FUTURITY OF THE MANIFESTATION OF ANTICHRIST.-HIS CONNECTION WITH JERUSALEM.

THERE are few things more necessary in prophetic enquiry, than to mark carefully the place which Jerusalem occupies in the dispensational arrangements of God. The chapters which we have just been considering in Zechariah, sufficiently manifest the importance of that city. A city on behalf of which the Lord will visibly interfere, and which he will so marvellously strengthen-a city that is to be so marked by holiness, and destined to be the centre whence light and truth are to be diffused over all nations, must be important in the sight of God, in proportion as He values that truth, and the spread of the knowledge of His own holy name. Ethiopia shall not stretch out her hands unto God until Israel shall first have become white as the snow in Salmon. (See Psalm lxviii.) The ends of the earth will not fear Him, until after He has lifted up the light of his countenance on Israel. Jehovah (I quote the words of one of Israel's Psalms, Ixvii,) "Jehovah shall bless us, and (i. e. after that) all the ends of the earth shall fear Him."

Early after the flood there were great developments of energy in many Gentile nations. Assyria under Nimrod, and Egypt under the Pharaohs, displayed no little intelligence and strength. But Egypt was rebuked and Assyria was restrained, until it had been fully proved whether Jerusalem was worthy of pre

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eminence in the earth. No Gentile empire was allowed to rise into supremacy—all were held, as it were, in check, until Israel and Jerusalem had been sufficiently tried, and manifested their unworthiness. This is one instance in which the dealings of God with the nations were made dependent on the condition of Jerusalem.

And when Israel and its kings had by transgression lost their blessings, and the glory of the reign of Solomon had faded away, the supremacy, which was taken from them, was given to certain Gentile nations, who were successively to arise and bear rule in the earth during the whole period of Israel's rejection. The first of these was the Chaldean empire under Nebuchadnezzar. The period termed by our Lord the "Times of the Gentiles," commences with the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It is a period coincident, from its beginning to its close, with the treading down of Jerusalem. "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Nebuchadnezzar, therefore, and the Gentile empires that have succeeded him, have only received their pre-eminence in consequence of Jerusalem's sin; and the reason why they were endowed with that pre-eminence was that they might chasten Jerusalem; and when they shall have fulfilled that purpose, they shall themselves be set aside and be made, because of their own evil, like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. In this we have another evidence that the earthly dispensations of God revolve around Jerusalem as their centre.

We find another example of this in the method which it has pleased God to adopt in giving the prophetic history of these nations. As soon as they arose, prophets were commissioned, but especially Daniel, to delineate their course. We might perhaps have expected that their history would have been given minutely and consecutively from its beginning to its close. But instead of this, it is only given in its connection with

Jerusalem; and as soon as Jerusalem was crushed by the Romans, and ceased to retain a national position in the earth, all detailed history of the Gentile Empires is suspended. Many a personage most important in the world's history has since arisen. Charlemagne has lived, and Napoleon-many a monarch and many a conqueror-battles have been fought, kingdoms raised and kingdoms subverted-yet Scripture passes silently over all these things, however great in the annals of the Gentiles, because Jerusalem has nationally ceased to be. Eighteen hundred years ago, the detail of Gentile history was suspended-it is suspended still, nor will it be resumed until Jerusalem re-assumes a national position. Then the history of the Gentiles is again minutely given; and the glory and dominion of their last great King described. He is found to be especially connected with Jerusalem and the land. "He is to glorify himself on Zion, (Isaiah xiv. 13. Daniel xi. 45,) and to be broken and trodden under foot in the land, and on the mountains of Israel." (Isaiah xiv. 24-27.)

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That the Jews whilst yet unconverted will go back to their land, and there re-assume a national standing, has been already proved from the concluding chapters of Zechariah; for if, as those chapters teach, they are nationally converted when in their city, they must of course have returned to it when unconverted. would any one who contemplates their present circumstances in the mere light of human probability, esteem that return to be unlikely. Their land is, as it were, waiting for them unoccupied. It is still a goodly land, and as forming the great link of connection between western Europe and the East, it is peculiarly adapted for an intellectual, enterprising, and wealthy people whose idol is commercial gain. The Gentile nations also, who used to persecute, have begun to favour them. Many, says the prophet Daniel, when speaking of this period, many shall cleave to them with flatteries."

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(Chap. xi. 34.) They speak of them as an ancient people-a people wise in their generation and energetic -useful therefore, and even necessary for purposes of national advancement and prosperity. What wonder, then, that the combined influences arising from these things should soon lead them back to their city, and that the blindness of the present hour should be ready to mistake that return for their restoration under the hand of the Lord in blessing?

The condition of their land when they return is just such as might be expected from their character. "Replenished from the east, their land will be full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures ; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land is also full of idols." (Isa. ii.) Such will be the aspect of their land; and as to themselves, pride and haughtiness, the loftiness of the cedar of Lebanon, and the stiff sturdiness of the oak of Bashan will be their characteristics, even till the day of the Lord shall come. There is an awful passage in Ezekiel that speaks of this their return, chap. xxii. 19— 22.) Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because are all become dross, behold therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you."

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The last great king that is to arise among the Gentiles-one who is called in Daniel emphatically, "THE King," (xi. 36,) and " THE Prince that shall come," is one of the chief instruments by which the judgments of the Divine hand will reach that evil people.

As the history of this person is so important, and leads us to the very climax both of Jewish and Gentile iniquity, it is needful that the statements of Scripture respecting him should, in outline at least, be familiar to our minds. If his rise be future, it behoves us to know that it is future. My present object therefore will be to quote such passages as prove his futurity and describe his actings in relation to Jerusalem. The first chapters to which I refer shall be the eighth and the concluding part of the eleventh of Daniel.

The subject of the book of Daniel as a whole is the indignation of God directed through the Gentiles upon Jerusalem; but the vision of the eighth chapter is expressly said to relate to the end of that indignation. “Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision." (Verse 17.). . . "And he said,

Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be." (Verse 19.) No words can be more express than these. Unless therefore we are prepared to say that the indignation against Jerusalem has terminated, and the time of blessing, both on Israel and the nations, come; we must admit that the king described in this chapter has not yet arisen. Facts prove that no such person is at present acting in the earth; and he cannot have finished his course and be no more, for in that case Jerusalem would have been forgiven.

The criteria supplied in this chapter, to which this person when he does arise, must answer, are as follow:

I. He is to arise from the eastern branch of the Roman Empire, viz. from one of the four parts into which the empire of Alexander the Great was divided, (see verses 8 and 9, also 21, 22, 23;) i. e. he must arise either from Greece, Egypt, Syria, or Turkey.*

* Two of these are excluded by the eleventh chapter, viz. Egypt and Syria; for he is there said to conflict with the kings