Samuel Hopkins · 44 of 48

Section IV. In which is considered, what events are to take place, according to Scripture Prophecy, before the beginning of the Millennium, and to prepare the way for it. · Part 2

The same battle and slaughter of men is represented and predicted in figurative prophetic language, in the fourteenth chapter, where John describes a vision which he had of one like unto the Son of man, who sat upon a white cloud, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And it was said unto him, “Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.” And it was said unto him, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God, And the wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

Upon this vision it is to be observed, that by the harvest of the earth, and the clusters of the vine of the earth, are meant the inhabitants of the earth, or mankind in general. And reaping the harvest, and gathering the clusters of the vine of the earth, signifies the slaughter and destruction of the inhabitants of the earth; not every one of them indeed; for in the harvest and vintage, some ears of corn are commonly left standing, which escape the sickle, and a few scattering grapes are left on the vine when the clusters in general are gathered: And that this slaughter and desolation, which shall be made of the inhabitants of the world, will take place in consequence of their apostasy, and obstinate continuance and increase in sin, until they are become ripe, fully ripe, for this dreadful execution and destruction, by divine vengeance: Therefore, that this reaping, and the harvest, and gathering the clusters of the vine of the earth, will not be a merciful dispensation towards the inhabitants then in the world; but the execution of divine vengeance, and an awful exercise and display of the displeasure and wrath of God, in the evils which shall fall on men, for their perseverance and increase in wickedness. This is represented and expressed in a striking manner, by the figure of casting the vintage into the great wine press of the wrath of God, and the large and amazing quantity of blood which proceeded from thence; signifying the great and general slaughter, and terrible sufferings of mankind, when this time of his wrath shall come.

From this view of the events predicted under the sixth and seventh vials, it appears, that while the sixth vial is running, the way will be preparing for the overthrow of spiritual Babylon.

One event will take place after another, which will greatly weaken and remove the power and influence of the Pope, among the nations in Christendom, by taking away his riches, by drying up the stream of wealth, and the removal of other things, by which the church of Rome has been made strong, and stood as impregnable for many ages. But this will not be attended by any general reformation of professing christians, or revival and great increase of the true church of Christ; nor will the moral state of the christian world, or of mankind in general, be reformed and grow better, but the contrary. By the evil influence which the beast and the hierarchy of the church of Rome, has had in the world, and by the power and agency of Satan, the unrestrained lusts of men will hurry them on to all kinds of wickedness; so that it will rise to a greater degree, and be more universal than ever before. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, and the most open and gross impiety and profanation of every thing sacred, will prevail and abound. And false religion, and the grossest errors and delusions of all kinds, will take place and spread among those who do not discard all religion. And a worldly spirit will be very strong and prevalent, among old and young, urging them on to the gratification of their sensual inclinations and lusts, in all kinds of intemperance and lewdness; and prompting them to acts of unrighteousness, oppression and cruelty; which will promote mutual hatred, bitterness and contention, and spread confusion and every evil work, in fierce and cruel wars, and horrid murders. It is certain, that the unclean spirits, like frogs, those spirits of devils, when they go forth to the whole world, will promote all kinds of disorder and wickedness to the greatest degree, and set mankind against God, and all his revealed truth, and against each other, and every thing good and excellent; and make this world as much an image of hell as they possibly can; by which the inhabitants on earth, in general, will be united and gathered together in arms against heaven, and become wholly ripe for destruction from the Almighty, for the battle of that great day, which will come on under the seventh vial, and will be conducted, fought and finished by Christ himself, against an ungodly world.

The prevailing, unrestrained wickedness of men, which has been now mentioned, by which they shall be gathered unto this battle, is described by the Apostle Paul, in the following words:. “This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, covenant breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” All these evil characters have been in every age of the world; but they will then, in these last days, take place to a greater degree, and more universally, than ever before.

The true church of Christ will subsist and continue in this evil time of the prevalence of the powers of darkness; but the number of real christians will be small; and many, even of them, if not the most, will probably be weak and low in their christian exercises, by the influences and uncommon power of those evil spirits, and in too great a degree conformed to this world. They will be hated, opposed, and trodden down by the wicked, arid be in an afflicted, suffering state in this dark and evil day. They will be in a great measure hidden and unknown, and the cause of Christ and of truth will be reproached, and appear to be almost lost; and the true followers of Christ, his sheep, will be scattered into corners in this cloudy and dark day. Whether wicked men, and enemies to the true servants of Christ, will persecute them unto death, and renew this horrid work, of which so much has been done in former ages, in this time when iniquity will abound to such a great degree, cannot be now determined, by any thing said in scripture respecting it. It is thought by most, that since the Pope is brought so low, and his power and influence is still sinking so fast; and so much light is spreading in favour of civil and religious liberty, showing the reasonableness and importance of it, and the unreasonableness and folly of a persecuting spirit; and liberal sentiments respecting religion are propagated and increasing, persecution on account of religious sentiments or practice is near come to an end, and never will be revived and practised again. This may appear most probable: But though the antichristian church should never persecute the faithful followers of Christ again, and a persecuting spirit should wholly cease among professing christians of all denominations; yet infidels, who condemn all religious persecution, in every degree and form, in which it has been practised, and boast of their liberal sentiments and spirit, with respect to this; and use it as a strong and conclusive argument against christianity itself, that professed christians have, in so many instances, persecuted others: even these infidels, or their successors, may find true christians, their doctrines and practices, to be so disagreeable and hateful to them, and, in their view, so hurtful to society, and so contrary to all that in which they place their own happiness, and that of mankind, that having all restraints taken off, and the power being put into their hands, they may think these men ought not to be suffered to live; and that it is for the good of society to have them extirpated, and put to death, unless they can be brought to renounce their sentiments and practices, by persuasion or punishments; and so become as determined, cruel persecutors of christians, as any have been in past ages. If this should take place, it will make a new, and perhaps greater and more striking discovery of the wickedness of the human heart, especially of the hearts and real character of this sort of men, than ever has been exhibited before. And they who now know what is in man, from the character given of him in scripture, and by the discovery mankind have made of their hearts, by words and deeds, and from a true acquaintance with their own hearts, must be sensible that nothing can prevent even men of this cast persecuting christians, but restraints from heaven. But, however, perhaps this discovery of what is in man, is reserved to be made after the Millennium shall be over, in the rise of Gog and Magog, when it may be exhibited, in many respects, to greater advantage, and so as to answer more important ends.

Though the true church of Christ must be in a low, dark state, in many respects, under this vial, yet there will doubtless be revivals of religion, and an increase of converts to real christianity, in many different places, and truth may be getting advantage, and more clearly distinguished from error, by those who have eyes to see: and christianity be more and more refined in doctrines and practice, from the various errors and corruptions, which have been introduced among the true followers of Christ; and every thing, and all events, will serve to bring on and introduce the Millennium, in the best manner, and in the most proper time.

The battle of that great day of God Almighty. is to come on under the seventh vial, as has been observed. When the iniquity of the world of mankind shall be full, and they shall be united in open rebellion, and, in this sense, gathered together, and armed against heaven: And after God has waited long upon them in the use of all proper means to reclaim them, especially the christian world; and they are become fully ripe for destruction, he will come forth to battle against them, and execute most tearful judgments upon them, and destroy them in a manner and degree, which shall manifest his awful displeasure with them, for their obstinacy in all kinds of wickedness. When these briars and thorns are set against God in battle, he will go through them and burn them together. The destruction of the world of mankind by a flood, when the wickedness of man was become great, and the earth was filled with violence; and they continued obstinate in disobedience, while the long suffering of God waited upon them in the days of Noah, was an emblem of this battle: As also was the destruction of the inhabitants of Canaan, when their iniquity was full, which prepared the way for the people of God to take possession of that land. So God punished the nation of the Jews, by destroying them, and laying waste Jerusalem, and the temple. When they had filled up the measure of their sins, wrath came upon them to the uttermost. This was a figure or type of this greater, more dreadful and general battle, under the seventh vial, when “The Lord shall come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

This battle, it has been observed, will not consist in the church or christians’ raising armies, and fighting and carrying on war with the antichristian party, or with the wicked world; or in a conflict between the former and the latter, respecting the truths and cause of Christ: But it will be commenced and carried on by Christ, while invisible in heaven, invested with all divine power in heaven and earth, in the exercise of his providence, bringing judgments upon his enemies, and a wicked world, in such remarkable ways and manner, as to be a clear and remarkable manifestation of his presence and power; of his displeasure with a wicked world, for opposing him, his church and the gospel; and an incontestible evidence of the truth of christianity, by fulfilling his predictions and promises, taking vengeance on the enemies of his people, and effectually supporting them, and their cause. He will doubtless make use of instruments in this battle.

The holy angels may be made the instruments of many events which shall be full of evil to wicked men. And the true church of Christ, his witnesses in his cause, and against the delusions and wickedness of the antichristian church, and of the world, are represented as having a hand in bringing upon their enemies all the evils which will come upon them; because they will take place in answer to their prayers, in their cause, and in order effectually to avenge his own elect of their adversaries. Therefore, it is said of them, “These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not, in the days of their prophecy: And have power over waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.” And the wicked themselves will be instruments of afflicting and destroying each other, in a very cruel and dreadful manner, by opposing and fighting with one another, and carrying on destructive and bloody wars, killing men by thousands, and laying waste whole countries and nations; by which the earth will be in a great degree depopulated; and rivers of blood will be shed by the unrestrained pride and cruel rage of man. And many will probably put an end to their own lives, and instances of suicide will be greatly multiplied.

But multitudes of mankind will be destroyed by the more immediate hand of God, by famine and pestilences, which will prevail in many countries, at different times, in an extraordinary manner, and to a degree never known before; by which vast multitudes will perish suddenly, and in circumstances very surprising and awful. And there will be earthquakes, and terrible storms of lightning and thunder, and inundations of water, by which many cities and places shall sink and be overflowed, with all the inhabitants; and multitudes will perish by these, and innumerable other evil occurrents, which will take place in an unusual manner, and in quick succession; so that the hand of God will be visibly stretched out against the inhabitants of the world, to punish and destroy them for their wickedness; and the following prediction will be fulfilled, in the full and awful extent of it. “Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.”

This battle will not be fought at once, so as to be soon finished; but will be carried on through a course of years, probably for more than a century and an half, in order to make a suitable and sufficiently clear display of the displeasure of God with a wicked world; and to give opportunity to men to repent and reform, when they are warned, called upon, and urged to it, by being made to suffer such a variety and long continued series of calamities, for their sins; and to discover, and set in the most clear and striking light, the hardness, obstinacy and wickedness of the heart of man, while they continue disobedient and inflexible, under all these terrible dispensations of providence, suited to awaken and reform them, to teach them the evil of sin, and the awful displeasure of God with them; and to warn them to fly from the wrath to come, and unto Christ, as the only refuge; and go on to revolt yet more and more, and blaspheme the hand which inflicts these evils, By all this will be more clearly manifested, than ever before, how totally lost and infinitely miserable mankind are, and their infinite need of a Redeemer; that no means that can be used, or methods taken to reclaim and save them, will be in the least degree effectual, unless the Spirit of God be given to change and renew their hearts, and therefore that the salvation of men depends wholly on the mere sovereign grace of God, even all that good, holiness and salvation, which shall take place in the Millennium; and it will, in this respect, prepare the way for that day of grace.

This battle and terrible slaughter and destruction of men in so many ways, and for so long a course of years, will greatly lessen the number of mankind in the world; so that in the close of this terrible scene, comparatively few will be left alive. Those will be the christians who shall be then members of the churches, and descendants from good people who have lived in former ages, and others who will then be true penitents, who will look back on the terrible scene which had taken place in the battle of the great day of God Almighty, and see, and have a clear and affecting conviction of his displeasure with mankind, for their sins and the terribleness of his wrath; and will acknowledge the righteousness of it. They will consequently see the guilty, miserable, and utterly lost state of man, and their need of a Redeemer, to make atonement for their sins, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit to renew their hearts, and form them to right, and truly christian exercises: And will be clearly convinced of the truth of all the great and important doctrines of the gospel, and cordially embrace them. And they will repent and humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, and earnestly, with united hearts, cry to heaven for the forgiveness of their sins, and for mercy on themselves, and on their children, acknowledging their infinite ill desert, and flying to Christ, and sovereign grace through him, as their only refuge and hope. And then the scene will change. The battle will be over, divine judgments will cease, and there will be no more frowns on man, in the providence of God; but all dispensations and events will be expressions of kindness and mercy; and the Holy Spirit will be poured out on them and their offspring, and all shall be holiness to the Lord; and the Millennium will begin, and men will multiply and soon subdue the earth and fill it with inhabitants

As antichrist and the church of Rome will have a large share in the cup of indignation and wrath which will be poured out; so all the christian world will have a distinguished portion of it, as the inhabitants of it are much more guilty than others. There is no reason to consider the antichristian spirit and practices to be confined to that which is now called the church of Rome: The protestant churches have much of antichrist in them, and are far from being wholly reformed from the corruptions and wickedness, in doctrine and practice, which are found in that which is called Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth. Her influence in promoting delusion and wickedness extends, m some degree, to all the inhabitants of the world, and more especially the christian world. She is the Mother of all the false doctrines, superstition, infidelity and abominable practices in the protestant world. And where can the church be found, which is thoroughly purged from all these abominations? Some churches may be more pure, and may have proceeded farther in a reformation than others; but none are wholly clear of an antichristian spirit, and the fruits of it. There may be, and in many instances doubtless there is, much of the exercise of the spirit of antichrist, in opposing what is called antichrist, and the church of Rome; and by running into as great extremes another way. The Apostle Paul said, this mystery of iniquity, the man of sin, which is antichrist, began already lo work in the churches even in his day. How much of this then, may it be reasonably thought, it, to be found in most, if not all the churches now? In this view, the spirit and operation of antichrist are very extensive. And how few churches, or individual christians, have so far come out from this mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth, as not to be in any degree partakers of her sins, so as not to receive of her plagues! And while the sixth vial continues to run, it is not to be expected that the protestant churches in general will grow more pure; but the evil spirits which are gone forth will promote and spread still greater corruption in doctrine and practice, by which they will be more ripe for divine judgments, and prepared to suffer in the battle under the seventh vial. The purest churches, and real christians, will suffer much in this battle, and few will go wholly unpunished. By this, the rebels, or false hearted professing christians, will be purged out from among real christians, and these shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly.”

The Jews have suffered greatly for their peculiarly aggravated wickedness, in rejecting and crucifying the Son of God; and they are now, and have been for near two thousand years, in a state of great affliction, and under the manifest displeasure of Heaven, to a great and distinguished degree. They yet continue a people, distinguished from all other nations, though scattered all over the world, as outcasts and vagabonds; and will continue thus a distinct people down to the Millennium. But though they have suffered so much, they yet continue as obstinate as ever in rejecting Christ, and in all their sins. And there is reason to think they will not escape the battle of the great day of almighty God; but great and new calamities will fall upon them, by which they may be much diminished, so as to be left few in number, compared with what they have been, or are now. And the threatening denounced against that people by Moses will then be executed on them, in the full meaning and extent of it. “And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude: Because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.” But God will not make a full end of them, which he probably will do of some, if not of many other nations.

The revolutions which will take place in this battle will open the way for their return to the land given to their ancestors; and they which are left will repent and return to the Lord Jesus Christ, against whom they and their fathers have sinned, and unto their own land, and will become an eminently excellent part of the christian church, who shall multiply, and fill all that vast tract of land given to Abraham and his posterity, from the river of Egypt, to the great river Euphrates, which has never yet been fully possessed by them. And their being thus received into the church of Christ, will be as life from the dead to them, and to the Gentiles.

But whether they will continue a distinct people from all other christians, through the whole time of the Millennium, or be so intermixed with others, as not to be distinguished from them, will be determined by the event: But the latter is most probable, as the ends of their being preserved in such a state of distinction, will then be answered; and those circumstances and things, which have been, and still are, the means of their continuing a distinct and separate people, will then cease; such as circumcision, and their observance of other Mosaic rites. When they shall become christians, their name by which they are now distinguished will be lost, and they will be absorbed in the christian church, the true Israel of God, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one in Christ: And then there will be one fold, and one shepherd. And then, by this event, the following prediction will be fully accomplished: “And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen! For the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.”

That the above representation of this battle, which will be previous to the Millennium, and will introduce it, taken from the passages in the Revelation which have been considered, is just, and agreeable to the true sense of them, farther appears, and is confirmed by other parts of holy scripture, especially by the prophecies of this same event, recorded in the Old Testament.

The destruction of the world of mankind by a flood, and the preservation of Noah and his family, who were by this brought into a new world, to be replenished by them, may be considered as a typical and prophetic representation of the great battle with the wicked world, previous to the Millennium; by which the wicked will be swept off the earth, and the true church of Christ will be delivered and preserved, and the way opened for its prosperity, and filling the earth.

The series of judgments brought upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, for their disobedience to Jehovah, and oppressions of his people, and their dreadful overthrow in the Red Sea, to prepare the way for the deliverance of Israel, was also a prophetic type of this great battle. So was the destruction of the inhabitants of Canaan, in order to introduce the people of Israel, and put them in possession of that land. Therefore, reference is had to this in the representation of the battle of that great day, as has been observed.

David was a man of blood, carried on great wars and destroyed much people, and many nations, who were enemies to him, and the people of God; and by his conquests prepared the way for the peaceable and glorious reign of Solomon, and the building of the temple. In this, David was a type of Christ, when he shall go forth, clothed with a vesture dipt in blood, and in righteousness make war, and destroy the nations of mankind, his enemies, to prepare the way for the Millennium. Solomon was a type of Christ reigning in the Millennium, when the church shall rise to a state of beauty and glory, of which Solomon’s temple was a type, when the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The coming of Christ, in favour of his church, and of the redeemed, is spoken of as a time of vengeance to his and their enemies, in which they shall be punished and destroyed, and his people shall be avenged on them. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” “And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them: I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”

Balaam, in his remarkable prophecy of Christ and his kingdom, speaking of this latter day, when the Roman empire shall come to an end, and Christ shall have the dominion, represents this event as attended with great destruction of men. “Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth in the city. And he took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God doth this!” This expresses a great and general destruction of men, so that comparatively few of them will be left alive.” The same is predicted in the song which God directed Moses to rehearse to the children of Israel, to be preserved by them.” “For I lift my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever. If (or when) I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with their blood, (and my sword shall devour flesh) and that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” This prophecy is very parallel with that which has been mentioned, which relates to the great battle. The same events are predicted in the following words of Moses: “There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: And he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.” In these words, God is represented as riding forth to thrust out and destroy the enemies of his people; and upon this the prosperity of his church, the true Israel, is introduced. This prophecy therefore coincides with the description of the battle in the Revelation, as introductory to the Millennium. The same events are predicted in the prayer or song of Hannah. “He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces: Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord, shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”