Prophecy Fulfilled

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 11, 1913

Prophecy Fulfilled

NEARLY two thousand years ago a humble Jew, whose boyhood and early manhood days were passed in the town of Nazareth, uttered a prophecy. That prophecy was regarding the capital city of His nation, the center of Jehovah's worship in the earth,—a city which He loved,—Jerusalem.

The people of that city were to crucify Him, yet He loved it. He recalled its early history, the marvelous workings of God in its behalf, its glory under David and Solomon and Hezekiah; He remembered its vicissitudes and calamities, its capture by the Chaldeans, its seventy years' desolation, its rebuilding under Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, fostered by Persian kings, according to prophecy, its ravaging by the vile Antiochus, and its present glory and beauty in semi-captivity under the iron heel of Rome.

Still it might rise. Still it might accept God's message of healing in God's Messenger of power. But He saw she would not; and therefore it is recorded (Luke 19: 41-44):

“And when He drew nigh, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If Thou hadst known in this Thy day, Even Thou, The things which belong unto Thy peace! But now They are hid from Thine eyes. For the days shall come upon Thee, When Thine enemies shall cast up a bank about Thee, And compass Thee round, And keep Thee in on every side, And shall dash Thee to the ground, And Thy children within Thee; And they shall not leave in Thee one stone upon another; Because Thou knewest not The time of Thy visitation.”

The prophecy was uttered in the year A.D. 31. A few weeks afterward the Prophet was to die. Those who clamored for His death rejected His teachings, His principles, His warnings, His leadership. In their madness they declared, “We have no king but Cæsar.”

For twice a score of years nearly the city stood after this. But then the people of the restless heart who had rejected peace in the Prince of Peace rebelled against the Romans, and the great iron empire threw its strength against Jerusalem.

One needs only to read of the awful siege, in Josephus, the Jewish historian, to learn the awful fulfilment. Sufferings incredible, miseries and privations untold! Women crazed by famine ate their own offspring. Jerusalem was destroyed; the temple was razed to the ground, and “a plowshare was drawn over the consecrated ground as a sign of perpetual interdiction.” (Gibbon.)

Later (363) came the Roman emperor, Julian the apostate. He would prove the Nazarene a liar. The temple would be rebuilt the Jews and their worship would be restored. He proclaimed it to the Jews, and to Jerusalem they went from all parts of the empire. “Men forgot their avarice and women their delicacy; spades and pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich, and the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Every purse was opened in liberal contributions; every hand claimed a share in the pious labor; and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people.” (Gibbon's “Rome,” chapter 23.)

But Alypius, Julian's friend and commander, tells us that “horrible balls of fire,” scorching and blasting the workmen, burst from the foundations, and the builders were forced to desist. Gibbon cites several testimonies, and says, “Such authority should satisfy a believing, and must astonish a credulous mind.” (Id.)

At any rate, Jerusalem was not rebuilt.

The Roman Empire and Jewish zeal could not lock the Christ in the sealed stone sepulcher.

The Roman Empire and the enthusiasm of a people could not counterwork in one jot or tittle one word that the Christ had spoken.

The same Jesus has uttered other prophecies. He is coming again, coming in glory, to take His own children home to the mansions He is preparing. He has predicted the fall of all apostasy as veritably and clearly as He did that of Jerusalem. Nor can men or empires prevent their fulfilment. Our hope—your hope, dear reader—is in hiding in Him, is in making Him your peace.