The Medical Missionary, vol. 15
September 5, 1906
“The Eastern Question. The Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet” The Medical Missionary, 15, ns, 10, pp. 83, 84.
ALONZO T. JONES
A VERY important feature of the Eastern Question at its present and its final stages, is the part played by “the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.1
In Revelation 16:13, 14, two things are shown:— MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.2
1. It is “the spirits of devils working miracles” by which the kings of the East and of the earth and the whole world are gathered to the battle of that great day and of Armageddon. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.3
2. These spirits of devils “come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.4
It is therefore important to know what are these things—the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. It is important to know what is their standing in connection with the Eastern Question. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.5
First, what are they? When we shall have learned what these are, it will be easy to see their standing and their connection with the Eastern Question. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet are first brought to view in Revelations 12 and 13: with the single variation that there “the false prophet” is called the “image to the beast.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.6
In Revelation 12 and 13 there is portrayed the war of Satan against the Church of Christ from the birth of Christ in the world to the end of the world, and the powers by which he makes this war. And these powers are just three—the dragon, the beast, and the image of the beast, or the false prophet. What, then, are these powers? these instrumentalities of Satan in this war against Christ and his Church? MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.7
What is the dragon? MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.8
At the opening of the twelfth chapter of Revelation there is seen a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, who brings “forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” That “man child” is Christ the Lord. Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15, 16; Luke 24:50, 51; Mark 16:9; Acts 7:55; Hebrews 8:1. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.9
This woman is nothing else than the symbol of the Church of God, in her beauty “fair as the moon,” and “clear as the sun.” And there stood before the woman a great red dragon “to devour her child as soon as it was born.” This dragon, in his own proper person, is declared to be “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” But Satan in this world works through instrumentalities. These instrumentalities are men: and chiefly combinations of men in world-powers. What power was it, then, which was Satan’s instrumentality in his endeavor to destroy Christ as soon as he was born?—Herod the Great, was the person whom he used. But in that connection Herod was much more than merely a person; much more than only himself. He was king of Judea. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.10
And Herod was yet much more than even king of Judea. He was king of Judea, solely as the official of Rome. He became king, the king of Judea, solely by the direct action of the Roman imperial power through a vote of the Senate. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.11
Herod was formerly a minor official of Rome, holding the office of tetrarch, when an invasion of Judea by the Parthians caused him to flee to Idumea, the country of his parents. From there he made his way through Egypt and Alexandria to Rome. Arrived in Rome he went to Mark Antony, who was an acquaintance and friend of both his father and himself, and was just then one of the two men who wielded the whole power of Rome. By this means Herod secured an introduction to the Senate. Both Anthony and Octavius advocated his cause; and the Senate in that very session made him king of Judea, and “made a decree accordingly.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.12
Thus in the kingship of Judea, Herod was only an official of Rome. And he could not have been king for a day in Judea, nor for an hour in Jerusalem, if he had not been supported by the mighty power of Rome. Accordingly Herod in his place of power was nothing else than the representative, the creature, of Rome. Therefore, it was the Roman power in the world, that, through Herod, Satan used to destroy Christ as soon as he was born. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.13
However, that attempt failed. Yet Satan never rested until he had, so far as possible, and so far as himself and this world were concerned, destroyed the “man child,” the Lord Jesus,—until he had accomplished Christ’s crucifixion upon a Roman cross, and had buried him out of the world in a tomb sealed with the Roman seal, and watched by a Roman guard. And it was altogether by the Roman power that he did all this—through Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. But even in this, Satan failed; because from death and the sealed Roman tomb, the “man child” “was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.14
Then, still through his world instrumentality, the Roman empire, Satan turned all his endeavors against the woman, which is the Church, and “persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” Revelation 12:13. This he did while the Roman Empire continued. And during all the time trough which that power did continue, it was so completely the instrumentality of Satan, and in its workings was so identified with Satan, who is pre-eminently the Dragon and was so entirely imbued with his spirit, that this power itself is called the dragon. Revelation 12:3, 4. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.15
But Rome itself was not simply Rome; it was more than only a power. Rome was pagan. It was as the embodiment of paganism that Rome was used by Satan against Christ and his Church. Paganism was the form taken in the original apostasy from God, in the world. In the days of Christ on earth, and in pagan Rome, paganism had attained its ultimate development and stood fully revealed in just what it was, and what alone it could do for mankind and the world. And in its last analysis the opposition of the Roman power to Christ and his Church was nothing else than the war of the false religion of paganism under Satan, its author and head, against the true religion under Christ, its Author and Head. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.16
And now in this time of the rapid shaping of events in the progress of the Eastern Question; in this time of the entanglement of all the great powers of the world in the Eastern Question; in this time of the re-shaping of the far East to the culmination of the Eastern Question; it is a remarkable and an intensely significant fact that the only remaining distinct and separate paganism in the world is rapidly being shaped into one concentrated and mighty power: and this in the farthest East, and at the very centre of the Eastern Question as it is in the farthest East. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 83.17
We have seen how that the great powers of Europe, with even the United States, have extended their sway over all the world, so that while they are the kings of the West they are really also the kings of the East and of the earth and the whole world. These are all professedly Christian powers, and many pagan nations are under their sway and are included in their power. But there remains on the earth yet one, and only one, section of the paganism that still stands separate and distinct. This section is composed of China, Korea, and Japan. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 84.1
It is the truth that the only pagan peoples in the world to-day that are not under the domination of the so-called Christian powers, are these three: China, Korea, and Japan. And it is a striking and significant fact that these three are being rapidly shaped into one centralized power under the masterly molding influence and leadership of Japan. Korea is already Japanese territory. And China is now subject to the tutelage of Japan more than of any, or perhaps all, other. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 84.2
By her wonderful progress in a single generation, and by her splendid victories over Russia, Japan has gained the recognized ascendancy in the far east, and proposes to keep it. While confessing that China is “the sick man of Asia;” and while welcoming the suggestions of as many physicians as may choose to prescribe for this “sick man” Japan openly announces, and will undoubtedly insist, that she alone shall be the confidential physician and bedside attendant to administer the medicine. Under all the circumstances there is no room for doubt that in the re-shaping of the far East, Japan will secure to herself the shaping of China’s awakening and progress; and so will bind China to herself in the formation of one of the mightiest of the world-powers, and most vitally connected with the Eastern Question. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 84.3
And that power will be distinctly pagan. And so the only remaining distinct and separate paganism in the world will be shaped into a mighty concentrated power composing the dragon element of the great three-fold division of the world’s political religion designed in the Scripture terms—the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 84.4
Next week our study will be, What is the Beast? MEDM September 5, 1906, page 84.5
“Christians Are Glad” The Medical Missionary, 15, ns. 10, pp. 85, 86.
“SERVE the Lord with gladness.” Do you do it? If not, why? MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.1
Of all the people in the universe, those who are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God, are the gladdest. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.2
We do not say that they should be the gladdest. We say they are the gladdest. If you profess to be redeemed by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and are not one of the gladdest, happiest people in all the world, then it is certain that you have not that which your profession says that you have. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.3
The profession of being a Christian testifies that we are Christians; it testifies that we are in possession of what the Christian faith gives. And by so much as we lack what that faith implies, by just that much our profession bears false witness against what the Christian faith really is. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.4
Now it is certain that from the beginning to the end of the Bible, the Christian faith gives gladness forever; that even in the midst of sorrow, with which this world is so heavily laden, the Christian faith gives “always rejoicing.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.5
Look at the situation: We were under the curse; laden with iniquity; enslaved to the power of evil, which we hated even while we did it; living in malice and envy; hateful, and hating one another; under bonds to death, and “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;” and never had any peace. But now, through the grace of the Lord Jesus and the mercy of our God, he “hath redeemed us from the curse;” he has “taken away all iniquity;” he “hath delivered us or from the power of darkness,” and given “liberty to the captives;” he has put in our hearts his own love for all people instead of the old malice and envy, hatefulness and hating; he has given us his own of peace,—yea, he has made himself “our peace;” he “hath given us eternal life” in place of death, and a “certain dwelling-place” in his presence, where we “shall see his face,” midst “pleasures which are is forevermore” and the blessedness of “eternal glory.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.6
Now any one of these things which the Lord has given is sufficient to make glad, and it does make glad forever, the soul who really receives it. And how much more is it so when all these things are really received! It is literally impossible for any soul really to receive these things that Christ has brought to him, without being literally filled with a gladness which abides, and which will abide forevermore. “The by Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 85.7
Therefore if any one who professes to be a Christian; that is, professes to have received all this which God has given, and which Christ brings,—and yet is not filled with gladness so that he really serves the Lord with gladness, it is perfectly plain that his profession of Christianity is merely a profession, and is not the genuine faith which puts the soul in possession of the gifts of God. He still comes short of the glory of God, and bedims to the world the brightness and beauty, the genuine attractiveness, that truly belong to the Christian religion. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.1
Come along, then! Let us believe trod, and “be glad in the Lord,” and really serve him “with gladness.” No other service than the service of gladness can rightly represent our Lord. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.2
“The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.3
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.4
“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.5
“Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.6
“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.7
“Rejoice evermore.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.8
“I will be glad in the Lord.” MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.9
This is Christianity. This is what it is to be a Christian. Come, now, therefore, and let us all be Christians. MEDM September 5, 1906, page 86.10