Itrustthere are many amongst us who are able to say, from the very depths of their longing hearts, ‘I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait.’ The long-expected coming of the Lord is the blessed hope on which their hearts rest in eager and earnest expectation, and they can add their unqualified ‘Amen’ to the last prayer of Scripture, ‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus.’
I am persuaded that all those who are thus looking for the coming of the Lord must feel the greatest possible interest in the last of the three subjects proposed for our consideration with reference to the exhaustion of theTurkish Empire, as symbolized by the drying up of the Euphrates. We have seen that the exhaustion which is now attracting the anxious attention of all the politicians of Europe was foretold more than eighteen hundred years ago in this remarkable symbolic prophecy. We found also in the last lecture that the internal decay of Turkey is a warning to us all to be on the watch against the seductive spirits of the latter days; and we now have to examine whether there is any connexion between that decay and the glorious advent of the Lord Jesus; whether, in other words, the decline of the Ottoman empire is not like the cry which aroused the ten virgins in the parable, ‘The Bridegroom cometh.’ There are two questions which will clearly require our careful study, (1.) What light does the declineof the Ottoman Empire throw on the near approach of our Lord’s return? And (2), if it does throw such a light, how are we to understand His declaration that He will come as a thief? May God Himself, who has inspired His own word, be graciously pleased to direct us in the study of it; and to lead us, every one of us, to be perfectly ready, waiting for the Lord Jesus!
I. What light, then, does the decay of the Ottoman Empire throw on the prospect of the near approach of our Lord’s return? Has it any bearing on our Christian hope? and may we regard it as a signal from God that the time is come when we may soon expect the Advent?
In order to answer this question we must examine:—
(1.) The position of the prophecy in the general structure of the Book. Theprophecies of this wonderful book are arranged on a divinely ordered plan. There are some chapters to which it is difficult to assign their place; but it is easy to see what may be termed the backbone running through the whole. To use a very homely illustration, there is the main line of rail conspicuously running through the whole, and you may trace that clearly, though you cannot always trace the branches. Now in this outline there are three great series of prophetic periods—the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials; and these three series appear in a remarkable manner to follow each other. First there are the seals, as in chap. vi.; and when the sixth seal is opened, and the seventh about to follow, there appears a general expectation of the coming of the Lord. But when the seventh seal is actuallyopened, instead of our coming to the end, as apparently was expected, we find a second series developed. The seven trumpets were wrapped as it were in the seventh seal (viii. 1, 2), so that when it was opened they appeared, and a fresh series commenced, and the trumpet-angels one after another blew their blast. At length the seventh trumpet is sounded, and again it appears as though you had reached the end. But like the seventh seal, it, too, is found to contain within itself a third series. The seven vials are wrapped within it, and when that last trumpet is blown they are poured forth in awful succession on a wicked world. Thus the seventh seal contains all the trumpets, and the seventh trumpet all the vials. Now if this be the case it is clear that the sixth vial must come very near the end. The trumpetsare none sounded till the six seals are passed and the seventh seal is opened. The vials do not begin till the six trumpets have completed their blast and the seventh has sounded; and of the vials five must have been poured out already, so that there can be nothing remaining but the seventh, or the last.
To take the very homely illustration of a railway. Suppose a series of stations on a line, the seventh being a junction; suppose that on the branch from that junction there was another series of stations, the seventh again being a junction; and from that second junction there was another line of seven stations, the last being your home. What would you think of your position when you had travelled the whole length of the main line, and the whole of the first branch, and when you had gone so far along the second branchthat you had actually reached the sixth station on that last line? You would say, surely, that you were near the end of your journey, close to home. Now whenever the Church of God reaches the sixth vial that will be its position. All the seals will have been opened, all the trumpets blown, and six of the seven vials poured out.
But that I believe to be our position now, and that we are at this present time living under the sixth vial. I believe that the great public, political event of the sixth vial, is the drying up of the Ottoman Empire, and that we can all see to be in progress. There can be no doubt about the great, public, political fact. It is confirmed by every newspaper, and is forced on the attention of England by the sore distress brought on many families through the Turkish bankruptcy. But if this bethe fact predicted by the symbol of the drying up of the Euphrates, then it follows that we are living under the sixth vial, and that the seventh vial is all that remains of the great prophetic series.
(2.) But consider next the contents of the seventh vial. The seventh seal contained the series of seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet the series of seven vials. May there not be some similar series wrapped up in the seventh vial?
Such a question would be perfectly reasonable, but the only answer that we can give is that we do not find any such series described in the prophecy. On the other hand, everything in it looks like the end. When the seventh angel poured out his vial there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ It certainly did notlook like the commencement of another series, but taught us rather to look out for the great winding up of the world and the final close of the great prophetic plan. So in the account of the seventh vial you may see four things plainly revealed. The fall of Babylon, which I believe to be the fall of Rome: chap, xvi. 17, to the end of xviii. The marriage supper of the Lamb, chap. xix. 1–9. The triumphant victory of the Son of God: chap. xix. 11, 12; and, last of all, the millennial reign, chap, xx. Surely, then, this vial brings us to the end. Surely when it is poured forth we shall have done with the politics of the world, and shall cease to look for the gradual development of history. All thoughts will then be occupied by the unspeakable blessedness of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
It seems clear, then, that the seventh vial is the close of the series, and that under it we are to expect the final victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The conclusion, therefore, is plain, that if the exhaustion of the Ottoman Empire is the event symbolized by the drying up of the Euphrates, it is high time that we awake out of sleep; for the sixth vial is already begun, and we must soon expect to behold Christ Himself, with all the joys of His kingdom and all the terrors of a crushing victory. I say ‘soon,’ not ‘immediately,’ for it does not appear that this passage teaches us to expect it any day or hour, for it describes certain great political events which have not yet taken place. The Euphrates is drying, but not yet dry. The kings have not yet passed over from the East, and the battle of Almighty God, whateverit may symbolize, has not yet been fought. All, therefore, that we can say is, that we appear to have reached what Daniel terms ‘the time of the end;’ that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for we already begin to see the first streaks of morning dawn. We have already witnessed some of the great events that must very shortly precede the Advent, and we may begin to look out full of hope for the actual return of the Lord Himself.
(3.) This conclusion is confirmed by the words of our Lord Himself. I need not stop to prove that He is the speaker in this passage, but we must carefully observe His words. What does He say when the sixth vial is poured out, and the Euphrates is drying up, and when the three evil spirits are gone forth through Christendom? What is thewarning voice which He Himself then gives out with reference to His coming? What lesson would He have us learn from these great events? Of what are they His signal? Does He not teach us to be looking out for His coming? Does He not say, ‘Behold, I come as a thief?’ Does He not call us to a double watchfulness, and teach us not merely to watch against the seductive influence of these foul spirits, but to watch also for His own appearing, and for the bright hope of joyfully meeting Him? But if this be the case, and if the prophecy of the sixth vial is really being now fulfilled, as we believe it to be, by the drying up of the Turkish power; then every fresh symptom of decay in that power, every loss of territory by the Turks, every fresh insurrection, and every proof that the empire is reduced to hopeless bankruptcy,is like a clarion blast of the trumpet of God ringing through the ears of Christendom; and proclaiming, with a distinctness which cannot be mistaken, ‘Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh!’
II. But if this be the case, it behoves us carefully to examine our second question. If such a warning is so clearly given, how can He be said to come as a thief? He Himself teaches us perfectly clearly that the meaning of the illustration is that, as the thief comes without giving notice, so He will return without previously giving any such notice of His approach as will arouse the sleepers. The thief does not tell you when he is coming; and when he comes, he neither knocks the door nor rings the bell. But he comes quietly. He doesnothing to disturb those that are asleep, and His object is to enter unobserved. So our Lord teaches us, that when He comes He will do nothing to startle the world. There will be nothing to prevent men eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up to the very end. The men of the world will find Him in the house before they have the least idea of His approach. That this is the meaning of the words is perfectly clear from what He said (Matt. xxiv. 42–44): ‘Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.’
But, you may say, how far is this consistent with what has been said of the probability of His return following quickly on the exhaustion of the Ottoman Empire? If there be a prophetic series in the book of Revelation, and we have already reached the last station on the last branch of the line, how is it that He can be said to come upon us without notice as a thief does? Has He not given us notice in this prophecy?
In answer to that question we must observe the clearly marked distinction between His own believing people and the unbelieving world. To His own people He will not come as a thief, for we read in 1 Thess. v. 4, 5, ‘But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtakeyouas a thief.’Youare in the light,i.e., for you can see Him coming; soyouwill not be foundasleep. So He Himself taught us distinctly in the very passage in which He uses the illustration; for He there shows that His own disciples are to expect His coming when they see the predicted signs, just as they expect the summer when they see the budding of the trees in spring. (Matt. xxiv. 32, 33.) Nor are they to wait in their expectation till they see these signs fully developed; not to wait,i.e., till the young branch is fully grown; but they are to watch beginnings, and learn from them. They are to draw their conclusion when the branch is yet tender, without waiting till it is fully ripened; as He Himself taught us in Luke, xxi. 28: ‘When these thingsbeginto come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.’ If, therefore, you be amongst the people of God, you neednever be taken by surprise. We do not know the exact time, but we may study the predicted signs, and, having them before us, may look out for the second advent just as Simeon and Anna looked out for the first. We may be like the servant of Elijah, going up again and again to the hill-top to watch for the coming rain; or like the loving servant watching for the footsteps of the master whom he loves, and perfectly ready, whenever he returns, to open the door, and welcome him to his home. The Lord came suddenly to His temple, but He did not come suddenly to Simeon; and the Lord will come as a thief to the world, but if you hold fast to His own word He will never be as a thief to you.
As I have already said, it is theworldthat will be found asleep, and to whom He will really come as a thief. But someman may say, ‘If there be these signs beforehand, will they not arouse the world as well as believers? Will they not awaken society? Will they not compel men to prepare?’ I answer that by another question, Do they? There are certain signs already given; do they wake up society? Have they produced such an impression as to arouse the great mass of worldly men? There are the Jews preserved as a separate people, in fulfilment of a prophecy given more than three thousand years ago; what effect has such a fulfilment of God’s word had in the city? There are all the politicians of Europe at their wits’ end because of the decay of Turkey; how many even of yourselves have been led thereby to look out for the near approach of our blessed Saviour? There is Rome stripped of itstemporal power in fulfilment of great prophecies given, some of them, more than two thousand years ago; how many are there that have been led by that fulfilment to look out even for the fall of Babylon? The simple fact is, that these great fulfilments, though conspicuous to the eye of those who study them, completely fail to produce the least impression on the deep sleep of the unconverted world. The prophecies are not read; the facts are not compared with them; the lessons are not learned; and the soul is not aroused to preparation. How many are there even in this very town on whom the fulfilment of God’s prophetic word has never produced the slightest effect? They are living just as they would have lived, or rather sleeping as they would have slept, if there had been no prophecy to give the warning,and no history to confirm its truth. Can you wonder, then, that the Lord Jesus should come upon such persons as a thief?
But I trust, dear brethren, that He may not come as a thief to you, but that you may be found in the light and awake, not in darkness and asleep; or, to use the illustration of this text, that you may not wake up naked to your everlasting shame. I am sure you desire when He comes to be found awake, looking out, ready to welcome Him. You wish to be found clothed. Oh, think what it would be to be found naked, when all the saints of God are standing around you in their resurrection robe! We have lately read of poor people startled in the night by shipwreck, and rushing as they were to the deck, utterly unprotected against the bitter blast of the winter’ssnow-storm. Think what it would be to be suddenly aroused from your own deep sleep, to see all that you have in the world wrecked around you, and to find your poor soul quite naked, while the terrible storm of God’s most just judgment beats upon you, and breaks down every hope of escape! Oh, dear brethren, may it never be so with you! May you be amongst those who can peacefully look for His appearing, because you are clothed in His righteousness! May you be kept walking in the light, and cleansed from all sin through His most precious blood! Then you will have nothing to fear, but everything to hope for, in the thought of His coming. Then He will never come as a thief to you, for you will be ready at any time to open the door and welcome Him. As the bride delights in the bridegroom, sowill you delight in Him. Your trial will consist, not in the dread of His coming, but in the difficulty of patiently waiting for His return; and when He comes you will find no language to bless and praise His holy name, for His boundless and unmerited love in having redeemed you by His atoning blood; in having called you by His sovereign grace; in having forgiven you through His finished atonement; in having sanctified you by the Holy Ghost; and in having preserved you in His own unchanging faithfulness, till He shall have finally presented you spotless and faultless before the throne of His everlasting glory.
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[30]Hume, ii. 67.
[32]I was interested, two days after preparing this lecture, by reading the following sentence in theTimes, ‘Upon every temporal consideration Rome never was so low as she lies this day.’—Times, Dec. 15, 1873.