19 Now therefore, O Yahweh our Elohim, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand [yad], that all the kingdoms of the earth [kol mamlechot ha'aretz] may know that Thou art Yahweh Elohim, even Thou only.

Such a prayer from such a man received the direct and immediate response that characterised the Mosaic operations in Egypt, and which will again be a joyful experience upon earth when Yahweh by the hand of His Son returned, will

"revive his work in the midst of the years."

Visible Hand of God Ch 30

28 Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult [insolence] is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips [sfatayim], and I will turn thee back by the way [derech] by which thou camest.

Sennacherib was thus informed that his military capacities were of divine institution, for divine purposes. Sennacherib was thus exhibited in the light of a divine instrument for the working out of divine ends, though contemplating only ends of his own. Though a servant of Yahweh in fact, he was by intention an enemy of Him, as Yahweh testifies:

"I know thy rage against Me" (verse 27);

Which is a clear illustration of what we have often seen in the course of these chapters, that men, while acting under their own thoughts and feelings, as they imagine, may carry out a purpose of God of which they had no knowledge and less sympathy; and that a perfectly natural work, to all appearance, may in reality be of divine contrivance and purpose—a lesson valuable in the reading of the Signs of the Times and the interpretation of our own lives.

Ways of Providence Ch 21

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an 185 000: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

The "Three Unclean Spirits Like Frogs"

Now, does it not strike the reader as remarkable that the coming of the Lord should be introduced in a prophecy like that concerning the frogs?

But singular as it may seem it is by no means accidental, but the best possible place for it, because it is intimately connected with their operations. It is mercifully introduced as a warning of what is about to happen at the crisis, that the believer may not be taken at unawares. It speaks to us in effect, saying,

"When you perceive the policy of the frog power acting upon the demon of Turkey, the demon of Austria, and the demon of Romanism, so as to cause them to assume an attitude tending to embroil the nations, you may then know that I, the Lord, am about to revisit the world stealthily."

Christ says,

"Behold I come as a thief."

That is, he comes as a thief comes when he is bent on stealing. A thief not only comes unexpectedly but he gets into the house with secresy. John, indeed, says

"He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him, even those (kai hoitines) who pierced him; and all the tribes of the land shall mourn in his presence (ep 'auton.")

This, however, is affirmed of his appearance in Israel, when he shall make himself known to his brethren after the type of Joseph; which will be subsequently to the great battle in the valley of Megiddo.

The 185,000 Assyrians in the reign of Hezekiah felt the vengeance of the destroyer, but they saw him not; so I believe it will be at the battle of Armageddon, the kings and their armies will be overcome with dreadful slaughter, but they will not see the Avenger's person.

The work of the succeding forty years requires that so signal a revelation be witheld from them. Israel and the saints of the holy city will see the Lord; but not the nations at large.

The divine majesty is not prodigal of its manifestations. Men in the flesh, therefore, will I apprehend, believe in the presence of the Lord on earth as its imperial and pontifical ruler, as nations now believe in the existence and sovereignty of the Autocrat, the Sultan, the Emperor, or the Pope, of whom they have heard by the report of others, but whom they have not seen, and perhaps may never behold.

Men profess now to believe that the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God; but hereafter they will believe that he is "reigning in Jerusalem before his Ancients gloriously;" and their faith if made perfect by works, will, doubtless, as now, be counted to them for righteousness.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1851

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria [Sancheriv Melech Ashur] departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

Sennacherib was repulsed on the mountains of Palestine by supernatural power, which destroyed 185,000 of his troops in one night.

Gog is to be "turned back" after the same example; for saith the Lord Yahweh by Ezekiel, "I will repulse thee, and reduce thee to a sixth;" or in the Common Version,

"I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee;"

that is, the reduction of the northern army to a sixth part, which flees with all speed from the place of slaughter, is the turning back of the Gogian power from Palestine.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, March 1855