Evening journal., 1911-09-02
OVERTURNED UNTIL HE COME
@Depart from evil and do good; seek
peace and pursue it."-Psalm
xxx. IA.

@Depart from evil and do good; seek
peace and pursue it."-Psalm
xxx, IA.
At the giving of the law God plain
1y told the nation at Israel the terms
and conditions upon which they we're
received as His people. If they would
be obedient to the Divine require
ments all things would work we'll
with them. They would be rich,
lprosperous. the blessed nation of the
lard But if, on the contrary. they
should neglect the Divine Statutes
and become idolatrous, the Lord
would oppose them and would deliv-
er them into the hands Of their eni-
mics for chastisement; and seven
times" should pass over them
Leviticus XVI, IS, 21, "a. %.
God Of course knew the end from
the beginning Nevertheless, Divine
patience is manifested throughout the
experiences Of the nation leading up
TO the overthrow of Zedekiah's gov
ernment-he being the last king OF
the line of David to sit on the throne.
We have seen how evil followed good,
In the kings and in the practices OF
the nation; and how Divine provi-
dence chastened the people, yet re-
peatedly brought them back from
idolatry. Now had come the time for
the complete overthrow Of the nation
al polity for a period OF "seven times"
or seven years, as foretold by Moses
In this case, however, the years must
have been symbolic because frequent
lv they had captivities of more than
Aorrr,ffrc thpn a
fact that these seven years or times"
we're symbolic years, how long per-
iod do they indicate?
II is an accepted fact that In Biole
symbolism each day represents D
year; and the Jewish year had twelve
months of thirty each. Thus each
4 year represented symbolically three
hundred and sixty years; and the sew
. en- years OF chastisement represented
z times 800, of 2.520 years.
\ When, therefore, we read that the
4 kingdom would be overturned, over
Il turned until Messiah should come, we
are to understand that the period Of
4 the overturned condition, as a whole,
q would be $500 years, beginning with
the time the crown was taken from
Zedekiah-in COG B. c. GO years prior
to the proclamation Of Cryus per-
hitting the people to return-536 B.
II CO
A Look Mt the Facts
II is always interesting and profit
able to students Of the Bible to note
the fulflment Of Divine predictions.
It establishes faith. it makes all OF
Gods promises more real; it assures
a us of Divine supervision in respect to
81 Israel's affairs and thus gives ground
for confidence in the supervision OF
the affairs Of spiritual Israel-the
Church.
AS we look back along the aisles
Of history we see the fulfilment Of the
declaration that the nation OF
Israel would be overturned and
# overturned. After its restora-
ton by Cyrus, B. c. 5S6, it con-
81 tinued to have a sort Of national ex-
I'd istence for a king Of the line of David
81 the line of Divine promise-and II
NJ was ruled over by the various ad-
doining nations. as 1t is written
"Jerusalem shall be trodden down OF
6 the Gentiles until the times years.
of the Gentiles be filled FULL. Some
may point to the Maccabean kings
We answer that they we're not Di-
H vinely appointed. nor Of the royal
family Does some one else remind
W us of the reign of Herod at the time
Al of Jesus, at the beginning Of Ammo
W Domini? We reply that the Herods
81 were not Of the line of David-they
# were Edomites, or Of the Esau branch
~ who ruled over the children Of Israel
as the representatives Of the great
Roman Empire.
i 1he Times of the Gentiles.
When God removed the typical
" kingdom of Israel and His typical
throne in the world, as represented
E& by David's family, He gave over the
earthly dominion to the Gentiles
and this lease of power, as repre-
Z scented in Daniels prophecy. was II