehand to make of a similar evil, a perfect
"Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains,
"Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at
what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of
musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchsdnezzar the king hath set up: and
whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery
furnace." Dan. 3:1-6.
In the outworking of this drastic and unrighteous decree, there are three outstanding aspects: The first warningly reveals the manner in which the beast will compel all the nations and peoples within his dominion to worship him and the image which he shall make; the second sustainingly promises that just as in Nebuchadnezzar's day, Michael delivered and promoted those who refused to worship the golden image (Dan. 3:12-30), so today will He deliver and promote all who refuse to worship the beast and his image; and the third glorifyingly reveals that just as all who then stood faithful, led a multitude of both high and low to acknowledge Him as the Most High God, so today will all who heed the warning not to worship the beast or his image, "shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Dan. 12:1-3.
Hand in hand with history, the "more sure word of prophecy," having led us symbol by symbol down through the empires beginning with ancient Babylon, and down to the present state-ruled sectarian world, will certainly lead us through to the end of time. We are therefore confronted with the logical necessity of another beast-symbol, one predicting the religious-political world of tomorrow. Without a symbolism to carry us beyond the world of today, the prophetic Word of God would be incomplete. So, for the sake of logic, continuity, and completeness, this succession of beast-symbolisms must include another beast, one which in particular is to unveil The World of Tomorrow. The only such symbol remaining is
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto
me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many
waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
"So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the
woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into
perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book
of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not, and yet is.
"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the
woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;
and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is
the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are
ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the
beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords,
and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
"And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
Now from the manifest similarity between the leopard-like beast and the scarlet-colored beast, one should recognize that the latter is the image of the former, his deadly wound having been healed and his horns uncrowned. The crownless horns of the latter show that he represents the world in a time in which there are no crowned kings, but that instead the world is ruled by an ecclesiastical head -- the woman that drives the beast.
Moreover, the statement, "the ten horns...are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet;
but receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (Rev. 17:12), positively imports that the crowned
kingdoms of today, which emerged from fallen Rome, and which are represented by the crowned
horns of the leopard-like beast, will be uncrowned, dethroned.
The crownless horns of the scarlet-colored beast, moreover, "have one mind," and "give their
power and strength unto the beast" (Rev. 17:13) while the woman "reigneth over the kings of the
earth." Rev. 17:18.
Her sitting on the heads (Rev. 17:9), denotes that she is to control the churches; and her driving
the beast denotes that she is to be the sovereign of the world. This system of worship and reign is
not a new thing under the sun, for "in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all
that were slain upon the earth." Rev. 18:24. She is, therefore, rightly called Babylon, the name of the
oldest, the first, world empire -- the type.
This antitypical Babylon, from which God's people at this time are to be called out, is even to
monopolize the world's commerce, as is clearly revealed in the prediction that when her reign ends,
then shall--
"...the merchants of the earth...weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of
"The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen,
and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
"For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster and all the company in
ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of
her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and
cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had
ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate." Rev. 18:11-13,
15-19.
So, shortly after it is set up, this federation of church and state will be plunged headlong into oblivion, even as a great "millstone" that is cast into the sea (Rev. 18:21). And the cry of her mourners shall be: "In one hour so great riches is come to nought." Rev. 17:12; 18:10, 17. This hour which brings the death throes of Babylon, can be none other than that which, according to Jesus' parable (Matt. 20:11-16), is the last parabolic hour (period) of the day (probationary time); that is, from the eleventh-hour call for laborers (the last
The "ten horns" of the scarlet-colored beast (the rulers which she dominates for an hour) ultimately
"shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Rev. 17:16. Thus
at length they shall unseat her forever, and the system which she symbolizes, the "image of the beast,"
shall be demolished. At this resounding crash of Babylon, "the kings of the earth...shall bewail her,
and lament for her,...standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city
Babylon, that mighty city!" Rev. 18:9, 10.
The lamentation of the "kings" shows that they are sympathetic toward her, while the horns hate
her. The "kings," therefore, cannot be those who are symbolized by the beast's crownless horns, but
rather those who are symbolized by the crowned horns of the leopard-like beast. They are the
crowned kings who arose after the fall of pagan Rome, and who are now speedily going into exile.
The identity of Babylon being a much mooted subject among students of The Revelation, there arises, therefore, the necessity of ascertaining:
Now that the light has completely dispelled the darkness which has long enveloped this subject, the
student of prophecy can plainly see from the symbolism that in the first place Babylon personifies the
forthcoming ecclesiastical-political-economic system of the nations, not some institution or
organization; second, that the beast she drives is a figure of her dominion; and third, that it is about
to pass from prophecy into history -- indeed, is already beginning to loom up out of the haze as did
the shores of America to Christopher Columbus and his companions as they approached the great
Western Continent.
The beast's being driven by the woman, Babylon clearly reveals three important truths: first, that
the call of God's people to come out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4), is a call for them to come out from
among the nations that are symbolized by the beast which she is driving (ruling); second, that the
called ones are to come out from her sin-filled dominion because it is to be ruined by the plagues; and
third, their coming out necessitates their going into a place where sin does not exist and where there
is no danger of the plagues' falling. Thus their coming out of her dominion must be their going into
God's kingdom.
Then the warning against receiving the mark (Rev. 14:9-11), along with the call to come out will be repeated with an exceeding
Both those who find themselves in her dominion, and those who find themselves out of it, must then
immediately decide to receive the seal of God instead of the mark of the beast if they want to escape
the wrath of God. To do this, the former class must come out of her, and the latter class must stay
out of her. Despite the death penalty for taking such a stand (Rev. 13:15), there must be no hesitancy
or indecision on the part of either class.
Those who are in Babylon must heed the Voice which says: "Come out of her, My people, that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4. And those who are
out, must carefully heed the warning: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his
mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Rev. 14:9, 10.
The light on this subject will spread as fire in stubble until it finally illuminates the whole earth (Rev. 18:1), and all who walk in its blaze will have their names placed in the Lamb's Book of Life. They will find deliverance from the Enemy's last determined effort to plunge the world into
The symbolism now leads us to
The beasts of Daniel 7 and the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13, came up from
Since in the realm of nature, the sea is the storehouse (home) of the waters, therefore in the realm of symbols, the "sea" must be the birthplace of the nations -- the Old Country. The five beasts' (the lion, bear, leopard, and the non-descript beast, along with the leopard-like beast) coming from the sea, denotes that they represent kingdoms that have arisen in the Old Country, just as history confirms. Inasmuch as the sea locates the territory of these beasts, obviously, then,
As the birthplace of the nations is symbolized by the sea, then the "earth," the opposite of the "sea," locates the domain of the two-horn beast away from the Old Country. But to find exactly which one of the New Country's governments it stands
His two crownless horns show two non-royalist rulers, while their lamb-like appearance forecasts
youthful innocency. And his having the power to dictate who should buy and who should not, shows
that he represents a nation that leads in controlling the world's wealth and industry.
The United States of America is the only government in the world that answers to all these
specifications. It originated in a new world ("the earth"), not in the territories of the ancient world
("the sea"). It is the only government which is lamb-like -- youthful and Christian, established upon
the innocent principles of peace and liberty, having two non-royalist ruling parties (crownless horns),
the Republican and the Democratic.
As the symbolical "sea" and "earth," along with the beasts' characteristics, perfectly locate the abode of each beast, likewise
By contrast, a wilderness is the opposite of a vineyard. And since a vineyard is figurative of the home of God's people (Isa. 5:7), the wilderness can only represent the
(For full details concerning these symbolical beasts, read The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2.)
The certainty that both the vineyard and the wilderness are in existence at the same time, shows,
first, that Babylon, riding (ruling) the beast, reigns only over the wilderness (Gentile world); and
second, that from it are God's people called to go into the vineyard (the kingdom restored), where
there are no sins, and where there is no fear of their receiving the plagues. Of this kingdom of safety
the prophet Daniel wrote:
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Dan. 2:44.
The subject of the vineyard, now, necessitates the analysis of
It is self-evident that the woman, Babylon, is the counterfeit of the "woman" that brought forth the
Son of God (Rev. 12:1), of whom the Scriptures say:
"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
To begin with, we see from this scripture that the woman left her vineyard (homeland -- Palestine)
and went into the Gentile world after her child was born; that is, in her Christian period, when the
dragon persecuted her through the instrumentality of the Jews (Acts 8:1; 13:46, 50, 51). Next we
see that after she was there for some time, conditions became such as to hinder her longer nourishing
herself, and that it therefore became necessary that she be nourished by someone "for a time, and
times, and half a time."
Three and one half years after Christ's resurrection, the church left Palestine (vineyard), and while she was in the Gentile world (wilderness), "the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman [forced the heathen to be baptized into Christianity, and to join the church], that he might cause her to be carried away [heathenized] of the flood." Rev. 12:15. While thus flooded, she had to be nourished (sustained) by the Lord, because many of her followers were heathenized, and nearly all of those who were not, were carried to death by the "flood." So had He not nourished her (kept her in existence) by a miracle, the Church would have perished during those dark ages of
"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood
which the dragon cast out of his mouth." Rev. 12:16.
Or, literally stated, the unconverted who are now in the midst of the church, are to be slain and
buried. The converted are then to be taken into the kingdom. Then will the dragon be "wroth with
the woman, and...make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God,
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17.
Stirred to fury over her purification, the dragon will make war "with the remnant of her seed." Against her personally, though, he will not war, because her communicants, the 144,000 (the first fruits -- Rev. 7:3-8; 14:4), those who go first into the kingdom, stand with the Lamb, the King, on Mount Sion (Rev. 14:1) His palace grounds. Thus being the rulers of the tribes, they are symbolized by the crowned woman. And being in their own land, they are protected from the dragon who consequently persecutes only the "remnant," those who are left behind, who are still in Babylon but who are finally called out of her (Rev. 18:4).
(For full particulars on Revelation 12, read The Shepherd's Rod, Vol. 2, pp. 64-82.)
The first fruits of the kingdom come as a result of the shaking, the separation in the church, as is
demonstrated by the parables of the net and of the field: The good fish are removed from the net (the
church), and put into vessels (the kingdom -- Matt. 13:48), and the wheat is taken from among the
tares, and put into the barn (the kingdom -- Matt. 13:30). As bad fish, they are cast away; as tares,
they are burned. (For a detailed study of the harvest, read Tract No. 3, The Judgment and the
Harvest.)
The second fruits, however, those that are still in Babylon after the purification, are taken from
among the bad (Rev. 18:4), rather than the bad from among the good (Matt. 13:49).
The dragon's warring against them is occasioned by their having the Testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev. 19:10), by becoming commandment-keepers instead of worshipers of the beast and his image. The dragon's aim is to keep them from coming out of Babylon and thus from going into the rapidly growing Kingdom. Then it is, though, that the world shall behold all God's people coming
The truth now being clearly established that the scarlet-colored beast is the symbol of the dominion
over which reigns "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots," it follows that her boundaries will
extend as far as the boundaries of the nations that bow down to her authority. Therefore, the call,
"Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues" (Rev. 18:4), is a call for them to come out of her dominion, that they share not in her sins,
nor receive of her plagues. Those who respond to the Lord's bidding, must, of course, have a sin-free
place to go to, where they may "dwell safely," though there be "neither bars nor gates" around it
(Ezek. 38:11). To this haven they shall be "brought forth out of the nations, and [there] they shall
dwell safely all of them." Ezek. 38:8. So, "all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall
be the peace of thy children." Isa. 54:13.
God's people at that time can no more serve the Lord in "Babylon" and in "Egypt" than they could have in the days of Ezra or of Moses, for when the plagues are poured upon Babylon, as the "fire and brimstone" were poured upon Sodom and Gomorrah, then if they be living among worldlings, they can no more escape the damage of the plagues than Lot could have
"And it shall," therefore, "come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall
be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more." Isa. 2:2-4. (Read also Isaiah 11:11, 12, 15, 16.)
"...Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves
"And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also
walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that
I have given unto Jacob My Servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein,
even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and My servant David shall be
their prince for ever.
"Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting covenant with them:
and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And the
heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them
for evermore." Ezek. 37:21-28.
In confirmation of the truth that God's people are again to become a kingdom, Ezekiel prophesies of
The fact that such a division of the promised land has never been made, shows that it is yet future.
Also the fact that the sanctuary is to be there, whereas it is not to be in the earth made new (Rev.
21:22), positively proves that this unique set-up is pre-millennial. Moreover, the twofold fact that
the name of the city is "The Lord is There," and that its location, according to the division of the land,
necessarily must be different from that of old Jerusalem, shows that Jerusalem proper is not that city.
Moreover, the Scriptures plainly point out that
"Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the
Here we see, first, that the heathen powers in their scattering of God's ancient people, are
represented as four horns, and later, in their casting out the Gentiles, they are represented as four
carpenters. Thus it is predicted also pictorially that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
[only] until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke 21:24.
(Read Ezekiel 36 and 37; Jeremiah 30 and 31.)
Although our first question should be, "What shall we do to avoid giving allegiance to the enemies of God, so as to be found worthy of a place in His kingdom when this evil time shall come?" yet the majority make their first question,
For one to try on his own resources to explain who Gog is, is for him to try to do the impossible
-- a venture which can result only in disappointment. This is seen in the fact that although the Bible
plainly states that the place of unwalled villages is in the mountains of Israel, -- Israel's own land
(Palestine), where the fathers of the Israelitish nation dwelt, -- yet men have attempted to tell us that
it is in America!
So it is that in their own craftiness
"And they that dwell in the citiesof Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons
both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and
they shall burn them with fire seven years: so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut
down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that
spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.
"And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the
valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there
shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The Valley of Hamongog. And seven
months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the
people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified,
saith the Lord God.
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." Ezek. 39:9-13, 25-29.
"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and
Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations, and parted My land.
"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war
draw near; Iet them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears:
let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves
together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be
wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round
about." Joel 3:1, 2, 9-12.
"And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:32-34.
But to them that are at His left hand shall He say: "And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46.
(For a complete study of the kingdom, read Tract No. 8, Mt. Sion at the Eleventh Hour, and Tract
No. 9, Behold I Make All Things New, pp. 40-64 .)
These are some of the future events that are soon to follow in quick succession in the ushering in of the kingdom. Then follows
Coming back now to our present world crisis, since, as previously mentioned, the crowned kings of today (Rev. 13) have already dwindled to a handful, and since the churches, in their cry for peace and safety, are endeavoring to clasp hands with one another, we should do wisely now to inquire into
Because the bone of contention among the angry nations of today is the world's markets, and
because the churches are threatened by the totalitarian governments, and thus urged to press together
in order to preserve Christianity, the fact is thereby evidenced that the time is nigh for the arrival of
the predicted world-wide religious-political-commercial empire, the supposed remedy for the world's
ills.
Now is seen that the prophecy of Revelation 17 and 18, the last scene in the drama played by the nations, is about to be enacted.
The warring nations are already divided into two distinct ideological camps: On the one side are
the democratic governments, while on the other side are the totalitarian. If the latter continue
successfully to prosecute their relentless conquest for world-dominion and sovereignty, the only
victorious way out for the Christian nations, as they humanly view their plight, will be to surrender
their power to the church. For, seeing Catholic set against Catholic, and Protestant against
Protestant, in mortal combat, they will in dread fear be inspired to saddle the beast, and to re-establish
the church as its driver in order to free themselves from the shackles of totalitarianism, and to
safeguard Christianity. They will see victory in this stratagem, if it be denied them in war, for the very
evident reason that many of the millions of communicants of these churches, in every army of the
totalitarian states allied in the conflict, will honor the dictates of the church, above those of their
respective governments.
Such a combination of circumstances will result in a replication of the international church-and-state rule of the Middle Ages, and will relegate to the scrap heap the world's finest instrument of human liberty -- the divinely inspired Constitution of the United States of America. Since this development will make the world's ills worse, it will signalize that the four angels
And what is more, a system that will, on pain of death for nonconformity, exact a form of worship
in violation of the conscience, is anything but Democracy and Christianity. Enforced religion is
nothing less than an order of truckling subjects, rather than an order of voluntary disciples.
The fast falling crowned kings of the nations (symbolized by the crowned horns of the leopard- like
beast) in contrast with the ascending crownless rulers of the nations (symbolized by the crownless
horns of the scarlet-colored beast), show that the world is passing out of the period of royalist
governments, and into the period of non-royalist governments.
A totalitarian overthrow of the democracies would endanger the continuation of nationalistic
Christianity. To withstand this storm, the Christian governments will before long seat upon the beast
the predicted world-queen -- Babylon the Great. Then she will say in her heart: "I sit a queen, and
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rev. 18:7.
This church and state union will bring "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." Dan. 12:1. Nevertheless, "whosoever will save [protect] his life" by sacrificing the truth, "shall lose it," says Christ, "and whosoever will lose [risk] his life for My sake" by standing
Without Christ no system can unravel the world's tangle, but can only make the knot worse.
Babylon the great, therefore, can endure but a short time -- one symbolical "hour" -- and then she will
be swept away by the crownless horns (Rev. 17:16), the resultant time of trouble finally culminating
in the close of probation, and in the triumph and coronation of the "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD
OF LORDS" (Rev. 19:16), Whose right it is to reign.
So it shall be that "in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:" but "it shall stand for ever." Dan. 2:44. "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24:34. Then, and not until then, may the world expect peace.
Thus "the more sure word of prophecy," which never fails to tell the truth, declares that neither
England nor Germany, but rather Babylon the Great (the image of the beast) will finally, for a short
season, profit by the war. Permanently, though, none but God's people will be benefited. They shall
be made free by becoming a "kingdom, which shall never be destroyed" or "left to other people."
Dan. 2:44.
How necessary, then, that we retain the light thus far shed in our minds by the never-failing Word of Prophecy, and its historical fulfillment, so that we not only may depart from the path that leads to destruction, but also may walk in the path of eternal security. To this end, let us consider a chapter of the Bible which has ever baffled students of prophecy, but which now, in the light of Present Truth, has become one of the most simple and comprehensible of Bible prophecies:
"And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled:
Clear it is, from these verses, that the Medo-Persian Empire was to be subdued by the "mighty king" of Grecia (Alexander
It is well to remember that aside from stating the geographic locations of the four Grecian divisions, the prophetic record of the entire chain of events is devoted to the king of the south and to the king of the north. The acts of the king of the north, however, are especially emphasized showing that the whole prophetic account is given particularly to expose his meddling with holy things. Hence follows an enumeration of some of
(1) He defeats the king of the south, and takes his kingdom (Dan. 11:15, 16), after which he
stands in the "glorious land" (Dan. 11:16) -- Palestine.
(2) In the glory of the kingdom, a raiser of taxes stands up (Dan. 11:20).
(3) His kingdom is "overflown" with arms of a flood from before him (Dan. 11:22), and he loses
Egypt and Palestine.
(4) Afterwards he works deceitfully, and becomes strong with a small people (Dan. 11:23).
(5) He flatters wicked ones for their wickedness (Dan. 11:32).
(6) He divides the land for gain (Dan. 11:39).
(7) He becomes strong the second time, yet is defeated by the king of the south (Dan. 11:25, 29,
30).
(8) Both kings speak lies at one table (Dan. 11:27).
(9) Having become strong the second time, and having engaged in an unsuccessful war with the
king of the south, he sets his heart against the holy covenant (Dan. 11:28).
(10) He pollutes the sanctuary of strength, and takes away the daily (Dan. 11:31).
(11) He forsakes the god of his fathers (Dan. 11:37), acknowledges a strange god (Dan. 11:39),
and disregards the desire of women (Dan. 11:37).
(12) In the time of the end, he again defeats the king of the south, enters into the countries, overflows and passes over (Dan. 11:40); then once more stands in the glorious land. Following this, Edom and Moab and the chief children of Ammon, escape out of his hand (Dan. 11:41); and the
(13) Tidings out of the east and out of the north trouble him. Therefore, he goes forth with great
fury, destroys, and utterly makes away many (Dan. 11:44).
(14) He also plants the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,
yet comes to his end, and no one helps him.
Beginning with the ancient Medo-Persian Empire (Dan. 11:2, 3), the chain of events of this
prophecy reaches on to the time that the "king of the north" plants "the tabernacles of his palace
between the seas in the glorious holy mountain" (Dan. 11:45), and culminates, as the angel explained,
with the events of Daniel 12: "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which
standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since
there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one
that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12:1.
Covering such a long period of time, many centuries, the dominion of the kings whose history is chronicled in this prophecy, obviously has passed under
Seeing that no human being has lived on and on throughout these centuries, it is
It is now clear from the Scriptures that the Grecian division south of the Mediterranean, the
Ptolemaic, first receives the title, "king of the south," whereas the division north of the
Mediterranean, the Lysimachian, first receives the title "king of the north." In relation to the
territories of these two lines of rulers, the Mediterranean, therefore, becomes the point of compass
from which they must be reckoned.
In 281 B.C., Lysimachus added to his dominion Cassander's; then in 279 B.C., Seleucus defeated
Lysimachus and seized his kingdom, whereupon the eastern, the northern, and the western divisions
became one, while Ptolemy held his own, the southern division. The Seleucidan dynasty, therefore,
ushered in the second northern regime, whereas the Ptolemaic dynasty continued to be the first
southern regime.
To this point, the prophetic vision has been open to all, but from here on, it has remained closed though many have tried to open it. To open, without a key, a locked door, is, of course, to break the door. But, being unbreakable, the locked door of Prophecy is impossible to open without
The simple and positive way not to lose sight of the identity of these two kings, is
Remember now, to begin with, the king of the south rules the "glorious land," Palestine, along with
Egypt, and the king of the north takes the glorious land twice (Dan. 11:16, 41). If he takes it twice,
then he must have lost it once. Consequently, both kings ruled it twice, and lost it twice. But the
king of the north, the last to rule it rules it "in the time of the end," the time many run to and fro, and
the time knowledge has increased (Dan. 12:4) -- our time. Mark this carefully, for these transactions
of the land provide the key to the identity of these kings from the time of Alexander's death to our
time.
The angel emphatically declared that the kings to rule Palestine, together with Egypt, were to be
as follows: First, the king of the south (Ptolemy); second, the king of the north (Pagan Rome); third,
the king of the south (Turkey); and fourth the king of the north (England). Here, in the following
twenty-five pages, are the details of prophecy correlated with history.
In the light of these foregone fundamental facts, we should now be able to rightly
"So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the
arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength
to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand
before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land [Palestine], which by his hand shall be consumed."
Dan. 11:15, 16.
This scripture definitely brings us to the time of the third regime in the kingdom of the north, that of Pagan Rome, which completely overthrew the first regime of the kingdom of the south, that of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Egypt and Palestine then passed
Since the power which overthrew the Ptolemaic dynasty and took Egypt and Palestine, is by the
angel identified as the king of the north, and since Pagan Rome was that power, it follows that the
title, "king of the north," after passing from Lysimachus (whose rule was the first northern regime),
to Seleucus (whose rule was the second northern regime), fell to the Roman emperors (whose rule
was the third northern regime). See Map 4, p. 17.
With this supersession of regimes, we are brought down to about 31 B.C., at which time Rome
ruled not only the dominions of Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, but also the dominion of
Cassander -- Alexander's entire empire.
"Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom." Dan. 11:20.
Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor, is the one who taxed the world:
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And
all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the
city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of
the house and lineage of David)." Luke 2:1-4.
As this raiser of taxes was to stand when the kingdom was in its glory, the statement implies that
its glory was to wane.
"And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea
also the Prince of the covenant." Dan. 11:22.
Here is shown the break-up of the Roman Empire at the hands of the barbarian hordes which swept
down and, as a flood, overflowed it. See map 8.
"And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall
become strong with a small people." Dan. 11:23.
From this prophetic statement, we see that Rome was to rise from its ruin and
It did not call for dethroning the kings, but rather for Christianizing them. Thus peaceably the king
of the north succeeded in putting over his scheme to reign as spiritual king of kings in the name of
the Christian's God. First it reigned over nations, second over kings of nations.
These historical and Biblical facts show that the Christianized nations, under one spiritual head,
constitute Rome's second phase, and Inspiration gave him the title "king of the north." At his throne,
kings and peasants alike, within the far-flung boundaries of Christianized Rome, bowed down in
absolute submission and worship. So through subtlety, he again became strong, as the following
paragraphs of history confirm.
"The bishops, or overseers of the Christian churches, at first demeaned themselves
"At the coronation of Charlemagne, Pope Leo III., after placing the crown upon his head, saluted
him with the title of emperor of the Romans. He had quelled the barbarous nations of Europe, with
the exception of the Danes, or Normans, and his kingdom comprised France, Germany, Italy, and the
north of Spain. From the east Irene, the empress of Constantinople, sought his friendship, and even
the caliph of Bagdad, the princely Haroun al Raschid, entered into a correspondence with him, and
sent him the keys of the holy sepulchre of Jerusalem. Charlemagne, though a barbarian who at first
could not write his name, but 'signed his treaties with the hilt of his sword, and enforced them with
its point,' had yet great sympathy with learned men...." -- Universal History, p. 203.
"...WITIKIND, the most valiant and renowned of their chiefs, at length embraced
"...Charles, unable to repel the invaders, ceded to them the province of Nuestria, thereafter called
Normandy, and gave to Rollo, his daughter in marriage. The Norman chief was however, to do
homage to Charles, kneeling and kissing the royal toe...." -- Id., p. 202.
"Alfred [king of England] granted the Danes permission to settle in Northumberland and East
Anglia, on condition of their being governed by his laws, and embracing Christianity. They were
accordingly baptized; and the king himself stood godfather for GUTHRUM their chief...." --
Universal History, p. 209.
"He found a pretext for invading the kingdom of Lombardy, in the hostilities of DESIDERIUS
against the pope. Charlemagne crossed the great St. Bernard from Geneva, and successively took
Pavia and Verona. Lombardy was soon reduced to submission, and the king made captive.
Charlemagne next visited Rome, where he was received by pope Adrian 1., with every demonstration
of joy, and hailed as the deliverer of the church. He caused himself to be crowned king of
Lombardy." -- Universal History, p. 201.
In this subtle manner came the king of the north, and obtained "the kingdom by
"The FEUDAL SYSTEM is a term used to express the manner in which the chiefs, who conquered by the aid of their armies, and settled in the conquered countries, divided the lands among their followers; and the liabilities and privileges growing out of this division. When the chief, or king, saw the whole undivided territory on the one hand, and the body of his followers wishing to settle it on the other, the question naturally arose, how should he divide it? The unsettled state of the world was to be considered. If he divided it among his people, without preserving a warlike attitude, they would become the prey of some of the armed hordes, still moving in search of settlements. The leader, therefore, after retaining what he chose, gave out the lands in large portions to his principal captains, -- on condition of their doing homage to him, paying a certain sum of money, and appearing in the field with a certain number of retainers, whenever he called for their aid. These chief officers, after keeping what they desired for their own use, divided the remainder of the land assigned them, to their own favorites;
"And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and
the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not
stand; for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall
destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. Then shall he return into
his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits
and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but
it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
"For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have
indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with
them that forsake the holy covenant." Dan. 11:25, 26, 28-30.
We have already seen from prophecy, also from history, that the first regime of the south (the Ptolemaic) was overthrown by the third regime of the north (that of
The only regime that has risen from the south since the Ptolemaic dynasty went down, and that has ruled Egypt and Palestine, is that of the Moors: "a Mohammedan, Arabic-speaking race of mixed descent, forming part of the population of Barbary, and deriving their name from the Mauri, the ancient inhabitants of Mauretamia, whose pure lineal descendants are, however, the Amazirgh, a branch of the Berbers. The modern Moors have sprung from a union of the ancient inhabitants of this region with their Arab conquerors, who appeared in the 7th century. As the Mohammedan conquerors of the Visigoths in Spain (711-713) came from North Africa, the name Moor was also applied to them by Spanish chroniclers, and in that connection is synonymous with Arab and Saracen. These Moors pushed northward into France, until their repulse by Charles Martel at the great battle of Tours in 732, after which they practically restricted
The conflicts between the south and the north following the Greeko-Roman wars, were between
the Mohammedans and the Christians. At that time, therefore, while the title, "king of the north,"
applies to the rulers of Christianized Rome, the title, "king of the south," applies to the Mohammedan
rulers.
(Inasmuch as the Saracens, Moors, Arabs, and Turks -- the Moslems -- are the successors of
Mohammed's empire in different regimes, we herein, for the sake of brevity, use the name
"Mohammedans" for all, as if they were one regime.)
These prophetically and historically chronicled events make it impossible to misapply the titles, or
to misconstrue the powers.
Moreover, the verses (Dan. 11:25, 26, 28-30) upon which we are now concentrating, credit victory to the king of the south, and history shows that, at the exact time the scripture points out, the Mohammedans arose from Africa, and also invaded the
In these verses, the personal pronouns of the two antagonists the "king of the south" and the "king
of the north," are not traceable by grammatical law, but only by the logic of events:
"And he [the king of the north] shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south
with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty
army; but he [the king of the north] shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea,
they that feed of the portion of his meat [the meat of the king of the north], shall destroy him [the
king of the north], and his [king of the south's] army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain....
Then [being defeated] shall he [the king of the north] return into his land with great riches; and his
heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he [the king of the north] shall do exploits, and return
to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not
be as the former, or as the latter." Dan. 11:25, 26, 28, 29.
Though the "he" of Dan. 11:28 returns to "his land with great riches," he did not take them as booty from the king of the south, whose army overflowed him and caused many to "fall down slain," not to stand (Dan. 11:26), but he must have received them from the converts to his religion. Those who ate the portion of his meat (Dan. 11:26), his servants, and who later destroy him, were, at the outset, the Protestants.
As the "he" of Dan. 11:29 returns at the appointed time and comes toward the south, "he" is
therefore the king of the north gone down for another battle. These are the particulars which history
confirms, and thus it is seen that the bracketed identification of the pronouns is correct.
The western incursion of the Mohammedans began "in 639 A.D.," when they "invaded the country,
and Egypt became a Mohammedan province." -- The New Student's Reference Book.
Thus, following the Ptolemies, the Mohammedans, whose rule was the second southern regime,
came into the title, "king of the south."
By 814 A.D., Rome (the king of the north) had already ceded Egypt and Palestine to the
Mohammedans (to the king of the south).
Conscience-dominating Christianity from the north, and conscience-dominating Mohammedanism
from the south, have ever since been in territorial and religious conflict. And whichever one took a
slice of the other's dominion, he forced, upon penalty of death for nonconformity, his religious beliefs
upon his captives.
"And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table;
The one table at which both kings speak, is, of course, figurative; that is, Ecclesiastical Rome
declared to their captives that the Roman religion was foreshadowed by the angel Gabriel's
announcement to Mary that she was to bear a son the Saviour of the world; likewise
Mohammedanism next declared to the same people (at the same table), when they became their
captives, that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed and gave him the religion which all the
people of the earth must have.
Though Rome's declaration as to just what Gabriel said to Mary, is founded in fact, Rome's actual
religion, merely coated with Christianity, was not the religion of the One Whose birth Gabriel
forespoke. As to Mohammed's receiving his religion from Gabriel, he never did. Thus, both the
Mohammedanized pashas and the Christianized lords, were speaking lies at one table -- the people's.
But these "shall not prosper," declared the angel, "for yet the end shall be at the time appointed"; that
is, their false religions will come to an end at an appointed time: they will not endure forever.
Map 9 shows the final results -- the nations that were permanently Christianized, and the nations that were permanently Mohammedanized.
Seeing the necessity of compromising with the heathen in order to make an easy prey of them, the king of the north therefore set his heart against the "holy covenant"
The king of the north's having intelligence only with those who did "forsake the holy covenant,"
clears two points: first that all did not forsake the Sabbath; second that the small people with whom
he became strong, were not the faithful followers of Christ, but the unfaithful ones.
"And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do
know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." Dan. 11:32.
This verse reveals the character of each class: first, of the unfaithful; and second, of the faithful.
As to the destiny of the faithful, we read:
"And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword
and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
"Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with
flatteries." Dan. 11:33, 34.
These verses, besides foreshadowing the martyrdom of the faithful followers of Christ, predict the Reformation, the "little help," and foretell that its present fallen state is caused by "flatteries."
"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take
away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." Dan. 11:31.
That these three links of Truth (the polluting of the sanctuary, the taking away of the daily, and the
placing of the abomination) in the prophetic chain of events, bring us several centuries into the
Christian era, is conclusively confirmed by Christ's referring to them as in the future from the time He
uttered the command:
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains." Matt. 24:15, 16.
A heathen sanctuary is already unclean, and therefore cannot be polluted. Clearly, then, the sanctuary of strength (not the heathen) was polluted by bringing into it a pagan priesthood and unconverted
"Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for
he shall magnify himself above all. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,
whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and
shall divide the land for gain." Dan. 11:37, 39.
No nation but Christianized Rome fulfills this prophecy, for she is the only one that disregarded the
god of her fathers (the Pagan god), and acknowledged a strange god (the God of the Christians).
And although she professed to have wholeheartedly accepted the Christian's God, this scripture
exposes the falsity of her profession.
"Neither shall he regard...the desire of women." Dan. 11:37.
Woman's desire is a home (Gen. 3:16) -- a desire which the Lord placed in her heart. The Roman
institution of nunneries, therefore, is not in God's order.
"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at...the king of the north." Dan. 11:40.
The angel that dictated Daniel's writings, explains that in the time of the end these prophecies were
to be revealed, and that at that time "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
Dan. 12:4.
Modern inventions, especially in the realm of travel and of communication, are recognized as the
fulfillment of the predicted increase of knowledge. The present increase of knowledge, therefore,
shows that we are now living in the time of the end. At the beginning of it, declared Inspiration, (in
the eighteenth century) the king of the south "shall push" at the king of the north -- the time in which
the king of the north shall --
"...come against him [against the king of the south] like a whirlwind, with chariots,
Passing beyond the prophetic declaration of the Mohammedan victories, and coming to "the time
of the end," in the eighteenth century, we find that the Christianized king of the north in his fifth
regime (the Christian governments independent of the church) is at the outset to overrun the king of
the south (the Mohammedan Empire), and is finally to retake from him Egypt and Palestine and many
other countries besides those which comprised the Mohammedan Empire.
Map 10 emphasizes the Turkish Empire in its greatness, and also gives the dates the various provinces fell. According to the map, the decline of the Empire commenced in 1699 (at the time of the end -- Dan. 12:4).
"Until 1915, when England declared Turkish suzerainty at an end and established a protectorate, Egypt was nominally a Turkish dependency. But since 1883,
"Palestine [the glorious land], for long years the home of the Hebrew race, was under control of
Rome in the time of Christ. In the seventh century it passed under the Moslem power, and from 1516
to 1919 was in the hands of the Turks and a part of the Turkish Empire." -- The World Book.
Edom, Moab, and the chief children of Ammon (those of the Trans-Jordan) then came under the
mandate of Great Britain. (See Map 5, page 18.) The Word, however, says they "shall escape out
of his hand," showing that though he now has them, he is to lose them.
And "the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps"; perhaps they shall follow him -- be for
him.
In order to fix the truth in our minds before passing from prophecy fulfilled to prophecy unfulfilled, it is expedient to attend to the following
After the dividing of Alexander's dominion, Egypt and Palestine were, as previously seen, ruled first, by the Ptolemies; second, by Pagan Rome (Dan. 11:15, 16); third, by the Dan. 11:22);
These are the only historically and prophetically recorded supersessions involving the ancient lands
of Egypt and Palestine. The surrendering of these countries, by one prophetic king to the other,
unmistakably identifies "the king of the north" and "the king of the south" from the time of the
dividing of Alexander's empire to the present time, and leaves no room for doubt or for argument .
Rome's (the king of the north's) entering a second time into "the glorious land" (Dan. 11:41), shows
that though, as aforementioned it once took the land from the Ptolemies (Dan. 11:16) it later, in 633
A.D., lost it to the Turks, and in 1919 -- "in the time of the end" wholly regained it.
Here is simple proof that in modern times the Mohammedan rulers are in prophecy called the "king
of the south," while England's kings, along with the disrupted family of Christianized kings whom
prophecy says will not cleave one to another (Dan. 2:43), are called "king of the north."
In her Pagan period, Rome is symbolized by the great image's two legs of iron, and in her
Christianized period, by its feet and toes of iron mixed with clay.
That the "king of the north" (Dan. 11:7) and the little-horn-power (having the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great
It is now clearly seen that the passing of Egypt and Palestine from the hands of one people to
another, is the key which has unlocked the mystery of Daniel 11. And the truth, shining out with such
resplendence, makes exceedingly clear that the popular doctrines that Turkey is "the king of the
north," and that England is the emerged kingdom of Israel, are calculated by the spirit of error so as
to cause God's people utterly to lose sight of the truth, and to take their stand, they know not where.
So far in this chain of events, each link has been a prophecy fulfilled, but the verses which we are
next to consider, contain the links of prophecy unfulfilled. Through the eye of faith, therefore we are
now to look into the future:
"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with
great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many." Dan. 11:44.
The king's final trouble is not to arise from the king of the south's pushing at
If Germany's aggressive activities on the north of the Mediterranean, and the Japanese on the east
of it, are the tidings which have led England into war against many, and there is no doubt about it,
then this second world's war will lead to the fulfillment of the entire chapter under consideration.
"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;
yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." Dan. 11:45.
It is self-evident that planting "the tabernacles of his palace" cannot mean planting his capitol. The tabernacles, therefore, may denote a branch of his palace. And his choosing to plant them "in the glorious holy mountain," indicates that the place is intended to attach to his tabernacles the holiness of the Christian's God. Investing the tabernacles of his palace with such sanctity, can mean that it is to house the headquarters of the soon-coming ecclesiastical world-government, which we have already considered.
But one location, perhaps Mount Sinai, is "between the seas" -- the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean. His choosing it instead of Jerusalem, implies that it is because Palestine, as well as
Edom, Moab and Ammon, shall "escape out of his hand."
The statement, "he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," shows that he has previously
been helped by some other power, and that he will not continue long thereafter, and most likely means
that his ecclesiasticism will be overthrown by the horns of the scarlet-colored beast (Rev. 17:16).
It now being apparent that "the tabernacles of his palace" are supposed to represent holiness, and
that the woman riding the beast (Rev. 17:3), settles the world's social, economic, political, and
religious problems, the truth is clear that the present Christian governments are to be reorganized,
and ruled by an ecclesiastical head -- not by Hitler.
Our prayer, therefore, is that all make sure that their names be in Michael's Book of Life, for those
whose names are not there, will be left to go down in eternal ruin.
As parting reassurance that we are now living in the time of the end, and as that time is about to
pass into eternity, we quote the angel's solemn words:
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the
Since the prophecies dealt with herein, link together many centuries of history, we have, in the scope of this tract been able but briefly to treat of the history involved, giving especial attention to the part by which the Lord is to guide the feet of everyone who is anxious to take up the cross and to follow Him safely over the bottomless pit, into which all other living are soon to fall. The truth here brought to light, shining as clearly as it does, should convince and convert all the honest who wish to escape the coming doom. Therefore may all
As a life line to keep Christ's faithful followers from being swept away by the religion of either
power, God has wrought the prophetic chain of events herein brought to view.
Those who expect to be led and to be saved by the Word of Truth, also to be delivered from the time of trouble, by
To those who take to heart the Lord's warning and who stand on His side, is made the promise:
"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Dan. 12:3.
"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of
the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Dan. 12:10.
And now having heard "the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Eccles. 12:13. Now rise and shine, make the Psalmist's praise your own; say, "O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works." "O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." Ps. 71:17; Isa. 25:1.
Numbers 1-4, 6 and 7 are adaptations from among the maps in Empires of the Bible, by A.T. Jones.
Number 5 is adapted from among the maps appearing in The Dallas Morning News during 1941.
Number 8 is adapted from one of the series of maps in Myers' Ancient History, Revised Edition.
Numbers 9 and 10 are reproduced from among the maps in The New World Problems in Political
Geography.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Cover page illustrations: Top one by Knott in The Dallas Morning News; bottom one by Sakren.
ALL ITALIC TYPE OURS.