"But Judah shall dwell for ever, And Jerusalem shall remain from generation to generation; And Jehovah will dwell at Zion." And there shall be a shoot of Jehovah, * Beauteous and glorious, Even a sucker from the earth, Elevated, and spreading its boughs, For the escaped of Israel. And there shall be that remaineth in Zion, And that which is left in Jerusalem, Holy shall it be called, Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem; When Jehovah has washed away This filth of the daughter of Zion; And when this blood of Jerusalem Shall be removed from the midst of her, By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” And this is the prayer of the same penitent, (Ps. li. 14.) “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness," &c. How severe these chastisements will be, that reduce this restored people to that small "cut-short remnant," on whom the Lord will shew his mercy, we may judge from what is here said in the prophecy of Zechariah: (ch. xiii.) And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah, But a third shall be left therein. Growing stately. And I will bring that third through the fire, And will assay it as gold is assayed. They shall call upon my name, I will say, This is my people, And they shall say, Jehovah is my Elohim." Thus, while the enemy was being prepared for that destruction foredoomed, their armies led to the destined spot, the Lord had, in the midst of these great judgments, separated his preserved remnants. That of Judah and of Ephraim in "the desert of the peoples," and that at Jerusalem, in the midst of a siege where half, or a division of the city is seized by the enemy. This was his last effort. He now comes to an end, and none helps him." Now the Elohim of Israel is manifested to be Jehovah-the self-existent Deity come into the world, incarnate in the person of the Son, who now "takes to him his great power, and reigns;" and all his enemies are made his footstool. 66 SECTION THE SEVENTH. THE GREAT DAY OF THE BATTLE OF ALMIGHTY GOD. The kings and their armies gathered at Armageddon—The judgment of the vintage-Destruction of the nations, and all their armies-The general conflagration, and production of new heavens and a new earth-A time of trouble, such as never was, or ever will be, in the creation of God-The meaning of the prophetical language that describes great changes in the heavenly bodies, and on the surface of the earth: not always symbolical and typical—The alarm of sinners amidst these dreadful conflicts, and confidence of the people of God in their Great Deliverer. In the field of Armageddon "the kings of the earth and of the whole world" were already gathered. They had assembled "to take a prey and gather a spoil;" but now "Michael, the great prince, standeth up for the remnant of his people." The Redeemer has raised and received to himself in glory all the true believers of his gospel church, with all that died in the faith of Him that was to come; and has also conducted certain portions of restored Israel in the flesh by his miraculous interference through the deserts. The time is come, at length, when his enemies are to be made his footstool: (Psalm cx.) Jehovah sendeth forth the sceptre of thy power out of Zion, The concourse of thy people is great in the day of thy power, 'Greater' than from the womb of the morning Is the dew of thy progeny." The destruction at Megiddo is distinguished as "the great day of the battle of Almighty God:" the armies of the apostate are assembled there; and there they meet their fate. But, at the same time, the judgments of Jehovah Sabaoth are poured upon the countries from which these armies came,-the inhabiters of the fourth empire especially: the beast, that symbolizes that empire, is represented as "taken and destroyed, and his body given to the burning fire." Thus, when Gog and his armies are described, in Ezekiel, as "falling upon the open field," on the mountains of Israel, it is said: "And I will send a fire on Magog, and," or "even on them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am Jehovah."* So again, when the judgment of the same apostate power is described, (Isaiah xxxiv.) which is there spiritually called Idumea and Bozrah, we read: "For the indignation of Jehovah is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies." "For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and" or "even upon the people of my curse to judgment." In like manner, when the final destruction of the mystic Babylon is presented to our view, (Rev. xviii. xix.) though the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, are overtaken when engaged in the invasion of Palestine, at the same time is the cry heard: "Babylon the great is fallen is fallen!" Nay, she is "then utterly burnt with fire." "The kings of the earth, who had committed fornication, and lived deliciously with her," are described as "seeing" "afar off," the smoke of her burning." The site of the judgment of the vintage, where "the word of God" "treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God," is particularly marked as being in the land of Palestine" and the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horses bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs; ' this measure is the length of the Holy Land, and the country is not within the limits of the fourth empire, and therefore, "without the city;" yet, in the same judgment we must include the destruction of the city or empire of the mystic Babylon:* according to that of Isaiah, (ch. lxiii.) " Who is this that cometh from Edom, With sprinkled + garments from Bozrah ? This that is glorious in his apparel, I who speak in righteous vengeance, 99 * For "the devoted destruction of Megiddo,” see Second Advent, Vol. II. ↑ Or "wine-stained." |