The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-15

ROD when Israel would be cast off
from Gods favor. Then at the end
of the appointed time the Gentle lease
| of earthly power in turn, and Gods
original provision for Israel to repre-
sent the Kingdom in the world, would
return. These are the set times re-
ferred to by the Psalmist. Gods
promise to David-"The sure mercies
| of David''-were that of the fruit Of
! his loins one should sit on the throne
OF the Lord forever. The real purport
| of this promise was that Messiah, the
| long promised King of Israel, would
| be the root and offshoot of the Davidic
| line and blessed of the Lord; his
Kingdom should be an everlasting one
and fairly competent to fulfill all of the
Divine promises made to Abraham
In thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed"
ZedeIxiah Rejected = Nebuchadnezzar
Acknowledged.
So long as God acknowledged the
nation of Israel as his Kingdom their
kings were his representatives.; but
inconsistent on the Lords part to rec
ogiZe the Gentle governments as
above suggested. OF King Zedekiah
we read, 80 thou profane and wicked
prince, whose time has come that in
tquity should have an end. Remove
the diadem. Take off the crown. This
shall not be the same. I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it until he come
whose right it is (Messiah), and 1 will
give it unto him" ezekiel xxi, IS, 27).
1t was at this very time that God gave
the lease of earthly power to Nebu-
chadnezzar and his successors, as is re-
lated in Daniel's prophecy. Nebuchad-
nezzar dreamed, but disremembered
ms vision. Daniel the prophet. made
prisoner at an earlier date, was, by
Divine providence, introduced to the
king as the one person in all the world
able to rehearse the kings dream and
to give its Interpretation, and his pow
er so to do is declared to have been
OF the Lord.
Nebuchadnezzar's Vision of Gentle
Dominion.
The vision was of a stupendous i'm
age. Its head of gold represented
NebuchadnezZar's empire-Babylon
Its breast and arms of silver repre-
sented the Medo-Persian empire. Its
belly and thighs of brass represented
the Grecian empire. Its long legs of
iron represented the Roman empire,
East and West Its feet of iron and
clay represented papaI Rome The
iron continues to represent civil gov
ernments, and the miry clay, making
them appear like stone, represented
eccleSiasticism as it is now mixed up
with the politics of the ten kingdoms
of Europe. The whole period of time
in which these various Gentle gov
ernments would dominate the world
would last until Messiah's promised
Kingdom. And this period is symbol
ically stated to have been "seven
times; that is, seven years-evidently
not literal years, but symbolicaI
At their end the lease of earthly
power of entile governments will ter
inmate in the great time of trouble
foreto1d by Daniel (xii, -. Then Mes
siah shall stand up in the sense of as
Stunning control of earth's affairs and
Gentle governments will cease for all
nations shall serve and obey Messiah.
And then Gods Chosen People, Is
rael, will come to the front in the
worlds affairs, because they will be-
come the representatives and instru-
ments amongst men of Messiah's King
dom, which will be spiritual and in
visible, as is that of the Prince of this
world, the Prince of darkness, whom
Messiah will bind or restrain during
the thousand years of his reign of
righteousness and destroy at the con-
clusion, when he shall deliver over
the Kingdom of earth to the Father.
Mankind will then be perfect, because
the second death. Meantime, Mes
siahs reign will not only bless and
uplift Israel but through Israel the
blessing will extend to every nation,
people, kindred and tongue in full ac-
cord with the Divine promise and oath
made to Abraham more than thirty
centuries ago.
ALI this is briefly and beautifully
represented in Nebuchadnezzar's
dream, as explained by Daniel. He
without human aid. He watched and
saw the stone smtte the image on its
feet and beheld, as the result, COM
plete establishment Of the Gentle
systems. This shifting of the image
in the feet symbolically represents that
it will be by Divine power that pres
ent institutions will all come to
naught preparatory to the establish
ment of the Kingdom of God in their
stead. +
Messiah's Kingdom in the Vision.
Then Messiah's Kingdom, symbolic
ed by the stone, will not only fill the
place where the image stood, but,
gradually increasing, will fill the
whole earth. From this standpoint,
said the speaker, it is not difficult for
US to believe the words of the Psalm
list that there is a time for Gods re-
gathering Zion, yea, a set time-fxed
and unalterable The speaker would
not pretend to say the day or month
or year in which these things would
be accomplished-in which the Gen
tile lease of earth's dominion would.
expire and Messiah's Kingdom assume
control. He did, however. offer a sug-
gestion: So far as he could discern,
the time for these stupenduous events
is very much closer than many of us
had supposed. The seven times, or
years. VI GSillllO QOII1I14dl4OHs I0ChOA4So
on the basis suggested in the Scrip
lures themselves. should be inter
preted a day for year, lunar time.
Seven years in lunar time would rep
resent 1870 days and these, symbol
ically interpreted, would mean 1920
years-from the time of Nebuehadnez-
Ear, the head of the image, was recog-
nized down to the time of the expira
ton of the lease of Gentle power,
when the stone shall sTnite the image
in Pastor PnSSPll
has been able to determine, the year
Of Zedekiah's reinforcement was 606
B. C. Thus calculated the $3.50 years
of Gentle lease of power will expire
in October, 1914. There are some who
claim that Zedekiah's reinforcement
should be dated B. C. 5SS If this be
true it could make a difference of but
eighteen years and give the date 1892.