48
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1938
The Four Great Powers of the End-Time By A LV A J. M cC LA IN * Akron, Ohio
Drawings by Ransom D. Marvin
B EG INNING with the Old Testament prophets and closing with the final apocalyptic vision of John, every prophetic picture of the end of this present age is characterized by the clash of war ring nations. Our Lord Himself made this the outstanding mark of the end-time. Re plying to the anxious question of His dis ciples asking for some “ sign” of the “ end of the age” (cf. Matt. 24:3, R. V. margin), He said: “ Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against king dom” (Matt. 24:6, 7). And, according to Biblical prophecy, this warring movement among the nations will consummate itself at last in the greatest military holocaust of all history, so great that it will involve the world and that it is called in Scripture “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (Rev. 16:14, R.V.), Alignment of Powers— A Unique Sign It has been pointed out, however, that human warfare is nothing new under the sun but has always been one chief charac teristic of our sinful race. Therefore, it has been argued, the mere existence of a state of war cannot at any particular time be regarded as a certain indication of the near approach of the end. But to argue thus is either to forget or to ignore the fact that prophecy not only predicts a gen eral state of warfare in the last days, but also outlines quite as definitely the very political and geographical divisions of the world which will be involved. The main purpose of this paper is to point out these political divisions as indicated in the pro phetic Word, and then to ask whether they are now clearly emerging out of the tur moil of nations. According to Biblical prophecy, at least four great world powers will exist contem poraneously at the end-time, and will some how be drawn into the final series of mili tary conflicts. First in importance there * President, Grace Theological Seminary.
will be a great Mediterranean power, the Revived Roman Empire. Second, there will be a northern power with vast resources which is called simply “ the king of the norths Third, in an opposite direction an other power appears which is named “ the king of the south.3* And finally we discover a fourth political and military aggregation which the Book of Revelation designates by the suggestive title, “ the kings of the east.** In a striking passage, Daniel 11 names the first three of these powers un mistakably, and possibly the fourth by im plication. Because of its high importance, the passage should be read carefully before the reader proceeds with the following dis cussion. It includes verses 36 to 45. Rome's Empire Revived The Willful King of verse 36 is un doubtedly the head of the Roman Empire in its final revived form. He is the “ little horn” of chapter 7 who comes up out of the fourth beast-empire. He is also the “ king of fierce countenance” of chapter 8 (v. 23), and the “ prince that shall come,” mentioned briefly in chapter 9 (v. 26). In fact, his identity is so well known in the prophecies of Daniel that when we come to chapter 11, he is referred to simply as “the king** who does “ according to his w ill” (v. 36). For those who have read carefully the preceding chapters, no other designa tion would be necessary. Now doubtless it would be misspent labor to attempt any present-day identification of this predicted ruler, but we can, I think, identify his kingdom. It is perfectly clear from chap ters 7 and 9 that the realm over which he will hold dominion is the Roman Empire in its last revived stage. That this ancient Iron Empire, long dormant and broken, is once more emerging under the ruthless lead ership of II Duce, is now historically be yond dispute. Against all the perennial predictions of his failure proclaimed on the part of the political experts, the black- shirted Mussolini has not only announced the restoration of Rome, but also by his accom
plishments he is giving a concrete reality to his words. There still may be religious leaders who, indifferent or prejudiced to ward prophecy, cannot discern what is tak ing place. But the statesmen of Europe know. For the sudden emergence of Rome has upset all the well-laid human schemes of international organization, and has set in motion a trend which threatens the de struction of the little stability remaining in the modern family of nations. When the late President Wilson, caught in the rather sordid disputations over the spoils of war at Versailles, sided with England and France against the Italian claims, no one dreamed that one of the. results would be Fascism and a revived Roman Empire. But it has become a fait accompli. A Great Power in the North The second of the four great powers is named in Daniel 11:40 as “ the king of the north.** Not much else is said in the pas-, sage by way of description except that this particular power enters the final conflict with “chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships.” However, more than a few careful students of the prophetic Word have seen the same great power pictured in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, for the vast military hordes of this Scripture pas sage originate in the north (38:6), and move down upon Palestine “ in the latter years” (38:8). Now in the attempted identification of this northern power several things should be kept in mind. First, the term “north” in Daniel’s prophecy invariably means north in relation to the land of Palestine. Second, we should recall that the historical “ kings of the north,” whose conflicts are traced in Daniel 11:5-35, ruled over a vast Syrian Empire which included not only the pres ent Syria, but also much of the territory of modern Turkey in Asia Minor, and stretched up far to the north into the Rus sian Caucasus. T h ird ,. while it is not yet possible to fix with absolute certainty the precise geographical locations of all those
Made with FlippingBook HTML5