is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.”
These passages were understood by the early Christians to relate to the persecution, which was to come in the last times; and they seem, evidently, to bear upon them that meaning. Our SAVIOUR’S words, indeed, about the fierce trial which was coming, might seem at first sight to refer to the early persecutions, those to which the first Christians were exposed; and doubtless so they do: yet, violent as these persecutions were, they were not considered by those who suffered them to be the proper fulfilment of the prophecy; and this surely is itself a strong reason for thinking they were not so. And it is confirmed by parallel passages, such as the text, which certainly speak of a persecution still future; yet surely our SAVIOUR used the very words of the text, and referred to what it refers to; and therefore, whatever partial accomplishment His prediction had in the early Church, He surely speaks of nothing short of the last persecution when His words are viewed in their full scope. He says, “There shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, lo, nor ever shall be: and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” And immediately after, “There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” In accordance with this language, the text says, “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.” One of the passages I quoted from the Revelations says the same, and as strongly: “It was given him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them....and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.”
