The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters

cover the sea' (Isa. 11:9).

'And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for

an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek' (Isa. 11:10).

So far as the oceans of the world are concerned, the waters do not

cover the sea, the sea covers the ocean bed of earth.  The explanation of

this figure is found in Ezekiel 47.  From under the threshold of the house of

the Lord, Ezekiel saw waters flowing eastward.  When these waters were

measured they were first to the ankles, then to the loins, and finally were

too deep to be passed over:

'These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the

desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea,

the waters shall be healed ... from En-gedi' (Ezek. 47:8 -10).

This fixes the 'waters' and 'the sea' of Isaiah's prophecy, for En -

gedi is on the banks of the Dead Sea.  The miraculous healing of this

symbolic sea of death comes from a restored and blessed Israel while the rest

of the world is still in darkness, the prophetic future follows the pattern

that is expressed in the words: 'Among all nations, Beginning at Jerusalem'

(Luke 24:47).  At the same time that the Redeemer comes to Zion (for the

chapter division must be ignored here) darkness will cover the earth, and to

the glory that will be seen upon Israel, the Gentiles shall come (Isa. 59:20;

60:1 -3).  When the Lord reigns in Zion, He will rule in the midst of

Enemies, and while Israel will offer themselves willingly, the Lord will have

to strike through kings in the day of His wrath, judging among the heathen,

and filling the places with the dead bodies.  These words 'strike through',

'wrath' and 'dead bodies' cannot be construed into terms of universal peace,

for that does not come until after Israel are restored and blessed.  If at

the close of the Millennium That kingdom which ends with the rising of Gog

and Magog, and during which feigned obedience has been rendered, was all that

the Redeemer could deliver up to the Father, then the goal of the ages, 'that

God may be all in all' will never be reached, and we are indeed of all men

'most miserable'.

The Prophecy of Daniel contains a series of questions concerning the

character of 'the last days', there translated 'the last end', 'the latter

time', 'the latter' days, and 'the end of' these things.  Associated with

these words are 'the indignation' (Dan. 8:19) and 'kingdom' (Dan. 8:23)

where the subdivision of Alexander's Empire into four, foreshadows a similar

subdivision in the last days, either Syria, Egypt, Macedonia or Asia Minor,

out of one of which the last world dictator shall arise (Daniel 8).  Hence

the rising importance of 'The Middle East'.

In Daniel 10:14 Gabriel announced to Daniel that he had come to make

him understand 'what shall befall thy people in the latter days', and this is

the theme of Daniel 11 and 12.  At the end there shall be 'a time of trouble

such as never was', and a deliverance and a resurrection of all 'found

written in the book' (Dan. 12:1 -3).  Daniel was then told to shut up the

words and seal the book 'even unto the time of the end', and it is the office

of the book of the Revelation to open up the prophecies of Daniel, and

neither book can be understood without the other.  Two strange and

unexplained periods of time are found at the close, namely the one thousand

two hundred and ninety days and the one thousand three hundred and thirty -

five days.  These days date 'from the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken