No. 816
Part Eight – The Battle of the Great Day
“For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name [Christendom, Babylon], and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts . . . The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 25:29-31)
This is a continuation from our July 2025 paper on “The Day of Vengeance.”
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The conflict of this Day of Vengeance will be so complex and peculiar that no one symbol could describe it. Accordingly, many forceful symbols are used in the Scriptures, such as battle, earthquake, fire, storm, tempest, and flood. (Rev. 16:14, 18; Zeph. 3:8; Nah. 1:3-8; Isa. 28:2) That these are not to be literal floods, fires, and other natural disasters destructive of our planet Earth and its population, is evident from the statement (symbolic) that the present order of things, when destroyed, will be followed by a new order: “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens [God’s glorified Church] and a new earth [human society reorganized under God’s Kingdom], wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17)
Referring to that new order of things after the fire of God’s retributive vengeance shall have burned up present evils, God, through the Prophet, says: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language [the Truth], that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:9)
TWO REMARKABLE TYPES
But let no one conclude because these various descriptions are not literal, but symbolic, that they may therefore represent merely a battle of words, a quaking of fear, or a trivial storm of human passion. For though controversy, and words of passion and arguments will be and are among the weapons used in this battle, especially in the beginning of it, yet it will not end with these. Every prophetic detail indicates that before it ends it will be a most violent conflict, a fierce and terrible storm. We have already observed the typical character of the great tribulation which came upon fleshly Israel in the end of the Jewish Age. Now having come to the parallel period – the harvest of the Gospel Age, we see all the indications of a similar, though much greater trouble, upon “Christendom,” its antitype. While the judgments visited upon Judea and Jerusalem were terrible in the extreme, they were only on a small scale as compared with the great tribulation upon Christendom, involving the whole world and now fast approaching.
The Roman army and regular warfare caused but a small portion of the trouble in the end of the Jewish Age, noted as the most terrible on the pages of history, and approached only by the French Revolution. It sprang mainly from national disintegration, the overthrow of law and order – anarchy. Selfishness apparently took complete control and arrayed every man against his neighbor – just as is predicted of the coming trouble upon Christendom (in the midst of which the great spiritual temple, God’s elect Church, will be completed and glorified). “For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.” (Zech. 8:9-11)
That times have not so changed as to make such a calamity either impossible or improbable in our day is too manifest to require proof. But if any should be inclined to doubt it, let them call to mind the great Revolution that only a little over one century ago (now two) brought France to the verge of social ruin and threatened the peace of the world.
Some have the erroneous idea that the world has outgrown the barbarities of earlier days, and they rest in fancied security and assume that such calamities as have occurred in the past could not befall the world again, but sound judgment and an acquaintance with the facts of even recent history and with the present feverish pulse of humanity are sufficient to guarantee the possibility of a duplication of the past, even without the sure word of prophecy, which foretells a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.
In the symbolic language of Revelation, the French Revolution was indeed a “great earthquake” – a social shock so great that all “Christendom” trembled until it was over; and that terrible and sudden outburst of a single nation’s wrath may give some idea of the fury of the coming storm, when the wrath of all the angry nations will burst the bands of law and order and cause a reign of universal anarchy. It should be remembered, too, that that calamity occurred in what was then the very heart of Christendom, in the midst of what was regarded as one of the most thoroughly Christian nations in the world, the nation which for a thousand years had been the chief support of Papacy. A nation intoxicated with Babylon’s wine of false doctrines in church and state, and long bound by priestcraft and superstition, there vomited forth its pollution and spent the force of its maddened rage. In fact, the French Revolution seems referred to by our Lord in His Revelation to John on Patmos as a prelude to, and an illustration of, the great crisis now approaching.
In all the leading causes which culminated in the terrors of the French Revolution, we see a strong resemblance to similar conditions today which are rapidly and surely leading to the foretold similar results on a world-wide scale. Mark the growing animosity between the privileged classes (royalty and aristocracy) and the working classes, the discussions of the rights and wrongs of the people, and the decline of respect for both civil and ecclesiastical authority. Note also the revolutionary current of popular thought and expression – the increasing dissatisfaction of the masses of the people with the ruling powers and the institutions of government. And if the American Declaration of Independence, with its proclamation of human rights and of the foundation of government in contract and the consent of the people, inspired the masses of the French with a desire for liberty and independence, it is not surprising that the successful experiment of this government of the people and by the people, and the measure of liberty and prosperity here enjoyed, are having their effect. The ever-continuous tide of emigration from other countries to this country is another evidence of the impression which this experiment has made upon the peoples of other nations.
And yet, the liberty and prosperity here enjoyed are far from satisfactory to the people here. They crave a still better condition and are seeking measures to attain it. Nowhere throughout Christendom does this determination assert itself more positively and boldly than here. Every man is on the qui vive to assert his real or fancied rights. The trend of thought here, as elsewhere, is in the current of revolution, and is daily becoming more so.
The French Revolution was a struggle of a measure of light against gross darkness; of the awakening spirit of liberty against long established oppression; and of a measure of truth against old errors and superstitions, long encouraged and fostered by civil and ecclesiastical powers for their own aggrandizement and the people’s oppression. And yet, it exhibited the danger of liberty unguided by righteousness and the spirit of a sound mind. (2 Tim. 1:7) A little learning is indeed a dangerous thing. One of Charles Dickens’ stories, the scene of which is laid in the troublous times of the French Revolution, begins thus, and aptly fits the present time, as he suggests: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
While we see the same causes operating throughout the world today, to produce similar results on a more extended scale, we cannot console ourselves with ideas of fancied security, and proclaim Peace! Peace! when there is no peace; especially in view of the warnings of prophecy.
When the conditions are fully ripe for the great Revolution a most trivial circumstance may serve as a match to set on fire the present social structure throughout the whole world. In the case of the French Revolution, the first overt act, it is said, was the beating on a tin pan by a woman whose children were hungry. Soon an army of mothers was marching to the royal palace to ask for bread. Being refused, they were joined by the men, and soon the wrath of the nation was kindled and the flames of revolution swept the whole land.
And yet, the royalty was so oblivious to the conditions of the people, and so surrounded with plenty and luxury, that even when these outbreaks came, the queen could not comprehend the situation. Hearing from her palace the commotion of the mob, she inquired what it meant, and being told that the people were clamoring for bread, she replied, “It is foolish for them to make such an ado about bread: if bread is scarce, let them get cake, it is cheap now.”
So striking is the similarity of the present to those times, that the alarm is being sounded by many thoughtful discerners of the signs of the times, while others cannot realize the situation. The cries which preceded the French Revolution were as nothing in comparison to the appeals now going up from the masses all over the world to those in power and influence.
The retributive character of the great tribulation upon fleshly Israel in the harvest of the Jewish Age was very marked, as was that of the French Revolution. It will likewise be so manifest in the present distress when the climax is reached. We must expect that the approaching trouble will be no less bitter and severe than these two illustrations, but rather more terrible as well as more general for two reasons. First, present day conditions render each member of the social structure more dependent than ever before, not only for new and increased comforts and luxuries, but also for the very necessities of life. Secondly, the Lord specially declares that the coming trouble will be such as has never been before and never will be again. (Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:2; Matt. 24:21)
While there is no hope held out that this trouble can be averted, there are instructions in the Scriptures to those who would hide from the coming storm. First, the faithful of the Church are promised deliverance before the full force of the storm breaks. Secondly, all who love justice and pursue peace should diligently set their house in order, as directed by the Word of the Lord, which says: “Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:2-3)
The Prophet Joel calls upon those who see these things to sound an alarm, saying, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain [Christendom – the professed holy mountain or kingdom of the Lord]: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” (Joel 2:1) The Psalmist says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? . . . Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone [symbols of trouble and destruction], and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.” (Psa. 11:3-7)
The battle of this great day of God Almighty will be the greatest revolution the world has ever seen. It will be one in which every principle of unrighteousness will be involved, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.” (Matt. 10:26) This will be true in the judgment of the nations as well as in the judgment of individuals. Even now, the searchlight of general intelligence is discovering the secret springs of political intrigue, financial policies, religious claims, etc., and how all are brought to the bar of judgment, and by men, as well as by God, declared right or wrong as judged by the teachings of the Word of God – by the golden rule, the law of love, the examples of Christ, etc., all of which are coming into such remarkable prominence in the discussions of these times.
The battle of the great day, like every other revolutionary war, has its stages of gradual development. Behind the strife are the inspiring causes, the real or fancied national and individual wrongs. Next comes a keen appreciation of those wrongs by those who suffer from them. Various attempts at reform generally follow which prove futile and lead to controversies, wars of words, divisions, conflict of opinions, and finally to revenge and conflict of arms. Such is the order of the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty. Its general character is that of a struggle of light against darkness, of liberty against oppression, of truth against error. Its extent will be worldwide – peasant against prince, pew against pulpit, labor against capital. The oppressed will be up in arms against injustice and tyranny of every kind. The oppressors will be up in arms for the defense of what they have long considered to be their rights, even when those rights are seen to encroach upon the rights of others.
THE LORD’S GREAT ARMY
We have noted the work of preparation for the conflict of this evil day – the organizing, equipping and drilling of immense armies, the building of great navies, the invention of new and wonderful engines of war, etc. As we view the millions of armed and disciplined warriors, we inquire which of all these mighty hosts is that army to which the Prophets point as the Lord’s great army? Can the prophetic references be to any of these? Or can this reference be to the people of God, the soldiers of the cross, whose weapons are described by the Apostle Paul as not carnal, but mighty, through the pulling down of strongholds? (2 Cor. 10:3-5) Can it be that the “sword of the Spirit,” the Word of God (Eph. 6:17) in the hands of God’s people filled with His spirit, is to accomplish the great work of overthrowing all the kingdoms of this world and giving them to Christ for an everlasting possession?
Would that it might be so, but such will not be the case as we have already seen, both from prophecy and from the signs of the times. It is evidently not the saints who are the Lord’s great army that is to overthrow the kingdoms of this world. As the Apostle says, their weapons are indeed mighty among those who are influenced by them (2 Cor. 10:4-5), but they do not operate in the same way upon the world. The army of the saints is, moreover, not a “great army,” but a “little flock,” as our Lord Himself designated it. (Compare Luke 12:32; Joel 2:11)
Hear the prophetic description of this army:
“A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like; neither shall be any more after it . . . Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains [kingdoms] shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness . . . The earth [the present social order] shall quake before them; the heavens [the ecclesiastical powers] shall tremble: the sun and the moon [the illuminating influences of the gospel and the Mosaic law] shall be dark [infidelity having become prevalent], and the stars [the apostolic lights – Rev. 12:1] shall withdraw their shining: And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:2-11) The dark night will have come wherein no man can labor. (John 9:4; Isa. 21:9, 11-12)
Under the Lord’s overruling providence, it is this army that will “overthrow the throne of kingdoms” and destroy their strength. (Hag. 2:22) But where is there such an army? The description of the Prophet is not of an undisciplined mob, which might be easily dealt with by those educated in the arts of war; it is rather a description of a mighty host under a high degree of discipline.
Where is there presently such an army, before which the earth [society] will quake and the heavens [ecclesiasticism] tremble? (Joel 2:10) Where is the army that in the near future will dare deny Christendom’s time-honored doctrines, its statecraft and priestcraft? Where is the army that will set the heavens on fire, and melt the earth with fervent heat, thus making one vast universal wreck of the old order of things as predicted by the Prophets?
That such an army is coming into existence and preparing for the desperate conflict we are forcibly assured by the signs of the times and by the “sure word of prophecy.” And it is the recognition of this fact (without any reference to or knowledge of the word of prophecy) that is now filling the heart of Christendom with fearful foreboding, and impelling statesmen everywhere to take extraordinary measures for protection and defense.
But in these very measures for self-defense devised by “the powers that be,” there is probably a snare which they do not realize. The armies upon which they depend for defense are the armies of the common people: their service of thrones and kingdoms is only secured by imperative orders, and made endurable by a remuneration which they are fast coming to consider as no satisfactory compensation for the hardships and privations which they and their families must undergo, not to mention perils to life and limb and health and fortune.
Year by year these armed hosts are less and less infatuated with the “glory” of war, more keenly alive to its sufferings and privations, and less and less devoted to the sovereign powers that command their services, while the armies of toilers, of the common people at home, are becoming more and more irritated and dissatisfied with their lot, and more and more apprehensive of the future. All of these things are indications of at least a possibility that in the crisis approaching the mighty armed and disciplined hosts of Christendom may turn their power against the authorities instead of using their power to uphold and preserve them.
Just what conditions and circumstances will be used of the Lord as His “voice” of command to marshal this mighty army we may not now be able to clearly surmise; but we live in a day which makes history rapidly. On general principles it would not be unreasonable to expect movements in this direction at any time, but we have seen that God has a set time for every feature of His plan. We see already, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after [forward to] those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” (Luke 21:26)
All people are able to see something of the dark outlines of the trouble coming closer and closer. Society is apparently like a tinderbox ready for the match – like a powder magazine, ready to explode at any moment – like an organized army, ready for the assault at the word of command. Mankind in general is unconscious of the Lord’s interest in this battle. Almost all the combatants gird on the armor for personal and selfish interests which they rightly realize the Lord could not share. Hence, while all on every side are ready to call on the Lord for His blessing, few count on it; all seem to rely upon themselves – their organizations, their numbers, etc. None will be more surprised than the “powers of the heavens,” the leaders of the present ecclesiastical order, who have sought to establish a plan of their own while neglecting the Lord’s plan as revealed in His Word. (Matt. 24:29)
Hear the Lord’s words: “For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act . . . for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption [an expiration, a consummation], even determined upon the whole earth.” (Isa. 28:21-22)
Although there will be previous frequent skirmishes, the great decisive battle cannot begin until the great Michael, the Captain of our salvation, stands up and gives the word of command. (Dan. 12:1) And the great Captain has informed His royal legion, the Church, that the catastrophe, though imminent, cannot occur until His own, the Little Flock, have all been sealed and gathered.
In the meantime, let us remember the Apostle’s inspired description of this trouble – that it will be as travail upon a woman with child. There will be spasms or throes of trouble, with shortening intervals between. It has been just so thus far; and each future spasm will be more severe, until the final ordeal in which the new order will be born in the death-agonies of present institutions.
Because the Lord has generally been letting the world take its own course, His interference now will seem strange to those who do not understand the dispensational changes due. But in this “battle” He will cause the “wrath” of men (and their ambition and selfishness) to praise and serve His purposes, and He will restrain the remainder which would serve no purpose. (Psa. 76:10) With much long-suffering He has permitted the long reign of sin, selfishness and death because it could be overruled for the trial of His elect Church, and in teaching all men “the exceeding sinfulness of sin.” But seeing that the world in general despises His law of love and truth and righteousness, He purposes a general discipline before giving the next lesson, which will be a practical illustration of the benefits of righteousness, under the Millennial Kingdom of His dear Son.
While the Lord forbids His people to fight with carnal weapons, and while He declares Himself to be a God of peace, order, and love, He also declares Himself to be a God of justice, and shows that sin will not forever triumph in the world, but that it will be punished. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35) And when He rises up to judgment against the nations, taking vengeance upon all the wicked, He declares Himself “a man of war” and “mighty in battle,” and having a “great army” at His command. And who can give assurance that the multitudes who now compose the marshalled hosts of Christendom will not then constitute the great army that will throw its mighty force against the bulwarks of the present social order. (Exod. 15:3; Psa. 24:8; Psa. 45:3; Rev. 19:11; Isa. 11:4; Joel 2:11)
“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.” He thus attributes to Himself the cry and roar of His great army and their success in accomplishing, though ignorantly, His work of destruction. He adds, “I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.” (Isa. 42:13-14)
But there are also intimations in the Scriptures that there may be others beyond the rebelling hosts of Christendom who will also form a part of the Lord’s great army. Through the Prophet Ezekiel, the Lord refers to this time and the approaching calamities upon Christendom: “And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it . . . Make a chain [unite them; let them make a common cause]: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city [Babylon, Christendom] is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen [nations], and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places [their sacred places, their religious institutions, etc.] shall be defiled.” (Ezek. 7:21-24)
Perhaps this signifies that the uprising will be so extremely brutal and savage as to outrival the barbarities of all heathen invasions – as was the case in the French Revolution. Our opinion, however, is that “the worst of the heathen” are those in Christendom who are “without God” and without Christian sentiments or hopes; who hitherto have been restrained and held in check by ignorance, superstition and fear, but who are rapidly losing these restraining influences.
The Lord, by His overruling providence, will take charge of this great army of discontents and use their follies and selfishness to work out His own grand purposes in the overthrow of present institutions, and for the preparation of man for the Kingdom of Righteousness. It is for this reason only that it is termed the Lord’s great army. None of His saints – none who are led by the spirit of God as sons of God are to have anything to do with that part of the “battle.”
UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS
It will be impossible to re-establish the present order. It has evidently outlived its usefulness and is inequitable under present conditions. The general increase in secular knowledge and the discovery of how priestcraft has long blinded and controlled the masses with error and fear will lead to a widespread disrespect for religion. Religious people in general, not discerning that God’s time has come for a change of dispensation, will ignore reason, logic, justice and Scripture in defending the present order of things.
The combined religious power of Christendom will be utterly futile against the rising tide of anarchy. “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” (Isa. 34:4; Rev. 6:14) The two great bodies which constitute the ecclesiastical heavens, Papacy and Protestantism, as the two distinct ends of the scroll are even now rapidly approaching each other, rolling together. Finally, they will “melt with fervent heat.” (2 Pet. 3:12)
“What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” (Nah. 1:9-10) Protestantism and the Papacy can never perfectly assimilate; each will be a thorn in the other’s side. Intoxicated with the spirit of the world, they will be overwhelmed in the great tribulation, and, as religious systems, be utterly destroyed.
(Excerpts from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter XI, condensed and edited. Lengthy quotations have been omitted. Note: This Chapter of Volume IV continues with a discussion of “Jacob’s Trouble.” That section was addressed in our January 2024 paper No. 797.)
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