The whole world wonders as we are on the verge of a gigantic war centered about the Middle East and wither bound mankind. It does not take a deep reader to recognize that the situation in Syria between the United States and Russia is very tense at present and many voices are sensing that World War III could erupt at any moment. Does Bible prophecy have anything to say about these things? It certainly does and in order to understand the current tension between the nations we are going to post a series revelations coming from the prophets of old which were shown things that are soon to come to pass before our very eyes. We will begin with some questions and answers that arose regarding the vision in the book of Nahum that was first revealed in the early 1940’s in connection with World War II. Next week we will continue on with the vision in Daniel chapter 11. This series of questions comes from a sermon address given by Brother V. T. Houteff given on August 17, 1947.
“Question 1: “Does the prophecy of Nahum predict World War II or Some Other War?”
For the answer let us go directly to Nahum’s prophecy.
Nah. 2:1 — “He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.”
Nahum predicts that the one who starts the war, “he that dasheth in pieces,” will have been well prepared before he starts the war, but his opposing power, Assyria, will not have been prepared until after the war begins; that is, after the one who “dasheth in pieces” comes before Assyria’s face, then it is that Assyria makes preparation to meet him. Then it is that she makes her loins strong, and fortifies her “power mightily.”
Now, since it is a known fact that Great Britain and France were not prepared to fight Hitler when he opened up his guns against them, and as everyone of the Allies began to prepare themselves mightily after Hitler started to dash in pieces, the truth stands out as clear as crystal that “he who dasheth in pieces” is none other than Hitler, the one that was ready at the commencement of the war, the one who broke in several pieces Germany itself, the British empire and many other countries. The Allies, therefore, must be the antitypical Assyria. This is clue number one.
For clue number two we shall read about the means of travel and transportation in the day that the war preparations are made and the war itself fought.
Nah. 2:3, 4 — “…the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation,… The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.”
These verses portray the means of travel and transportation in the day the war preparations are made and the war fought. Since World War II is the only war in history for which the preparations described by Nahum were made and used while the “chariots” (vehicular traffic) move with unprecedented speed, “lightning-like” speed, while motor traffic in air and sea, in city and countryside (streets and broadways), “justled one against another.” All these signs of the time, mark the time the war is fought, they leave no room for doubts. They all in perfect terms certify that Nahum predicts World War II. For a third clue we shall read . . .
Nah. 1:15 — “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
Here we are told that at the time the war is fought someone is to be publishing inspired revelations of newly revealed Truth, the Truth of the Judgment of the Living, the which is to forever separate the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:30), the good fish from the bad (Matt. 13:47, 48), the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32), and the wise virgins from the foolish ones (Matt. 25:1-12). These shall “no more pass through” the church, declares the scripture, they are “utterly cut off.” Thus urging Judah, the church, to keep this antitypical atonement feast and to perform her vows to God so as to be found worthy of escaping the judgments of God. Hence God’s plea to His church is now ringing throughout the land, saying, “Awake, awake: put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and unclean.” (Isa. 52:1)
With these positive signs of the times Inspiration lets each individual decide for himself whether to put confidence in the Voice which Inspiration Itself recommends, or in a voice which uninspired human beings recommend. Henceforth there is to be no confusion among God’s true people. His “…watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” (Isa. 52:8.)
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Question 2: “Who does Nahum say will win the war — ‘he that dasheth in pieces’ or ‘Assyria’?”
Although Nahum’s prophecy places the greater emphasis on the fall of Assyria, it nevertheless declares that they both will lose out, for speaking of him that “dasheth in pieces,” the scripture says:
Nah. 2:5 — “He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.”
To “recount his worthies” implies that the number of worthies — captains and generals and other mighty men along with his fine army — is diminishing and hence the need of recounting, and that “his worthies” are to stumble in their walk; that is they are to make some kind of a blunder on their march to victory and cause them to fall. And this is exactly what happened: Hitler’s army stumbled by waging war against Russia while he was in war with Great Britain. That critical moment of his career was Hitler’s greatest folly. England was just about to give up, but the German army pulled away and went to fight Russia! And, too, the fall of his worthies being mentioned before the fall of Assyria is mentioned, the prophecy thus reveals that “he that dasheth in pieces,” Hitler, was to fall first.
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Question 3: “Why is Hitler’s title ‘he that dasheth in pieces’?”
Well, that is all Hitler did. He began to dash in pieces from the very inception of the war, — none were able to stand against him, and even after he disappeared, and Germany surrendered, the breaking in pieces continued and as yet has not stopped. As a result the whole world is broken in pieces, not only geographically, but politically and socially and economically as well. The English Empire is still tottering, and the ominous “squeaks” are becoming louder and louder with each passing day. Hitler, therefore, deserves the title (“dasheth in pieces”) in more than one way.
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Question 4: “Does not Nahum’s prophecy teach that Assyria is to fall completely?”
Yes, that is just what we understand it to teach. Very evidently, then, Nahum’s prophecy forewarns that World War II is not as yet completed. The world itself knows that it is not, and that the Allies, save Russia, won nothing, that they would have been better off to have given to Hitler part of Poland than to fight the war and then to lose out to Russia not only a part but whole of Poland and with it whole Eastern Europe. Moreover, Russia has now become their greater enemy than was Hitler. They did away with Hitler, but the hot war never completely ceased, and the cold war was soon added to it. Everyone knows that the war is not settled, and that peace has not come, that the war may break out red hot any day.
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Question 5: “What do your tracts teach concerning the war?” –
The tracts do not say as much. They do not say definitely who “he that dasheth in pieces” is, nor do they say for certain that World War II is Nahum’s war. And while Tract No. 14, War News Forecast, does say that the army of him who dasheth in pieces, “too nevertheless shall fall,” it does not say for sure whose army will fall first. (See Tract No. 14, pg. 12, — comments on Nahum 2:5.)
Tract No. 12, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, published two years before Tract No. 14, does, however, say:
“It now being apparent that ‘the tabernacles of his palace’ are supposed to represent holiness, and that the woman’s riding the beast denotes her settling the world’s social, economic, political, and religious problems, the truth is clear that the present Christian governments are to be reorganized, and ruled by an ecclesiastical head — not by Hitler.”
The tracts do not tell everything, but what they tell, they tell it straight.”– Timely Greetings, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 13-18
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