upon the earth, in order to receive them, they continue there while the children of men, hardened by the opposition of their natural hearts, and left without restraining grace, grow to the full maturity of evil, as before the flood; and proceed to put those mischievous devices into action which will rapidly draw on the final result. To the consideration of which we must

now proceed.

III. The Victory of the Lord :-its glory; and its consequences.

We have already seen, that the first step of the Lord's own advance towards the great struggle will be such a withdrawal of his wrath from some portion of the dispersed Jews, as may be considered like a dawning of the day of his promises to that people. Jewish rulers will possess Jerusalem; and the little remnant of the tribe of Judah, which shall have entered into this preparatory possession (so to speak) shall be dwelling there, probably under the protection of the faith of treaties, without attempting such military defences, as their comparative insignificance would render vain. But all dependance on the faith of treaties will cease when the restraining grace of God is withdrawn from man; and the treasures of the few but affluent Jews will concur with their apparently unprotected position, to tempt the

cupidity of the godless rulers of the Infidel world,-Gog, the prince of Ros, Meshech, and Tubal, with all his host, acting under the infatuation with which their hardened sinfulness will have blinded them.

"Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, to take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all

of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes."

Hear the account given by another prophet (Zechariah) of that same closing campaign of the great final war.

66

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley: and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the

* Ezek. xxxviii. 10-16.

mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”*

Here, once again, we find the risen saints, after having seen how the Lord is to gather them, that they may be with Him, and that He may come with them. Now, in the midst of the battle, Jesus appears, surrounded by his glorious company in the spiritual bodies, given to them at the first resurrection.

The prophet Zechariah had previously explained the manner in which God will prepare the hearts of the gathered remnant of the Jews for the manifestation of himself to their sight. Just at that point when half the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem shall have been spared in the sacking of the city, the Lord "will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem;" and He says, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.

* Zech. xiv. 1—5.

In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart."*

And while their hearts are smitten with that deep contrition, which nothing but the Spirit of grace can produce, Jesus shall go forth accompanied by his Court of Saints; and thus is described the effect of his wrath :

"Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and * Zech. xii. 9-14.