IN the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is recorded one of the most sublime and striking prophecies in the entire Bible. The prophet says: "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones." These bones, he tells us "were very many," "and, lo, they were very dry." The Lord then asked him, "Can these bones live?" And Ezekiel answered, "O Lord God, thou knowest." Then the prophet was commanded to prophecy unto the bones, and the sequel, as given in verse 10 is, "So I prophesied as he commanded me, . . . and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."789Verses 11-14 give the explanation of this vision, as follows: "Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord."
An exhaustive examination of these verses is not possible in the limits of a single brief article, and so our attention will be confined principally to the words, "The whole house of Israel." And here the question naturally arises, Who are the whole house of Israel? The apostle Paul answers this in very few words; he says: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called." Rom. 9:6, 7. And again: "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. And right here it might be remarked that these texts throw much light upon the declaration of the apostle, "And so all Israel shall be saved;" that is, all who belong to Christ shall be saved; for they, and they alone, are Israel.
Some have imagined that by "all Israel" the apostle meant the Jews, the literal seed of Abraham, but we have seen that such is not the case. The apostle not only defines the term "Israel," and tells who are included in it, but he says plainly, "He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly." Rom. 2:28, 29. It is clear, therefore, that the terms, "the whole house of Israel," and "all Israel," mean only the children of God, whether by birth they be Jews or Gentiles.
But there are still other reasons for coming to this same conclusion, and as they are brought to view in the verses quoted from Eze. 37, it may be well to notice them briefly. The reader will observe that not only does the Lord promise to bring "the whole house of Israel" up out of their graves, but he also promises to bring them into "the land of Israel." Verse 12. The fulfillment of this promise is clearly the hope to which the apostle tells us (Acts 26:6, 7) the twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come; and that they hoped to attain it through a resurrection from the dead is evident from the apostle's question to Agrippa: "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?"
The promise was made "to Abraham and to his seed" (Gal. 3:16); but Abraham was dead and several generations of his descendants were dead; and elsewhere the apostle tells us that they "all died not having received the promise;" and it is to this very fact that both he and Stephen appealed repeatedly to prove the resurrection—God's word is pledged, yea, he has sworn by himself, to give Abraham and his seed the world (Rom. 4:13); but Abraham is dead, and millions who will be reckoned as his children are dead; therefore, to fulfill the promise, they must be raised from the dead. This is Paul's argument, and if we believe that all the promises of God are yea and amen to his own glory, as they are declared to be in 2 Cor. 1:20, we must grant that the argument is a good one.
But it may be asked what this has to do with showing that only the people of God are Israel, for the Scriptures teach the resurrection of both righteous and wicked. So they do; but the "land," "the world," the "new earth," is promised only to the righteous, and so "the whole house of Israel" and the righteous must be one and the same people. In the verses quoted from Ezekiel the Lord says: "O my people, I will . . . cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel;" and the psalmist testifies that they shall "dwell therein forever." Ps. 37:29. This promise is oft repeated, in substance, in the Old Testament, and agrees perfectly with the words of our Saviour recorded in Matt. 5:5, "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth;" and also with the testimony of Peter: "We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein the righteous dwell." 2 Peter 3:13, Wesley's translation.
The Scriptures contain very many promises to Israel; but they are all of two classes: First, promises to literal Israel, contingent upon the fulfillment of certain conditions; and second, promises to the real Israel, the redeemed from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. A failure to distinguish between these two classes of promises leads many into the grave error of supposing that the Jews, as a people, will yet all accept Christ, and that they will return to the land of Judea, and possess it in this mortal state. There is no scripture which warrants any such belief; and yet there are whole systems of "faith" built upon this very assumption; and it is generally the case that those who entertain these delusions affect to see in them marvelous beauty and symmetry. In truth they are only evidences of the truthfulness of the declaration that though God made man upright, "they have sought out many inventions." The Scriptures present but one plan of salvation for all: both Jew and Gentile must be saved, if saved at all, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; "for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." And then, too, besides the whole tenor of Scripture, we are expressly told, "Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation." Then let none hope for salvation outside of Christ, or even for salvation through Christ in an age to come, or in a future state of existence. The Bible contains no such promises.
C. P. BOLLMAN.
YOUR EXAMPLE.
Do you, who have entered the great army of Christ, ever stop to ask yourself if you are really fighting, if you are in the thickest of the battle, receiving wounds on every side; or are you skulking on the outside, half ashamed of your enrollment, bringing disgrace on your Captain, and no aid to those about you? Are you helping your neighbor or hindering him? The example you are setting is doing everything for good or ill for your weaker brother. To him your life, as you live it before him, is great aid in the battle, or a stumbling-block. There is a cloud of witnesses about you.
Those with whom you live and are in constant company are keeping their eyes upon you, and often as you serve the Lord they will serve him.
To be a Christian means a great deal more than believing in certain doctrines, going to church, or even talking about religion. It means living it. It means having Christ in every deed. We cannot leave him out of the most trivial thing. It means we must show the world that we love the Lord, and are serving him. We must show them so plainly that there can be no mistake. As you know the well-tried soldier by his tread, his habits, and endurance the moment you see him, so the world must know you to be a Christian—a real live Christian—the moment it comes in contact with you. You must meet with sinners, as well as half-asleep, careless Christians, and you must live so that your light will shine clear and above reproach, fearing only, but always, to bring shame upon the Master's name. By your example you must strengthen the weak, and by your unfaltering step and firm hand, help the weak-hearted. Let the whole world see the quiet, steady light of your devoted life. Let the perfume of the "white flower of a blameless life" which you wear, scent the air about you till that very perfume will entice those who breathe it to strive likewise to wear one. Let there be no vainglory or striving after praise for any particular gift; but aspire for no other praise (and it is a great one) than that it may be said that your silent example has won many a heart to Christ. Let an assembly be better for your presence. Let it be known that it is safe to be where you are.
Above all, let your light shine at home. There are many dear ones who would be led astray by the careless life of a professed Christian, or be won by your devotedness. There are no words so eloquent as a well-lived life—a blameless one. Let your presence be a signal of peace, your very step music to the tired and discouraged.
It may be your sad lot to live with someone who is not at all agreeable; that is, with someone who is so captious you cannot pass the day without a jar. Try your best, you say, there is trouble; even your kind acts are misconstrued and resented. There are some people with whom it is very difficult to live. You wish your lot had been cast elsewhere, while it may be that your lot was cast just there and nowhere else, because the Lord wants your example and nothing else to bring that wanderer to the Lord. This example may be the particular work sent you. It is hard work indeed, and one the world will never know anything about; but the Master, who knows just how hard the work was, and how patiently and bravely you performed it, will reward you. Trust the Lord. His help is ever present. Be strong and of good courage. Never forget that the responsibility of being a Christian is a very great one; for you not only ruin your own soul if you sin, but you ruin the souls of those who watch and may be copy your example.—Christian at Work.
THE FEAR OF GOD.
By Central Christian Advocate
Ordinarily when the fear of God is spoken of as an element of the spiritual life, we do not mean that fear of punishment which has a proper place in human and divine government, but the high regard of a noble nature for those to whom it is related by birth and association. Instead of producing a sense of degradation or servile inferiority, its natural tendency is to elevate and purify one's nature. This is really the crown of the highest culture in the best human society, and beautifies the purest earthly relations. To be well persuaded that God is our Father, and he cares for us in the commonest things, and is making all things work together for our good, should produce the most exquisite sensitiveness lest anything should come into our lives that might displease him. To walk in the light of his countenance is altogether different from hiding from him because we have been disobedient and rebellious. The wicked have need to fear God as one who will not pass by evil doing; but in God's children love has cast out all fear of this sort.—Central Christian Advocate.
The Importance of Belief
The doctrine that a man's belief is of no consequence to himself, or to the world, so long as he does what he thinks right, is based upon a self-evident fallacy. Like every other teaching which seeks to disparage God's revealed truth, it assumes too much and breaks down under its heavy load of assumption. It assumes that every man will always think right, when the patent facts are that a great many people never think at all, and need others to do their thinking for them, while a large majority of those that do think are sure to think wrong. That sort of nonsense will not win until men cease to think at right angles to each other, or in directly opposite directions, and become infallible. Then they will have no need of a divine revelation.—Selected.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SABBATH.
By W.
"REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11.
If there were no other facts given concerning the Sabbath than those contained in the above commandment, we would still have everything that is needed to guide us to its proper observance. Indeed, since it is the law on the subject, we should expect as much, even without reading it, for a law concerning anything must contain within itself all the information necessary to enable one to obey it understandingly. This is the case with the other precepts of the decalogue. They are explicit, allowing no chance for differences of opinion. The only difference between the fourth commandment and the rest is that it is more full and explicit than any of them.
But the wise man has truly said, "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions;" and for no purpose have "inventions" been more persistently sought out than for the purpose of evading the plain import of this fourth commandment. Many are not satisfied with the simple reading of the law, vainly thinking that somewhere in the record of God's dealings with men, they will find that which will warrant them in disregarding his spoken word. It therefore is necessary to consider everything that has a bearing on the subject.
It is evident that a law can never mean anything more or less than it did when first pronounced. If the conditions on which the law is based change, or the will of the law-giver changes concerning those conditions, then the law itself may be changed; but such change must be clearly indicated. The terms of the law must be changed, or another law enacted with the express declaration that it is to supersede the first. Until this is done, the original law remains in full force, even though the will of the law-making power should change; for how can the people know the will of the power having authority, unless that will is plainly expressed?
Again, if any change in a law is made, the new law must not only be expressed in as clear language as the old, but it must be as widely circulated. All who are subject to the law, and are expected to keep it, must be informed of the change, or else they cannot keep it. To punish a person for the violation of a791law with which he had never been allowed to become familiar, would be an act of injustice. God does not so deal with his creatures. In every instance where the execution of his judgments is recorded, we are plainly informed as to the command which was violated; and a penalty is never threatened in the Bible without an explicit statement being made of what course of action will make one liable to that penalty. With these statements, we will proceed to dissect, as it were, the Sabbath law, to see if it really means what it appears to; and we will also see if it has in any way been modified, or been superseded by another law.
It is evident from the reading of the fourth commandment that the Sabbath did not originate at Sinai, for we are referred to the creation of the earth; and told that at the completion of that work God "blessed" and "hallowed" the Sabbath day. It must, therefore, have been in existence at that time; a thing that has no existence cannot be blessed: neither can it be hallowed.
This will be still more evident when we consider the meaning of the word "hallow." Webster defines it thus: "To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate." The word in the original is defined similarly. It is the same word that is rendered "sanctify" in Gen. 2:3, and "appoint" in Joshua 20:7. The fourth commandment, then, tells us plainly that God commanded the Sabbath to be kept holy in the beginning.
Turning to the first chapter of Genesis we read the record of the first six days of time, in which the heavens and the earth, and all that they contain, were created, the work of each day being specified. At the close of the sixth day God looked over the whole of his creation "and behold, it was very good." He was satisfied with his work, because it was perfect. The record continues:—
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:1-3.
We have here the record of the first Sabbath commandment. That in Ex. 20:8-11 is the same in every respect, being simply a renewal of the commandment as given at creation. In the institution of the Sabbath there was a threefold act on the part of God: First, he rested on the seventh day. This made that day a Sabbath, for Sabbath means rest. Because the Lord rested, it is called the Sabbath, or rest, of the Lord. But this act did not place man under any obligation to rest on that day. If the record stopped here, we would have no interest in it except as a matter of history. Second, God pronounced a blessing upon the day. It was thus exalted above other days in that it was a Sabbath, and blessed; still these two acts were not sufficient to make its observance obligatory on man. Third, he sanctified the day, that is, set it apart for holy or religious use; he appointed that it should be regarded holy. This was the crowning act which placed man under obligation to keep it.
Let it be remembered that it required these three acts to institute the Sabbath in the beginning. It certainly can take nothing less to institute a new Sabbath, should there be such a thing; and therefore whenever we find men claiming that some other day is entitled to recognition as the true Sabbath, we have only to apply these tests: Did God ever rest upon it? Did he ever pronounce a blessing upon it? Did he ever pronounce it holy, and set it apart for sacred observance? If these three questions in regard to any other day cannot be truthfully answered by a simple affirmation, then that day does not approach in honor and sacredness to the original Sabbath of the Lord. Man may rest upon any other day, and that day will thus become his rest, or sabbath; but man cannot pronounce a blessing upon the day, thus elevating it above other days, neither can he sanctify the day; he cannot make it holy, and he has no right to command anybody else to rest upon it. And since there is no record that God ever did these three things for any other day than the seventh, that day stands alone, distinguished above all other days as being the Sabbath of the Lord.
We will go even further, and say that it is an absolute impossibility that the Sabbath should be changed from the original seventh day to any other day. God himself could not do this. In so saying, we do not place any limit upon the power of God, save this, which inspiration itself authorizes, that "he cannot deny himself." The institution of the Sabbath rests upon facts which God himself established. A "fact" is simply something that has been done; and a thing that has been done can never be effaced, so that it will cease to be true that it has been done. The Sabbath rests upon these three facts: (1) In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and rested upon the seventh day; (2) he blessed the seventh day and (3) sanctified, or set it apart as a sacred day for man's observance. And these last two acts he did "because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made."
Now if it can ever be true that the world was not created in six days, and that God did not rest upon the seventh day, and afterwards bless and sanctify it; in other words, if the word of God can be recalled, so that it shall be as though it had never been spoken; and if the wheels of time can be made to roll backward six thousand years and more, and their tracks be obliterated; and if matter can be so effectually annihilated that it will be a truth that it never existed, then, and not till then, can the seventh day cease to be the Sabbath of the Lord. But it needs no argument to show that this can never be; God cannot deny what he has once said and done; much less can he make it true that he never did the things which he has done. "He cannot deny himself," and so even Omnipotence cannot change the Sabbath of the Lord from the seventh day of the week. W.
THE SURE WORD.
By W.
(Continued.)
LAST week we called attention to Peter's statement that the word of prophecy is more sure than the testimony of any eye-witness, and quoted a few prophecies that speak of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We wish now to quote a few more of the many prophecies concerning this same thing, that the reader may see how important a place it occupies. And we offer no apology for making copious extracts from the sure word. Certainly nothing that man can write can equal in interest and importance the words of inspiration.
Turning to the book of the prophet Isaiah, we read as follows, beginning with the tenth verse of the second chapter:—
"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. . . . And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth."
This language certainly gives us a vivid idea of the "power and coming" of the Lord. But the holy man of God, whose lips were touched by a coal from God's own altar, was made the mouth-piece of a still more vivid description of the power that shall attend the coming of the Lord. Again the Holy Spirit moved him to say:—
"Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." Isa. 13:6-13.
Once more the Lord speaks through his servant:—
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isa. 24:1-6.
Who these few men are that are left from the general destruction that overwhelms those who have transgressed the laws, is told through the same prophet in these words:—
"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off." Isa. 33:14-17.
That these righteous ones are the "few men" who are left after the day of the Lord has laid the land desolate, and destroyed the sinners out of it, is evident from our Saviour's words, recorded in Matt. 7:13, 14: "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Jeremiah was another "holy man of God," whom the Holy Ghost moved to speak. Like John the Baptist, he was chosen even before his birth to be a prophet unto the nations. When the Lord announced this fact to him (Jer. 1:4, 5), he said: "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." Verses 6, 7. And the prophet continues: "Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth." Verse 9. What better credentials could any man have than this?
From lips burning with the touch of the Almighty hand, Jeremiah poured forth the words "which the Holy Ghost teacheth." And here is a portion of his word concerning "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:"—
"Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." Jer. 4:20-27.
We next turn to "the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see," and read the following word concerning the power of the Lord's coming:—
"God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand [bright beams out of his side]; and there was the hiding of his power." Hab. 3:3, 4. Compare with these words 2 Thess. 2:8: "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." It is the glory of the Lord,—that glory which he received from the Father in the holy mount, and which he had with him before the world was,—that will destroy the sinners out of the earth when he comes. But we turn again to the words spoken through Habakkuk:—
"Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting. . . . The mountains saw thee, and they trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by; the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck." Hab. 3:5-13.
NOT WITHOUT WITNESS.
By J.
WHEN Paul and Barnabas were trying to persuade the people of Lystra to turn from the vanities of idolatry, they said unto them that although God “suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” These are some of the means by which God witnesses of himself to all nations. When the prophet Isaiah shows the absurdity and inexcusableness of idolatry he gives as illustration, a man who plants a tree, which the rain nourishes, it grows till large enough to be used, then he cuts it down, and with part of it he makes a fire, and warms himself and cooks his food, and the residue he makes into a god, and falls down to it and worships it, and cries to it, “Deliver me, for thou art my god.” Isa. 44:14-17. Then the prophet shows where such people fail to use the common sense that belongs with nature itself. As it is the rain that nourishes the tree from which he makes his god, if he does not know who is the God, why don’t he worship the Power that gives the rain? If he would but do that he would be walking in the light of common sense, of reason, and of faith, and would soon find out God. Man can, by searching find out God. But God expects him to search, and in the search to use the common sense and the faculties generally that God has given to him. And men are without excuse who do not do it. Rom. 1:20.
But it is not alone by the giving of rain and fruitful seasons that God has “left not himself without witness.” He has done it by revelation and through living testimony. When Egypt stood at the head of the world in power, wisdom, and influence, God made manifest in that land his power and his glory in such a way that all the nations heard of it. The Canaanites heard of it, and knew that the God that delivered Israel was God of Heaven and earth. Josh. 2:9-11.
The next nation that arose to power and influence in the world was Assyria. And when Assyria had grown corrupt and had gone far away from God, the Lord graciously sent a Hebrew prophet to them and called them to repentance. Jonah 1:2, 3. After this, again and again, he bore witness to Assyria that he is God above all, the most notable instance perhaps being the slaughter of the host of Sennacherib. Isa. 37.
Babylon next spread her empire over all nations, and to them God left not himself without witness. He bore witness directly to Nebuchadnezzar, in the dream of the great image and its interpretation by Daniel, the captive Hebrew. Again in the affair of the three Hebrews and the fiery furnace, God bore witness of himself to all the power and all the provinces of that mighty empire, both by the representatives that were present (Dan. 3:3), and also by the decree of the king which followed. Verse 29. Again when Nebuchadnezzar, after being warned of God (Dan. 4:4-27), was driven out from the presence of men and run wild for seven years, he learned by it that Jehovah rules in the affairs of men and that he is above all gods, and when he recovered his understanding, he published “unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth,” that he “thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God” had wrought. Verses 1, 2. Again, when that empire was on the brink of ruin, God, by the handwriting on the wall of the palace, bore a last parting witness to the lascivious king, that he was weighed in the balances and found wanting, and that his kingdom was given to the Medes and Persians. Dan. 5:27, 28.
The power of Media and Persia came after, and through that power, also, God again bore witness of himself “unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth.” For Daniel, the servant of God, was cast into a den of lions, and came forth unhurt, because God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths that they should do him no hurt. “Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth,” that the God of Daniel “is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.” Dan. 6:25, 26. When Darius was dead and Cyrus reigned, he also “made a proclamation throughout 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)."
When Alexander the Great was in the full tide of his career of conquest, he stood at the temple of the Most High in Jerusalem, and heard read from the Hebrew Scriptures, the witness of God concerning himself. And through the Greek language, which the career of Alexander was instrumental in spreading throughout all the Eastern world, God chose to give witness of himself in the salvation wrought for man in the death and resurrection of his own dear Son.
And when Rome ruled the world, God not only left not himself without witness in the preaching of the gospel to every nation under heaven, but also by the apostle Paul, he bore witness more than once to the head of the Roman world himself. And from that day to this, God has left not himself without witness to all nations.
Nor was it only to these great empires and nations that the Lord bore witness of himself. In Jer. 27:2-11 is the copy of a message from the Lord that was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and was sent “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.” And the time would fail us to tell of all the testimonies that God bore by Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Joel, and Amos, and Obadiah, and Zephaniah, and Zech-792ariah, not only to Assyria; and Babylon, and Egypt, and Medo-Persia, but also to Edom, and Moab, and Ammon, and Tyre, and Zidon, and Syria, and Arabia, and all the nations round about. It is literally true that God has “left not himself without witness” unto “all nations” in all ages. And when in that great day the great trumpet shall be blown, there shall gather before the glorious throne of the Most High God, “a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” and will cry “with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” J.