THE twenty-fifth chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah, while it may refer, in an incidental way, to some of the struggles of ancient Israel, yet was written for our admonition and instruction who are living in this time; for we read, in the New Testament, that “all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11.
Hence all these Old Testament scriptures and prophecies were written “for our admonition,” and we should study them. Read the words of the prophet: “A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
Resources of money and property destroyed in war can be replaced, but these resources in men, when lost, are gone forever.
Boston Photo News Co.
FRENCH TROOPS BEING MARCHED TO THE FRONT
There are in this scripture some things that could not have applied in any previous age. In the days of ancient Israel, the world had not all been discovered, nor was it all populated; but this text calls for a time when the slain of the Lord will be from one end of the earth to the other, and it speaks of a time when “evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.” This great whirlwind, as the text indicates, is the storm of war that will break out. This chapter of Jeremiah is telling about war, and the evils that will arise among the nations as a result of it. And in that day, the text says, the slain shall be from one end of the earth to the other. “They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried.”
The final climax of the scripture can not be reached until the wicked are destroyed at the second coming of Christ. But by observing what is now occurring, we can see some forecasts of the destruction that will be wrought through the terrible wars that are predicted for these closing days of time. In the war now raging in Europe, so many are killed and wounded that the hospital corps can not possibly take care of the wounded on the field of action. One of the latest despatches tells of a section of the river Yser, along which one of the most sanguinary battles has been fought, becoming so choked with dead bodies of men and horses, trees, and sunken barges, as to form a bridge, across which an entire brigade crossed. Think of the idea of using the corpses of men and horses as a bridge. It shows the mighty slaughter. Other despatches tell of large numbers of soldiers who were slightly wounded, but could not secure help, and had to remain on the battle-field till they died from sheer exposure.
God is not the author of this war, nor of any of this suffering; but the wickedness and the grasping selfishness and greed of men in these times are driving them into it, and these gruesome and sickeningly cruel results follow. God’s word has said these things were coming; but men have turned away from that Word, and to their own theories, and so do not receive the warning. The individual who is following the Word, knows perfectly well the meaning of this war, and what will be the outcome of it. This earth is in its death throes. The supreme climax will soon be reached; and if we will but study our Bibles, we may know it without any peradventure.
