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Chapter 26—Agency of Evil Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Chapter 27—The Snares of Satan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Chapter 28—The First Great Deception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Chapter 29—Spiritualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Chapter 30—Character and Aims of the Papacy . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Chapter 31—The Coming Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Chapter 32—The Scriptures a Safeguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
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Chapter 33—The Loud Cry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Chapter 34—The Time of Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Chapter 35—God’s People Delivered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Chapter 36—Desolation of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Chapter 37—The Controversy Ended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Chapter 1—Destruction of Jerusalem
[v]
“The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast
a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on
every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children
within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another;
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” [Luke 19:43,
44.]
From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looks upon Jerusalem. Fair and
peaceful is the scene spread out before him. In the midst of gardens
and vineyards and green slopes studded with pilgrims’ tents, rise the
terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel’s
capital. The daughter of Zion seems in her pride to say, “I sit a
queen, and shall see no sorrow;” as lovely now, and deeming herself
as secure in Heaven’s favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel
sung, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount
Zion,” “the city of the great King.” [Psalm 48:2.] In full view are the magnificent buildings of the temple. The rays of the setting sun
light up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls, and gleam from
golden gate and tower and pi
[18]
stands, the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of Israel could
gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But
far other thoughts occupy the mind of Jesus. “When he was come
near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.” [Luke 19:41.] Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches wave,
while glad hosa
voices declare him king, the world’s Redeemer is overwhelmed with
a sudden and mysterious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised
One of Israel, whose power has conquered death, and called its
captives from the grave, is in tears, not of ordinary grief, but of
intense, irrepressible agony.
His tears were not for himself, though he well knew whither
his feet were tending. Before him lay Gethsemane. Not far distant
was the place of crucifixion. Upon the path which he was soon to
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tread must fall the horror of great darkness as he should make his
soul an offering for sin. Yet it was not a contemplation of these
scenes that cast the shadow upon him in this hour of gladness. No
forebodings of his own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish
spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem,—because
of the blindness and impenitence of those whom he came to bless
and save.
The history of a thousand years of privilege and blessing, granted
to the Jewish people, was unfolded to the eye of Jesus. The Lord
had made Zion his holy habitation. There prophets had unsealed
[19]
their rolls and uttered their warnings. There priests had waved their
censers, and daily offered the blood of slain lambs, pointing forward
to the Lamb of God. There had Jehovah dwelt in visible glory,
in the shekinah above the mercy-seat. There rested the base of
that mystic ladder co
which angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened
to the world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as a nation
preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood
forever, the elect metropolis of God. But the history of that favored
people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted
Heaven’s grace, abused their privileges, slighted their opportunities.
Amid forgetfulness and apostasy, God had dealt with Israel as
a loving father deals with a rebellious son, admonishing, warning,
correcting, still saying in the tender anguish of a parent’s soul, How
can I give thee up? When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had
failed, God sent to this people the best gift of Heaven; nay, he poured
out to them all Heaven in that one gift.
For three years the Son of God knocked at the gate of the impen-
itent city. He came to his vineyard seeking fruit. Israel had been as
a vine transplanted from Egypt into a genial soil. He dug about his
vine; he pruned and cherished it. He was unwearied in his efforts
to save this vine of his own planting. For three years the Lord of
light and glory had gone in and out among his people. He healed
the sick; he comforted the sorrowing; he raised the dead; he spoke
pardon and peace to the repentant. He gathered about him the weak
[20]
and the weary, the helpless and the desponding, and extended to all,
without respect to age or character, the invitation of mercy: “Come
Destruction of Jerusalem
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unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you
rest.” [Matthew 11:28.]
Regardless of indifference and contempt, he had steadfastly pur-
sued his ministry of love. No frown upon his brow repelled the
suppliant. Himself subjected to privation and reproach, he had lived
to scatter blessings in his path, to plead with men to accept the gift
of life. The waves of mercy, beaten back by the stubborn heart,
returned in a tide of untiring love. But Israel had turned from her
best friend and only helper. The pleadings of his love had been
despised, his counsels spurned, his warnings ridiculed.
The hour of grace and reprieve was fast passing; the cup of God’s
long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud of wrath that had
been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, was about to
burst upon a guilty people, and He who alone could save them from
their impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was
soon to be crucified. When Christ should hang on Calvary’s cross,