Ancient and Modern History
WHEN the prophet Jeremiah rebuked the inhabitants of Jerusalem for their wicked ways and their persistent departure from following the counsel of the Lord concerning them, and when he brought to them the Lord's message, “I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity,” the people said, “Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” Then came the further warning, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.” In due time the word of the Lord through his prophet was fulfilled to the letter. After his people had rejected his counsel until there was no remedy, then he left them to reap the fruit of their own doings. Terrible was the downfall of Jerusalem. The armies of the enemy prevailed against her walls, and her inhabitants perished miserably in the very shadow of the temple. The same prophet Jeremiah, in his Lamentations, afterward said: “Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. Jehovah hath done that which he purposed; he hath fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.” That generation perished in the Babylonish captivity because of their disregard of the warnings of the Lord through his prophet. We do not need to look very far afield to see that some of these things are being repeated in our time. This4people have been urged not to colonize, and not to center their interests and efforts too much in one place, and thus form a modern Jerusalem. They have been warned of the consequences of so doing. And now the threatened overturning has come, and God is speaking in judgments. Will those to whom he is thus speaking reject these terrible warnings? And shall the counsel of the Lord through the spirit of prophecy be still further despised? Shall we say of the Lord's plans that they are “suicidal”? Shall we decline to follow the Lord's counsel concerning his work in the earth on the ground that it is not in harmony with good judgment, and contrary to the views of the best business men of the world?—Nay, rather let us learn the lesson that the Lord knows better than the wisest men how to conduct his own work. Instead of smiting the prophet and refusing the words of instruction, let us repent of past neglect of the light given, and let us walk in the way of the Lord. Thus will the Lord be gracious again to his people, and prosperity will again attend the work of the message.