Untitled article by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 11, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 44.

"THE MOST HIGH RULETH." NO. 3.

By W. N. G.

IT has been shown in former articles that the Most High ruleth in what are termed heathen nations as well as in those nations which profess to worship the true God. By way of emphasis it will no doubt be profitable to refer to the fact that not only did the Lord give his own chosen nation into the hands of the king of Babylon, but that he did the same with the other nations. It is significant in this connection to note that he sent the same message to surrounding kingdoms that was sent to the kingdom of Judah. In the twenty-seventh chapter of Jeremiah is the record of his commanding several nations to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. His word to Jeremiah is there stated as follows:—

"Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him." Verses 2-7.

The last clause of this quotation calls to mind the word of the Lord to Abram regarding the service of his descendants in Egypt: "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge." In Jeremiah's day God was still working on the same principle among the nations. And as the Lord changes not (Mal. 3:6), we may know that he is working in the same way to-day. Continuing the message through Jeremiah to the nations mentioned, the Lord says:—

"And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. . . . But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein." Verses 8-11.

This word of the Lord was given to Jeremiah "in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah," yet the "bonds and yokes" and the Lord's command was to be sent to these kings by the messengers that should "come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah." Now Jehoiakim reigned eleven years, and Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah and Coniah) reigned three months and ten days, before Zedekiah was placed upon the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. This shows that the Lord knew years beforehand that Zedekiah was coming to the throne. The same message was given to Zedekiah that had been sent to other kings, for the reason that, altho he had been set up by Nebuchadnezzar, he was inclined to rebel, and finally did rebel, against the authority of the king of Babylon. This rebellion brought upon him and the kingdom the full force of complete overthrow.

In the case of the downfall of Zedekiah and the kingdom of Judah we have a marked contrast between the reliability of true prophecy and that of false prophecy—between the power of God and the power of man. The false prophets encouraged Zedekiah in his rebellion. They told him that the vessels of the Lord's house which had been carried away when Jehoiakim was taken would soon be returned, and that the Chaldeans would come no more against Jerusalem. Appearances were favorable to their words, for Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt to help Judah, "and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem." Chapter 37:5. So confident was Zedekiah in the prospect that, in face of the word of the Lord by Jeremiah, he requested that prophet to pray for his success against the Chaldeans.

"Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire." Verses 6-10.

The true prophet dares to speak the Word of the Lord in the face of adverse appearances. And in every age it has been, is now, and will be to the end, when the adversaries of truth can not silence the messenger of God, or otherwise thwart the purpose of the Almighty, they resort to persecution. So it was in Jeremiah's case; when he had faithfully delivered his warning he "went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people." Verse 12. But he was met on the way by an officer who arrested him on a charge of falling away to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah said the charge was false, whereupon the princes smote him and put him in prison, "into the dungeon," where he remained many days.

Then the king had him taken out of the dungeon, but he stuck to his message that the city should be taken by the king of Babylon. However, he made a successful appeal to the king not to be taken back to the dungeon, and was allowed to remain in the court of the prison for a time. But he continued to warn the people as he had opportunity, and exhorted them to yield allegiance to the king of Babylon, till the princes besought the king to have him put to death. Like Pilate, Zedekiah was afraid to deny the request; so he said, "Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you." Chapter 38:5. Then they took Jeremiah and let him down by cords into a dungeon. "And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Verse 6.

One of the king's servants reported to him the sad condition of the prophet, so Zedekiah sent this man to have Jeremiah taken out of the dungeon and given the liberty of the prison court. There he remained until he saw the fulfilment of the word of the Lord which he had so faithfully proclaimed. Thus it was demonstrated that neither the wrath of kings, nor the babblings of false prophets, nor the vicious persecutions of God's faithful messengers, can annul the purpose of the Lord, or alter the great truth "that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men."

It is not necessary, nor would space admit, to detail the wars which Nebuchadnezzar was obliged to wage for many years in order to compel the submission of those nations because they would not hearken to the word of the Lord. The rebellion of Zedekiah continued nearly two years, and Tyre held out thirteen years. But all were in time obliged to surrender, having learned by sad experience what they refused to voluntarily accept, that the word of the God of Israel was sure which he spake by his prophet Jeremiah, when he said: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart."