War and the “Sure Word of Prophecy”
By Marion E. Hull
MORE than one hundred years before Babylon, the queen city of Chaldea, reached the height of her glory under her greatest monarch, Nebuchadnezzar, God foretold her doom by His prophet Isaiah: “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.” It should be a habitation of wild beasts and noisome creatures. The superstitious Arab would not, through fear, pitch his tent over its buried palaces; it would be a desolation forever. See Isa. 13: 19-22. The very conqueror of the empire is called by name before he is born, and a wealth of particulars is given concerning the doom of that then flourishing kingdom and city. See Isa. 44: 26-28; 45: 1-6; Jeremiah 51. The great heap of ruins by the river Euphrates has borne long and eloquent witness to the truth of prophecy. Not the less true have been the prophecies concerning Nineveh, the great rival of Babylon; and as decidedly have they been fulfilled. Egypt, the fruitful land, fed by the abundance of the Nile, was for centuries the center of world civilization. Her monuments speak of her power, her greatness, her fame, her wealth, her art, her fearful idolatry, her cruelty and wickedness. But the prophet of God declared that the rivers of her great delta would be dried up, her idols would be abolished, her native princes would no more reign over her, and she would become “the basest of the kingdoms.” Eze. 30: 12, 13; 29: 15. For centuries, Egypt has affirmed in her humiliation the truth of prophecy. So, too, has Tyre, the merchant city of the older days; and Greece, which fell before the iron monarchy of Rome; and Rome, a prey to Northern barbarians; and Jerusalem, for so long the center of Jehovah’s worship, where taught and died the Son of God;—all these and many more bear witness in their death, their destruction, their7decadence, their eloquent ruins, to the truthfulness of prophecy, of its importance to us. For not alone of the past has God spoken; He has spoken of these times and these days; of the present kingdoms of earth and their proud cities. The “sure word of prophecy” is God’s light in the midst of uncertain darkness. This tremendous war awakening in the last days was foretold by the prophet Joel. War, perhaps more than anything else, attracts the attention of all mankind. In the international events of to-day, we can distinguish the things plainly portrayed in the sure word of prophecy. Statesmen believe that with the downfall of Turkey may come a crisis that will involve the whole world. In the Bible it is called the battle of Armageddon, or the battle of God Almighty.