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THE WITNESSING OF GOD

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 10, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 23.

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THE WITNESSING OF GOD

By Editor

THE BASIS OF OUR CONFIDENCE

By the Editor

V. God’s Word Twice Written in Prophecy and Fulfilment.—No. 1

The great part of the Scriptures of truth are prophetic in the broad meaning of the term. The term “prophecy” itself is defined as a prediction made under divine influence and direction; discourses delivered under divine inspiration or direction; something uttered by a teacher as the representative of God and for God. Sometimes it refers to a book of prophecies, as the prophecy of Ezekiel. We are using the term, however, in this article, as “a prediction made under divine influence and direction,”—future events foretold by the Spirit of God. Perhaps in no other way does God’s word witness to His divinity and its own inspiration as through prophecy. The prophetic portion of God’s word gives in advance the history of the world, of nations, of peoples, of cities, of individuals. It is God telling beforehand just what will be. When the time comes for its fulfilment, God in His overruling providence writes it again in nations, in events, in men; that all who know His prophecy may read again His word, may shun the dangers, and may find in Him salvation.
In the 2d chapter of Daniel, the God of heaven is set over against the gods that were worshiped by the Babylonians, with the characteristic that He is the revealing God. “He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.” Verse 22. Again: “He that revealeth secrets hath made known to thee what shall come to pass.” Verse 29. By the prophet Amos it is declared, “Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except He reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. And by one of the mighty apostles we are told that “we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.”
As this series of articles will deal in the future with some of the great prophecies of the Word, we will touch upon a few incidents which will not fall within the general purview of those articles, as strong and material evidence that the word of God is true. The first of these which we will take is—

The Jews

The story goes that when the skeptical Frederick the Great of Germany asked his court preacher, in a sneering kind of way, what particular evidence he had that the Bible was true, the answer of the preacher was both laconic and conclusive,—“Sire, the Jews.”
The Jews, or Hebrews, are the people that God chose through whom to reveal His great truth to the world, a nation which in a great deal of its history was apostate. Very many of the scriptures which have been preserved to us so carefully and faithfully, and particularly through them, were prophecies which condemned them, bore witness against their conduct, and pointed out an unenviable doom. The fact that, notwithstanding all this, they preserved them so carefully, was evidence of this, at least,—that they believed them to be of higher source than humanity. One of the great prophecies concerning their career is found in the 26th chapter of Leviticus, another in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. They are told in these chapters that if they would walk in God’s statutes, and keep His commandments, be submissive and obedient to Him in every way, willing to be led by Him and taught by Him, He would make them the head, and not the tail. They would lie down in peace, and none should make them afraid. Five should chase a hundred, and a hundred should chase ten thousand, and they would be fruitful and multiply. How true this was in the days of David and Solomon, and in a measure with one or two later kings!
They were told also that if they departed from God and would not hearken to Him, but rejected His statutes and His ordinances, He would appoint over them terror, consumption, and fever. They would be scattered among the nations; the sword would be drawn out after them; their land should be a desolation and their cities should be a waste; a faintness and a fear would possess them; the sound of a driven leaf should chase them; their wives and their children should be taken from before their eyes; they would be led captive by a nation whom they did not know; they would become a proverb and a byword among all the peoples whither Jehovah should permit them to be carried away,—nay, more, that in some of the sieges of the enemies against their cities, they would be reduced to that condition where the mother would eat her offspring, and they would be scattered among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other. In Numbers, the 23d chapter and 9th verse, we are told that it is a people that “shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.”
We need not detail in particular the fulfilment of this regarding that marvelous nation. We need only to say that it has all been literally fulfilled. The land has been laid waste and desolate, the cities have been brought to destruction, the people have been carried captive to the ends of the earth among all the various nations. Go where one will, and the Jew has been there before him. Nor has he been there as one among the peoples of the land,mingling with them as have other peoples; but wherever he is, he is alone. It is rarely that he mixes himself among the other peoples of the world. He is a Jew still. They have become a “byword and a reproach.” It is a common thing to hear men use the word “Jew” as a term expressive of contempt. It is “cheating like a Jew,” and “lying like a Jew.” In the siege which the Romans waged against Jerusalem before the city fell, the Jews endured untold hardships and miseries. Their own historian records how they ate human flesh, and the flesh of their offspring, in the straitness of the siege. Bitterly, fearfully, overwhelmingly, has every word that God has said concerning that people and the calamities which were to come upon them been fulfilled in their history. The Jew is himself a witness that God’s word is true, written first by Jewish prophets and scribes, written secondly through the perversion of God’s law in the history of that people.

The Prophecy Concerning Babylon

One of the mightiest nations of ancient times was Babylon. Others have been as great in warfare; but none of the great ancient nations had more to do in the molding of the history and fashions and customs of the world than did Babylon. She made all the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication. Placed in an important position in world influence through the providence of God, she abused that position, and the prophecy of God’s word was that she should come down from her high estate, and be brought low. Neither is the prediction general in its scope; it is particular in its specifications. Among the multitude of prophecies concerning that empire and city, we note the following written 150 years before Babylon reached the height of her glory under Nebuchadnezzar: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.” Isa. 13:19-22.
Surely unless one was confident of the source of his information he would wait long before he would presumptuously offer such a prophecy as that concerning a power that had not yet reached the height of its glory. But over this the prophet of God had no question. He tells us not only the doom of Babylon, but also the nation which will be used for that purpose, the Medes. Babylon should come to utter ruin. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, it should not for a time be found. How true has been the prediction concerning this mighty city! Its decay began gradually. For a time its empty streets were the haunt of wolves, and the cry of jackals was heard in the pleasant palaces. Superstitious Arabs could not be hired, travelers tell us, to encamp upon the ground. Some parts of the great city were overflowed with stagnant water, others were sufficiently dry for the dens and burrows of the wild beasts of the desert.
In 538 Babylon fell before the conquering armies of Cyrus king of Persia. From that time its decay was rapid, until finally the sun-dried brick and other buildings had utterly crumbled, and the desert sands had swept over the ruined city until its very place was disputed. Only in recent years has the great mound where the city stood been opened, and the Scripture of truth has been confirmed. As was shown in a recent number, in a photograph of those uncovered ruins, the very names of the streets have been learned, and among them is one named after the prophet Daniel, who was for a time prime minister of the great empire. And now it is remarkable only for its ruins. “It shall never be inhabited,” the prophecy declares; and it stands there, a mighty tho mute witness for the truth of the prophecy of God given 700 years before Christ.
Let us learn the lesson. As every prophecy concerning that primal Babylon has been fulfilled to the letter, so will every prophecy regarding modern mystical Babylon be fulfilled. As God’s providence has overruled in the writing of the doom of first Babylon, so will it be in Babylon the great. The twice-written Word is our assurance. And God’s message to the inquirers in the days of this Babylon is the same as it was to the inquirers of old: “What then shall one answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah hath founded Zion [not Babylon], and in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge.” Isa. 14:32.
[This topic will be continued in our next.]
BABYLON AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS GLORY “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
BABYLON AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS GLORY “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”