WORDS OF PROPHECY

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 253, 20 September 1930, Page 12

WORDS OF PROPHECY

INTERESTING LANTERN LECTURE The Palmerston North Baptist Church school was well filled on .Thursday evening, when an exceptionally interesting and instructive lantern slide address, entitled “Fulfilled Prophecy,” was delivered by Mr 0. Saunders, of the New Zealand Bible Training Institute, Auckland. Rev. C. S. Matthews presided. The lecturer dealt withe the, prophecies of both the Old and New Testaments, claiming that they had been and were being fulfilled. The words of these prophecies, he said, were not prompted by the unaided speculative reason of man, but they were the words of none other than God Himself. If one could not trust God’s word in the Scriptures, how could one trust Him regarding spiritual things? God had given us a wonderful ground of assurance ; He had given us the real rock bottom on which ‘to stand. A large part of the Bible was devoted to prophecy, and if one studied the prophecies without thirsting for His message the whole purpose was lost. Prophecy held a large place in the word of God. If people found the reading of the Bible dull, the fault was with themselves; it meant that they were not in true relationship with God the author, Who had a real living message for the soul. l: The story of the siege of Jericho was re-told on the screen, the lecturer stating that, according ,to the Scriptures, the walls had tallen flat at a shout. Research had now established the fact that round the ancient city of Jericho there were two walls —an outer wall and an inner wall, on which the people had lived. The outer wall had fallen inwards and the inner wall had fallen into the breach between the two walls, and so the invaders had been, able td march over the walls into the city. 1 The next series of slides dealt with the early history of ancient Egypt, when that country was at the of its power, particularly in regard to engineering, military prowess and commerce. In Ezekiel it was written: “And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that? are wasted.” Perhaps nothing could seem so ridiculous as the words of tire prophet, viz., that a nation that had risen to such a height was to fall. Yet those glories of the past were not the glories of Egypt’s present. All over Egypt were to be found the ruins of what were once great cities. Truly the prophecies of her downfall had come true. The lecturer showed some interesting slides of the . obelisks, one of which he stated was' 90 feet high and was composed of one solid piece of granite. The extraordinary, feature of this obelisk was the fact that no granite was to be found within 70 miles of it. It was clear that the Egyptians had lrad to convey that huge mass of stone over the desert. The engineering skill of those days filled one with amazement.-

The next series of slides depicted the resurrection of the three natjons, Egypt, Assyria and Israel. Isaiah’s prophecy had come true. The Lord had said that he would smite Egypt and heal it. What were the indications in Egypt to-day ? Her national spirit had been awakened; she was now self-governing; she had her own Parliament and Prince. “In that day,” the prophet had said, “shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land.” The Jews were flocking back to tlreir natural country from the four corners of the earth.* Palestine, tho, was coming into its own again. The lecturer then referred to Bagdad, the leading city of Assyria. Not many years ago there had been the treaty of Iraq, when Britain had entered into a new treaty with that nation. Then what of the railways, roads and air services between those nations? How accurately the prophets had written. “In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and tile Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the _ Egyptian into Assyria.” THese nations had all entered upon a new life, although it was to be remembered that Britain held a mandate over nil three. It would seem that God was - using Britain (or prophetic purposes. And perhaps this was because Britain had given the Bible a place that no other nation had. The hope was expressed that she would long continue to do so. The prophecies concerning Tyre and Sidon were graphically related, in connection with which the lecturer said that no other prophecy had been so minute and complete. He also spoke of the prophecies of Christ Himself, dealing with the destruction of the Temple, and various ’cities. Dr. Christie, who had spent 42 years In Palestine in connection with Bible research, had thrown out a challenge to nil the corners of the, world for anyone to find one discrepancy or one mistake in the Bible’s geography. Shakespeare, Kingsley and Sir Walter Scott had all been known to make geographical mistakes, yet Dr. Christie’s challenge had never been answered. Very ninny places in the Scriptures had a geographical bearing. The Bible was indeed the Word of God. It

was trustworthy in all its parts. Slides were thrown on the screen depicting the fulfilment of God’s prophecies in the 189tli decade, the lecture concluding with a number of scenes of the Holy City. Mr Sanders made an earnest appeal to the congregation to bear in mind the cause of missionary work. “Do we realise our great responsibility?” he asked. “Why should we sit at home in comfort while the missionaries have to bear all the hardships?” St. Matthew had written: “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” “When I survey the wondrous Cross” was sung as the termination to a most inspiring address.