Thursday, September 15, 2022

Down Through The Ages - a WITNESS

"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.
 
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 the people, 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 to 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,".... 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 the witness of God concerning himself read from the Hebrew Scriptures. 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.
 
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 from that day to this, 
God has left not Himself without witness to all nations."  
A.T. Jones