Part 3 (2/2)

The prophecy said, ”Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there.” The words might be construed to mean that the famous site would never become the place of a Bedouin village. But it is literally true, say travelers, that the Arabs avoid the place even for the temporary pitching of their tents. They consider the spot under a curse. They call the ruins _Mudjelibe_, ”the Overturned.” (See ”Encyclopedia of Islam,” art.

”Babil.”)

As late as 1913, Missionary W.C. Ising visited the site where Professor Koldeway was excavating the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace. He wrote:

”Involuntarily one is reminded of the prophecy in the thirteenth of Isaiah and many other places, which, in course of time, have been fulfilled to the letter. No one is living on the site of ancient Babylon, and whatever Arabs are employed by the excavators have built their mud huts in the bed of the ancient river, which at the present time is s.h.i.+fted half a mile farther west.”--_European Division Quarterly, Fourth Quarter, 1913._

Egypt and Edom

The ma.s.sive ruins by the Nile bear witness to prophecy fulfilled. When Egypt rivaled Babylon, the word was spoken: ”It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations.”

Eze. 29:15. It was not utterly to pa.s.s, as Babylon, but to continue in inferior state. Thus it came to pa.s.s. Once populous Edom, famed for wisdom and counsel, now lies desolate, according to the word: ”Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished.”

Jer. 49:17.

The Testimony of History

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUINS OF EDOM

”Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.” Joel 3:19.]

Thus the centuries bear testimony to the fulfilment of the prophetic word. The panorama of all human history moves before us in these writings of the prophets. Flinging their ”colossal shadows” across the pages of Holy Writ, as Farrar says, we see--

”The giant forms of empires on their way To ruin.”

It is no human book that thus from primitive times forecasts the march of history through the ages.

The Lord not only spoke the word in warning and entreaty for those to whom it first came, but it is written in the Scriptures of truth as a testimony to all time, that the Bible is the word of G.o.d, and that all His purposes revealed therein and all the promises of the blessed Book are certain and sure. The prophets who bore messages from G.o.d to Nineveh, and Babylon, and Tyre, spoke messages also for our day.

Fulfilled prophecy is the testimony of the centuries to the living G.o.d.

The evidence of prophecy and its fulfilment is G.o.d's challenge and appeal to men to acknowledge Him as the true G.o.d and the Holy Scriptures as His word from heaven.

”I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pa.s.s. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow bra.s.s; I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pa.s.s I showed it thee.... Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it?” Isa. 48:3-6.

Surely no one can look at the evidence in history of the fulfilment of prophecy without seeing that of a truth the One who spoke these words knew the end from the beginning; and finding the living G.o.d in the sure word of prophecy, one must be prepared to listen to His voice in all the Scriptures, when it speaks of sin and the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Further, the prophetic word also has much to say of events yet future, of the course of history in modern times. It behooves us to give heed to what that word speaks concerning our own times and the events that are to take place upon the earth before the end. The apostle Peter exhorts us to the study in these words:

”We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that s.h.i.+neth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT IMAGE

”He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pa.s.s.” Dan. 2:29.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DANIEL INTERPRETING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM

”Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great Image.” Dan. 2:31.]

FOOTNOTES:

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