THE ASSEMBLING OF THE OPPOSING HOSTS.

Rev. 19:11, 16, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed in a vesture dripped in blood; and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

THE FEAST OF THE BIRDS AND BEASTS.

Eze. 39:17, 20, "And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come, gather yourselves together on every side to my sacrifice which I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God."

Rev. 19:17, 18, "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both bond and free, both small and great."

It is plain to see that this battle of Armageddon, and this feast of the birds and the great earthquake take place at the second advent of Christ. Hence how foolish for any one to say, "Lo, he is here, or lo, he is there," or "he is in the desert, or in the secret chamber": for he says (Mat. 24:28), "For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." In other words, Don't believe the Christ has come till the Feast of the Birds and Beasts is spread; and that is the slain in the valley of Jehoshaphat at the battle of Armageddon.

THE CONFLICT.

Ezek. 38:21-23, "And I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and great hail-stones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself; and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of the nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Rev. 16:21, "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about one hundred and three pounds; and men blasphemed God because of the plague and the hail; for the plague thereof was exceedingly great."

It is during this conflict that the two witnesses mentioned in Rev. 11 prophesy, and bring the plagues written in the whole book of Revelation upon their enemies until their testimony is finished, and their dead bodies lie three days in the streets of Jerusalem. But in the midst of the rejoicing of their enemies the earthquake occurs and slays of those in the city alone 7,000 men. And in the fields of Armageddon five-sixths of the Russian armies are slain, and so great is the slaughter that the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the fields, are satiated with the flesh and the blood of men and kings and beasts.

Seven months will it take Israel to bury the dead of this great army. And so great will be the equipments left on the field that it will take seven years to consume them as fuel; so that they will take no wood out of the forest for fuel for all that time.

CHAPTER XII.

THE COMING OF THE KING.

God made man and gave him dominion over the whole earth, and over every living thing upon it. It was his possession-his landed estate, and his chattels. The right of possession was in him from the Maker and Giver. It was his in fee simple with one condition. But man violated the condition and thereby forfeited his right of possession. The title deeds went back to the Father. There they remained till there was found some one to redeem the lost inheritance.

THE BOOK OF REDEMPTION.

In the Hebrew economy, when a man got in debt and mortgaged his property, there were two ways in which he could again come into possession of it. One was to wait revert to him by

till the year of jubilee, when it would law. The other was to redeem it. When a piece of property was mortgaged, there were two deeds written and placed in the hands of the mortgagee, to be held by him until the land was redeemed. One of these deeds was an open deed which was his own title to the land under the contract. The other was a sealed title, and contained the rights of the original owner, or one who redeemed the estate. The owner or his nearest of kin were the only ones who could redeem the lost possession. When it was redeemed the sealed deed was delivered by the mortgagee

into the hands of the redeemer, and he alone could open the seals.

As proof of this, see, in the fourth chapter of the book of Ruth, how Boaz assembled the court, and with what care he conducted the business of redeeming the possession of Ruth. There was another nearer of kin than he, whom he forced to renounce his right to redeem Ruth's possession. And the right was transferred from the first kinsman to Boaz. As evidence of this transfer of the right to redeem, the kinsman plucked off his shoe in the presence of the court and the assembled witnesses and gave it to Boaz; for it was a custom in Israel concerning redeeming and changing that a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. Boaz then had the right to redeem Ruth's possession. This shoe title was not the redemption, but only the transfer of the right to redeem.

In Jer. 32:6-15 we have another case of such purchase with the sealed and open deeds. Now, man lost his estate and the title deeds went back to the Father, and they remained there until Jesus, our elder brother, paid the redemption price and redeemed our lost possession. In Rev. 5 we see the Father seated upon his throne with the sealed deed in his hand. John wept much because there was no one to open the book and break the seals thereof. Just then one of the elders said unto him, "Weep not; for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." It was Jesus, our elder brother, who had redeemed our lost possession. Here and in Dan. 7 we see him receiving his Kingdom-his right to own and rule this world. He is the nobleman of Luke 19 who went into a far country to receive for himself a Kingdom, and to re