Our Day Part 47

It becomes a vital question, therefore, what power in these last days is the king of the north, whose end is the signal of the swift ending of the world. Inspiration gives the basis for the answer. The king of the north in the early portion of the prophecy was the power that ruled in Syria and Asia Minor, from the Euphrates to the sh.o.r.es of the Dardanelles. The king of the north, then, of the later portion of the prophecy, must be the power that has been ruling in this same region during the time of the end.

What power has held dominion over this territory in modern times?--The Turkish or Ottoman Empire. At this time Turkey holds almost the identical dominion of the ancient king of the north--from the Euphrates to the sea, and northward over Asia Minor and the sh.o.r.es of the Dardanelles.

Then today Turkey is certainly the king of the north, according to the prophecy of Daniel 11.

Of the later history of the king of the north and his end and the events following it, the prophecy says:

"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.

"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.

"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. 11:44, 45; 12:1.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE

The capital of the Turkish government.

COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N, Y.]

The opening verse of this scripture describes exactly the history of Turkey in modern times. Turkey's disquietude has come because of tidings out of the east and out of the north. In both these directions there has been a pus.h.i.+ng back of the Turkish frontier, particularly in the north.

Again and again, during this time of the end, Turkey has gone forth with fury to resist these encroachments and prevent the loss of territory.

The prophecy indicates that in some of these struggles the king of the north will yet transfer his capital:

"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain."

Removal to Jerusalem

This prophecy can mean nothing else than that the king of the north will eventually set up his headquarters in Jerusalem; for Jerusalem is "the holy mountain" of the Scriptures. Zech. 8:3.

It is a wise counsel that says, "Tread lightly in the details of unfulfilled prophecy." Just how events are to turn, by what route or processes the steps are to be taken, it is useless to conjecture. But there the prophecy stands. Every word of the early portion of the prophetic outline has been fulfilled to the letter in the history of the ancient empires battling century after century over this region. Every word spoken of the final scenes will as certainly be fulfilled.

In view of this prophecy,--that Jerusalem is yet to be made the headquarters of the king of the north,--it becomes highly significant that the Mohammedans regard Jerusalem as a sacred city. According to Mohammedan tradition, Jerusalem is to play a leading part in the closing history of that people. Hughes, in his "Dictionary of Islam," article "Jerusalem," summarizes the teaching:

"In the last days there will be a general flight to Jerusalem."

Speaking of Jerusalem, an old Arab commentator on the Koran, Mukaddasi (A.D. 985), said:

"As to the excellence of the city. Why, is not this to be the place of marshaling on the day of judgment, where the gathering together and the appointment will take place? Verily Makkah [Mecca] and Al Madina have their superiority by reason of the Ka'abah and the prophet,--the blessing of Allah be upon him and his family!--but, in truth, on the day of judgment both cities will come to Jerusalem, and the excellencies of them all will then be united."--_Le Strange, "Palestine under the Moslems,"

p. 85._

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODERN JERUSALEM

"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." Dan. 11:45.]

Thus Moslem doctrinal teaching and tradition both point out Jerusalem as the rallying place of Moslems before the end. Again and again in recent years, as the pressure has threatened the Turkish hold on Constantinople, the thoughts of Moslems have turned toward Jerusalem as a possible capital. A few years ago a Seventh-day Adventist missionary in Constantinople wrote to his home board:

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MOSQUE OF OMAR

Situated in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah, the site of Solomon's Temple.]

"Within the past few months quite a company of people from the Transcaucasus district have come to Ismid,--old Nicodemia,--bringing all they possess with them. Some of them possess considerable wealth. When asked if they were going to settle in Ismid, they replied that they would settle nowhere permanently at present. They stated that they had come to be prepared to go with their leader when he left Constantinople to go to Jerusalem."

Wherever the capital may first be set up following the forsaking of Constantinople,--and Turkish authorities, we are told, have discussed a number of possible locations in Asia Minor,--there stands the ancient prophecy as to the eventual seat of the king of the north,

"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain."

Following that, what comes? The prophecy declares,

"Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

What Comes When Turkey Falls

The fury of his goings forth "utterly to make away many," the moving of his capital from one place to another, avail nothing in the end. "He shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

The suggestion of the prophecy is that this power has. .h.i.therto been helped to stand. Here again every suggestion of the prophetic language finds its response in history. Through these later years of the time of the end the Ottoman Empire has been helped to stand, by either one power or another, or by some combination of powers. The late Lord Salisbury, while premier of Britain, thus stated the reasons for this policy of helping Turkey:

"Turkey is in that remarkable condition in which it has now stood for half a century, mainly because the great powers of the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is necessary that the Ottoman Empire should stand. They came to that conclusion nearly half a century ago. I do not think they have altered it now. The danger, if the Ottoman Empire should fall, would not merely be the danger that would threaten the territories of which that empire consists; it would be the danger that the fire there lit should spread to other nations, and should involve all that is most powerful and civilized in Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest. That was the danger that was present to the minds of our fathers when they resolved to make the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire a matter of European treaty, and that is a danger which has not pa.s.sed away."--_Mansion House speech, Nov. 9, 1895._

The veteran premier stated the fear of modern statesmen that Turkey's fall would involve all civilization in a calamitous conflict. The prophecy pictures just such a catastrophe, in these words:

"He shall come to his end, and none shall help him. 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."

What modern statesmen have seen impending and have sought to ward off, the ancient prophecy says will surely come to pa.s.s when the king of the north comes to his end,--a time of trouble for the nations such as never was.

In the New Testament

In the prophecy of Revelation 16, the last great clash of the nations is represented as following the fall of the power that rules the territory drained by the Euphrates. Describing the last events in human history, under the pouring out of the vials of judgment upon the world, the prophet says:

"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." Rev. 16:12.

The water of the Euphrates represents the people or power ruling by it.

When anciently the a.s.syrians dwelt by that river and were about to invade Israel, the prophet said, "The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of a.s.syria." Isa.

8:7. The waters of the Euphrates meant the a.s.syrian power.

Just so in this prophecy, the river stands for the people. As the Nile stood for Egypt, and the Tiber for Rome, so in all modern times the Euphrates has stood for Turkey. The "drying up" of the Euphrates must mean the ending of the Turkish power. And in the verses immediately following, Revelation pictures the gathering of the nations of the whole world to Armageddon--"the battle of that great day of G.o.d Almighty."

Following Turkey's end comes the final clash of nations. The earth quakes, the cities of the nations fall, and the last judgments of G.o.d come upon a warring world.

Here, as in Daniel 12, is pictured a time of trouble for the nations such as never was, and the end of the world, when the power ruling in Syria, by the Euphrates, comes to its end.

The Approaching End

For years statesmen and observers have discussed the approaching dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Travelers in Turkey have reported that thoughtful Turkish people held the conviction that the crisis of their nation was near at hand. Years ago Mr. Charles MacFarlane wrote:

"The Turks themselves seem generally to be convinced that their final hour is approaching. 'We are no longer Mussulmans,--the Mussulman saber is broken,--the Osmanlis will be driven out of Europe by the _gaiours_, and driven through Asia to the regions from which they first sprang. It is Kismet! We cannot resist destiny!' I heard words to this effect from many Turks, as well in Asia as in Europe."--_"Kismet; or the Doom of Turkey"