What Is Our Place in History?

Robert Hare

What Is Our Place in History?

History is that branch of knowledge which deals with events that are past. Prophecy is God’s picture of future events --things that are to take place. There is a time when prophecy fulfilled becomes history, and finally all prophecy will be historic. But in our time we must look through the eyes of God to see anything future, for He alone sees “the end from the beginning.” In summing up his recital of historic events, man may make mistakes, but in God’s outline there can be no mistake.

Swinton defines history as “the record of the life of mankind,” while the Encyclopedia Britannica calls it “the prose narrative of past events.” Herodotus, the Greek historian, known as the “father of history,” gives its object thus, “To rescue from oblivion the memory of former incidents.”

In doing this the historian must go back over epochs and eras of the past. He must reach back through the mistiness that so quickly clouds human memory, and place past events once more in the light of day. In so doing, however, he must somewhere find a chain or title of events by which to measure the past, Indefinite and random guessing will not do.

Herodotus, in his history of Persia goes back about 1,000 years BC, but this is about the farthest point to which the term “historic accuracy” may be applied. Manetho, the historian of Egypt, writes of dynasties of gods who ruled 30,000 years ago, but the whole story is so mystical and uncertain that no historian has ever been able to put it straight. Their country was lust governed by these gods, but Menes was their first mortal king. We learn from scripture that Menes was just the grandson of Noah.

The Chinese history tells of tell kings, each of whom reigned 1,000 years before the flood, but this is only ancient romance, No earthly kings ever lived or reigned 1,000 years. Ten patriarchs lived before the flood, and, not including Enoch who was translated, their average life was 912 years. But a number of them lived contemporaneously. They did not succeed one another, as the kings of the Chinese history were supposed to have done.

Sources of History

From ancient records found in clay libraries and on stone monuments, something of fragmentary history has been learned. National traditions have to some degree also borne witness to certain events. But most of these sources arc mystified and uncertain. Human imagination has often drawn the outlines and planned the stories told. There is still one other source, independent of all these, clear and positive in its testimony, to which we can turn, and that is the Bible, the Word of the living God.

With this inspired guide, we may step back through the darkness to the very beginning of our world’s history, and there we can trace the course of that history down, step by step, to the present day. The line is simple, clear, and definite. We are thus carried back to creation, a point in history nearly 6,000 years ago.

The Time of Creation

Perhaps in no other direction has human speculation become so confused and so confusing as in the location of this little point in history. About 1833 Sir Charles Lyell, father of geology, reasoned it out to be “twenty thousand million years.” The scientists said amen; but in another twenty-five years the number had been reduced to 200 million years. In 1902 it was reckoned to stand at 100 million years, but later still Lord Kelvin gave his calculation as 30 million years. Others have put it down as low as 8 million. This is surely confusion and uncertainty! Without the Book of God, man would be left the toy of all this uncertainty and speculation, this guesswork of imagination, with all its bewildering millions.

The sublime record of Genesis-how different! How free from all disguise, and all uncertainty-divine in its simplicity. To that sacred recital Christ, the prophets, and all the inspired writers bear witness.

Clay records and national traditions also tell of that time, but they give no measure whereby that time may be located in history. Writing about the Assyrian account of creation, A. H. Sayce says: There is no need of pointing out how closely this Assyrian account resembles that of Genesis. Even the very wording and phrases of Genesis occur in it.” Fresh Light from Ancient Monuments,” Page 24.

Across The Ages

Jehovah alone holds the privilege of “declaring the end from the beginning.” Isaiah 40:10. Then, through prophetic lips He speaks of things that are to be. But to those holy, inspired men He has also spoken of things that “have been since the world began.” Acts 3:21. Hence this is no dark or obscure period with God. He has covered the whole of earth’s history, for to Him it is but as a span on the great bosom of eternity. Man may know the history of our world if he will read it in the Word of God.

A variety of epochs and eras have been chosen by the sons of men from which to (late their history. But none of those chosen reach within the measurable distance of creation. The Babylonian era starts will, 747 BC. But this is Over 3,000 years short of the point that we need to reach. The Roman AUC, anno urbis conditae, dates from the year of building the city, 753 BC. But this again leaves us thousands of years short of where history began. The Islamic Hegira has its beginning in 622 AD; but like all the others it leaves us hopelessly in the dark concerning the years that have been “since the world began.”

We must, therefore, turn from all these national or fanciful ideas of men or notions of men to find by the Book of God our true place in history.

One of the most beautiful and honored objects in Windsor Castle is a Bible. Not a gem clustered or golden-clasped volume; no, just the deeply marked and thumb worn Book that General Gordon had loved and used for many years. It was with him when he was killed at Khartoum. It was presented by his sister to the Queen, and it now rests in a little cabinet in the hall through which all visitors to the castle must pass. There it rests, a perpetual reminder, with its thumb-worn leaves, of what the Bible can be to the Christian. It was his love for the Book that made it possible for the world to write above his tomb: “Who at all times and everywhere gave his strength to the weak, his substance to the poor, his sympathies to the suffering, and his heart to God.” That Book is still the history chart of a world.

It must ever be remembered that Jehovah reads “the end from the beginning.” There are no blank pages in the great history book of the Eternal. With Him “a thousand years are as one day.” And there would be no need of earthly landmarks in the history of God. But to man, with his shortened vision and few days, it has been necessary that landmarks should be given in the measurement of time.

Time itself is measured by motion; whether by sand in the hour glass, the dial-hand, the pendulum, the star, or the burning candle, all time is measured by motion! Behind and beyond out little world with its thousand million stars, each mighty still a wheel in the great chronometer of the heavens, God is measuring off the ages of eternity. But to each rolling orb has been given the responsibility of measuring its own history. Of our own solar system we read “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” Genesis 1:14.

The “year” is a well known measure of time, the second period spoken of in the Book of God. It is mentioned 787 times by the sacred writers. The Hebrew word is shanah, and signifies “to duplicate, double, repeat, return, do the second time.” “Day” is also a well known measure; more than 2,300 times it is repeated; while “moment” appears twenty two times. The day is measured by the revolution of our earth on its axis, but the year is measured by the revolution of our earth round the sun. Nearly 600,000,000 of miles must be covered by the annual circuit round our centre star. A pendulum thirty-nine and seven-fiftieths of an inch in length will vibrate the second, and nothing but the second. To vary the time, a longer or shot let-pendulum holder must be employed. Hence the planets near the Sun revolve quickly, those at greater distance, more slowly. When at creation the earth began to revolve at the command of the Creator, it began to measure off its own history, and the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5.

The Beginning of History

That was the beginning of our world’s history. Its first diurnal revolution marked the day, while its first revolution round the sun marked its first year.

There is another beginning spoken of in Scripture, but it is the beginning of the other mighty works of God-”or ever the earth was.” Proverbs 8:23. The beginning of Genesis is that of our earth’s history only. Hence the Bible does not deal with the history of other worlds. Some are mentioned, but their history is not given. Had the Bible been a geography of the universe all other worlds would have been described, but it is a history of our little world only and its sin.

God’s Measuring Line

In the fifth chapter of Genesis we have given to us the first measuring line whereby it is possible for man to reach the beginning of history. By it two of the greatest things in history are connected-the creation and the deluge. Between these two, other great factors are employed in the work of measurement, the revolution of the earth round the Sun, marking off the years, and the lives of men, the intelligent factor in God’s creation, numbering the years as they pass.

This divinely given line of measurement carries us right back to creation, to the day that God created His ruler and teller of history upon the earth. Adam was the mail created, and from him the most righteous line of descendants is taken for the purpose of measuring our world’s history.

Adam lived 130 years, then Seth was born. Seth lived 105 years, then Enos was born. Thus it measures on down through ten generations till we reach the time of the deluge. There God takes His first reckoning with human character, and appoints 120 years as the final stage in their life drama. Then the flood came, and “destroyed them all.” This is the testimony of Jesus Christ. Luke 17:20, 27.

The reader will see by the accompanying diagram the successive periods of birth in the lives of the antediluvian patriarchs. It does not take the sum of their lives. Only that part that reaches to the birth of the next one is mentioned. It will be noted that the sum of these birth-figures gives us a period of 1,656 years from creation to the deluge. These were the two greatest events in world history up to that time.

The lives of these patriarchs were long, 912 years being the average. Death was not the common occurrence that it is with us now that life carries an average of about thirty-four years, and only one in 12,000 reaches the century mark. We are told of a “vast population” being then upon the earth. See “Patriarchs and Prophets,” Page 104.

God’s First Historic Measure

Creation 4004 BC

1,656 years, Creation to Deluge

Adam Lived 930 years
130
Seth Lived 912 years
105
Enos Lived 905 years
90
Cainan Lived 910 years
70
Mahalaleel Lived 895 years
65
Jared Lived 962 years
102
Enoch Lived 365 (translated)
65
Methuselah Lived 969 years
187
Lamech Lived 777 years
182
Noah Lived 950 years

600 years form Noah’s birth to Flood
Noah’s Flood

Shem Lived 600 years
2 [After the flood]

Arphaxad Lived 438 years.

Salah Lived 433 years.

Eber Lived 464 years

Peleg Lived 239 years.

Reu Lived 239 years.

Serug Lived 230 years

Nahor Lived 148 years.

Terah Lived 205 years.

130

Abraham Lived 175 years.

352 Years [Flood To Abraham]
Abraham born 1996 BC
Abraham Covenant 1921 BC
Exodus from Egypt 1491 BC

*Arphaxad was born 2 years after Flood.

The other side figures give the age of the father when the son was born.

The Deluge Record

The reality of the deluge is one of the greatest historic facts linked with the ages or known to man. Eighteen times it finds direct mention in the Book of God, while on clay tablets, the most ancient known, and in national traditions, it holds an unquestioned place. “I watched the sea making a noise and the whole of mankind was turned to clay. Like reeds the corpses floated. I opened the window and the light smote upon my face. I stooped and sat down; I wept over my face flowed my tears.” – “Fresh Light From Ancient Monuments, page 32. This is a quotation from the Assyrian deluge tablets, the most ancient record known outside the scriptures.

It is with the record of this great cataclysm that God closes the first chapter of human history-a history covering 1,656 years and a record of time that man cannot in any way measure apart from the sacred narrative. To the mere historian, however, learned or venerable though he may be, it is a page of history so dark and mystical that no human wisdom can stretch the line across it.

Noah came across the flood, and from that great historic landmark the work of measuring history is resumed. No greater factor could have been found for the end of God’s first measurement and the beginning of the second. The descendants of Shem, as the righteous line, are recognized, and again the lives of men are made to serve the purpose of a history chain.

This second record is found in Genesis 11:10-26. Again ten generations of men are numbered, and the Measure of their birth-lines brings us down to the time of Abraham. With Noah, Shem went across the flood, and his son Arphaxad was born two years after that great event. Then thirty-five years after, Arphaxad had a son called Salah. So the record goes on for ten generations, down to the birth of Abraham. Notice how quickly life is shortened. For the ten generations before the flood, life had an average of 912 years, but here it is only 430 years.

Following the same plan of computation, by the birth-line, we have 352 years from the flood to the birth of Abraham. This man was the youngest of Terah’s three sons. He was seventy-five years of age when Terah died, consequently he was born when Terah was 130 years of age. Noah died in 1998 BC, just two years before the birth of Abraham.

Abraham is the most outstanding figure of ancient history. Three times in the inspired writings he is called the “friend of God,” a title given to no other man. To the Hebrews he is known as “Father Abraham.” The Arabians speak of him as “El-Khalil-Allah” [the Friend of God], while to the Christians he is still “Father of the Faithful.”

The name of this man is found 300 times in the Bible. Born in 1996 BC, almost 2,000 years before the appearing of the Man of Calvary, this man of Chaldea rises out of the mists, God’s prototype of faith for all succeeding generations. He is the man to whom Jehovah gave the promises eternal, and proclaimed him “heir of the world.” Romans 4:13. It is fitting, then, that this man should come in at the end of God’s measurement by the birth lines as the first man to whom the prophetic measure should be given.

God’s History Covenant

It was with Abraham that God made His history covenant. When seventy-five Years of age, he was led by God out of Haran, as God had before led his family out from Ur of the Chaldees. Here the promises were made to Abraham of nationality, inheritance, and blessing. Genesis 12:1-4. This covenant was soon after repeated and confirmed by the most changeless evidence possible.

Abraham was directed to get some animals and divide them, laying piece over against piece, that the covenanters might pass between the pieces. When darkness fell a “smoking furnace” and a “burning lamp” passed between the pieces. Genesis 15:I7. Dr. Clark in commenting on this passage says, “The burning lamp was certainly the symbol of the divine presence.” Thus it was that God ”interposed Himself” and gave to Abraham the “ two immutable things,” Jehovah’s action in passing between the pieces, and the word of His promise. Neither of these can ever be undone. They are “immutable” realities brought in to establish God’s covenant with His friend. This form of covenant was the most binding known to the Hebrew, and involved the life of those who shared in it. Jeremiah 34: I8-20.

The History Involved

The descendants of Abraham were to go down to Egypt. They were to suffer persecution for 400 years. This persecution began at the weaning of Isaac in 1891 BC when Ishmael, son of an Egyptian, began to mock, or persecute, the spiritual born. Galatians 4:29. But the whole period wrapped up in the promises was 430 years, extending to the making of the covenant in 1921 BC to the time of the Exodus in 1491 BC. Here the 400 years and the 430 years terminated. Galatians 3:17; Exodus 12:41.

Here, then, we must reckon in the seventy-five years of Abraham’s life up to the promise and the 430 years covered by that promise. This brings us down to the next greatest point in history, the deliverance of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh in 1491 BC.

God’s clock keeps exact time; for we read that “they came out on the selfsame day.” In their deliverance one of the greatest historic miracles was wrought that time has witnessed, and it supplies another great landmark in the passing of the years that lead down to our place in history!

The “iron furnace” in Egypt opened, and nearly 3,000,000 slaves, children of oppression, went out free to breathe again God’s beautiful air of liberty. But the liberation of that multitude was no ordinary matter. It was an epoch-marking event that left its impress deep on the mind of the ancient world. Three hundred and fifty years after, when Israel came to grips with the Philistines and the ark of God was taken, in their trouble the Philistines recalled the spoiling of Egypt and the deliverance of God’s people. 1 Samuel 6:6. It stood then as it stands still, a great historic landmark.

In describing the national chastisement that left the kingdom of the Pharaohs as a land of death, the inspired pen links that great work of deliverance with the great work of creation. Deuteronomy 4:32-34. It is therefore justly used in the line of epoch building events.

Pharaoh in his infidelity had defied the Jehovah God of Israel. He would not let the people go. But stroke after stroke fell, until at last a heart-broken and weeping nation demanded that their ruler should let his slaves go free. So Israel passed from the land of death with much gold and treasures forced upon them by a people who feared they would soon all “be dead men.” It was at the end of the 430 years – “the selfsame day” that the barred door at last gave way and Israel went out a ransomed people.

The History Point

Thus far our historic measure has taken us over the birth line of twenty-one men -great and good men-with the last of them known as the “friend of God,” the highest diploma ever given to man. These birth-lines cover periods of perfectly defined years, and bring us down to the call of Abraham in 1921 BC. Then the promised 430 years carne in and bring us down to 1491 BC, the time of the exodus.

Where now shall we seek for a further extended line that will bring us down another great step nearer to the present day? There is no room for imagination to work here. It must be definite history, as with all the Book of God.

The Great Temple

Temple triumphs are to be found in many lands. Alter hundreds of years some of their architectural glories still remain. But the temple in Judea, the temple that was to be “wonderfully great,” surpassed them all in its grandeur. This temple built by Solomon is said to have been “the most costly pile that ever pressed the earth.” The estimate of £850,000,000 is given as necessary to cover its value.

Of it we read that its foundation was laid 480 years after the exodus from Egypt. 1 Kings 6:1. This marvelous building, built according to plans given by Inspiration, was reared without sound of hammer or chisel. 1 Kings 6: 7. More than 150,000 workmen were employed for seven years in its construction. It rose up as a silent wonder on the heights of Mount Moriah. In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, 1011 BC, its foundation was laid.

We have now passed by the division of Palestine, the time of the judges, and the reign of Israel’s two first kings, Saul and David. It was during Solomon’s reign that the temple rose in the time of Israel’s greatest splendor. It was a magnificent and costly structure and a fitting landmark for the divine measuring line.

Solomon came to the throne on the death of David in 1015 BC. His fourth year would therefore be 1011 BC. Solomon was the greatest king of Israel, and the temple was his most renowned piece of work. A greater fullness of the Shekinah glory was manifested in this building than had ever been seen before, hence the year of its foundation is called in as an epoch point in history.

National Landmarks

In the early days of Roman history, the building of their city was taken as the historic epoch from which the years of their national life were numbered. The flight of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD has been taken by his followers as the epoch point of their Hegira. The Babylonian era dates from 747 BC, when Nabonassar destroyed all previous records of the kingdom, that the beginning of his reign might be the supreme point in their national life.

But Jehovah has measured by none of these. He takes the greatest things in a world as landmarks along the line where His measurements fall. So the foundation point of the great temple that was designed by the Eternal and planned as a “house of prayer for all nations,” finds place in the chain of God’s greatest earthly things. From the time of the exodus in 1491 BC, the 480 years bring us down to the foundation year of the great temple in 1011 BC.

Solomon, the greatest king of the world in knowledge and wisdom, died. 1 Kings 11:42. His reign of forty years continued for thirty-six years after he had laid the foundations of the world’s most costly temple. His name is still a synonym for wisdom with the Arabs of the East, as it is with the Jews and people of the Western world.

At his death, in 975 BC, the kingdom over which he ruled was divided. The northern division, known as the “kingdom of Israel,” continued for 254 years to 721 BC. Then it went down under Sargon, king of Assyria. 2 Kings 17:6, 23. Captives to the number of 27,280 were taken, and Samaria was left a ruin. During the time of this kingdom, nineteen kings took control, but they were all men given to wickedness.

The southern division, known as the “kingdom of Judah,” continued for 369 years, and then went down under the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 25:1-7. More than 15,000 captives were taken from this division and carried still farther to the east. It was in 606 BC that the kingdom of Judah came to an end. Nineteen kings had ruled upon the throne of Judah, but many of them were good men. Men to whom the promises made to David were continued.

Through disloyalty to Jehovah, both of these kingdom, were sent into captivity, and God could no longer use them as factors in His divine measurement of the ages. From the beginning until the overthrow of these kingdoms God had used measurements connected with the history of His people, but now the glory had departed and this could no longer be done.

The Transfer of Reckoning

Finding His own people unreliable and unworthy of responsibility, the time measure was transferred from the kingdom of His choosing to the kingdoms of the world. In this transfer of responsibility God chose the greatest kings of the ancient world through whom to outline subsequent history. And he chose Daniel, greatest among the prophets, through whom to interpret the great historic outline. Then it was that the visions of the great historic image were given with out lines touching eternity.

Never a page so wonderful, so concise. So far-reaching and so imperative, as the picture dream given to this imperial monarch of the eastern world. The record is found in the second chapter of the book of Daniel. There, in one paragraph of eight verses containing 272 words, we read a world’s history covering nearly three thousand years. Daniel 2:37-44.

Empires Universal

In his divinely revealed explanation of Nebuchadnezzar’s great dream, Daniel said to the king, “Thou art this head of gold.” The transfer had already been made. Judah and Israel were both in captivity, and their kingdoms lay in ruins. Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest king of that ancient world, and Babylon was the golden kingdom of history. It touched God’s outline in 606 BC. Then it continued for sixty-eight years and went down in 538 BC under Cyrus, king of Persia.

It will be noted here that God does not give through Daniel, or any other of the prophets, the duration of any of these historic kingdoms. This can be obtained from ordinary history, hence there was no necessity for prophetic measures to be given. At the time of this transfer historians had already gripped the world’s history. But God gives the great prophetic outlines that the historian may fill in.

Babylon went down. Its magnificence and wealth disappeared. The last night of its glory came. But in spite of the forbidding outlook, a thousand lords attended the Tammuz banquet, where they drank wine from the holy vessels of God. But see! A bloodless hand writes the empire’s doom. The curtain falls, “and Darius the Median took the kingdom,” in 538 BC. After sixty-eight years of world empire rule and the domination of six kings, the “golden head” was not.

Medo-Persia

The silver kingdom followed the golden head, and Persia ruled for 207 years. Thirteen kings succeeded each other on the throne, and then Darius Codomanus, the last king of Persia, was slain after the battle of Arbela in 331 BC. Three battles were fought between Darius and Alexander the Grecian. With each struggle Persia weakened and the forces of Greece grew stronger. The conflict began at the Granicus where 600,000 Persians, in splendid array, were overthrown by 40,000 hardy Greeks. The second took place at the Pass of Issus, where 110,000 Persians were left dead upon the battle field. The third and last was oil the Assyrian plains, not far from the town of Arbela. Defeated, Darius fled front the battle field, only to be slain by one of his own officers a little later.

Here the scepter changed hands one more, and Alexander the Grecian took the kingdom in 337 BC. The proud boast of Nebuchadnezzar. “Is not this great Babylon that I have built!” could not secure the stability of his kingdom. In its glory Babylon went down. Darius with his 10,000 immortals, all dressed in their royal garments with golden collars round their necks, could not make the empire secure. All went down, and the prophetic drama found perfect fulfillment in the revelation of history. Thus it has been, and thus it surely will be, “for the month of the Lord hath spoken it.”

Alexander the Great, son of Philip, king of Macedon, took the scepter as it fell from the hand of Darius Codomanus the Persian. His kingdom fills another page in the great prophetic panorama of the ages.

Alexander came into the world in 356 BC. and reached the throne on the death of his father, when he was but twenty years of age. He was possessed of a bold and daring spirit, and being early schooled in the ruling of men he became expert in matters of government. “Give me kings to conquer,” was the spoken and unspoken language of his life.

The success he achieved, however, was of but short duration, for he died in 323 BC after a life of only thirty-three years, and a reign of only twelve. After conquering Persia, he undertook to reduce the island city of Tyre. Over this task he spent seven months, little thinking that all the while he was working out the prophetic specification of a Hebrew prophet, “They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.” Ezekiel 26:12. The causeway thus built by the king of the world remains as a witness to this day, bearing testimony to the certainty of the Holy Book.

On marching against Jerusalem, Alexander was met by the high priest, who was followed by a procession of the people, and a number of children who strewed flowers in the way. On meeting the high priest, the ruler bowed to the ground as in worship. When Parmenio inquired the reason, Alexander said that he had seen this person in a vision and was promised by him success in the expedition against Asia.

The high priest then presented to him the prophecy of Daniel, in which it was told that a Grecian prince should destroy Persia. This Alexander took as referring to himself. Great favor was shown to the people of Jerusalem in consequence.

Soon after his death the kingdom of Alexander was divided, and finally Perseus, the last Macedonian ruler, came face to face in battle with the forces of Rome. The battle of Pydna in 168 BC closed the struggle for empire between the Greeks and the Romans. At that battle 20,000 Greeks were slain and 10,000 taken captive by the Roman Consul, Paulus. Greece submitted to the Roman yoke, and Paulus, in his triumph, sailed up the Tiber in the galley of the last Macedonian king. In the procession that followed the conqueror, Perseus, clothed in black garments, walked a captive. Soon after the dishonored king died in a Roman dungeon.

When Alexander died he was buried in a golden coffin. But his empire dissolved, and in the course of five generations the monuments of his glory and those of his kingdom successors served but to grace the triumphs and satisfy the pride of the Roman.

But the history of all this serves to show how Jehovah still rules in the kingdom of men, and takes even the empires built in human pride, as landmarks in His great plan of measuring the years. Thus far, we stand by the ruins of the third great historic kingdom, in BC 168.

The Kingdom of Iron

Rome was an ancient kingdom and her capital was an ancient city. Its foundations were laid in 753 BC. But not till 168 BC did it reach world empire status in the conquest of Greece. It thus became the fourth of the monarchies that should rise, as symbolized by the great vision given to the king of Babylon.

Rome is widely known as “the kingdom of the Caesars.” Of its seven forms of government the “imperial” was ruling in New Testament times. Revelation 17: to. Great rulers swayed its scepter, and it gave laws to the world. Gibbon speaks of it as “the Iron Monarchy of Rome,” while the Bible designates it “the kingdom strong as iron” - so strong that it had to be “broken without hands.”

It was during the rule of this imperial power that the angels sang over Bethlehem, “Peace on earth.” Augustus Caesar ruled well, and the war-temple of Janus was closed, for it was the “golden age of Rome.” Then it was that the world was at peace, and Christ was born in the city of David.

But even the Iron Monarchy could not remain. Nothing earthly stays long. Yet the limitations of that empire reach far past the dividing line of it BC and AD. Though more wide-spread than any of the other kingdoms, and carrying a longer history, it finally weakened, and when Theodosius the Great died in 395 AD. Rome’s last strong ruler bad passed away. Two sons were left, Arcadius taking the Eastern division of the kingdom, and Honorius the Western. But this division was only a preparation for the greater division that must come, for the empire would never be made whole again. For more than eighty years Roman rulers continued to wear the purple of the Caesars. Then Odoacer, the barbarian, entered Rome and became king of Italy in 476 AD. Thus the last of the four world-kingdoms ceased to be.

Think, reader, we are now 476 years this side of the cross in our empire measurement. We are on the march toward that time when the “kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.” Eternal kingship shall then be given, for of His kingdom there shall be no end.

Four great empires, and then fragmentary kingdoms, weak and disunited, yet continuing with a determination unprecedented till the finality appears-such is the divine program.

Rome, the last of these four great kingdoms, had a capital where 420 temples were dedicated to visible or invisible deities and crowded with statues of their gods. More than a million people lived in that seven-hilled metropolis, and 1,780 superb mansions served as homes for the rich and great in the days of Rome’s splendor. Captives and slaves from many countries and from many peoples toiled in menial service for those who boasted Roman citizenship. But the iron was mingled with the clay, and the doom shadow fell across the splendor of an empire that had ruled the world. Luke 2:1.

Wealth, genius, courage, and imperial power all endeavored to withstand the doom measure, but in vain. All endeavors failed, and the invaders spoiled the kingdom that had endeavored to gather the world to itself. Rome was the last world empire that will ever rule, “till He come whose right it is.”

The story of Rome’s invaders would be an interesting one. First from one direction and then from another they came, the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths, all with deadly intent. But the recital would be too long. We can only wait to say that finally the spoilers did their work, and in 483 AD, from the ruins of the world’s widest empire, ten kingdoms, known as the tai kingdoms of Europe, looked out over the dominion that Rome had lost. The glorious sun of the Western world went down in total and eternal eclipse.

Broken Without Hand

But Rome did not go down as other empires had done. The divine pronouncement read, “Broken without hand.” Daniel 8:25. Rome had stood up “against the Prince of princes “-something no other power had done. It was a Roman judge who gave Christ over to the mob, a Roman cross on which He was crucified, a Roman spear that pierced His side, a Roman guard that watched over His tomb, and a Roman seal was broken in His resurrection. Another doom was reserved for this power. In its humiliation the charter of its glory was signed away by the pen of its toy emperor, Romulus Augustus, a boy only sixteen years of age.

The Broken Empire

The ten kingdoms of Western Europe have been long known to history. They are the remnants of the great historic image. Every endeavor made by man to unite or consolidate these fragments has not only met with bitter opposition, but all endeavors have proved utter failures. Some broken things man may restore, some fallen crowns may be reclaimed, but not so with this fallen kingdom and its lost inheritance.

From the time that Perseus, the conquered Grecian, walked in death robes behind the Roman conqueror, to the signing away of its power and glory by Romulus 644 years passed by, years of might, of triumph, of victory, of weakness, of dishonor, and finally dissolution. Now the world beholds the toe-fragments of empire that cannot be made whole again. But the world forgets that the same God who spoke of this empire as the “iron” kingdom also had the prophet write of its fragments, “They shall not cleave one to another.” Daniel 2:43.

The European Tangle

Another equally remarkable picture was drawn by the inspired writer: “They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men.” From early days European royal lines had intermarried, but of later years this appears to have become almost a royal craze. When we reach the time of Queen Victoria we find her called the “grandmother of Europe,” and related to every throne in Europe except Turkey and Serbia.

King Edward was known as the world’s peacemaker,” but he was also the uncle of Europe, while King George is’ its cousin. Quite a number of royal marriages were projected, but the Great War came when uncles, cousins, and related thrones all faced each other in that awful revelation of death.

But the “world’s peacemaker” died in 1910. The world was then in a dream of hopefulness, but the dream departed. When King Edward was buried, round his grave there stood eight European monarchs, five queens of living or dead rulers, and twenty-four heirs-apparent, princes, dukes, grand-dukes, and rulers of States. But that was the last time that such a royal array would ever stand together in Europe.

In referring to the close union between the royal families of Europe at that time, Pearson’s Magazine of July, 1910, said: “The present relationship between the principal crowned heads of Europe is wonderful enough, but the next generation will show an even more wonderful family of royal rulers. When the Crown princes and princesses of today are kings and queens, King George will stand alone in history as the royal cousin of kings.”

But all this dream has disappeared. The Great War burst asunder the ties of union, and destroyed the hope of royal marriages. Sir Robert Hadlield, writing in the Quiver of January, 1930, says: “All the ideas of a Royal clan of the blood Royal have been exploded by the war. They are dead and done with.”

But where are we now? Past the time when the nations of Europe would “mingle themselves with the seed of men.” We are in the time when they would not cleave one to another. The bitter hatred in the hearts of the European powers today is sufficient evidence to demonstrate this. There are many unions in the world today. Confederacy seems to be in the very life air of men, but the leading heads of Europe must be ruled out of all this. There is no union for them-” they shall not cleave one to another.”

We are now 1,455 years past the ruin of the last great empire in 476 AD. We are past the attempted union of the empire fragments, past the grave of the “world’s peacemaker,” and in the days when, they shall not “cleave one to another.” Yes, we are past all these, then we must be near to the time when the “God of heaven shall set up a kingdom.” The summing up of our figures, and the answer to our question as to our place in history, we leave for our next and closing article.

WE live not in the days of Noah. His 120 years and the deluge cataclysm have both gone by. We dwell not with the postdiluvian people; their ambitions and their Babel tower live but in the dream of time and in the ruins on Shinar. The days of Abraham are past, the 430 years allotted to Israel have long since ended, and the deliverance of her 3,000,000 slaves lives on the divine page of the long ago. The 480 years measuring to the foundation of Solomon’s great temple, have also fled, and that most costly pile has disappeared. The 369 years reaching to Judah’s captivity lie over yonder, all behind the hills of time.

When God could no longer take measurement by His people, the kingdoms of a world were brought in, and their glory was taken for the measuring line. But the kingdoms are gone. The great historic road has been swept clean, and the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron kingdoms mentioned in the prophecy have all fallen into decay. One after another they went down, measuring their length on the sands of time, but the fall was great, and all the world heard it. Now the divided world has appeared, and the “ten” kingdoms of Europe have become the enigma of human thought.

Why could not those divisions combine, or be combined? Why must they remain separate entities P Why could not some great genius arise who could sway a scepter over them all, and give another universal empire to the world? No! It must not be. The Word declares, “They shall not cleave one to another.”

Often through the years the hope of a united world has gripped and inspired the sons of men. It has been planned for, dreamed of, fought for, and died for, but it has never materialized, and now, after all human scheming, it is farther away than ever.

Man’s Vain Endeavour

In the year 800 AD, on Christmas Day, Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III as king of the Western world. He fought for his dream empire for more than thirty years, then died without its realization. Otto the Great was crowned in 936 AD. He conquered with the thought of a world kingdom in view, but he died in 973, and the dream was not.

Napoleon coveted the scepter and power of a kingdom that would reach from sea to sea. He trampled the armies of Europe in seas of blood in hope of accomplishing his design; divorced his wife, Josephine, and married a princess of Austria in hope of a son to whom a universal scepter might be given, the scepter that he would win. But Napoleon died a prisoner on the island of St. Helena, and the boy lies in an unknown grave.

After all these endeavors comes the bold boast of the Kaiser. “From childhood I have been under the influence of five men, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Theodoric the Second, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon. Each of these men dreamed of world empire. They failed. I am dreaming a dream of a German world empire, and my mailed fist shall succeed” But that “mailed fist” has been lost among the common people, and the dream is no more.

God’s Last Historic Picture

A divided Europe lies before us today. The days of “mingling” are past. We stand this side of the attempted cohesion of these fragments of empire. The “world’s peacemaker” is dead, and the Great War has severed every tie that bound them together.

Kind reader, the scroll of earth’s history lies before you. Where are we in that history today 1 All these evident landmarks are in the past. We see them living only in the pages of history, and in the divided world of today. From the silent lips of the Unseen there comes the proclamation of the next staging in the great drama, “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.”

The New Kingdom

That kingdom is to stand forever. It will not take in any of the tinsel or human glory of earthly empires. Like the dust of the threshing floor, earth’s greatness is to pass into eternal ruin. Sin is to be burned out of God’s possession, and a renewed creation, with the city from heaven as its capital, will smile an eternal welcome to “Him whose right it is.”

Will you be there? Will you help others to be there? This is the crisis hour of all the ages. Human history is in the past, divine history just before us. Jehovah has borne long with earth’s rebellious kingdoms. Soon He must take into His own hand the government dishonored by men. The everlasting gospel, that gospel that must be preached in all the world for a witness, must tell the story and the kingdoms must come.

Yes! The crisis hour is upon us. We are standing between the kingdoms of a divided world and the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let this thought control and overrule all your actions. Let it modify all your earthly ambitions. Write it upon your very son), and make your life a partnership with God in pushing His great work of salvation. Amen.