p. 6 | THE GREAT SALVATION by Geo. W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 6, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 10.

THE GREAT SALVATION

By Geo. W. Reaser

THE TESTIMONY OF THE AGES.

"Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

NOT the least important factor in convincing men of the existence and overruling power of Deity, is the answer of history to the utterance of prophecy. Heaven-inspired prophecy, or the power to correctly foretell future events, is history, written in advance of the occurrence of the events recorded. To dictate true prophecy requires foreknowledge, and not only this, but also power to "work all things according to the counsel" of the One who inspires the prophecy.

As we may stand in the clear light of day, at a point from which our view is uninterrupted, and note scenes which are enacted in our immediate presence, so God the Author of all scriptural prophecies, stood at the foundation of the world. He looked down thru the stream of time—the entire history of the world—and saw, with unclouded vision, the end, and all intervening events, and declared "the end from the beginning."

While certain influences for good, working under the direction of Deity and in behalf of the government of Heaven, for the saving of men, and certain counter influences of evil, operating under the supervision of Satan for the destruction of humanity and the defeat of the plan of redemption, have culminated in natural and inevitable results, and have thereby fulfilled prophecy, yet it is also true that

God Has Specially Wrought

in the fulfilment of prophecy, that His counsel should stand and His pleasure be performed. We cite one example to verify this statement.

About one hundred years before the children of Israel went into Babylonian captivity, the Lord said of Cyrus, king of Persia, who was yet unborn, and whose kingdom was not yet prominent on the stage of action: "He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; and he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts."

When the seventy years of captivity, foretold by the Lord thru the prophet Jeremiah were about fulfilled, the God of Israel sent Michael (Christ) and Gabriel to influence the heart of Cyrus to give God's people full liberty, and every needed facility to return to their own land and rebuild their holy city and restore its ruined temple to its former glory. Hence it was that "in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throut all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and

He Hath Charged Me

to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is the God), which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the free-will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."

Let no one imagine that in this influence, by which the heart of Cyrus was stirred to let God's people go, the Lord coerced or used arbitrary or physical force, nor that all personages who have acted prominent parts in the fulfilment of prophecy, have not had their free choice in taking the part which they acted, even as we, to-day, have our choice between serving God and serving Him not. There is, figuratively speaking, a sacred circle placed around every individual, into which God Himself will not intrude to compel choice. It is "whosoever will may come," not must come. The Lord simply looked down thru the ages and saw the choice that Judas and all others would make, under the influences of good and evil brought to bear upon them; and hence, in particular cases, wrote such portions of the record of their lives in advance as touch vital points in the fulfilment of prophecy

The Testimony of Babylon

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin tells the following story. While he was in Constantinople, soon after the Crimean War, a colonel in the Turkish army called to see him, and said: "I want to ask you one question. What proof can you give me that the Bible is what you claim it to be—the word of God?"

Dr. Hamlin evaded the question for a purpose and drew him into conversation, during which he learned that his visitor had traveled a great deal, especially in the East, in the region of the Euphrates. "Were you ever in Babylon?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, and that reminds me of a curious experience I had there. I am very fond of sport, and, having heard that the ruins of Babylon abound in game, I determined to go there for a week's shooting. Knowing that it was not considered safe for a man to be there except in the company of several others, and money being no object to me, I engaged a sheik with his followers to accompany me for a large sum. We reached Babylon and pitched our tents. A little before sundown I took my gun and strolled out to have a look around. The holes and caverns among the mounds which cover the ruins are infested with game, which, however, is rarely seen except at night. I caught sight of one or two animals in the distance, and then turned my steps toward our encampment, intending to begin my sport as soon as the sun had set. What was my surprise to find the men striking the tent? I went to the sheik and protested most strongly. I had engaged him for a week, and was paying him handsomely, and here he was starting off before our contract had scarcely begun. Nothing I could say, however, would induce him to remain. 'It isn't safe,' he said. 'No mortal flesh dare stay here after sunset. In the dark, ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and all sorts of things come out of the holes and caverns, and whoever is found here is taken off by them, and becomes one of them himself.'"

"Finding that I could not persuade him, I said, 'Well, as it is, I am paying you more than I ought to, but if you'll stay, I'll double it.' 'No,' he said, 'I couldn't stay for all the money in the world. No Arab has ever seen the sun go down on Babylon. But I want to do what is right by you. We'll go off to a place about an hour's distance and come back at daybreak.' And go they did. And my sport had to be given up."

"As soon as he had finished," said Dr. Hamlin, "I took my Bible and read from the 13th chapter of Isaiah: 'And 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; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there; but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.'"

"That's it exactly," said the Turk when I had finished, "but that's history you've been reading."

"No," answered Dr. Hamlin, "it's prophecy. Come, you're an educated man. You know that the Old Testament was translated into Greek about three hundred years before Christ." He acknowledged that it was. "And the Hebrew given at least two hundred years before that?" "Yes," "Well, wasn't this written when Babylon was in its glory, and isn't it prophecy?"

"I'm not prepared to give you an answer now," he replied. "I must have time to think it over."

"Very well," Dr. Hamlin said, "do so, and come back when you're ready and give me your answer." From that day to this he has never seen him, but what an unexpected testimony to the truth of the Bible in regard to the fulfilment of prophecy did that Turkish officer give.

In this connection a few of the most striking of the answers of history to the statements of prophecy, concerning the overthrow of Babylon, may be in order. Babylon was surrounded by a wall 350 feet in height and 87 feet in thickness at the base. She was abundantly supplied with water by the River Euphrates flowing thru the midst of her. The Lord said, "A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up." "And I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry." It is a well-established, historical fact that in order to gain access to the city thru the river channel, the armies of the Medes and Persians turned the waters of the Euphrates out of the natural channel, thus drying them up, and thereby gained access to the city and accomplished her overthrow.

Again the Lord spake, saying, "Surely, I will fill thee with men as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee." The manner in which this was accomplished has been described in the preceding paragraph.

Still further, giving in advance the details of the overthrow of Babylon, the Lord said, "The mighty men of Babylon have foreborne to fight, they have remained in their holds." "In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord." The response of history to this prophecy reads in part as follows: "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." "In the same hour came forth

Fingers of a Man's Hand,

and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom." As God had said, they forebore to fight, remained in their strongholds, and engaged in a drunken feast.

But before Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency" had performed her part in the great drama of history,

The Old Assyrian Empire

and her Sodomlike capital, the city of Nineveh, came under the searchlight of the prophetic eye, and bore witness to the truthfulness of God's word. This solemn message was delivered to her: "Wo to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine. . . . Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste." What is the appearance of the site of ancient Nineveh to-day? The once wealthy and populous city of Nineveh is nought but a scene of utter ruin, the symbol of complete desolation. God's prophetic word is verified.