“I Remember All Their Wickedness”
By M. A. Dake
In the days of Israel, the prophecy of calamity and captivity had been so many years delayed, in God’s long-suffering mercy, that they said, one to another: “The Lord hath forsaken the earth.” “The Lord seeth us not.” “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.” “The Lord hath forgotten, He will never see it.” But Ezekiel was bidden to say impressively to them: “The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. . . . For in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God. . . . There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.” And truly, in a few short years Jerusalem was desolate, as had been so long foretold, and Canaan was keeping her sabbaths, while Israel toiled and pined in bitter exile in a foreign land, or slept the sleep of death on the blood-soaked battle-fields and the famine-depopulated streets. Many years ago, a warning cry of the coming judgment-day went around the world, and multitudes repented. God had mercy, and has pity still, upon the sinful sons of men, calling to all, “Turn ye, turn ye; . . . for why will ye die?” But all the time, those predicted judgments draw nearer and nearer, while God’s merciful seeming delay of the execution of justice is misunderstood, and scoffers say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for . . . all things continue as they were from the beginning.” But, reader, “God is not slack” now, any more than He was anciently, “concerning His promise.” It shall be fulfilled, for “He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained.” The Judge’s last, heart-stirring message to us is, “Behold, I come quickly.” And surely the Lord’s Spirit is saying to this generation: “The days are at hand. . . . For in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it. . . . There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.” My dear reader, do not join doomed Israel in saying the ancient proverb, “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.” The Word says: “The Judge standeth before the door.” “The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.”