Is there a parallel between our day as the professed people of God and ancient Israel’s in their life and time prior to the destruction of Jerusalem?
Dear Brethren, let us look at this two-thousand-year-old historical setting to find out if there is an object lesson waiting to be had as we look through the lens of history.
There is an adage: “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.” –Winston Churchill
Set in the Bible and depicted in the book, The Great Controversy, written by E.G. White, is a striking parallel between the characters of ancient Israel prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and, as it were, modern Israel. The setting, the beautiful city of Jerusalem.
The Pleasant Land
The time was AD 70. Jerusalem was shown to be in her glory at the height of her attainment, oblivious of her final pending visitation. “If thou hadst known” said Christ, “even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. . . . because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Luke 19:42–44
Called “the pleasant land” Jerusalem was the most beautiful sight during the turn of the century. It was a nation that attracted millions of worshippers to its gate. Its architecture was looked upon by the Jews with pride. “A thousand years before, the psalmist had magnified God’s favor to Israel in making her holy house His dwelling-place: in Zion.” Psalm 76:2; –The Great Controversy, p. 23
This house, however, was destroyed and replaced by one less outwardly glorious. To the spiritual eye, this was even more glorious, as says Haggai: “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.” Haggai 2:9
In the fulness of time, the Lord of the Temple was thrown out. “From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before Him. It was the season of the Passover, and from all lands the children of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great national festival. In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and green slopes studded with pilgrims’ tents, rose the terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel’s capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, I sit a queen and shall see no sorrow; as lovely then, and deeming herself as secure in Heaven’s favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sang: ‘Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, . . . the city of the great King.’ Psalm 48:2. In full view were the magnificent buildings of the temple. . . . [in] ‘the perfection of beauty’ it stood, the pride of the Jewish nation.” –Ibid,. p. 17
A Moment of Reflection
“The history of more than a thousand years of God’s special favor and guardian care, manifested to the chosen people, was open to the eye of Jesus. There was Mount Moriah, where the son of promise, an unresisting victim, had been bound to the altar—emblem of the offering of the Son of God. There the covenant of blessing, the glorious Messianic promise, had been confirmed to the father of the faithful. Genesis 22:9, 16–18. There the flames of the sacrifice ascending to heaven from the threshing floor of Ornan had turned aside the sword of the destroying angel (1 Chronicles 21)—fitting symbol of the Saviour’s sacrifice and mediation for guilty men. Jerusalem had been honored of God above all the earth. The Lord had
chosen Zion,’ He had ‘desired it for His habitation.’ Psalm 132:13. There, for ages, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning. There priests had waved their censers, and the cloud of incense, with the prayers of the worshipers, had ascended before God. There daily the blood of slain lambs had been offered, pointing forward to the Lamb of God. There Jehovah had revealed His presence in the cloud of glory above the mercy seat. . . . Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God. Jeremiah 17:21–25. But the history of that favored people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven’s grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities.” –Ibid., p. 18
“Looking down the ages, Jesus saw the covenant people scattered in every land, ‘like wrecks on a desert shore.’ In the temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the final judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’ O that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto thy peace! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants, delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and rejected, but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou art destroyed, thou alone art responsible. ‘Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.’ Matthew 23:37; John 5:40.” –Ibid., p. 21. “Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah.” –Ibid., p. 25
Retributive Judgment
Precisely forty years later, retribution fell. Everything changed. Terror struck. The judgment of God visited them. Christ had foreseen and predicted its downfall yet “for nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself, the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the longsuffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the murderers of His Son. . . . The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. . . . Then God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen. They became satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. . . . Friends and kindred betrayed one another.” –Ibid., p. 26–27
The scenario
“Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem. . . . The city was invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. . . . So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the people would steal out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city walls. . . .
“Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents. The question of the prophet, ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child?’ received the answer within the walls of that doomed city: ‘The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.’ Isaiah 49:15; Lamentations 4:10. Again was fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries before: ‘The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, . . . and toward her children which she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.’ Deuteronomy 28:56, 57.” –Ibid., p. 31–32
“Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminating carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.” –Ibid., p. 35
A Warning
What caused this? Were they not warned? They were not left without warning after warning. Says Micah the prophet: “‘Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and the princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priest thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they will lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.’ Micah 3:9–11
“These words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God’s law, they were transgressing all its principles.” –Ibid., p. 27. “Prophets had wept over the apostasy of Israel and the terrible desolations by which their sins were visited. Jeremiah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of his people.” –Ibid., p. 19
A Bed of their Own Spreading
“The Jews had forged their own fetters”; says E.G. White: “they had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet: ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;’ ‘for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.’ Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan’s vindictive power over those who yield to his control.” –Ibid., p. 35
A Two-fold Fulfillment
So, that was the life and times of Jerusalem. She lost her privilege. Woefully, after the destruction of the second temple, Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Romans—a pathetic end. Retribution. Our model.
Now we are brought forward where modern Israel now sits in her seat. Particularly, in the western world, a people upon whom the fabric of their society was woven in truth and righteousness. Will she too also rebel and forsake their God, forsake His law? The question is, has Christ’s prediction spanned this generation and how and when will it be fulfilled?
“The Saviour’s prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God’s mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens, and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revelations of the future.” –Ibid., p. 36
Says the Spirit of Prophecy: “The same danger exists today among the people who profess to be the depositaries of God’s law. They too are apt to flatter themselves that the regard in which they hold the commandments will preserve them from the power of divine justice. They refuse to be reproved for evil. . . . Neglect to repent and obey His word will bring as serious consequences upon God’s people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 166 (1876)
“Jerusalem is a representation of what the Church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 67
A Modern Model
There is a paradigm shift; the stage is now occupied by the Church. Will she perform in a similar manner as ancient Israel? Will she too be weighed in the balance and found wanting, thus fulfilling the other leg of the two-fold prophecy? Sadly, history’s record chronicle so far is grave; it shows that the professed church of God is, in a certain sense, displaying the same characteristic as Israel, one of pride and unbelief while seeking to maintain piety. Will Jesus view her with the same lens and likewise remark: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. . . . because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation”? Luke 19:42–44
Note, even in our dispensation, this pointed warning proceeding from the Pen of inspiration, Mrs. White: “I have been
shown that the spirit of the world is fast leavening the church. You are following the same path as did ancient Israel. There is the same falling away from your holy calling as God’s peculiar people. . . . Your concord with unbelievers has provoked the Lord’s displeasure. You know not the things that belong to your peace and they are fast being hid from your eyes. Your neglect to follow the light will place you in a more unfavorable position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe. . . . I saw that at present we are under a divine forbearance, but no one can say how long this will continue.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 75–76. All the signs are fast fulling to meet the final retributive judgment.
More pointed, “Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. . . . He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, tears, and blood; . . . but few would come to Him that they might have life.” –The Great Controversy, p. 21
Modern Israel
In the nominal churches, the law of God has been brought into dishonor, and so says Isaiah: “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:5. Daniel prophesied about this change. Namely: “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws. . . .” Daniel 7:25. Not to mention the thousand forms of traditional teachings brought about by this same power. Unfortunately, when the persecuted Protestants moved from under the persecuting hand of Rome, they carried and proselyted these erroneous teachings such as the state of the dead, Sunday sacredness, and many more, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9
National Apostasy to Come
“A time is coming” declares the Spirit of Prophecy “when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God’s people will be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.” –The Review and Herald, December 18, 1888
Leave the City
There is one object lesson that we cannot miss. Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Why? Christ had given His disciples warning. That when they saw a certain sign namely: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies. . . depart out.” Luke 21:20–21. Is this not an object lesson? Should we not likewise be ready accordingly? “As God’s commandment-keeping people, we must leave the cities. As did Enoch, we must work in the cities but not dwell in them.” –Evangelism, p. 79. “Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem’s destruction, giving them a sign of the approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction and has given them tokens of its approach, that all who will, may flee from the wrath to come.” –The Great Controversy, p. 37
Final Warning
Just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, a final warning was given to Israel. Affirms the Spirit of Prophecy: “For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted. . . . ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem!’ ‘woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!’” –Ibid., p. 30
Similarly, there is a final warning as given in Revelation 14:9, with its far-reaching effect, namely, “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. . . .”
There are today to be a people like that man, who fit the following description: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. It is this said people that will preach the final message of mercy to an impenitent world. Notwithstanding, most will reject it. “The world is no more ready. . . than were the Jews to receive the Saviour’s warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders are magnifying the world’s progress and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security—then, as the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, ‘and they shall not escape.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:3).” –Ibid., p. 37–38
Yet “God permits the wicked to prosper and to reveal their enmity against Him, that when they shall have filled up the measure of their iniquity all may see His justice and mercy in their utter destruction. The day of His vengeance hastens, when all who have transgressed his law. . . will meet the just recompense of their deeds.” –Ibid., p. 48
The Plagues
Ancient Israel received its retributive judgment via the destruction of Jerusalem. To modern Israel is appointed the seven last plagues. “When Christ ceases His intercession in the sanctuary, the unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark (Revelation 14:9, 10), will be poured out. The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people.” –Ibid., p. 627
Says John the Revelator: “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” Revelation 16:1–17
In conclusion
Affirms the pen of Inspiration: “These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals.” –The faith I Live By, p. 340
Without a doubt, dear Reader, the parallel is unmistakable. Modern Israel evidently fits the specification. Jesus’ panoramic view clearly spans the condition of a people even today. Her retributive judgment is imminent! Says John, the Revelator “…The hour of [God’s] judgment is come.” Revelation 14:7. Similarly like the man who had forewarned Jerusalem of her doom, so in 1844, God raised up a man to forewarn the fallen nominal churches, using this said line of scripture. Yet God the Father warns and appeals: “I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin . . . for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. . .” Ezekiel 18:30–32
The Saints of God
On the other end of the continuum, there will be a people—a people like the Christians who escaped the utter destruction of Jerusalem. “The people of God will not be free from suffering; but . . . they will not be left to perish. . . . While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous, and supply their wants. To him that ‘walketh righteously’ is the promise, ‘Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.’ Isaiah 33:16.” —Ibid, p. 340
It is the people that John, in Revelation 14:12, identified as: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Rose Powell