A Voice of Warning by Parley P. Pratt (read aloud books .txt) 📕

We will now return to Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, calls His servant, to execute His judgment upon the nations. It seems that the Lord exalted this great man, and made him a king of kings, and lord of lords, arming him with His own sword, and clothing him with power and authority, for the express purpose of executing His judgments, and scourging and humbling all the nations of the earth. Jeremiah, chapter xxv, says that the Lord purposed to bring Nebuchadnezzar and his army against Jerusalem, and against all the nations round about, that he might bring them to desolation and captivity for seventy years; and after seventy years, He would turn and punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity. Now, who can trace the history of the fulfilment of these great events, so exactly pointed out by Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and not be struck with astonishment and wonder at the marvellous gift of prophecy enabling men in those days to read the history of the future as they read the history of the past? Indeed, the reader of history in the nineteenth century, holding in his hand the history of the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, together with that of the Jews, will hardly render himself more familiar with the events which transpired among those nations, than the Prophets were seventy years previous to their accomplishment.

The Jews were reduced to subjection by Nebuchadnezzar; their city, Jerusalem, was burned, together with their temple; their princes, nobles, and people were carried to Babylon, together with all their holy things. All the particulars of this destruction and captivity were distinctly foretold by Jeremiah, and the time of its continuance, viz., seventy years. After subduing the Jews, the king of Babylon marched his army against Tyre, the city of merchants, situated at the haven of the sea, surrounded not only by the sea, but by a strong wall. A hold so strong required the utmost skill and perseverance of Nebuchadnezzar and his whole army, who labored incessantly for a long time, and at length succeeded in taking Tyre, and bringing it into captivity for seventy years. After which they returned and established their city, for Jeremiah had previously foretold the reduction of Tyre, its captivity for seventy years, and its restoration at the expiration of that time. After the restoration of Tyre, the city flourished for a time, but was afterwards reduced to an entire desolation. Its ruined fragments are seen to this day in the bottom of the sea; its site has become a barren rock, only occupied by poor fishermen. All this desolation, and even its present appearance of desolation and perpetual waste, were clearly pointed out by the Prophets.

But when the king of Babylon had succeeded in taking Tyre, after many a bald head and peeled shoulder, caused by the hard service of his army in the siege, the Lord, by the mouth of Ezekiel, promised to give the spoils of Egypt unto him, for wages for his army, in order to pay him for the great service, wherewith he had served God, against Tyre. Next, witness his war in the taking of Egypt, and bringing it into captivity, until the seventy years were accomplished.

And, finally, trace him executing the Lord's vengeance and anger against Uz, upon the kings of the Philistines, and Askelon, Azaah; Ekrom, Edom, Moab, Ammon; Dedan, Tema, and Buz; and upon the kings of Arabia, Zimri and Elam; and upon all the kings of the Medes; and upon all the kings of the north, far and near; and finally upon all the kingdoms of the world, who were to be drunken, and spew, and fall to rise no more, because of the sword which He would send among them. But, when the Lord had accomplished all his mind on these nations, He purposed, in turn, to punish this great monarch, and those who succeeded him; and also the city and nation over which he reigned; and finally to make it perpetual desolations. And all this for their pride and haughtiness. The Lord exclaims: "Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or shall the saw boast itself against him that shaketh it?" etc. But, in order to trace the events of the return of the Jews, and the other nations, from their seventy years' captivity and bondage, and the punishment of Babylon, another and very different character from that of Nebuchadnezzar is introduced by the Prophets—one who is in Scripture termed the Lord's anointed. He may be considered one of the most extraordinary characters that ever the heathen world produced: his mildness, courage, perseverance, success, and, above all, his strict obedience to the command of that God which neither he nor his fathers had known, all go to prove that Isaiah was not mistaken when he called him by name, as the Lord's anointed, to deliver the nations from bondage, to scourge and subdue the greatest city and monarchy that have at any time existed on the earth, and to restore the Jews, and rebuild their city and temple. Indeed, he was one of those few whom the world never produces except for extraordinary purposes. But let us hear the Prophet's own description of him, Isaiah, chapter xlv: "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him: and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me." In the 13th verse, he says: "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts." The reader will bear in mind that Isaiah lived about one hundred years before the Jewish captivity, and one hundred and seventy years before Cyrus caused their return.

Here I would pause and inquire, What power but the power of the great God could enable one man to call another by name, a century before his birth, and also to foretell correctly the history of his life? What must have been his wonder and astonishment, when, after many years of wars and commotions, during which he marched forth, conquering and to conquer, gathering as a nest the riches of the nations, he at last pitched his camp near the walls of the strongest hold in all the earth? He gazed upon its walls of upwards of three hundred feet in height, with its gates of brass and its bars of iron: the people within feeling perfectly safe, with provisions enough to last the inhabitants of the city for several years. How could he think of taking that city? Who would not have shrunk from such an undertaking, unless inspired by the great Jehovah? But, turning the river Euphrates from its course, and marching under the walls of the city, in the dried bed of the river, he found himself in possession of the city, without any difficulty; for Belshazzar, the king, was drinking himself drunk, with his nobles and concubines, and that, too, from the vessels of the House of the Lord which his father had taken from Jerusalem, and his knees had already smote together with horror, from the handwriting on the wall, which Daniel had just been called in to interpret, giving his kingdom to the Medes and Persians. Having subdued this great monarchy, he seated himself upon the throne of kingdoms; and, becoming familiar with Daniel, he was, no doubt, introduced to an acquaintance with the Jewish records, and then the mystery was unfolded: he could then see that God had called him by name, that the Almighty hand girded him for the battle, and directed all his work; he could then understand why the treasures of the earth poured themselves into his bosom, and why the loins of kings had been unloosed before him, and why the gates of brass had been opened, and the bars of iron burst asunder. It was that he might know that there was a God in Israel, and none else, and that all idols were as nothing; that he might also restore the Jews, and rebuild their city and temple, and fulfil God's purposes upon Babylon. He accordingly issued his proclamation to the Jews to return, and for the nations to assist them in rebuilding, "for," said he, "God hath commanded me to build him an house at Jerusalem." Ezra, chapter i, 2, 3, says: "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 Judea. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God which is in Jerusalem."

What powerful argument, what mighty influence was it which caused Cyrus to be convinced that it was the God of heaven who dwelt at Jerusalem, who alone was God, and who had done all these things? He had not been traditioned in the belief of the true God, nor of the holy Scriptures. Nay, he had ever been very zealous in the worship of idols; it was to idols he looked for assistance in the former part of his life. I reply, it was the power of God, made manifest by prophecy and its fulfilment; not in a spiritualized sense, not in some obscure, uncertain, or dark, mysterious way, which was difficult to be understood; but in positive, literal, plain demonstration, which none could gainsay or resist. Isaiah says that this was the object the Lord had in view when he revealed such plainness. And Cyrus manifested that it had the desired effect.

I would here remark that when we come to treat of that part of prophecy which yet remains to be fulfilled, we shall bring proof positive that the heathen nations of the latter days are to be convinced in the same way that Cyrus was; that is, there are certain events plainly predicted in the Prophets, yet future, which, when fulfilled, will convince all the heathen nations of the true God, and they shall know that he hath spoken and performed it. And all the great and learned men of Christendom, and all societies, who put any other than a literal construction on the word of prophecy, shall stand confounded, and be constrained to acknowledge that all has come to pass even as it is written.

But to return to our research of prophecy and its fulfilment. The Prophets had not only predicted the reduction of Babylon by Cyrus, but they had denounced its fate through all ages, until reduced to entire desolation, never to be inhabited, not even as a temporary residence for the wandering Arab: "And the Arabian shall not pitch tent there." See Isaiah, xiii, 19-22.

Mr. Joseph Wolfe, the celebrated Jewish missionary, while traveling in Chaldea, inquired of the Arabs whether they pitched their tents among the ruins of Babylon, to which they replied in the negative, declaring their fears that, should they do so, Nimrod's ghost would haunt them. Thus all the predictions of the Prophets concerning that mighty city have been fulfilled.

Edom also presents a striking fulfilment of plain and pointed predictions in