The Eastern Question

WHEN HE COMES TO HIS END

Yet this is not all. The angel continues: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” Daniel 12:1, 2. EQ 12.3

Whether the Turkish power shall leave Constantinople, and when; whether it shall be wiped out, and, if so, when,-these are great and interesting questions, and multitudes are anxiously studying them. But of far greater consequence is the question, What will happen when these things are accomplished? EQ 12.4

The Word of God is that “at that time” there shall be such a time of trouble upon the earth as never was since there has been a nation. This we have seen by positive proofs is the very thing which the great nations are dreading; and against this universal woe of world-wide war and tumult the great powers are holding the Ottoman power as long as possible as a bulwark, knowing that, when this bulwark shall have been broken down, the appalling torrent must spread over all. In this matter the Word of God and the word of the great powers of the world are in exact and perfect accord. EQ 12.5

Who is ready for this “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation”? Who? Whoever on the earth is not ready for the spreading over all nations of such a time of trouble as never was since there was a nation-whoever on earth is not ready for this is not ready for the wiping out of the Ottoman power. Therefore, instead of churches and pulpits and religious papers calling for war, and urging the wiping of the Turkish power off the earth, they would better, far better, be preaching the gospel of peace, which they profess, and which they are so basely perverting, and by the sincere preaching of the gospel of peace be preparing to stand in peace and quietness in God when this time of trouble shall break upon the world at the time of the ending of the Ottoman Empire. Who is doing this work? Who is ready for the time of trouble? EQ 13.1

For this is not simply a time of great trouble by war amongst the nations. It is a time of trouble caused also by the judgments of God upon the earth, followed quickly by His coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the end of all things. This phase of the question is emphasized by the third portion of Scripture which treats of the Ottoman power. The sixteenth chapter of Revelation contains a record of the seven last plagues, in which “is filled up the wrath of God,” to be poured upon the earth. EQ 13.2