told by Jesus Christ Himself when reproaching His kinsmen for their unbelief: "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. xxiii. 39). But how about the overpowered and routed RussoGerman hosts, not only in Jerusalem, but encamped all over the Holy Land? The prophet Daniel predicted their fate when, in speaking of the latterday invaders, he said : "He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many shall be overthrown And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him " (Dan. xi. 41, 45). In their retreat, what helter-skelter there will be to get to some place of safety! What a taking to their heels! How they will run ! No doubt they will call it a military retirement; or, more likely still, they will term it A Strategic Retreat. The strategy, however, will not be on their part, but on that of the God of Israel, who has a lesson to teach them, and all other desecrators of the Land, concerning which His prophet says:- "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zech. ii. 8). And again : "In that day I will make Jerusalem a bur densome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zech. xii. 3). Another of the prophets of Israel describes God's mind of His land and people thus: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn" (Isa. liv. 17). The Gog confederacy will hasten away from Jerusalem, very possibly for the purpose of getting reinforcements. In any case, they will not go in the direction of Jaffa, for no reinforcements will be found there. Although Jaffa is the port for Jerusalem, the ways and means of that seaport are far too limited for it ever to be used for transport of either troops or guns. No deep draught boats can get anywhere near the shore. Off Jaffa. Not only is the Mediterranean here very shallow, but the coast-line abounds with very dangerous rocks or reefs, through which only small boats can be steered. There is no harbour, nor is there likely to be, in spite of the concessions made or promised from time to time by the Turkish authorities. Therefore, anything in the way of transports must be carried out at either Haifa or Beyrout, at both of which places there is ample provision for embarking or disembarking troops in large numbers. Now let us look at the map of Palestine, and we see that whichever of those two ports they make for, they will have to cross the plain of Esdraelon, or Megiddo, as it is termed in Scripture. And what of that? Let us here repeat something said by the late Lord Kitchener before the Geographical Section of the British Association and Palestine Exploration Fund Committee. * Lord Kitchener. He said: "Looking down on the broad plain of Esdraelon stretched out from our feet it is impossible not to remember that this is the greatest battlefield of the world, from the days of Joshua and the defeat of the mighty host of Sisera, till, almost in our own days, Napoleon the Great fought the battle of Mount Tabor. Here also is the ancient Megiddo, where the last great Battle of Armageddon is to be fought." There is not the slightest doubt but that Lord Kitchener was right in identifying the Plain of Esdraelon or Megiddo as the Armageddon of the Holy Scriptures. Every authority of any note agrees therewith, including Sir Charles Wilson, Dean Stanley, Dr. Ellicott, Dr. Hastings, Cunningham Geikie, Dr. Cheyne, Dr. Black, Dr. Kitto, and Dr. Albert Barnes. As to Lord Kitchener, there was something in his career remarkably out of the ordinary. Born in 1850, he entered the Royal Engineers at 21, after " * In a lecture before the Geographical Section of the British Section of the British Association on The Survey of Galilee," see Quarterly Statement, 1878, pp. 159-174, |