Part 4

To this I turn with deeper interest, because it has been denied. Voltaire, for example, describes Palestine as one of the worst countries of Asia, comparing it to Switzerland, and says it can only be esteemed fertile “when compared with the desert.” (KEITH, p. 106.) There cannot be one moment’s doubt that in such statements he exceeded fact. But others have pointed to the desolate hillsides, and asked the question whether such a country could ever have supported a population as dense as that of Norfolk or Suffolk. Now let there be no mistake on this subject; for we are fully prepared most freely to admit that the hill country, as we now see it, could not possibly support a large population, and that there is a dreary, barren desolation about it which is wholly unlike the descriptions of rich fertility which abound through the Scriptures. One of these descriptions will be sufficient; viz., Deut. viii. 7–9: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” Now I am not in the least afraid of saying plainly that such a description as that is not true of _modern_ Palestine. It is not a good land flowing with milk and honey; it is not a land of vines and oil olives; it is not a land from which a large population could eat bread without scarceness. I read that there is not a vine to be seen between Eschol and Beersheba, and that there are very few olives to be found anywhere. What then are we to say? Was the historical description true, or was it not? Were the people deceived, or was God true to His Word? “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” On this point let us ask the stones, and let us take the testimony of the rocks. But in doing this we must not be content with taking a tourist’s ticket, and hurrying as fast as possible along the beaten tracks; but we must accompany our scientific men in their investigations; and if we do so, what shall we find? In the first place we shall find scattered through the country the ruins of an enormous number of villages. The Exploration Fund have actually entered on their map no less than 2,770 names. It is perfectly clear therefore that there was once a very large and densely-packed population. Then in the next place the careful observer will perceive that those hills which are now so barren were once covered with terraces so as to preserve the soil. Dr. Keith says that on one hill he counted no less than sixty-seven such terraces one above another. Then if you examine these terraces you find a countless number of cisterns and water-courses cut in the rocks, proving clearly that there was once a careful system of irrigation; and then, in conclusion, near many of the villages there is found an olive-press, apparently used by the whole village, while up amongst the terraces there are multitudes of smaller wine-presses, apparently cut in the rocks by each proprietor for his own use. In confirmation of this evidence I have been informed by one for many years a resident in Jerusalem, that the inhabitants are dependent for firewood on the roots of the vines and the olives still found on the desolate hillsides. The roots remain, though the trees are gone, and those roots unite in their testimony with the rocks amongst which they are found. The evidence therefore of the rocks is irresistible. The people are scattered through the nations, and the rain has washed down the toil from the broken terraces; but the rocks remain; and the proof is as clear as any proof can be of anything, that there was once a teeming population and a high state of cultivation, that the country was once a land of vines and oil olives, and that it was a land maintaining a prosperous, thriving, and painstaking people. Thus the rocks agree with the Book. Those barren hills themselves supply the evidence of their former fertility, and the stones cry out that the grand old Pentateuch is historically true.

III. PROPHETIC INSPIRATION.

But we have not yet done with those barren hills; for we have not yet exhausted their evidence. Some may enquire how it is that a country which was once so fertile is now become so desolate; and the answer may be given that the villages have been burned, the terraces neglected, the cisterns broken, and the water-courses choked, which is all perfectly true. But that is not enough to satisfy a real enquirer. “How was it,” the thoughtful man will ask, “that the villages were burned and the terraces neglected?” In the answer of this question the rocks can give us no assistance, and we must depend entirely on the Book; but there we find the whole mystery solved. The fact is, that the whole country bears witness to the truth of prophecy. The present state of things is exactly what God foretold in His Word. It is perfectly true that the mountains are dreary, barren, and desolate; perfectly true that it is no longer “the land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands;” but it is equally true that the change which has taken place is exactly that which God foretold in the Scriptures.

What did Moses write three thousand three hundred years ago? Turn to Leviticus xxvi. 33: “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.”

What did Isaiah say, writing about two thousand five hundred years ago? Turn to Isaiah vi. 11: “Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” Turn to chap. xxiv. 3: “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.” Or to chap. xxxii. 12, 13: “They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.”

What did Jeremiah say, writing about two thousand three hundred years ago? Turn to Jeremiah iv. 26, 27: “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.” “The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.” (Chap. xii. 12.)

And what did Ezekiel, writing about the same time, predict of the condition of Palestine during the dispersion, and until the restoration of the people? Turn to his address to those hills of which we have been speaking, in Ezekiel xxxvi. 3, 4: “Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about.”

Here then we have the whole mystery solved, and the whole thing explained. In His sure Word of prophecy our heavenly Father told us what He would do, and the desolate hills of Palestine bear witness that He has done it. We may long to see them clothed once more with the vine and the olive, and we may profoundly pity their lawful proprietors, who look on their lawful home—once so beautiful, but now so desolate! But yet we cannot look even on that desolation without thanksgiving, for it is an evidence to all thinking men of the certain truth of God’s inspired Word. Those who refer to those desolate hills as an argument against the truth forget that the desolation to which they refer is a conclusive proof of the truth of the _prophetic_ Word of God. Thus we are carried by this third proof far beyond either geographical accuracy or historical truth. A book may be geographically accurate, or historically true, and yet not be inspired. But no _man_ can foretell the future. No man can look forward 3,000 years. No man, therefore, could span over all those centuries and tell us ages ago what would be the condition of Palestine in this nineteenth century. But God has done it. We thank God, therefore, for His Word, and we thank Him also for the testimony of the rocks. Nay, more, we may thank Him even for the sneers of such a man as Voltaire, for the very sneers are a proof to the students of the Scriptures that God’s prophecy is being fulfilled, and that God’s Holy Word may be trusted as divine.

But we must not leave the subject there, for we are taught a most solemn lesson as to the desolating power of a righteous God. He who has reduced those fertile hills to desolation, cannot He equally desolate the soul, and reduce the poor ruined heart to a similar condition of barren hopelessness? And will He not do it if His great salvation be neglected? I know that it is the fashion to believe that He is too merciful to punish; but for my own part I find it much more easy to believe that he is too true to declare that which he has no intention of performing. If the Word of God be true, “Verily there is a God that judgeth the earth,” and we cannot doubt that to the guilty sinner He must prove “a consuming fire.” But, thanks be to His Holy Name, if the warnings be true, so also are the promises. If the judgment be certain, so also is the salvation. If the minister of wrath be sure to fulfil the Word of judgment, so also is the blessed Saviour perfectly sure to fulfil the promises of life. If the law condemn with infallible certainty, so also does the Gospel proclaim that the claim of the law is satisfied in the great propitiation by the Son of God; so that any one, even the least and most unworthy of His people, may peacefully rest in the certainty of His never-failing Word, and abide in perfect peace, and perfect safety, in the perfect truth, and never-failing covenant of God.

SCOFFERS.

I PROPOSE to call the evidence of an _unwilling_ witness, and to ask the scoffer himself to bear his “testimony to the truth” against which he scoffs. There is no better evidence than that which is given unwillingly—than that of a man who is put into the witness-box in order to prove one thing, and when closely examined is compelled by the force of truth to prove the opposite. Now as a general rule the scoffers desire to dishonour the Scriptures; they ridicule its statements, and deny its inspiration. But I am not sure that, if carefully examined, they will not be found to confirm the Word. Let us then carefully study their evidence, and may God the Holy Ghost bring it home to their hearts and our own!

But before we examine the modern scoffers, we must turn to what the Word of God has said respecting them. Rather more than eighteen hundred years ago the apostle Peter wrote two letters, the first addressed to scattered strangers, and the second to those who had “obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” In this second Epistle he gave a divine prophecy to all such persons, and told them from God what they were to expect in the latter days. He taught them quite clearly that when they were approaching the end they were not to expect to be like some beautiful ship (with its sails set and its flags flying) sailing gallantly into the harbour, with a bright sunshine, a flowing tide, and a prosperous breeze; but rather like some weather-beaten craft, battered by the storm, beating up against the gale, and almost overwhelmed by the breakers on the bar. And it teaches also that one of the trials of those last days will arise from scoffers. As in navigation the chart may teach that there are dangerous rocks near the harbour mouth, so the prophecy says that when we draw near to the coming of the Lord, there will arise certain persons who will not be afraid even to scoff at the revelation of God. Let us first examine the prophecy, and then we shall be prepared to compare it with the fact. It assures us then of the fact that there will be scoffers, and it gives us a fourfold description of their character.

We shall find it in 2 Peter iii. 3–5: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.”

(1.) _They will scoff_.

Now, as a general rule, a scoffer is not a reasoner. It requires some knowledge and logical power to argue, but any fool can scoff. In fact, it seems the peculiar attribute of folly; for we are distinctly told that “fools make a mock of sin.” Now in this passage it is clearly foretold that in the last days men will scoff. But when St. Peter wrote the words he must have thought it almost impossible. For let any man look around at the visible effects of sin—the ruin, the misery, the wretched homes, the miserable wives, the pitiable children, the sickness, poverty, crime, violence, and every species of abomination resulting from sin—and can any wise man scoff at sin?

Or look at the majesty of God, at His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His omniscience, His infinitude, His holiness, His sin-abhorring character, and it seems impossible that there should be anyone bold enough to presume to scoff at the Most High God.

Or look at His love in Christ Jesus; in the provision of such a salvation for sinners such as we are; in providing such a Lamb for the burnt-offering; in making to the guilty such an offer of such a salvation on such terms of magnificent generosity, and can it be possible that any man should scoff at that? Will they scoff at the love that prompted it, at the sacrifice made for it, or at the pardon and life presented through it? We might as well expect to see the condemned criminal scoffing at a free pardon from the Queen.

But notwithstanding all that, the prophecy says plainly that in the last days there shall be scoffers.

(2.) The next clause throws further light on their character; for it teaches that _they will walk after their own lusts_. Now “lust” does not mean merely the low, vicious, depraved passion of the profligate; but the word in old English expresses exactly the meaning of the Greek—the appetite or will of the natural man. A person, therefore, may be what “the world” calls a moral man, and still be walking after his own lust. Such characters are described by the prophet Isaiah in the words, “We have turned every one to his own way.” (Chap. liii. 6.) And again, chap. lxvi. 3, “Yea, they have chosen their own ways.” They make of themselves their own god. They set up their own understanding as their teacher, and their own will as their law. Their religion consists in one letter of the alphabet, that one most absorbing letter, “I.” “I know,” “I think” “I choose,” “I will,” “I am,” and “I act as I think proper;” and thus it is that their own will becomes their only god. Oh what a miserable god! Oh, what a contrast to the life of him who knows his Saviour! to the blessedness of the man whose life is hid with Christ in God, and whose daily prayer is, “Thy will be done!” But though it seem almost impossible, the words of the prophecy are perfectly clear that the rise of such characters will be amongst the anxious trials of the latter days.

(3.) But this is not all; for the next clause shows _they will scoff at the hope of the Advent_, and they will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” This does not mean, “Where shall we find the promise in the Scriptures?” but rather, “What has become of it? Everything is going on just as it always has done, and He is not come yet. The winter comes and goes, the sun rises and sets, the business of life goes on as in former days, and the Lord has not yet appeared; so what are we to think of the promise?” St. Peter points out the true answer to all this; viz., that God’s time must not be measured by man’s scale; for that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” and he might have added that prophecy of our Lord Himself, in which he taught us that everything will go on exactly the same right up to His return; viz., “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matt. xxiv. 38, 39.) It is most important that we bear this well in mind; for there is an undoubted tendency in us all to settle down into an undefined feeling that things that have gone on without a change will go on still without a change, and so to allow our hope of the Advent to grow weary, or to burn itself out through delay. There is this tendency in even the Christian mind, and in all probability there are few amongst us who have not felt the need of watching against the temptation. So in this prophecy the scoffer is predicted as availing himself of this natural tendency in our hearts, and turning it against the promises of God; as attacking the Christian in His blessed hope; as striving to shake the faith of believers; and as endeavouring to pull down those who are looking for the Lord to the dreary level of utter hopelessness on which he finds that he himself is standing. It seems a very cruel thing, and I often think that if I were an infidel I could not endeavour to shake the faith of other men. It seems a horrible thing, that because a man is without hope himself, he should endeavour to take away hope from others; and a most especially horrible thing that he should endeavour to poison the minds of children, and so harden their young hearts against the reception of the truth of God. But though it seem so cruel, so unnatural, and so contrary to any principle of ordinary benevolence, the prophecy teaches quite plainly that so it will be in the “latter days.”

(4.) But there is one more feature in the description; viz., this, that _these scoffers are_ “_willingly ignorant_.” The ignorance here predicted has special reference to the creation and the flood; but the point to which I would draw your most especial attention is the _willingness_ of its character. Ignorance in many cases is the result of circumstances, and in some of grave misfortune. There are some who long for knowledge, but have no opportunity of obtaining it; and there are many others who, though they show no such thirst, cannot be blamed; for they have never known enough even to excite an appetite. But the prophecy describes men who are determinately and wilfully ignorant; who are ignorant, not because they _cannot_ know, but because they _will_ not. They are like those persons described in Romans i. 28: “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” Such are the people described in this prophecy—persons who are profoundly ignorant of the whole purpose of God in Christ Jesus; who know absolutely nothing of that knowledge of the true God and of “Jesus Christ, whom He has sent,” which the Lord Himself declared to be “life eternal;” and who do not wish to know it, but had rather remain without the knowledge. The result is, that they will read no Christian evidence, will care for no books but those of infidels, and will never search their Bible, unless it be to find out something which they may make the subject of their mockery. Such is the willing ignorance most clearly predicted in this prophecy.

There are, therefore, four points clearly predicted in the character of those persons who, according to prophecy, must be expected in the “latter days.” They will scoff; they will walk after their own will; they will call in question the Lord’s coming; and they will be willingly ignorant of His inspired truth. What then should be the effect on our own minds when we see the fulfilment of this prophecy? Should it shake our faith, or strengthen it? Should it lead us to doubt our Bibles, or to rest in them as the truth of God? When we found that Noah’s great prophecy respecting Shem, Ham, and Japheth was fulfilled, what was the effect? It assured us that the Pentateuch was true, and the Bible inspired. When we found a whole series of prophecies respecting the Jews and Palestine were literally fulfilled, what again was the effect? It assured us that the Bible was true, and those prophets inspired. So now, if we see with our own eyes the clear fulfilment of St. Peter’s prophecy, what again must be our conclusion? What but that the Bible is true, and that the apostle Peter was inspired? Thus it is that the scoffer against the truth becomes a witness for the truth, and the man who would insult our God by what he calls “profane jokes” is unconsciously and unintentionally bearing testimony to the God whom he insults. If there were no such scoffers in these latter days, then indeed we might begin to doubt the inspiration of the prophetic Word. If the Jews had remained settled in their own country, and had never been dispersed among the nations, then we might have doubted the inspiration of the prophets respecting them; and so, if there were no infidels and no scoffers, then we might call in question the inspiration of the Scriptures that predicted them. But now, as the Jews are witnesses to one class of prophecy, so are the scoffers to another; and while we grieve for the poor men, and most heartily desire to see them saved with the great salvation, we may be at the same time thankful for their evidence, and may accept their scoffing is an unanswerable testimony to the prophetic truth of the inspired Scripture.