The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy: The Rise, Progress, and End of the Fourth World-empireVine, W.E. (William Edwy)
Religion
The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy: The Rise, Progress, and End of the Fourth World-empire
Vine, W.E. (William Edwy)
Bible -- Prophecies
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war against Him that sat upon the horse, and
against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false
prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
image: they twain were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth
with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of Him that sat
upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of His mouth: and
all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Rev. 19. 11-21). Ezekiel
similarly describes the scene in his prophecy in chapter 30. 17-21.
Thus it is that the climax of the world's rebellion against God is to
meet its doom. This is the manner of the overthrow of the ten-kingdomed
empire, the fourth of Daniel's visions. Accordingly, what we have now
read from Revelation 19 is identical with (1) the falling of the stone
upon the feet of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the annihilation
of all Gentile government (Dan. 2. 45); (2) the consuming of the
dominion of the fourth beast in Daniel's subsequent vision (Dan. 7. 26);
(3) the pouring out of God's wrath upon the Antichrist, the desolator
(Dan. 9. 27); and (4) the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of
Heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24. 30). The great emperor, the
man of sin, is to be crushed by the Lord Jesus, "with the breath of His
mouth," and brought to nought "by the manifestation of His coming" (2
Thess. 2. 8).
Now this "manifestation of His coming" is, to transliterate the Greek
words,
The Epiphany of His Parousia.
An epiphany is, literally, the 'shining forth' of that which has been
hidden; and the word Parousia is, literally, 'presence' (see margin of
R.V. and Phil. 2. 12). This latter word is used of the coming of Christ
to the air for His saints, 'to receive them unto Himself,' and of their
consequent presence with Him (1 Thess. 2. 19). They are thus to be "ever
with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4. 17), and with Him they will come when He
descends at His revelation "from Heaven with the angels of His power in
flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1. 7, 8). The
sudden bursting forth of His glory thus "to execute judgment" (Jude 15)
will be the 'Epiphany, or shining forth, of His Parousia,' and by it the
Man of Sin is to be brought to nought and his empire demolished. He and
his false prophet will be "cast alive into the lake of fire," and his
armies will perish (Rev. 19. 20, 21).
This is to be the issue of the world's attempts to establish a
millennium of its own by schemes of federation and amalgamation. This
is the upshot of its fancied progress and improvement without God and
His Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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