Daniel 9

Daniel 9:1-27

THE OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS Daniel 9:1-27. IN undertaking the exposition of the 9th chapter of Daniel, one treads not only on Holy ground, but also a perilous path. The varied interpretations of this chapter should alike impress one with the need of careful study and cautious expression. Let it be said, however, that in spite of the many interpretations which have been given to the same, the great school of premillennialism is, in its leadership at least, clear and united in understanding.It will not be our privilege, then, this morning to introduce novelties of thought or Athenian interpretation. On the other hand, we shall walk the same path that the studious fathers in the Faith took in their understanding and exposition of this chapter.What we shall say upon the subject arranges itself around The Study of Prophecy, The Messiah’s Appearance, and The World’s Prince.THE STUDY OF Daniel was a student of prophecy! “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; “In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:1-2). All Scripture is meaty; as the Apostle Paul said,“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Has it ever occurred to you that in this introduction to his experience, Daniel, all unwittingly, answers one of the most common and most important of the many criticisms that escape the mouths of Modernists?In the average College and University of either the Old or the New World, the Professor in the History of Religion is very certain to be found saying to his students concerning inspiration,— “Now, young people, when these books were originally written they expressed the convictions and experiences of their authors just as books of the present day do, and only after a long period, a period of hundreds of years, did the idea of assembling them between the same covers, and claiming for them plenary inspiration occur to man’s mind.”The distance between Jeremiah and Daniel is supposed to be less than 50 years, in other words, their lives overlapped, and yet Daniel quotes from “ THE PROPHET” with an assurance that could rest only in the certainty of inspiration, and begins to determine his whole course and conduct upon the certainty of that prophecy’s fulfilment. Inasmuch as Ezra had not yet done his compiling work, it is perfectly clear that Ezra did not assemble the Bible for Daniel, but those portions that antedate Daniel existed and were accepted before Ezra was born.The New Testament gives this fact a further and important emphasis. Peter, in his Second Epistle, addressed, you remember, “To them that have obtained like precious faith with us”, says, concerning the new Heaven and the new earth of prophecy:“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. “And account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you: “As also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:14-16). Peter, then, contemporary of Paul and constant companion in labors, regarded Paul’s writings as Scripture; in other words, when he spoke of the wisdom given to Paul he meant the Divine inspiration that guided him in what he wrote.The claims of the inspiration of the Bible, then, rest, not upon human opinion, nor yet in a careful selecting and combination of books, but rather, in the circumstance that its authors wrote as they “were moved by the Holy Ghost”.This perusal of prophecy produced penitence. Daniel was suddenly broken up by Scripture study. He saw with exceeding clearness what the future held for his people; and, in penitence, cried unto God.The record is:“I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: “And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His Commandments; “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy Precepts and from Thy Judgments. “Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the Prophets, which spake in Thy Name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land” (Daniel 9:3-6). The only reason why the men of this generation can keep their indifferent poise and go their way as gaily as if the future held for them no perils, is the fact that they are not students of prophecy. The statesmen who sit in solemn council on questions national and international indulge themselves in vain reasonings and reach impotent conclusions on the same account.However, as time moves on and history more and more runs into the mould of prophecy, thoughtful men who know nothing of what the prophetic Scriptures say, and who, in their indifference, do not concern themselves on the subject, are, by natural reason, reaching prophetic conclusions.The Chicago “Tribune” of June 15th, 1932, carries one of the most alarming articles that has been published since the century began. It raises the question as to whether the two great National political conventions that have just concluded their sittings will ever be convened again. And it significantly suggests that if Municipal, State, and Federal taxes continue to climb at the rate of recent years, and unemployment continues to grow as it has lately been growing, and crime continues unjudged and unchecked, the Government may be in the hands of Soviets, or a Dictator, by the time the next four year period of presidential occupancy ends.The leading magazines of the country are increasingly calling attention to the grave national and international questions for which no man seems to have found a solution.The economic depression now resting upon us as a democracy, increasing as it is daily, will drive students of Scripture to deeper study, and may even eventuate in a more serious attitude of mind on the part of the general public.Before passing from these sentences you should note the fact that Daniel does not set himself up as the exceptional saint who has no part nor lot with the sinners of his day. Evidently he did not believe that he alone was left as the Lord’s solitary loyalist; nor did he indulge in that now too common custom of berating the Israel of God as apostate, and calling upon it to repent.On the contrary, like Moses of old, and every true minister of truth, he included himself with his fallen brethren, and sincerely said:“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy Precepts and from Thy Judgments. “Neither have we hearkened unto Thy Servants the Prophets, which spake in Thy Name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land” (Daniel 9:5-6). The world was long since weary, and the Church of God is becoming more and more so, of those peripatetics who appear like flashes of heat lightning and pass almost as quickly, but never until they have voiced themselves in a veritable thunder storm against “organized religion,” “the apostate church,” “the professional preacher,” and “Christianity” in general.It is easy enough to point out what is lacking in the mission field; it is easy enough to charge ministers with lack of vision; it is easy enough to name the abominations of the church; it is easy enough to denounce the present apostasy, but it is rather difficult to set before the slack ministry a sample of perfection, to give the foreign missioner an illustration of personal self-sacrifice that would stimulate him to further surrender, to set before the organized body of believers,—called the church, a non-organized assembly that surpasses it for honest living, or to correct the apostasy in doctrine by a course of conduct that is Christ-approved.It is our firm conviction that one of “the signs of the times”, indicating the approaching end, is the daily increase of critics in the persons of men and women who profess to be the only adequate representatives of Christ on the earth, the only faithful exponents of doctrine, the only leaders worthy of following. The professed enterprises of these men, looking as they had claimed to the bringing in of the Kingdom of God, are, in a multitude of instances, nothing but schemes for personal preferment and financial profit, and they are beginning to be rightly named “religious racketeers.”That the Church of God is in a bad way no man can question. But the trouble with it is not independent of us, but solely on account of us. It is as true now as it was when Daniel said it, and in my extensive acquaintance, I do not know one name that can be justly excepted, “We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from God’s precepts and God’s judgments: neither have we hearkened unto the Prophets of God, which spake in God’s Name to our fathers, and now speak to us.”If there is a call for us as a church, and as a people, to be on our faces before God in contrition (and I believe there is) I know of no man, even in this blessed church, its pastor included, who is exempt!And if the churches and the denominations, as they now exist, are deficient and to a large extent apostate, and God is demanding of them repentance (and we believe that to be the exact truth), certainly the disorganized religion of the day and the disorganizers are not the vanguard of promise.There is absolutely no hope for the future in “wholesale healers,” self-styled “defenders,” “couriers” for cash only, Holy rollers, Pentecostalists of all brands, and their numerous kindred, up-to-date defections. As in Daniel’s time, so in ours. The occasion of penitence is universal, and the call to a sensible interpretation of Holy Scripture and a sane practice of Christian precepts is equally so. “There is none that doeth good; no, not one”.Daniel trusted God’s mercy and not man’s merit.“O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that ate far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee. “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee. “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him: “Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His Laws, which He set before us by His servants the Prophets. “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy Law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. “And He hath confirmed His words, which He spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Thy Truth. “Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth: for we obeyed not His voice. “And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten Thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. “O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy Sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. “O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Thy Name: for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies. “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not; for Thine own sake, O my God: for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy Name” (Daniel 9:7-19). For nearly 7,000 years now man has been attempting self-justification on the ground of self-goodness. In this matter Cain’s was the first departure from the Faith. He refused the blood offering which signified atonement and suggested man’s unworthiness, but brought “of the fruit of the ground”, or the works of his own hands.In other words, immediately following the curse against sin, Cain proposed to show that he, at least, could stand in his own integrity and required no atonement.The record in Genesis 4:4-5 is God’s eternal decree on that subject.“And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: “But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect”. From Cain’s time to the present-day boaster of personal merit, there has not been a single man accepted of God on merit ground.God’s dealings with Israel are in no sense exceptional. Favorite children of His, as they are, they must come by the one way—the Blood Way. Forgiveness is to be secured by God’s mercy or not at all. That is why Daniel dried:—“O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy Sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. “O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Thy Name: for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies” (Daniel 9:16-18). A constant disposition to self-exaltation, to self-praise, and to self-evaluation is, in fact, but another form of sin, and God cannot endure it.It is said that on one occasion a rich man resented the circumstance that John Bright did not seem to pay the proper tribute to his greatness, so he pompously asked, “Do you know, Sir, that I am worth one million sterling?” “Yes,” said the irritated but calm-spirited respondent, “It is all you are worth.”To entertain the idea that one can buy his way into Divine favor either through means, morals, birth, or station, is an idea utterly at variance with Scriptural teaching.“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). But, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”, for our forgiveness is the product of His mercy and not the reward of our rags of unrighteousness.MESSIAH’S “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; “Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. “And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy” (Daniel 9:20-24). From this it seems, we should learn three things:—First, God sometimes sends an answer by an angel.“The man Gabriel” is an archangel. In Scripture angels are often called men. This particular Heavenly servant has made more than one visit to earth. In the New Testament he was the one who came to announce to Zacharias the birth of John, and to Mary the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:19; Luke 1:26),We are quite inclined to believe that angels may have more to do with human life than men imagine. Certainly the Scriptures would so indicate.In the very first Book of the Bible the Angel of the Lord found Hagar by the fountain of water in the wilderness and commanded her to return to her mistress and to submit herself unto her hands, and promised, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude”.And in the Book of Genesis alone the ministry of angels is mentioned many times. In the Book of Exodus the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in the flame of fire in the midst of the bush.

The conversation that followed is recorded.It was the Angel of the Lord which went before the camp of Israel when they were quitting Egypt. To Moses an angel was promised to lead him in the way and to bring him at last to the place which had been prepared for him and his people.In fact, throughout the Old Testament—Numbers; Judges; I and II Samuel; I and II Kings; I and II Chronicles; Job; Psalms; Ecclesiastes; Isaiah; Daniel; Hosea; Zechariah; angels performed a never-ending ministry to men. They are always described as servants of God.The scores and scores of references to their service give special significance to Paul’s statement in Hebrews 1:14—“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation”?The mooted question, with moderns, is whether this Heavenly ministry has ended.During the last War a most engaging little volume was published entitled “The Comrade in White” and it was earnestly contended that this comrade, who appeared again and again on the battle-field in Flanders and ministered to the wounded and dying and as suddenly vanished out of sight, was either the Lord Himself or some ministering spirit of His, who evinced a Divine compassion and exercised Divine power.You will remember that in the Ecclesiastical history of Socrates there is mention made of one Theodorus, a martyr, who was put to extreme torments by Julian the Apostate, but finally dismissed by him when he found him unconquerable. Ruffinus, in his history, says that he met with this martyr a long time after his trial, and asked him, whether the pains he felt were not insufferable. He answered that at first it was somewhat grievous, but after a while there seemed to stand by him a young man in white, who, with a soft and comfortable handkerchief, wiped off the sweat from his body and bade him be of good cheer, and in whose presence punishment became such a pleasure that he was sorry when they had taken him off the rack and the angel was gone.Personally we believe, both on the basis of Biblical teaching and by reason of human experience, that there is a constant commerce between Heaven and earth, and that God’s saints are often the objects of angelic ministry.This angel voiced both Divine love and compassion.He said to Daniel,“I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy” (Daniel 9:22-24). That is like God! While it is the truth that He is no respecter of persons, it is also truth that His special love goes forth to loyal and trustworthy individuals. It did toward Joseph, and here toward Daniel, and deserving men they were; and while expressing affection for Daniel there was a prophecy and promise of compassion for Israel.The 70 weeks determined upon for this people and for the Holy city, like the 120 years of pre-deluge days, was a period of extended mercy, an age of opportunity for repentance.God’s compassions fail not!Some years ago one Mr. Gaynor was mayor of New York. A down-and-outer made an appeal to him for help and the mayor granted it. For this act a lawyer friend took him to task.“That fellow is no good.” He said, “He has only got what was coming to him. With his yellow streak . . .” “Wait a minute,” said Gaynor, “that may be also, but did you never hear of that mother who visited Napoleon concerning her son who was condemned to death, and of how the Emperor told her the young man had twice committed the same offence and justice demanded the forfeit of his life, and of how that mother answered, ‘But, Sire, I am not here to plead for justice, but for mercy.’ I had not intended to grant him justice; I purposely meant to show him mercy instead.”How good it is that our God ever holds that purpose toward even His sinful subjects, and how gracious it has been of Him to maintain that attitude through the millenniums!That is perhaps the only reason why your generation and mine has not been brought to book.God’s compassions fail not!Yet again, the verses that followReveal God’s plan and man’s perversity.“Seventy weeks are determined upon * * to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins”. What strange scenes to be followed by these, “and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy”.The very time when man is going on in his sin and is bringing his iniquities to a climax, God is planning reconciliation, righteousness and a Saviour.Truly the Old Testament and the New speak together!In John’s Gospel we read—“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the Name of the only Begotten Son of God. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather them light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:16-19). Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.But how often, as here, His very appeal to the same seems met by man’s perversity.God speaking of His people said, “As for My Law, they have rejected it” (Jeremiah 6:19), and when we come nearer to the end of this study we will find that the antichrist himself will be dealing with Jews who have forsaken the Holy Covenant (Daniel 11:30).The truth is that right now the people of God’s favor, Israel, are fulfilling prophecy; and, in their unbelief, frankly confessing their apostasy.Claude Montefiore, a leader among liberal Jews, said some time ago that he no longer believed in the miraculous incidents of the Exodus story. “We do not believe that any Divine and miraculous voice, still less that of God Himself, audibly pronounced the Ten Commandments; we no longer believe that God had any partial love for Israel; we no longer regard the Law as the unalloyed product of God; all the Festivals were probably adopted from the Canaanites; circumcision had originally nothing to do with the religion of Jehovah.”,The Zionist Movement, the sure sign of the end of the age, is being carried forward in unbelief, and with an utter indifference to its inspired prediction.The professed Christian who also holds the liberalistic view of this day will meet the coming condemnation since every sentence of prophecy is held by him more in mock than mark, and the world moves on to the consummation of transgressions— the end of sin.And for aught we know there remains little more than Daniel’s 70th week—the heptad—the period of seven years between it and the final world judgment; for this chapter concludes with a picture ofTHE WORLD’S PRINCE“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” (Daniel 9:25). The best students of the Bible have long been agreed that that portion of this prophecy is not only fulfilled, but belongs in the far past, for they interpret this heptad to mean years and not days, so that it Isaiah 70 times 7 years that is involved in this passage. They base this upon the word which instead of meaning “week” means “seven” and upon the circumstance that Daniel was thinking of the 70 years of prophecy just read from Jeremiah’s prediction and meant to multiply that 70 by 7,—490 years!However, it will be noted that he breaks these 70 years into 3 periods—A period of 7 weeks, or seven seven’s of years which would be 49 years, and A period of threescore and two weeks, or seven times 62, or 434 years. The first period was involved in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the second led up to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, or the Messiah who was cut off.It is maintained by those who have reputations to lose that from the time when the edict to rebuild Jerusalem, given in Nehemiah 2 : sent forth in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, the king, was 445 years B.C.According to this prophecy 483 years, or 69— seven’s were to intervene before the Messiah was cut off.Chronologists, reckoning upon the Jewish year basis of 360 days each, claim that those prophetic years were just completed when the Crucifixion took place, leaving a period of one heptad, or seven years, to come to pass before the world’s Prince appears.If it be kept in mind that Daniel’s prophecies ignore the times of the Gentiles, it will be understood that Israel will be dealt with finally in a 7-year period which shall compass the reign of the antichrist here described as the world’s prince.Following out, then, the prophecy, let us learn three things about him:—His promises shall please the multitudes. His break with Israel will portend the end. His just judgment will close this age. His promises shall please the multitudes.“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27). Doubtless the Covenant here referred to is a Covenant with Israel, and yet that the world rulers are to participate with pleasure in his governmental arrangement is suggested by the phrase, “with many.”Turning over to the Book of the Revelation which is a companion piece and prophetic completion of Daniel, you will discover his promised popularity.“And all the world wondered after the beast. “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him”? (Revelation 13:3-4). The word translated “beast” here is easily misleading. Such this creature will be, in fact, but not in outward appearance.Augustus J. C. Hare tells us that in the frescoes of Signorelli we have “The Teaching of Antichrist”—no repulsive figure, but a grand personage in flowing robes, and with a noble countenance, which at a distance might easily be taken for the Saviour. To him the crowd are eagerly gathering and listening; and it is only when you draw close that you can discover in his harder and cynical expression, and from the evil spirit whispering in his ear, that it is not Christ.”It is my candid conviction that no more serious obligation rests upon any living preacher of the present century than that of so clearly and carefully interpreting prophecy as to enable his people to distinguish the antichrist from the Christ.It will be remembered that Paul, in writing his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, tells us that“That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). However, the Spirit-led in Scripture study will quickly distinguish the difference, and they alone will escape the deception. How great, then, the responsibility of the preacher!But, as I have spoken fully on this subject in my volume on “The Second Coming of Christ,” and again in a previous chapter in this Book, we pause simply to remark that His break with Israel will portend the end.“In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation” (Daniel 9:27). The three and a half years, then, or time, times, and half a time, forty and two months, one thousand, two hundred and sixty days, will witness the Great Tribulation,“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). “Then if my man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not” (Matthew 24:23). However, that deceiver’s reign will be short, and His judgment shall close the age.The text should read,“And that determined shall be poured upon the desolator”. (See Scofield Bible Marginal Reference.) (Daniel 9:27). Inasmuch as I have treated this judgment in my volume on Revelation, the 20th chapter, we will not stop now to dwell further upon either the hideousness of his reign or the hell of his fate. Suffice it to say that he is assigned with Satan to the lake of fire and brimstone and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.In other words, the fate of the eternal Sinner is eternal suffering.But, with this consummation, awful alike for the unbelievers and their leader, comes the Great Day of the Christ and of all His followers. As we anticipate it we are brought into the exultant joy of the poet who wrote— “He is coming! He hath said it! Coming soon to claim His own, And the time is fast approaching When we’ll gather round His throne.

“We shall then sing forth our praises To the Lamb once crucified, Gladly bow the knee before Him Who in our place once died.

“No more sorrow, no more trial, Every tear be wiped away, When our Lord at last shall lead us To the land of endless day!

“Meanwhile, just a little longer Must we work, and watch, and pray, Then we’ll hear the shout of triumph Ushering in that glorious day!”