The Final Rise
and Fall of the King of the North-
PART 3
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT
Modern
Babylon can be identified as the "man of sin," or as the Papacy, or as
the pope, or as the threefold union of Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and
spiritualism, or simply as Catholicism. All
of these entities have a valid consideration in the term "modern
Babylon," but the verses under consideration in this study have to do with
the head of all these entities-which is the Papacy, or the pope of Rome.
The Testimony of Two Rivers
The
third reason we can identify the king of the north as the pope can be found in
the story of two rivers:
The
light that Daniel received from God was given especially for these last days.
The visions he saw by the banks of the Ulai and the Hiddekel, the
great rivers of Shinar, are now in process of fulfillment, and all the events
foretold will soon come to pass. Testimonies
to Ministers, 112-113.
The
Ulai river is associated with the vision of Daniel 8. The Hiddekel river is
associated with Daniel's vision concerning the king of the north.
The
portion of the vision of Daniel 8 which was "in process of
fulfillment" when Sister White penned this counsel was the work going on in
the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. This vision, or the story of the Ulai river, reaches its
complete fulfillment at the close of probation.
Daniel
11:40 begins "at the time of the end," which is 1798.
Therefore the portion of the vision of Daniel 11 which was in process of
fulfillment when Sister White wrote the previous statement was verses 40-45.
The testimony of these verses continues into Daniel 12, and Daniel 12:1
identifies when Michael stands up-which is the close of human probation.
Just as in the vision of "the Ulai," the vision of the Hiddekel
river reaches its complete fulfillment as human probation comes to its end.
The vision of the Hiddekel, in contrast to the vision of the Ulai,
concerns the efforts of the "man of sin" to prevent the completion of
the work going on in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary .
The
Ulai and the Hiddekel are two rivers with two different, though interrelated,
messages, but both messages come to a completion at the end of the world-just as
both rivers flowed into the same sea.
The
twofold message of the visions of both rivers are Daniel's counterpart of the
three angels' messages of Revelation 14, for the three angels' messages also
tell the story of the everlasting gospel in connection with the final work of
judgment going on in the heavenly sanctuary above. They also identify the "man of sin" who will
attempt to have the whole world receive the mark of his authority.
In
Revelation 15:2 John describes those who have entered into the experience
symbolized by the Ulai river as standing on "a sea of glass mingled
with fire," for in the battle against the king of the north, they
"had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his
mark, and over the number of his name." The vision of the river Ulal
prophetically ends at the sea of glass.
In
Revelation 19:20 John describes the end of the king of the north the Papacy-by
stating: "the beast was taken, 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 worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning
with brimstone." The vision of the river Hiddekel prophetically ends at the
lake of fire.
6-
THE
SEQUENCE BEGINS
VERSE
FORTY
AND
at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him- and the
king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and
with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and
shall overflow and pass over.
Nine Questions
About This Verse:
1.
When is the "time of the end"?
2.
Who is the "king of the south"?
3. What does "push" mean?
4. Who is the "king of the north"?
5.
What is meant by to "come against like a whirlwind"?
6.
What are "chariots" and "horsemen"?
7.
What are "ships"?
8.
What are "countries"?
9.
What does "overflow and pass over" mean?
Question 1.
When is the "time of the end”?
1.
The time of the end began in 1798:
But
at the time of the end, says the prophet, "many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Daniel 12:4.... Since 1798 the
book of Daniel has been unsealed, knowledge of the prophecies has increased, and
many have proclaimed the solemn message of the judgment near.
The Great Controversy, 356.
Question 2.
Who is the “king of the south”?
2.
The word south comes from the Hebrew referring to Egypt.
It means the and desert, south of Judea." (fr south-5045: from
an unused root mean. to be parched; the south (from its drought); spec. the
Negeb or southern district of Judah, occasionally, Egypt (as south to
Pal.): -south (country, side,-ward). The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
of the Bible, 1984 edition.
Woe
to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me;
and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to
sin: that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow
of Egypt! Therefore shall the
strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your
confusion. For his princes were at
Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They
were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit,
but a shame, and also a reproach. The
burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish,
from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying
serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and
their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit
them. For the Egyptians shall
help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, their
strength is to sit still. Isaiah
30:1-7.
Sister
White, when describing the characteristics of France in The Great
Controversy, defines the symbols used in the book of Revelation which
describe the French Revolution. Revelation
11:8 figuratively identifies France as "the great city," and calls it
"spiritually" "Sodom and Egypt." Egypt in this context is
symbolic of atheism:
"The
great city" in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where
their dead bodies lie, is "spiritually" Egypt.
Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied
the existence of the living God, and resisted His commands.
No monarch ever ventured upon more open and high-handed rebellion against
the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt.
When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord,
Pharaoh proudly answered, "Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His
voice to let Israel go? I know not
Jehovah and moreover I will not let Israel go." Exodus 5:2, A.R.V. This
is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a
similar denial of the claims of the living God, and would manifest a like spirit
of unbelief and defiance. "The
great city" is also compared, 11 spiritually," to Sodom.
The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially
manifested in licentiousness. And
this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should
fulfill the specifications of this scripture.
According
to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some
power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible.
And in the land where the testimony of God's two witnesses should thus be
silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the
licentiousness of Sodom.
This
prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of
France. During the Revolution,
in 1793, for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in
civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European
nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's
soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a
Deity."-Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17. "France
is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives,
that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the
universe......... Blackwood's Magazine, November 1870. The Great
Controversy, 269-270.
In
the French Revolution not only was the Word of God denied but also God Himself.
Notice that symbolically the term "great city" is used to
identify a nation. We will apply
this prophetic symbol again in this study:
By
the decree of the French Government, declaring that the nation acknowledged no
God, the Old and New Testaments were slain throughout the limits of Republican
France.... On the 1st of November, 1793, Gobet, with the Republican priests
of Paris, had thrown off the gown, and abjured Religion.
On the 11th, a "Grand Festival," dedicated to "Reason and
Truth," was celebrated in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which had been
desecrated, and been named "the Temple of Reason." George Croly, The
Apocalypse of St. John, 175-177.
In
1793, the decree passed the French Assembly suppressing the Bible.
Just three years after, a resolution was introduced into the Assembly
going to supersede the decree, and giving toleration to the Scriptures.
That resolution lay on the table six months, when it was taken up, and
passed without a dissenting vote... on the 17th of June. George Stoffs, Midnight Cry, Volume 4, Nos 5-6, 47.
When
a nation voices something, it is symbolic of the actions of its
government. The communistic type of
government is built around laws denying God (atheism) and expressing unbelief in
the Word of God:
The
"speaking" of the nation is the action of its legislative and
judicial authorities. The Great
Controversy, 442.
In Revelation
11:7 and also Revelation 17:8 we have a power that came out of a bottomless pit,
which symbolically means that it has no foundation in the Word of God.
The French revolution lacked the support of the Word of God, for it
was founded and sustained upon atheism. In
Exodus 5:2, "Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his
voice to let Israel go? I know
not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go."
A Most
Important Rule
The
identification of the "king of the south" in the prophecy of
Daniel 11 is determined by which power conforms to the characteristics of Egypt.
In
prophetic study, a prophecy which is applied before the time of the cross is
understood as literal in its application. After the time of the cross, a prophecy is recognized in its symbolic
application. This rule is
consistent. In 1798 the power which
is identified in the Bible as possessing the characteristics of Egypt is France.
France was the king of the south in 1798.
Revolution
The
principle which Pharaoh proclaimed is the same principle which actuated the
French Revolution. This principle
would continue to develop into an ideology which would eventually take the form
of a communistic government beginning with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
The
revolution of atheism in France continued to propagate itself until it matured
into the revolution of Communism in Russia.
As the Soviet Union began its attempt to control the world, country after
country was confronted with the weapon of atheism-revolution.
Almost
all of the nations where these revolutions were successful in bringing the
governments under the domain and influence of the Soviet Union had formerly been
under the dominion of the Papacy. Communism's
ongoing revolutions allowed the Papacy to identify the Soviet Union as a common
enemy, both of the Papacy and of the United States.
The common enemy ploy prepared the way for the alliance of verse
40 and Revelation 13:
Worldwide
dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution-[is]
tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed
France. Education, 228.
The
king of the south began his attack during the time of the French Revolution by
taking the pope captive, thus inflicting the deadly wound, but it continued its
war against Catholicism throughout the history of the Soviet Union.
In
time, the prophecy states that the king of the north would return and sweep away
the king of the south.
Question 3.
What does "push” mean?
3.
The word translated 'push' means to war against:
I
saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that
no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out
of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
Daniel 8:4.
push-505
push. Strong's. 5: push;
to butt with horns; fig. to war against: gore, Push symbolizes a war initiated
at the "time of the end" (1798), by the "king of the south"
(atheism), against the "king of the north" (the Papacy).
Question
4. Who is the "king of the north"?
4.
The 'king of the north' is the Papacy:
Behold,
I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them
against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these
nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jeremiah 25:9.
For
thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with
chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
Ezekiel 26:7; see also Jeremiah 46:2, 20.
The
woman (Babylon) of Revelation 17 is described as "arrayed in purple
and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having
a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness ... and upon her
forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS." Says the prophet "I saw the woman drunken with the blood
of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Babylon is
further declared to be "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of
the earth." Revelation 17:4-6, 18. The
power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of
Christendom is Rome. The Great Controversy, 382.
Prophecy
applied before the cross is understood in its local and literal setting;
prophecy applied after the cross is understood in its symbolic setting.
For example, modem Israel is the Seventh day Adventist Church, so too,
modem Babylon is the Papacy.
Question 5.
What is meant by to "come against like whirlwind"?
5.
Whirlwind is to take away fearfully like a storm, and describes a
mighty, sweeping away, and an ascendancy:
come
8175: a prim. root; to storm; by impl. to shiver, i.e. fear:-be (horribly)
afraid, fear, hurl as a storm, be tempestuous, come like (take away as with) a
whirlwind.
against-5921:
same as 5920. 5920: from 5927. 5927: Prim. root; to ascend, intrans.
(be high) or act. (mount); used in great variety of senses, primary and
secondary, lit. and fig. (as follow): -arise (up), (cause to) ascend up.
In
the time of the end the king of the south (atheism) will wage a war against the
king of the north (the Papacy), but in time the king of the north (the Papacy)
will return, and will come against the king of the south (Communism) as a mighty
storm and will sweep away the king of the south. Then
the king of the north will arise up or ascend at the same time.
Question 6.
What are "chariots” and “Horsemen"?
6.
Chariots and horsemen symbolize military Strength:
Then
Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he
prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
I Kings 1:5.
And
Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were
thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he
went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. I Kings
When
the king of the north (the Papacy) arises and sweeps away the king of the south
(Communism), he will use military strength to bring it about:
Support
will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of
righteousness, the only sure test of character.
And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils, and obey
the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the
disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone,
but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. . . . Selected
Messages, book 3, 385.
Question 7.
What are "ships"?
7.
Ships symbolize economic strength:
They
that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.
Psalm 107:23.
She
is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
Proverbs 31:14.
For
in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and
sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they
saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing,
saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had
ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made
desolate. Revelation 18:17-19.
Through
economic pressure the king of the north sweeps away the king of the south.
The king of the south succumbs to a combination of economic and military
power, the same two characteristics that the Papacy and its image will use to
force the world to receive the mark of the beast.
See Revelation 13:15-17.
Question
8. What are "countries”?
8.
The "countries" spoken of here represent the countries that
were under the king of the south's control.
If nothing else, this fact tells us that the king of the south had a
group, or confederation of countries. These
countries of the king of the south were the satellites of the U.S.S.R.
Question
9. What does "overflow and pass over" mean?
9.
To overflow is to rush, or wash away; and to pass over is
to cross over or overrun:
overflow-7857:
a prim. root; to gush; by imp]. to inundate, cleanse; by anal. to gallop,
conquer: -drown, (over-) flow (-wheim), rinse, run, rush, (thoroughly) wash
(away).
pass-5674:
a prim. root; to cross over. Strong's.
The Final
Analysis
In
1798 the king of the south, France, began an ongoing war against the king of the
north, Catholicism. Atheism
continued to develop its ideology, and reached another stage of growth at the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Communism
continued the war against Catholicism, attempting to bring the former empire of
papal Rome into its grasp, but in time, Catholicism mounted an overwhelming
counterattack. The king of the
north swept away the entire structure of the king of the south, entering, into
all the countries of the former Soviet Union.
This
overwhelming attack came with the military and economic aid of the United
States. This alliance repeats the
history of Clovis, when "arms shall stand on his part." It points to
Revelation 13, teaching that soon the United States will speak as a dragon, and
then force the world to also form an image to the beast.
Daniel 11:40 is the first historical manifestation of this end-time unholy
alliance.
CONTINUE
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PART 4
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