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Israel. But tidings from the north and from the east, that is from the land of Israel on the north, and from the land of Edom, Moab, and Ammon on the east, trouble him (Dan. 11:44).

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This saying is fulfilled when he comes up again from the scenes of his triumphs among the nations in the land of Egypt and Ethiopia, and when the Libyans and Ethiopians are at his steps and march with his conquering army. Then he goes forth with great fury to reëstablish his power and authority over Israel at Jerusalem, which he accomplishes successfully and establishes himself as king in the holy city the second time, as the angel spake to Daniel, saying, "He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas (the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea) in the glorious holy mountain " (Dan. 11:45).

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'And they that dwell on the earth (that is the people of Israel) shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is" (Rev. 17:8). That is, "the wicked shall not understand, but the wise shall understand," which is as much as to say that the righteous who live in those times will have knowledge of these things, and therefore will not be surprised at what their eyes see, but the wicked will wonder when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

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Now when the beast goes down into Egypt and Ethiopia, it is then that it is said of him, "He is not, and yet is," which is to say that although he has gone down out of Israel's country among the nations, yet he still lives and will surely return again and reassert his authority and reign again over Israel, though but for a short time, after which he goes into perdition upon the mountains of Israel.

THE SEVEN HEADS (REV. 17:9)

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth." The seven heads of the beast are here, as well as in the prophets, called mountains. The names of these mountains, as we have already shown, are Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, Gomer, and Togarmah. These are the seven heads of Gog, or the beast. They are seven great kingdoms in the earth in the latter days under the guardianship of Gog, and they come into the land of Israel by God's command and will first be employed as instruments to execute judgment upon the rebellious house of Israel; after that is done they go into perdition. These are the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth when she saith, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."

The Dark Mountains

But these will prove dark mountains to her, wherefore the prophet saith, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he

turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness" (Jer. 13:16). She sits on these mountains, that is she stays upon them, which is elsewhere called "staying upon the Assyrian." These mountains convey no allusion whatever to the seven little hillocks on which the city of Rome is built, nor to the different forms of the Roman government, as many writers and commentators on these prophecies have erroneously set forth, who wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.

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AND THERE ARE SEVEN KINGS (REV. 17:10)

These seven kings must not be confounded with the seven heads, as they are commonly done by modern writers. The seven heads are heads of the beast. The seven kings are kings of mystical Babylon, that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth; that is, they are kings of Israel.

"Five Are Fallen"

At this certain point in the prophecy Israel will have a rapid succession of kings in the latter days when she draws near her last end. Kings of Israel are called shepherds; therefore the Lord saith of his evil shepherds, "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me" (Zech. 11:8). When the Lord pours out his plagues upon the kings, princes, priests, false prophets, and people of the land in that day, instead of their producing repentance, they abhor God and blaspheme his name because they are ripe for destruction, and their hearts are hardened, and their doom is sealed. The Lord speaks by the hand of Hosea (10: 7-8) saying, "As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water, the high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." This saying plainly indicates that this prophecy relates to the latter days of Israel. Again this prophet saith (7:7), "They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen." That is, five are fallen, which is the number of Israel's own kings up to this point in the prophecy.

"And One Is"

This one that is king at the time where this saying applies is the sixth king, but he is not of Israel's own people. The sixth king is the Assyrian, as is testified by the prophet saying, " The Assyrian shall be your king."

"And the Other Is not yet Come"

This is the seventh and last king of Israel who is of their own brethren, "and when he cometh he must continue a short space."

The Eighth King

"And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." That is, the beast is king twice, he is the sixth, and is therefore one of the seven. But the beast, the sixth king, goes down to Egypt and Ethiopia, and while absent upon that invasion of

the southern countries, the king of Israel revolts from under the beast and is exalted as king of Israel. This king is the seventh. But the beast returns from invading and making an inroad in the south with great fury, and speedily recovers to himself his lost position as king over Israel. This constitutes him the eighth king, and inasmuch as he is king twice, therefore it is said (verse 11), "And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven (that is, he was the sixth) and goeth into perdition."

When the beast has attained to the position of the eighth king over mystical Babylon, he is then approaching near to his end, as the man clothed in linen said to Daniel (11:45), "He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," or as it is said in the Revelation, that he then goes into perdition.

Some writers in attempting to solve these riddles, where it is said, "The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth," mistake this saying, as though it referred to another head of the beast, thus making eight heads to the beast, instead of seven. This is an error, there is no such thing as eight heads in this prophecy. The beast has only seven heads, and they are called by their proper names; this is not spoken of heads of the beast, but of kings over Babylon. The beast is the eighth and last king over Israel, and thence he goeth into perdition.

THE TEN HORNS (REV. 17: 12-17)

We come next to consider the horns of the beast. These horns are the old neighbors of Israel who, as well as herself, will be revived again in the latter. days. These horns will be allied with the Assyrian and will be employed by him to thrust at Israel in the day of her calamity, and to tear them in pieces, and to destroy and burn Jerusalem with fire. Their names are recorded in the eighty-third Psalm, as we have before proved when treating of the visions of John as interpreted by the prophets, and are as follows: "Edom, and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur (that is, the Assyrian) also is joined with them; they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah." These provinces will be erected into kingdoms with kings appointed over them, and crowned as John saw them, saying, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns."

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(Rev. 17:12-13) "And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." This is just what is testified of them in the eighty-third Psalm (verse 5) saying, For they have consulted together with one consent," or as the marginal reading has it, "with one heart." That is, they have one mind, as it is written in the Revelation, and give their power and strength unto the beast, or as it is said in the Psalm, "Assur is joined with them." They are confederate together, and their declared purpose is to ut terly annihilate the house of Israel, including the remnant,

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War with the Lamb (Rev. 17: 14)

'These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful." These shall make war with the Lamb, but not until after they have devoured the harlot; when they have accomplished God's judgments upon her, then they stretch forth their hand to destroy the remnant of Israel, so that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. When they undertake this exploit, they will fail; for these are God's hidden ones, they are the hundred forty and four thousand who are called and chosen and faithful; they are chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, and they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. The work of the beast with his heads and horns is measured, and when their work is done that God has assigned for them to do, then it is said of these mighty waters by the Lord out of the whirlwind, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed" (Job 38:11). This war with the Lamb we will speak of again when we come to the place where the war is described.

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The Waters (Rev. 17: 15)

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." This is Gog and all his multitude spoken of in the Revelation under the symbols of the beast with seven heads and ten horns.

The Ten Horns, and Their Work (Rev. 17: 16)

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." The words of God which are here now to be fulfilled by the ten horns supported by the beast and his seven heads, devouring the harlot as is here stated, "These shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire," the words of God of which these things constitute a fulfillment are the words which the Lord spake by the hand of his servant, Ezekiel, as they are recorded in the sixteenth and twenty-third chapters of his book; and although we have already made especial mention of these Scriptures, yet to show the connection of the words of God as contained in the Revelation, we quote these remarkable prophecies again.

"Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord. God, because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them, behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will

judge thee, as women that break wedlock, and shed blood are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

"And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry" (Ezek. 16:35-42).

A more complete connection between the Old and New Testament prophecies than this cannot well be found. It is here, as well as in the twentythird chapter of Ezekiel's prophecies, said of the Israelitish harlot that her lovers, the ten horns, and the beast with seven heads, shall make her naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. The words of these prophecies are quoted nearly verbatim in the Book of the Revelation where they are directly referred to and spoken of as the words of God that must be fulfilled.

Moreover if these interpretations be correct, of which there is no doubt, then what shall be said of the attempted interpretations of the Book of the Revelation by men who have learned little or nothing of the prophetic history of the second manifestation of the whole house of Israel in their own land in the latter days when, from being at first a righteous nation they turn back again to the iniquities of their ancestors and deeply corrupt themselves, and go again after other gods as did their fathers in the days of old, and as the prophet says, "do worse than their fathers." A man who is ignorant of the prophetic future of Israel where these marvelous prophecies will find their fulfillment, must indeed have a very elastic and accommodating mind if he can conjure up to himself a situation of affairs among the Gentile nations of the earth, past, present or future, wherein he can find a basis satisfactory to himself, or any one else, by which to interpret the Book of the Revelation. For these wonderful prophecies contained in the visions. of John in the Isle of Patmos have no reference to such things at all, but instead they refer to another people, and to another age yet far in the future.

But people who are born under a veil and who have been reared and educated under the veil which covers all nations, can never understand or interpret the Scriptures aright until the veil is removed like a thick cloud from their minds; for they who attempt to read and interpret the Holy Scriptures, looking at them through this discolored and distorted medium, can only wrest them to their own destruction, and the destruction of all who are deceived by them, for the sincere belief of a lie will save no one. Paul hath said, "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (II Cor. 4:3).

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"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth

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