|
|
|
O F By J O H N.B U N Y A N. 1692. First published four years after John Bunyan's death. |
OF THE SIGNS OF THE APPROACH OF THE DOWNFALL OF ANTICHRIST.
aving in the foregoing discourse spoken of Antichrist his ruin,
and the manner thereof, I now come to speak of the signs of the approach of her destruction.
And whether I shall hit right, as to these, that I must leave to time to make manifest;
and in the mean while to the wise in heart to judge.
That she shall fall, there is nothing more certain; and when she is fallen, that
she never shall rise again, is also as firmly decreed; yea, and shewed too by him
that cast the millstone into the sea, and said, 'Thus with violence shall that great
city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all' (Rev 18:21). This
is therefore her fate and destiny, from the mouth of the holy one; and is sealed
up in the scriptures of truth, for the comfort of the people that have been afflicted
by her.
True, the time of her fall is not certainly known by the saints, nor at all believed
by her ; wherefore, her plagues must come unlooked for by her. And as to the saints,
their guesses, as to the time of her ruin, must needs be conjectural and uncertain.
For her part, she shall say, and that when she stands where she must suddenly fall,
'I shall be a lady for ever' (Isa 47:7-9). And as to the saints that would very willingly
see her downfall, how often have they been mistaken as to the set time thereof.
Nor have I been without thought, but that this mistake of the godly may become a
snare to Antichrist, and a trap to her upholders. For what can be a greater judgment,
or more effectually harden the hearts of the wicked, than for them to behold that
the predictions, prophecies, expectation and hopes of their enemies (as to their
ruin) should quite (as to the time) be frustrate, and made void.
Moses prophesied, and the people hoped that God would give Israel 'the land of Canaan';
and yet the Canaanites beat them (Num 14:40; Josh 7:5-9).
Jeremiah prophesied that the enemy should come and take the city [of] Jerusalem;
but because he came once, and went back without doing it, how stout and hardened
were the hearts of that people against all the rest of his prophetic sayings, as
to such a thing (Jer 37). Now the error lay not in these prophets, but in the people's
mistaking the times: and if mistakes do so much harden the heart of the wicked, what
will they do to such of them who make it their business to blind and harden their
hearts against God, by abusing all truths? Surely, when men seek to harden their
hearts by abusing of truth, they will do it to purpose, when they have also the advantage
of the weakness of their professed enemies to do it by: especially when their enemies
shall say they speak by the word of the Lord, and time shall manifest it to be both
a mistake and a falsehood.
It is to be bewailed, namely, the forwardness of some in this matter, who have predicted
concerning the time of the downfall of Antichrist, to the shame of them and their
brethren: nor will the wrong that such by their boldness have done to the church
of God, be ever repaired by them nor their works. But the judgments of God are a
great deep; and therefore who can tell, since the enemy of God would not be convinced
by the power of truth, and the virtuous lives of some, but that God might leave them
to be snared, hardened and emboldened to run upon their unavoidable destruction,
by the lies and lightness of others. They begin to vaunt it already, and to say,
Where is the word of the Lord, as to this, let it come now. But when Agag said, 'surely
the bitterness of death is past,' then was the time for him to be hewn in pieces
(1 Sam 15:32,33). I shall not therefore meddle with the times and seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power; no, though they as to Antichrist's ruin are revealed;
because by the Holy Ghost there is a challenge made, notwithstanding the time is
set, and by the word related to the man of wisdom, to find it out if he can (Rev
13:18).
If Samson's riddle was so puzzling, what shall we think of this? and though the angel
hath intimated, that this sealed matter shall be opened towards the time of the end
(Dan 12:9); yet 'tis evident, some have either been so hasty, or presumed too much
upon their own abilities: for I am sure they have missed the mark, hardened the heart
of the enemy, stumbled the weak, and shamed them that loved them.
But since the most high hath irreversibly determined her downfall also, let us see
if we can have better success in discoursing upon the signs , than others have had
who have meddled with the timing thereof.
FIRST SIGN.
First then. The downfall and ruin of Antichrist draws near, when the church and people
of God are driven from all those hiding-places that God has prepared for them in
the wilderness. The church of God, when the dragon did his worst, had an hiding-place
prepared her of God, that she might not utterly be devoured by him; and so shall
have till the time of his end shall come.
Of this you read in the 12th of the Revelation, a place worthy to be noted for this.
But now, when the time of the ruin of Antichrist draws on, then is the church deprived
of her shelter, and laid open, as one would think, to be utterly swallowed up for
ever, having no more place in the wilderness, that is, among the nations, to hide
herself from the face of the serpent. But how comes this to be a SIGN of the approach
of the ruin of Antichrist? why thus. The time of this beast's war with the church
of God, and the time that the church shall have an hiding-place in the wilderness,
are both of a length, the one continuing forty-two months , the other a thousand
two hundred and threescore days . Now since the war that this beast makes with the
woman and her seed, and the woman's hiding-place in the wilderness from his face,
are, for length of time, the same; what hindereth but that when the woman and her
seed can find no more shelter in the nations, the time that the beast hath allotted
him to make war against her, should be finished also? when we therefore shall see
that plots and conspiracies, that designs for utter ruin, are laid against God's
church all the world over; and that none of the kings, princes, or mighty states
of the world, will open their doors, or give them a city for refuge; then is the
ruin of Antichrist at hand: for Haman's plot, though the most universal that ever
yet was hatching, (being laid in an hundred twenty-seven provinces,) did but presage
the deliverance and exaltation of the Jews, and the hanging of Haman and his sons:
yea, and I take it, that the very day that this great enemy had set for the utter
overthrow of the church, God made the day in which their deliverance began, and that
from whence it was completed; and I take that to be a type of this.
There is but one thing that I can think of that can give matter of a shew of doubt
about this thing; and that is, though the time of this war against the saints, and
that of the woman's shelter in the wilderness as to length, be one and the same;
yet whether they did commence together, and begin to take their rise, as men do that
begin to run a race? a word therefore to this. I suppose they did commence much together;
for else with whom should this beast make war, and how should the church escape?
Or, if the beast began his war before the woman began to have a hiding-place, why
was she not swallowed up, since in the wilderness was her only place of shelter?
Again, what needed the woman to have a place of shelter in the wilderness, when there
was no war made against her? And yet this must be, if her thousand two hundred and
threescore days, began before the beast's forty-two months: but they ended both together;
for the beast could not kill the witnesses before they had finished their testimony;
which testimony of theirs lasted this full time that the beast had granted him to
make war with them, to wit, one thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev 11:3):
therefore their times went out together, as will be made appear, if you consider
also that the witnesses were slain, by virtue, not of the old, but of a new war levied
against them; and that, as it should seem, at the very time when her hiding- place
was taken from her; for then indeed, for a little season, will the church of God
be overcome, as I shall shew by and by.
Wherefore, let God's people consider and remember that when God's church is absolutely
forlorn, and has no hiding-place any longer in the world, the kingdom of Antichrist
will quickly begin to tumble. Nor is this the alone place from whence we may gather
these conclusions.
The time of Pharaoh's tyranny, of his life, and of the deliverance of the children
of Israel, came out much together; as any will discern that shall consider the history
of them (Gen 15:13).
David, when Saul did sorely prosecute him, fled last into the wilderness to Achish
the king of Gath, a Philistine , for shelter; and he gave him Ziklag for his refuge
(1 Sam 27:5,6). And that place so continued to David, 'till just about the time in
which Saul must die; and then behold, David's Ziklag is burnt with fire, and himself
stript naked of harbour! (1 Sam 30:1). But what matter! The time of Saul's life,
as well as of David's Ziklag, was now upon expiring; for within three or four days
after, David became the king of Israel (1 Sam 31:1-6).
And thus also it was with the Babel-beast: His time expired, when the captivity of
Israel was upon the finishing: then was the time of his land come, and 'in that'
very 'night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain' (Dan 5:25-30).
Thus therefore it will happen to the church in the latter days: her place of shelter
in the wilderness; her Ziklag will be taken from her, about the time that the war
that the beast has to make upon the woman and her seed shall be finished. But now
the church is not therefore immediately delivered, when her Ziklag is taken from
her; for after that, the beast levieth a new war, to the overcoming and killing of
the church: I say therefore, that this is a sign, not of the downfall of Antichrist,
but of the approach thereof: for the church's bondage shall continue but three days,
and a little after this [shall be her deliverance]. Much like to this was that of
David; for after he had lost his Ziklag, for two or three days he had sore distress:
but lo, then came the kingdom to him.
Indeed, sense and reason saith, it is a fearful thing for the church of God to be
exposed to the rage of her enemy all over the world at once; and that all nations
should shut up their gates, let down their portcullises, bolt up their doors, and
set open their flood-gates to destroy them: but so will be the dispensation of God,
to the end deliverance may be the sweeter, and the enemies fall the more headlong,
and the arm of God the more manifest, both for the one, and against the other. And
in this will that scripture be fulfilled: 'And there shall be a time of trouble,
such as never was since there was a nationand at that time thy people shall be delivered,
every one that shall be found written in the book' (Dan 12:1).
Let us gather up what has been said again; namely, that it is a sign of the approach
of the ruin of Antichrist, when God's church can find no more shelter in the wilderness;
because when her Ziklag is burned, the time of the war that the beast is to make
against her, is finished. Wherefore, when she hath given one desperate struggle more,
and laid the church of God, or his witnesses, for dead, in the street of his great
city, for three days and an half, then comes the kingdom, and the long, long-looked-for
rest and glory. Wherefore it remains, that an angel should stand in the sun, and
make proclamation to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, to gather themselves
together to the supper of the great God: 'That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and
the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and
of them that sit on them; and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small
and great' (Rev 19:18). This is to be after the forty-two months of the beast; and
consequently, after the thousand two hundred and threescore days that the church
was to be in sackcloth; yea, after the resurrection of the witnesses, as is evident
by that which follows: 'And the beast was taken, [that is, after the second year]
and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived
them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone' (verse 20).
SECOND SIGN.
Secondly, Another sign of the approach of the ruin of Antichrist, is this: towards
the end of her reign, the nations will be made to see her baseness, and to abhor
her and her ways. They will, I say, be made to see these things, in order to her
ruin: also, when they shall be made to see, her ruin will not be far off. For so
long as the nations and their rulers shall continue in that dead sleep that she hath
bewitched them into, by their drinking of the wine of her fornication; so long we
have no ground to think that her ruin is at the door: but when God shall lay her
before kings, and shall discover her nakedness to the nations, then be sure her destruction
is at hand. Hence you read, that precedent to her downfall: An angel comes down from
heaven, and enlightens the earth with his glory (Rev 10:1). [The earth ;] that is,
the kingdoms, countries, and nations where the woman sitteth, or they that border
thereupon. [Enlightened ;] to let them see the filthiness of the whore. [With his
glory ;] with the doctrine that he had commission to preach against her, for the
discovering of her lewdness to the earth. This also was the way that God took with
backsliding Israel of old, (and she was a type of our religious Babel) when he intended
to bring her to judgment for her sins (Eze 16:37); and this is the way that God will
take to destroy our religious Antichrist, when he comes to deliver his people out
of her hand.
For though the people that suffer at her hand, can do nothing against her, but lay,
in prayers and tears against her before the God of heaven, and bear their witness
against her before the gods of the earth; yet when kings shall come to be concerned,
and they will count themselves concerned when they shall see how they have been deceived
by her; then let her look to it. 'Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts;
and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness,
and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make
thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.' And what follows? 'And it shall
come to pass, that all they that look upon thee, shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh
is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?' (Nahum
3:5-7).
Wherefore, there wants nothing but that she be discovered to the nations and their
kings; for did they but see her, though they lay yet in her bosom, they would rise
up against her, that she must die: wherefore it is written again, I will 'bring forth
a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes
upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee' (Eze 28:18).
The chief of the wisdom of Antichrist this day is laid out, if perhaps by it she
may cover her nakedness, and keep it from the eyes of kings and their people. But
God has said it shall not avail: 'Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame
shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man' (Isa 47:3).
But how will he make her naked? Verily, by kings. But how shall kings do it? Why,
by virtue of the glory of the angel: yea, they 'shall make her desolate and naked,
and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire' (Rev 17:16).
Let this, I pray, be considered, That Antichrist shall not down, but by the hand
of kings. The preacher then kills her soul, and the king kills her body. And why
should not the kings have it granted unto them, that she should fall by their hand?
the kings are those that she has abused, that she has in the grossest manner abused,
and has served herself of them: but the time of the end of Antichrist, mystery Babylon
is coming, 'and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him'
(Jer 27:7).[12]
Nor shall all the tricks, lies, and deceit under which formerly she used to shroud
herself, be able to prove a balm to her any longer: No, 'in vain shalt thou use many
medicines'; for no cure shall be unto thee; 'the nations have heard of thy shame'
(Jer 46:11,12).
Babylon has for a long time been 'a lady of kingdoms,' and 'a golden cup in the Lord's
hand': the nations also have largely drank of her cup, and the kings have committed
fornication with her (Rev 18:3). But now the angel is come down, and hath enlightened
the earth with his glory . Wherefore now it follows immediately, 'Babylon is fallen!
is fallen!' That is, in the eyes and esteem of the nations, as well as otherwise.
True, some of the kings will bewail her fall, and will cry, Alas! Alas! when they
see that they cannot help her; for that they shall see, as is evident, because they
stand afar off to lament her, 'afar off for the fear of her torment.' The kings therefore
into whose hands God shall deliver her, and who shall execute his judgments upon
her, shall be more mighty and powerful to bring her down, than shall be the whole
world besides to uphold her.
The Protestant Kings.
And this observe further, That as the kings that shall hate her, shall hate her because
in the light of the glory of the angel they are made able to see her filthiness;
so the kings that shall bewail her, are such as in judgment are left in the dark,
and that shall be bewitched by her to the end. This therefore will let us see something
of the meaning of God, in that he has drawn off from her some of the kings already;
to wit, that he might train them up by the light of the gospel, that they may be
expert, like men of war, to scale her walls, when the king of kings shall give out
the commandment to them so to do.
There has been a great deal of talk in the countries about the ruin and destruction
of Babylon; but could we see more of the kings engaged against her, we should hope
groundedly that her fall was at the door. Well, blessed be God for what kings there
are, and the Lord turn the hearts of many more to hate her.
Some, as I said before, have adventured to foretell the time of her downfall; but
give me the signs thereof. This therefore is a sign, a sign that her downfall approaches,
when God shall lay her nakedness before the nations, and put it into the hearts of
kings to abhor her. The signs of the times the Lord Jesus would have us mind; and
because the Jews neglected them, though as to the time they hit pretty right, yet
they missed of the thing that the time brought forth.
THIRD SIGN.
Thirdly, A third sign of the approach of the ruin of Antichrist, is this: 'When Babylon
is become the habitation of devils, &c.,' then the downfall thereof is upon us.
True, Babylon was always an habitation for devils; but not an habitation only for
them; Israel once dwelt there, and our Antichrist was sometimes a place of residence
for good men. The meaning then, is, When you shall see the church and people of God
so forsake her that she is left in a manner to herself, and to her disciples, then
she is to fall quickly. When you hear it proclaimed by them that are yet in her,
of God's people, 'We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her,
and let us go every one into his own country' (Jer 51:9): Then she will soon be hissed
out of the world: for this is the way of the wisdom of God; namely, to bring his
people out of a city or place, when he intends the ruin of that place. When God was
about to destroy the old world, he put his Noah into an ark: when God was about to
destroy Sodom, he sent his Lot away thence to Zoar: when Christ was about to destroy
Jerusalem, he bid his disciples flee from the midst of that: and when there shall
be by God a hissing for his people; and when they shall hear him, and obey, and gather
to him, then you shall see what will become of this enemy of Christ: 'I will hiss
for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them' (Zech 10:8-12).
I say therefore, when Babylon shall become the habitation of devils, a hold for all
foul spirits, and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird, then Babylon is fallen.
And thus the angel that lightened the earth with his glory, proclaimed, 'Babylon
the great is fallen! is fallen! and is become the habitation of devils, and a hold
for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.' Wherefore
it must be, that by that her time is come that she should fall, God will have gleaned
his people from the midst of her. And when God shall have gleaned his people from
the midst of her, those that are left behind will appear more than ever to be what
they are, to wit, devils, foul spirits, and hateful birds; wherefore, now will Antichrist
appear in his own most proper colours.
But to comment a little upon the words.
Babylon 'Mystery Babylon' (Rev 17:5). The antichristian church.
'Is fallen! Is fallen!' In the eyes and faith of the godly, by her dropping into
the dregs of degeneracy, and so is become the habitation of devils, &c., in order
to her falling into utter and unavoidable destruction for ever.
'Is become.' That is, through the labour of the fanners and winnowers that God hath
sent to fan Babylon, and to fetch out his people, that she might be left to her chaff:
'I will send [saith God to Babylon] fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty
her land [of good men;] for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round
about' (Jer 51:2).
'An habitation of devils.' Devils: not such by nature , but by practice . Incarnate
devils. For when the time is come that Babylon must be destroyed, she shall be found
to be an habitation for the most vile of the sons of men. For as devils have acted
towards the world, so shall the sons of this sorceress, and this whore, act towards
Christ and his members in the latter days. And, perhaps, the departing of Zion from
the midst of her, will blow her up into this spirit of devilism. Let God's people
therefore, when Antichrist is towards her end, look for nothing from her, but what
the devil, in times past, used to do; to wit, all sinful subtilty, malice, wrath,
fraud, deceit, lying, murder, false accusings, and implacable madness of spirit to
do them mischief. (But Lord God! think I, what will become of good men! and where
will they be safe in such days? Only I comfort myself, by saying to myself again,
this a sign that the ruin of Antichrist is at the door.) But this I say, he must
needs be a tuneable man, that shall be able in those days to sing this song to himself
at all seasons: for this is to drive reason backward, and to set the cart before
the horse. For what will the good man's reason say, when it seeth all Babylonians
are become devils, but that the church of God will certainly be torn in pieces? But
behold! the text and the Holy Ghost runs counter. 'Babylon is fallen! is fallen!
and [or, for it] is become the habitation of devils.' These words for certain are
the words of an holy angel; for it could not have entered into the heart of mere
man to have conceived them.
'An habitation.' To be an habitation (for devils) is to be their house, their dwelling-place,
their place of privilege, their place of rest and abode, or thither whither they
have right to go. And thus will Babylon be; that is, an house, an habitation, a dwelling-place,
and a place of rest, only for devilish-minded men; thither may such men come; for
such her doors stand open, and there may such inhabit. When therefore you see good
men come out thence, and all sorts of wicked men flock in thither, then know that
Babylon is near her end.
'And a hold for every foul spirit.' Understand by spirit, either those that are devils
by nature, or such as are such otherwise. But I think that the angel chiefly intends
all manner of unclean and filthy spirits; and so the church and members of Babylon,
their only place of safety: Or if you understand it of the uncleanness of the spirits
and minds of men, then the meaning is, that they are called foul spirits, in allusion
to those of devils which go by the same name (Mark 9:25). But however, or which way
soever taken, it seems Babylon is their hold ; that is, their place of defence: For
by an hold, we often understand a place of strength, a castle, a fort, a tower; so
that these devils, these foul-spirited men, these Babylonians, will not only find
house-room and harbour in Babel, but shelter, defence and protection, when she is
near her ruin: yea, they will find her an upholder to them, and a countenancer of
them, in all their foul and devilish pranks; yea, such an hold shall she be to such
foul spirits in such foul acts, that it shall not be possible that they should be
driven from her, or from them: For an hold is often taken in the scriptures for a
place that is impregnable, and must be so taken here. This intimates then, that some
faint opposition by the kings and nations will be made against these inhabiters,
foul spirits, but to little purpose, until the time of her land shall come (Jer 27:7);
for in their hold they still will be secured and defended from what reason, law and
scripture can or would do unto them. Thus then we see how Babel, towards her end,
will be filled, and with what, to wit, with devils and foul spirits; yea, and that
she will not only be an habitation, but a place of defence for such.
'And a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.' Those that before are called devils,
and foul spirits, are also here called 'birds, unclean and hateful beasts.' By the
term [Birds ,] he may allude to that of the prophet Isaiah, where these unclean birds
are mentioned (34:11-17) And by cage , he may allude to the prophet Jeremiah, from
whom, as I think, the Holy Ghost takes those words; but then we must put men in the
place of birds , and the Babylonian kingdom for the cage (Jer 5:27).
'Every unclean bird.' As was said before, a hold for every foul spirit. These unclean
birds therefore are not all of one feather, or kind, but of all and every kind; and
it intimates, that the worst act of all professions, shall be, as in a cage, in Babylon,
a little before her downfall. But I say, if they will not be all of one feather,
yet in their temper they will somewhat agree, being either in shape , monstrous;
of appetite , ravenous; or, of inclination, lovers of the night. For of all these
sorts were the forbidden, or unclean birds among the Jews. Now since these unclean
birds are not all of one feather, or kind, it intimates that the basest of all sorts,
sects, professions and degrees, shall take shelter in Babylon towards her end; and
that they shall there, in their temper, unanimously agree to show themselves monstrous,
to devour and eat up the poor and needy, and to blow out the light of the gospel.
'A cage.' Not to imprison them in, but for them to sit and sing in, to confer their
notes in, to make melodious music in; I mean, melodious to their own thinking; for
the ass thinks that he sings full favouredly, and the owl endeavours to lift up her
voice above all the birds of the wood: But it will be a prediction of her fall, and
that her ruin is at the door.
Of these birds Zephaniah speaks, when he prophecies of the downfall of Nineveh, saying,
'The cormorant and the bittern [shall] lodge in the uppermost lintels of it, their
voice shall sing in the windows; [when] desolation shall be in the thresholds' (Zeph
2:14). An unseasonable time to sing in; for when death is coming in at the door,
mourning should be in the chambers. But this is the judgment of God, That she should
be a cage for every unclean bird to sing in, even then when her destruction and desolation
cometh upon her.
To sing, as in a cage, doth also denote security, and that the heart is far from
fear; for she saith, 'I shall see no sorrow, in that hour in which her judgment comes.'
But is this a sign of the approach of the ruin of Antichrist? And must those that
shall live to see those days, rejoice when these things begin to come to pass? Are
not these things rather a sign that the utter overthrow of the church of God is at
the door? Indeed, to sense it is, and reason will be apt to say so: But hark what
the Holy Ghost saith! 'She is fallen! is fallen now!'
When therefore we shall see men like devils; yea, every foul spirit, and hateful
bird, flock to, and take shelter in Babylon; let us not be frighted or dejected,
but pluck up our hearts, and say, This is one of the signs that the downfall of Babylon
is near. Wherefore it follows, after that the prophet had told us that these birds
should dwell in the land of the people of God's curse (Isa 34). That 'the wilderness
and the solitary place shall be glad for them; [for that they are there] and the
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose: It shall blossom, [saith he] abundantly,
and rejoice even with joy and singing: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the
excellency of our God.' And to support the weak from those fears that in those days
will be pulling of them down, he adds, 'Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm
the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save
you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:
for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: In the
habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And
an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein . No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast
shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there
. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads: They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing
shall flee away' (Isa 35).
What say ye now, ye sons of God! Will you learn to make a judgment of things according
to the mystery of the wisdom of God, or will ye longer conclude according to sense
and reason: 'He turneth the shadow of death into the morning' (Amos 5:8). And commands
oft-times, that the fairest day should succeed the foulest night. Wherefore, when
we see these devils, foul spirits, and unclean birds in Babylon; yea, when we see
good men leave her, and the vilest run in to her, then let us sing the angels' song,
and say, 'Babylon the great is fallen! is fallen! and is become the habitation of
devils, and a hold for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hateful
bird.'
FOURTH SIGN.
Fourthly, another sign of the approach of the ruin of Antichrist, is, 'The Slaying
of the Witnesses': For the witnesses are to be slain before the fall of Antichrist;
and that by the hand of the beast, who shall manage the members of Antichrist, having
qualified them before that work, with those qualifications of which you read in the
sign foregoing. For what can better fit a generation for such a work, than to be
themselves all turned devils , and also succourers of all foul spirits. Wherefore,
they must be the wickedest of men that shall do this: the very scum of the nations,
and the very vilest of people. Nor is this a new notion: God threatened to give his
sanctuary 'into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth
for a spoil' (Eze 7:21); To robbers, burglars, and they should defile it (verse 22).
Again, saith God of his people, 'I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they
shall possess their houses' (verse 24). For the truth is, this work is too bad for
men either of reason or conscience to be found in the practice of. The hangman is
usually none of the best: The witnesses are also to be slain; but not a man, but
a beast must slay them; 'a den of thieves, a hold of foul spirits,' must do it.
That the witnesses must be slain before the fall of Babylon, has been hinted already.
Also, that their death is a forerunner of the ruin of Antichrist, has before been
touched upon; but in this place I shall a little enlarge.
And therefore I proceed: 'And when they shall have finished their testimony, the
beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall
overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified. And they of the people, and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see
their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies
to be put into graves.' 'And after three days and an half, the spirit of life from
God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them
which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come
up hither: And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them'
(Rev 11:7-12).
Thus you see their death is before their deliverance . Also their death is to be
by the hand of the beast; to wit by the men that have and hold his mark, and that
of his image, and that are of the number of his name. You see also that their death
is not only a forerunner of their deliverance, but a sign that their deliverance
is at the door; since the one is but three days and an half before the other.
And if a short comment upon this text will give a little light to the reader, I shall
not count my labour lost.
And when they shall have finished their testimony, when, or about the time they have
done their work of witness-bearing for God in the world: When they have made or are
making an end of giving their testimony for Christ, and against the witchcrafts,
idolatries, sorceries, fornications, thefts, murders, and wickedness of Antichrist:
Then and not till then.
'The beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit.' The beast : The power that carrieth
and beareth up Antichrist, the mother of harlots: The beast upon which the woman
sitteth, and by the heads and horns of which she is protected and defended; he is
said to ascend out of the bottomless pit; for that he manifesteth by his doings,
that he was born there, and came to [do] the work of the king thereof.
'Shall make war against them.' We read that he made war against them all the time
of their prophesying in sackcloth, while they were bearing their testimony against
his doing; and that his commission was, That he should have leave to make war so
long (Rev 12:6). But here we read again, that when they had finished their testimony,
and so consequently he had run out the time of his first commission for war, he makes
war again. So that this war which now he raiseth against them, seems to be another,
a new war, and such as is grounded upon other, to wit, new arguments, besides those
upon which his first war stood. By his first war, he sought to beat down and overthrow
their testimony (Rev 13:4). By this war he seeketh to overthrow themselves . The
first war he made, was grounded upon a vain confidence of his ability to destroy
their faith; but this last was grounded upon madness against them, because their
testimony had prevailed against him: Wherefore, Torment , wherewith these witnesses
by their testimony tormented him and his followers, was the cause of this last war.
And this is insinuated when he saith, 'They make merry for their victory over them,
because these two prophets,' (to wit, by their testimony,) 'tormented them that dwelt
on the earth' (Rev 11:10).
The beast therefore will make a war against the witnesses all the time of their prophesying
in sackcloth, which will be a thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev 12:6).
In all which time they shall give him the foil, and overcome him by their faith and
testimony; and be proclaimed more than conquerors over him, through the Christ that
loved them. But now in this second war he overcomes them, 'he overcomes them, and
kills them.'
Jezebel for a long time made war against Elias the prophet, seeking to overthrow
the worship of God which he maintained, and to establish the religion of Baal: But
when she saw that by all she could do she got nothing, but that the prophet got the
day of her worship, priests and worshippers (1 Kings 18:30-40), she breaks out into
a rage, as one tormented almost to death, and raises a new war; not now against his
religion, but his person, and desperately swears by all the gods that she had, That
by tomorrow that time the life of the prophet should be as the life of one of her
priests whom he had slain for an idolater (1 Kings 19:2). When the devil sees that
he cannot do by argument, he will try if he can by blows.
When Zedekiah, the son of Chenanah, saw that with argument he could not overcome
Micaiah, he steps to him, and takes him a box of the ear (1 Kings 22:24). This new
war, is a box of the ear which the beast will give the witnesses, because they overcame
him by their faith and testimony, all the time that the first war lasted.
Now how long this second war will last, and what strugglings the witnesses will make
before he shall overcome them, I know not: This I know, that the text saith, 'by
this war he shall overcome them.'
'And shall overcome them.' Saints are not said to be overcome, when they are imprisoned,
banished, and killed for their faithful testimony: No, by these things they overcome
. To overcome then, is to get the mastery, to subdue, to turn out of possession,
to take and hold captive, to strip the subdued of power and privilege, as is sufficiently
manifest both by scripture and reason: 'For of whom a man is overcome, of the same
he is brought in bondage' (2 Peter 2:19).
So then, when he is said to overcome them, it is meant, he shall get the mastery
of them, they shall grow faint before him, have no heart or spirit to bear up in
their profession against him: Against him , I say, as she did the thousand two hundred
and threescore days' war with him; for then they were overcomers, and did bear away
the garland.
Nor do I, for my part, wonder at this, when I consider that these witnesses are a
succession of good men; and that when Israel came out of Egypt of old, the feeble
and weak-handed did come behind (Deu 25:17-19). It will be the lot therefore of the
church, in the latter end of the reign of the beast, to be feeble and weak in their
profession, the valiant ones having gone before: These will come, when those that
were able have bravely borne their testimony, or when they are upon finishing of
that: In comparison of whom, they that come after will be but like eggs to the cocks
of the game: wherefore they must needs be crushed, cowed, and overcome. And then
will the beast boast himself, as did his type of old, and say, 'My hand hath found
as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have
I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth,
or peeped' (Isa 10:14).
A sad time, and it is to happen to the people that are left, to the latter end of
the witness-bearers; and that too when they shall have finished their testimony.
Of this tyranny the cruelty of Amalek was a type; who, as was hinted before, smote
the hindermost, the weak: But his judgment is, That 'he shall perish for ever.'
'And shall overcome them.' There are two ways of overcoming; to wit, by power and
policy: And perhaps by both these ways they may be overcome. However, overcome they
shall be; for so saith the holy word of God; yea, the beast shall overcome them.
Wherefore the church of God, at that day, will be under such a cloud as she never
was since Christ's day. Now how long they shall thus be held captive before they
are brought to execution; whether the beast will ride in triumph while they are in
his bonds; or whether he will suddenly kill them; that time, and observation, and
experience, must make manifest: But kill them he shall, that's most certain, for
so says the Holy Ghost.
'And shall overcome them, and kill them .' In this method therefore God will suffer
the beast to proceed with the church of God, after she has sufficiently borne her
testimony for him in the world. He shall 'war against them,' but that is not all:
He shall overcome them, but that is not all; he 'shall overcome them, and kill them.'
'And kill them.' Of their slaughter also I shall speak a word or two. But first I
would note, as all know, that there is a difference to be put betwixt killing and
overcoming: For though every one that is killed, is overcome: yet every one that
is overcome, is not killed (Acts 21:32): men may be overcome, and yet live (Jer 12:11);
but when they are killed, it is otherwise: There may be a cry heard from the mouth
of them that are overcome, but not from the mouth of them that are killed (Exo 32:18;
Acts 7:34): They that are overcome, may consult their own enlargement, and deliverance;
but they that are killed, cannot do so. I do therefore distinguish between killed
and overcome , because the text doth so: 'He shall make war against them, and shall
overcome them, and kill them.'
'And kill them.' From these words therefore I will take occasion to inquire,
1. How they are to be considered as to this slaughter.
2. What death they must die to accomplish this prophecy.
FIRST, How they are to be considered?
I answer: Not in a carnal or natural, but in a mystical sense. For, first, they are
called witnesses. Secondly, They are put under the number of two: 'My two witnesses'
(Rev 11:3). Both which are to be mystically taken.
First , Because their testimony standeth not in their words only, but in their conversation;
yea, in their suffering also: and that is a mystical witness-bearing.
Secondly , They go under the number of two: Not because there were indeed two such
men in the world, but because two are a sufficient number to bear witness (Num 35:30;
Deu 17:6; 19:15); and God's church, in the most furious heat and rage of Antichrist,
has been at least of such a number of professing saints, to proclaim against the
beast and his worship in the name of God. To think that there have been two such
men in the world, is ridiculous; for these witnesses must continue to give their
testimony for God against Antichrist, a thousand two hundred and threescore years.
Nor can they scripturally bear this title, My two witnesses , but with respect to
their prophesying so long. The witnesses therefore are nothing else but a successive
church, or the congregation of God abiding for him against Antichrist, by reason
of a continual succession of men that is joined by the special blessing of God unto
it.
SECONDLY, What death they must die? I answer, Not a corporeal one, but that which
is mystically such. And I choose to understand it thus, because this suiteth best
with their state and condition, which is mystical. Besides, thus did they (when they
did overcome,) slay their enemies, even with the fire or sword of their mouth: 'If
any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies:
and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed' (Rev 11:5). As therefore
they went about to kill their enemies, so their enemies will kill them: But they
sought to kill their enemies by their testimony, as to their antichristian spirit,
and church-state; and their enemies will kill them, as to their Christian heat and
fervency of mind; and also as to their Christian church-state. So that, (at least
so I think,) there will be such ruins brought both upon the spirit of Christianity,
and the true Christian church-state, before this Antichrist is destroyed, that there
will for a time scarce be found a Christian spirit, or a true visible living church
of Christ in the world: Nothing but the dead bodies of these will be to be seen of
the nations; nor them neither, otherwise than as so many ruinous heaps. For the love
that I bear to the church of Christ, I wish, as to this, I may prove a false prophet:
But this looks so like the text, and also so like the dispensations of God with his
church of old, that I cannot but think it will be so. For the text, I have spoken
to that already; wherefore I will now present you with some things that look like
parallel cases.
First, When the church was coming out of Egypt, just before they were delivered from
Pharaoh, they were in their own eyes, and in the eyes of their enemies, none other
than dead: 'It had been better [said they to Moses] for us to serve the Egyptians,
than that we should die in the wilderness' (Exo 14:12). The people said so, Moses
feared, and Pharaoh concluded they were all dead men (Exo 12:33). Also Paul tells
us, 'that they were baptized [that is, buried] unto Moses in the cloud, and in the
sea.' They were, for the time, to use the expression, a dead church both in the eyes
of Pharaoh, in the eyes of Moses, and also in their own.
And 'tis to be taken notice of: As the witnesses in the text were slain but a little
before the ruin of Antichrist began; so this church was baptized in the sea but a
little before great Pharaoh was drowned there.
Secondly , In the time of Elias, which time also was typical of this, what church
was there to be seen in Israel? None but what was under ground, buried in dens, and
in caves of the earth: Yea, the prophet could see none, and therefore he cried to
God, and said, Lord, they have 'digged down thine altars,' and slain thy prophets,
'and I am left alone, and they seek my life' (1 Kings 19:14; Rom 11:3). What visible
living church was now in the land, I mean, either with reference to a godly spirit
for it, or the form and constitution of it? What was, was known to God, but dead
to every man alive.
Thirdly , What was the dry bones that we read of in the 37th of Ezekiel, but the
church of God, and also a figure of what we are treating of? And why called dry bones,
since the people were alive, with their substance, wives, and children; but to shew,
that that church of God was now, as to their spirit and church-state, accounted as
dead , not only by themselves, but by the king of Babylon, and the nations round
about? Babylon then was the valley, and the grave; and the church of God were the
bones: Bones without flesh, sinews, or skin; bones exceeding dry; yea so dry and
dead were they, that the prophet himself could not tell whether ever they should
live again (Eze 37:1-3).
Now this, as I said, was a state that was not to end with the church of Israel, but
to be acted over once again by the beast with the church of the new testament: Yea,
it is an easy matter to make their witnesses in this their death, and the church
of Israel in this their grave, in many things to symbolize.
Fourthly , Take another instance, or rather comparison, into which the church of
God compared herself, when under the king of Babylon's tyranny: And that is, she
counted herself as the dung that the beast lets fall to the ground from behind him.
And doth this look like a visible church-state? Or has it the smell or savour of
such a thing? Nebuchadnezzar (said she) 'hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath
filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out' (Jer 51:34). Pray, what
would you think of a man, of whom one should tell you, That he was eaten up of a
dragon; made to fill the belly of a dragon; and cast out as the dung of a dragon?
Would you think that such an one did all this while retain the shape, form, or similitude
of a man? Why, thus the church said she was, and thus the church shall be again:
For she is once more to be overcome, to be overcome and killed; and that by the beast,
the dragon's whelp, of which the king of Babylon was a type. And therefore I conclude
the premises; that is, That the beast will kill the church that shall be in the latter
days, as to her Christian spiritedness, and her church-state. And I could further
add, That if we hold they die corporeally, we must conclude, that their natural body
being slain, shall lie three years and an half in the street; yea, that their resurrection
shall be corporeal, &c. But why we should think thus, as yet I can see no reason,
since the persons are such mystically; the beast mystically so; the street in which
they be, mystically such; and the days of their unburied state, to be taken mystically
likewise. But we will pass this, and descend to other things.
Fifthly , I will yet add another thing. When Israel was coming out of Babylon; yea,
while they were building of the temple of God, which was a figure of our church-state
now under the Gospel; they were not only troubled, hindered and molested in their
work, but were made for a time to cease, and let the work lie still.
'Now [says the text] when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter [which he sent to forbid
the Jews in their work] was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe, and their
companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease
by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem.
So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia' (Ezra 4:23,24).
And I pray, since their temple-worship was a type of a new testament church-state
and worship, what doth their causing of that work to cease signify to us, but that
we must have a time also to cease as they? And since their temple-work was caused
to cease before the house was finished, what face could there be at present thereupon,
but that, to look to, it was like some deformed, battered, broken building, or as
such an one that was begun by foolish builders? Yea, and since the Jews left off
to build God's house at the command of the heathens, what did that bespeak, but that
they had lost their spirit, were quashed, and so as to their temple-work, killed,
as it were, to all intents and purposes? And thus it will be, a little before the
church of God shall be set free from the beast, and all his angels: For these things
were writ for our admonition, to show us what shall be done hereafter; yea, and whether
we believe or disbelieve hereabout, time will bring it to pass.
I do not question but many good men have writ more largely of this matter: but as
I have not seen their books, so I walk not by their rules. If I mistake, the mistakes
are only mine; and if I shall merit shame, I alone must bear it.
Some may think they have said enough, when they assert, that for the witnesses to
be killed , is, To be dead in law . But I answer, That is not to be overcome . They
are here said to be overcome; and that is more than to be dead in law: For a man
may be dead in law, and yet not be overcome; and if so, then far enough off from
being killed. So then, for as much as they are said to be overcome and killed , it
must be more than to be dead in law . Besides, the text supposeth that they had yielded
up, as dying men do, their souls, their spirit of life into the hands of God: For
it saith concerning them, That at their resurrection, the spirit of life from God
entered again into them: Into them, antecedent thereunto. 'and after three days and
an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their
feet' (Rev 11:11). thus it was concerning the dry bones, of which mention was made
before: 'Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live' (Eze 37:9). And thus much concerning
their killing.
Now, as I said, since in death, the body doth not only lie dead, but the spirit of
life departs therefrom; it is to shew, that not only their bodies, their church-state,
shall die, [for churches are called bodies, (1 Cor 12:27; Eph 3:6; 4:12; 5:23; Col
1:18)] but that spirit of life that acted those bodies, shall be taken up to God.
There shall, for a time, be no living visible church of Christ in the world: A church,
but no living church, as to church-state: A church in ruins, but not a church in
order: Even as there was once a Christ, but no living Christ in the grave; yet the
gates of hell shall not prevail to an utter overthrow thereof, no more than they
prevailed to an utter overthrow of Christ; but as one did, so shall the other, revive,
and rise again, to the utter confusion and destruction of their enemies: Yea, and
as Christ, after his resurrection, was, as to this body, more glorious than he was
before; so the witnesses, after their resurrection, shall be more spiritual, heavenly,
and exact in all their ways, than they were before they were killed. Resurrections
are always attended with new additions of glory; and so shall the church of God,
as to her church-state, be in the latter days.
But yet the beast shall not altogether have his will, (if that at all was his will)
that these witnesses, in this second war, should be conquered to a compliance with
Antichrist in his foolish and vain religion: For it is not with dead men to comply;
but as they are dead to their own church-state, so they are to his. When the Jews
had killed Christ, it was beyond all the art of hell to cause that his body should
see corruption; so when the beast has killed the witnesses, he shall not be able
to corrupt them with any of his vices.
Hence you find, that not the witnesses, but the dwellers upon the earth were them
that danced after the devil's pipe, when he had fulfilled their murder.
Nor doth this murder, as to the fulfilling of it in those nations where the woman
sitteth, seem to be a great way off, if all be true that from foreign parts some
have said: For what a withdrawing of God and of his Spirit is there already in some
of the churches of God! The word worketh not that sound repentance which it was wont
to do: Preachers preach for little, but to spend themselves, as men that are wounded
do when with groans they let out their life. Where (say some) is the spirit and life
of communion? And where that practical holiness that formerly used to be seen in
the houses, lives and conversations of professors? The whole head is sick, and the
whole heart faint already; and how long will it be before churches die of the wound
that the beast has given them, time must make appear: But die I perceive they must;
for if the wound already given will not kill, repeated blows shall.
By all that I have said, I do not deny but that many of the people of God may die
corporeally, by the hand of the beast, in this second war that shall be made by him
against the witnesses. But should as many more die, that will not prove that that
death will be that that by the killing of the witnesses is intended.
Some thing I would bestow upon the reader, for him to carry with him as a memorandum,
while he reads this account of things: As,
First , This victory of the beast, is not to be until the witnesses have finished
their testimony; and so by all that he shall do, he shall not hinder the revelation
of any of the truths that they either were to bring to light, or to confirm by their
witness-bearing.
Witnesses are not always bound to speak: There is a time 'to keep silence' (Eccl
3:7), and 'thou shalt be dumb' (Eze 3:26). But how shall we know when this time is
come?
1. When a sufficient testimony has been given for Christ, and against Antichrist,
before the God of heaven; for he must be the judge.
2. When her enemies forbear to plead against her by argument, and rather betake themselves
to blows (Matt 10:19).
3. When the spirit of testimony-bearing is taken from the church; for that is not
essential to Christianity, but is given and taken away as there is occasion.
4. When testimony-bearing becomes a vain or needless repetition, when they have heard
sufficiently of things before (John 9:27).
Secondly , This victory of the beast shall not invalidate or weaken their testimony;
no, not in the eyes of the world; for they will still remember, and have a reverence
for it: This is intimated by this, That 'they of the people and kindreds and tongues
and nations(that are neither the witnesses, nor they that in the next verse are called
the inhabiters, or they that dwell upon the earth,)shall not suffer their dead bodies
to be (buried, or be) put in graves' (Rev 11:9).
Thirdly , This shall not lengthen the reign and tranquility of the antichristian
kingdom; nor frustrate, drive back (or cause to tarry) the glorious freedom and liberty
of the saints. But some may say, This will be a SAD day.
So it will, and gloomy; but it will be but short, and 'the righteous shall have dominion
over them next morning.' 'Twill last but three days and an half; nor shall it come,
but for the sins of churches and saints, and to hasten the downfall of the kingdom
of the beast, and for the sweetening to the church her future mercies. Christ Jesus,
our Lord, in answer to the question of his disciples, about the destruction of Jerusalem,
presented them with a relation of many sad things; but when he was come even to the
hearts of men, and had told them 'that they should fail for fear': He said, 'when
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your
redemption draweth nigh' (Luke 21:25-28).
'Tis as ordinary as for the light to shine, for God to make black and dismal dispensations,
to usher in bright and pleasing [ones]; yea, and the more frightful that is which
goes before, the more comforting is that which follows after. Instances in abundance
might be given as to this, but at present let this suffice that is here upon the
paper before us; namely, the state of the witnesses, with their glorious resurrection.
FIFTH SIGN.
Fifthly , Another sign of the approach of the ruin of Antichrist, will be this: The
great joy that will be in her, and among her disciples, when they shall see that
the witnesses are slain, and lie dead upon the spot: 'And they that dwell upon the
earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth' (Rev 11:10). Babylon
has been always a merry city, and her disciples merry men; but the poor church of
Christ has been solitary, and as a wife forsaken; her tears upon her cheeks bear
her witness, and so doth her sackcloth- weed.
Hence our Babylon, under the name of Nineveh, is called, 'the rejoicing city' (Zeph
2:15). Only her joy is distinguished from that which is the joy of God's people,
by these two things.
First, Either she rejoiceth in outward and carnal glory, or else in the ruin of the
church of God. This last, to wit, the supposed ruin of the church of God, is that
which will be now the cause of her glorying. And this is the joy that God complaineth
of, and for the which he said that he would punish Babylon: 'Chaldea shall be a spoil:
All that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. Because ye were glad, because
ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage,' &c. (Jer 50:10,11). The joy therefore
of Babylon, Antichrist; the joy that she shall conceive in her heart upon the slaughter
of the witnesses, is a sure sign of her unavoidable ruin and destruction. These two
prophets tormented her; they were to Babylon as Mordecai was to Haman, a continual
plague and eye-sore: As also was David to the wretched Saul: But now they are overcome,
now they are killed; now she rejoiceth, and maketh merry. And this her joy was of
old prefigured by them that in her spirit have gone before her: As, First , When
the Philistines had, as they thought, for ever overcome Samson, that Nazarite of
God, how joyful were they of the victory! 'Then the lords of the Philistines gathered
them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice:
for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. And when the
people saw him, [saw him in chains] They praised their god: for they said, Our god
hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which
slew many of us' (Judg 16:23,24). Poor Samson! While thou hadst thy locks, thy liberty,
and thine eyes, thou didst shake the pillar that did bear up their kingdom! But now
they have conquered thee, how great is their joy! How great is their joy, and how
near their downfall! This therefore is a joy that is like that we have under consideration,
to wit, the joy of them that dwell upon the earth; for that the witnesses that did
bear up the name of God in the world, were overcome and killed.
Secondly , Like to this, is that which you read of in the first book of Samuel, concerning
the men that had burnt David's Ziklag. Ziklag was poor David's place of safety; nor
had he any else but that under the whole heaven: But the children of the east came
upon it, and took it; set it on fire, and carried thence all David's substance, with
his wives and his children. (Very ill done to a man in affliction; to a man that
went always in fear of his life, because of the rage of his master Saul.) But how
were they that had got the victory? Oh! joyful, and glad, and merry at heart at the
thoughts of the richness of the booty? 'Behold, they were spread abroad upon all
the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that
they had taken out of the land of the Philistines (from Ziklag) and out of the land
of Judah' (1 Sam 30:16). Here again you find a joy and merriment like these that
we have under consideration, and that upon such like accounts. Nothing pleases the
wicked more, than to see the godly go down the wind; for their words, and lives,
and actions are a plague and a torment to them: As 'tis said of these two prophets,
'They tormented them that dwelt on the earth.'
Thirdly , While the church of God lay dead in Babylon, and as bones exceeding dry;
what a trampling upon them was there by Belshazzar a little before his death! He
called for his golden and silver vessels that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken
out of the temple of God that was at Jerusalem, (those holy vessels once dedicated
to the worship and service of God) that his princes, his wives and his concubines
might drink therein. An high affront to heaven: 'They drank wine, and praised the
gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone' (Dan 5:4).
And all to shew what a conquest, as he thought, he had got over the God of heaven,
and over his people that dwelt in Jerusalem, and over his ordinances and vessels
used in his worship and service: Yea, this he did with such joy that was not usual,
as is intimated by his doing of it before 'a thousand of his lords,' and that till
he had drank himself drunken. But all this while, as was hinted before, the church
of God, as it were, lay dead at his feet; or as the phrase is, 'as bones exceeding
dry.' This too will be the joy of the beast and his followers in the latter days;
they will make war with the witnesses; they shall overcome them, and kill them; and
when that is done, they shall rejoice over them, and make merry. But as Belshazzar
soon after this, saw the handwriting that made his knees knock together ; and as
he lived not to see the light of another day; so 'twill be with the beast and his
followers; the next news that we hear upon this mirth and jollity, is, the tenth
part of his kingdom falls, and so on till the whole is ruined.
Thirdly , Moab also, in the day that Israel was taken captive by their enemies, could
not forbear but skip for joy , so glad was he in his heart thereat. But what saith
the jealous Lord? 'Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the Lord:
Moab also shallbe in derision: For was not Israel (saith God) a derision unto thee?
was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy'
(Jer 48:26,27). Of all things, God cannot away with this: For when the wicked would
rejoice that they have been suffered to make havoc of the church of God, they deny
the wisdom and power by which they were permitted to do this, and offer sacrifice
to their own net and drag (Hab 1:16); which provoketh the holiness of Israel: 'Shall
the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify
itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them
that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.'
But what follows? Why, burning and consuming of soul and body of them that do such
a thing (Isa 10:15-18). And this text I the rather bring, because 'tis to be the
portion of Antichrist.
And therefore let this be a caution to the men that wonder after the beast, to caution
them to repentance, for he will assuredly go into perdition. What! shall the witnesses
of God be killed! Shall the beast stand glorying over them while they are dead, with
his feet in their neck? and shall none be angry at it? Let them that love themselves
look to themselves: God will be concerned, and will assuredly for this quickly put
a period to the kingdom and reign of Antichrist (Jer 50:13).
And although this glorying mistress of iniquity, this Antichrist and Babylon, may
say that her power is the hammer of the whole earth; yet God will cut him in sunder,
and break him in pieces with his bout- hammers, [13] with the kings[14] of the earth, that
he will use to do this work withal; that is, when this last sign is fulfilled: I
call it the last sign ; I find none that doth intervene betwixt the slaying of the
witnesses, and the beginnings of the ruin of Antichrist but this.
But a little to comment upon their joy, as the Holy Ghost doth set it forth. The
cause of their joy we have touched already; which was, for that they had slain their
tormentors. For, as was shewed you, the witnesses had been their tormentors: But
when they shall overcome them, and kill them, they rejoice, make merry, and send
gifts one to another.
This repeating , and repeating with aggravation, doth manifest, and at that day their
joy will be exceeding great: 'They shall rejoice, and make merry,' &c. They shall
rejoice over them , over their slain, their enemies, their tormenting enemies. This
joy therefore, is a joy that flows from victory, from victory after a war that has
lasted a thousand two hundred and threescore years. They shall rejoice, as they do
that have a most potent, vexatious, and tormenting enemy lying dead at their foot,
and as those that ride in triumph over them. They shall therefore rejoice as conquerors
used to do, who make the slaughters of their spoiled enemies the trophy of their
joy.
For the devil, that great deceiver of mankind, will so flush up and bewitch the men
that wonder after the beast, with the victory that they shall get over the faithful
witnesses for God and his Son, that they will think ('twill never be day) that the
victory is so complete, so universal, so thorough, that the conquest must be lasting.
And from sense and reason they will have ground to think so; for who now is left
in the world any more to make head against them? but here comes in that which will
utterly spoil this joy; these conquered, killed, dead men must come to life again,
and then what's become of their joy? 'And great fear fell upon them which saw them'
(Rev 11:11). Wherefore, this joy must fade and vanish: But, I say, the followers
of the beast will be far from thinking so; for they will 'rejoice over them, make
merry, and send gifts one to another,' concluding that these tormentors shall never
torment them more. But Jacob's blessing upon his son Gad, shall be fulfilled upon
these witnesses: 'Gad [saith he] a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome
at the last' (Gen 49:19). So then these conquerors must not always rejoice, though
they will suppose they shall, and also make merry too.
'And make merry.' To make merry, is more than to rejoice. To rejoice, doth shew the
present act of the soul; but to make merry, is to use the means as will keep this
joy alive, and on foot. Joy is one thing, and the continuance of it is another (1
Sam 25:36). Joy may be begotten by a conceit, a thought; but it cannot be maintained
so; because deliberation will come in and spoil it (Esth 5:4), if sufficient means
is not used to continue it: wherefore he adds, They rejoiced over them, 'And made
merry.'
And there are five things that are usually made use of to keep up wicked joy. 1.
There is the merriment of music (Luke 15:25,32). 2. The merriment of feasting (Judg
19:6,9). 3. The merriment of laughter (Eccl 10:19). 4. The merriment of fleshly solace
(Jer 31:4). 5. Revenge upon a supposed enemy (2 Sam 13:28). So then, by these five
things we see what is the way that sinful joy is maintained in the hearts of wicked
men; and also by what means the limbs and brats of Antichrist will keep up that joy
that at first will be conceived in their hearts at the thought that now they have
killed their tormentors. They shall have music. They shall have feasting. They shall
have laughter. They shall have fleshly solace. And they shall have their fill, for
the time, of revenge. Thus therefore shall they rejoice over them, and make merry,
all the time of that little, short everlasting that they are to live in the world.
'And make merry.' To make merry, to make wicked mirth, there must be a continual
fraternity, or brotherhood in iniquity, maintained among them, and that where none
may come to interrupt; and that they will be capable of doing any where then, for
that their tormentors will be dead. Wickedness shall walk with open face in those
days; for then there will be none alive for God and his ways; wherefore, the beast
and his train may do what they will: now will be the time for men to live carelessly
and wantonly, and to make their wantonness their joy, (after the manner of the Zidonians)
for there will be none to put them to shame.
'And shall send gifts one to another.' This is another token of their gladness, and
also a means to buoy them up still. And it will be a sign that they have joined hand
in hand to do this wickedness, not dreaming of the punishment that must follow. This
sending of gifts to each other, and that after they have slain these two prophets,
doth also declare that they will be far from repentance, for the commission of so
great an offence. Nay, it signifies further, that they were resolved, and determined
to quench all manner of convictions one in another, that might arise in their hearts
for the sin which they had committed: for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise, and
perverts the judgment of the righteous; how much more then will it stifle and choke
appearances of such upon the spirits of wicked men! I question not at all but many
have been, by the favours and gifts of wicked men, drawn down into the belly of hell.
Now what these gifts will be, either as to kind or quantity, that I can say nothing
to: but probably, whatever they will be, there will be but little of their own cost
in them. Victors and conquerors do used to visit their friends with their spoils
won in battle, with the spoil of the enemies of their God (Ezra 10:7).
And this was David's way, after ha had recovered the loss that he had sustained at
the burning of his Ziklag; he sent to his friends of what he had taken from his enemies,
as token of victory: 'David sent of the spoil (says the text) unto the elders of
Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoils of the
enemies of the Lord' (1 Sam 30:26); And why may not those we have now under consideration,
do so to their god, and their friends also? Spoiling is like to be one of the last
of the mischiefs that Antichrist shall do to the church of God in this world: And
methinks, since the beast will have power to overcome, and to kill, he should also
have power to take away (Dan 11:33): 'Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?'
said the prophet to wicked Ahab.
However, whatever their gifts may be, and at whose cost soever bought, 'tis a sign
their hearts will be open, they shall send gifts one to another: their merry days
will then be come, and their enemies will then be dead at their feet; wherefore,
now they will have nothing to do but to rejoice over them, and to make merry, and
to send gifts one to another.
Thus as to sense and reason, all shall be hush, all shall be quiet and still: the
followers of the Lamb shall be down; the followers of the Beast be up, cry peace
and safety, and shall be as secure as an hard heart, false peace, and a deceitful
devil can make them. But behold! While they thus 'sing in the windows,' death is
straddling over the threshold! (Zeph 2:14). While they are crying peace and safety,
sudden destruction cometh: By that they have well settled themselves at their table
with Adonijah (1 Kings 1), they shall hear it proclaimed with sound of trumpet, the
witnesses are risen again.
Now the Christians' pipes will go again, and surely the earth will be rent with the
sound of their shouts and acclamations, while they cry with joyful sound, 'The kingdoms
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall
reign for ever and ever' (Rev 11:15).
But woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them; for the Lord Jesus will now begin
to shew his jealousy, and to make known his indignation towards those that have thus
cruelly slain his prophets, digged down his altars, and made such havoc of the afflicted
church of God (Isa 66:14). Now will he whet his glittering sword , and his hand shall
take hold on vengeance, that he may render a recompence to his enemies, and repay
them that hate him (Deu 32:41).
But this he will not do immediately by himself, but by such instruments as have been
spoken of before: of which more particularly to treat, shall be that I shall next
take in hand.
|
 |
|
|
