Heavenly Visions

EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S PROPHETS

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

“WHICH of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Acts 7:52. HEVI 54.1

There are individuals who claim that the gift of prophesy can not be genuine if many of God’s professed people reject or oppose its teaching. They reason thus: “If this manifestation and teaching be genuine; all the Lord’s people will indorse it.” If such were the case, the people of this age would be far different from those of past ages, whose course was “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11. HEVI 54.2

Our initial text states how the Jewish people anciently treated God’s true prophets, and other scriptures confirm the statement: “And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes [often], and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16. HEVI 54.3

In our Saviours discourse on the mount, he said: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matthew 5:11, 12. HEVI 54.4

Who were the actors in that persecution? we inquire. They were professedly in the fold-in the church. This is vividly set forth in our Lord’s parable of the householder, where he says, “There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance... HEVI 54.5

“And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.” Matthew 21:33-38, 45. HEVI 54.6

In 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21, is found a record of one who suffered such persecution. “And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoida the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye can not prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.” See also Matthew 23:35. HEVI 54.7

Jeremiah the prophet also suffered persecution at the hands of those who professed to be God’s people, as the following scriptures show: “Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” Jeremiah 18:18. HEVI 54.8

Not content with simply using their lips, they next took a course to make him a “gazing-stock” to the people: “Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.” Jeremiah 20:1, 2. HEVI 54.9

And this severe treatment of the prophet Jeremiah was all because he continued to speak to them of the things that the Lord had shown him would come upon Jerusalem and upon that people. These reproofs and warnings they would not accept nor believe. Yet he still earnestly entreated them, which only increased their hatred. Hardening their hearts, they were prepared for greater cruelty to the prophet, as is recorded in the twenty-sixth chapter of Jeremiah: “Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets [false prophets] and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.... HEVI 54.10

“Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.” Jeremiah then said to them, “Know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people,” saying that Micah, in the days of Hezekiah, had made predictions similar to those of Jeremiah; but Hezekiah did not put Micah to death. They spoke also of one Urijah who prophesied similarly to Jeremiah in the days of Jehoiakim, and the Jehoiakim had him put to death. With this pleading and the favor of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Jeremiah was kept from the death which the priests and false prophets had planned. HEVI 55.1

Notwithstanding the angry attitude of Jeremiah’s persecutors, he tenderly entreated the priests, rulers, and people to head the Lord’s counsel. This only vexed them the more, and strengthened their determination to destroy him. “Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.” Zedekiah, wishing to consult him, took him out of the dungeons, and had a private interview, whereupon Jeremiah showed him that his predictions were already fulfilling against those false prophets who had said, “The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land.” Jeremiah 37:15, 19. So Zedekiah took him out of the dungeons, and put him in the court of the prison, and provided him with food. HEVI 55.2

Jeremiah faithfully instructed the people as to what course they should pursue when the king of Babylon should return with his army to take Jerusalem. The people reasoned with Zedekiah that Jeremiah’s words weakened the people by teaching them that they should surrender to the Chaldeans. This reasoning so weakened Zedekiah that he said to the people, concerning Jeremiah, “Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do anything against you. Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.” Jeremiah 38:5, 6. HEVI 55.3

Ebed-meleck, and Ethiopian, “spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die... So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison... Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.” Jeremiah 39:8, 9, 13, 28. HEVI 55.4

Notwithstanding the fact that what Jeremiah had predicted was being accomplished before their eyes, the king left Jeremiah in bonds. Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the Babylonian guard, after taking Jerusalem, said to Jeremiah, “The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place. Now the Lord hath brought it, and done according as he hath said... And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hands. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee... Wither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go....So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go. Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.” Jeremiah 40:2-6. (To be concluded) The Review and Herald, April 21, 1903. HEVI 55.5