CHAPTER 9 

INFIDEL RULER TRIES TO BREAK PROPHECY  

DAVID DARE FOUND the hall crowded when he arrived.  He chatted a few minutes with friends, then met Dr. Morely, and together they went to the platform.  As he arose to speak, there was rather an unusual ovation.

Mr. Dare smiled acknowledgement.  “I see you are interested in the subject announced for today,” he remarked.  “To me it is gratifying to see someone with the courage of his convictions and willing to do more than talk about them.  Most doubters never go beyond the talking stage.

“After all, it should be an easy matter for infidels to disprove the Bible if they were half as in earnest as they would have us believe.  They need only rebuild old Tyre, or Babylon, or Nineveh; for God has said that these cities will never again have inhabitants.  And He challenged the world to disprove His words if they could.

“If unbelievers would inhabit only one of these doomed cities, they would no longer be compelled to argue the question of Bible prophecy, for they themselves would be the living disproof of it’s truth.”

“But that is a fantastic idea, and an absurd and unreasonable thing to ask of sceptics,” protested Mr. Emerson.

“I agree with Mr. Dare, Dad,” whispered Lucile, as he sat down.  “if doubters set such store by their scepticism, let them venture something on it, or keep still.  Certainly the believers venture everything — their property and even their lives; the sceptics, not even a few dollars.  Yes, the speaker is right.”

“The thought of actually trying to disprove a prophecy,” replied Mr. Dare, “is not so fantastic.  It is just what ought to occur to the logical mind.  It did occur to one determined doubter.

“There lived a learned man about A. D. 300 who read the words of Jesus in Luke 21:24:  ‘Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.’  He had once been a Christian, so he knew the predictions.  He made up his mind that Jerusalem should be trodden underfoot by the Israelites instead of by the Gentiles.

“This man also knew that the Bible foretold the utter destruction of the Jewish Temple and its services, that the Jews were to be scattered to all nations of the earth, and that Christianity was to go to ‘every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’

“He was determined to overthrow Christianity, not by killing its adherents, which had been tried by his predecessors for 250 years and had served only to increase its followers, but by the more effective method of shattering the prophecies.  Thus he would prove Jesus a liar.  And he had the power, if anyone ever had, for he was Julian, emperor of Rome, with an immense army and the wealth and power of the civilized world at his command.”

“Aren’t you assuming a great deal when you assert that Julian had no other purpose in mind than to disprove the Bible?” asked Mr. Emerson.

“That he intended to stage a contest between himself and God, that he consciously planned to disprove prophecy, is stated by a writer as infidelic as Julian himself — Edward Gibbon, the world’s accepted authority on that period, in chapter 23 of his famous history.  Rather than paraphrase, I will read Gibbon’s account:

“Julian ‘embraced the extraordinary design of rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem.  In a public epistle to the nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares himself their gracious protector. . . . They deserved the friendship of Julian by their implacable hatred of the Christian name. . . .

“ ‘After the final destruction of the temple by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. . . .

“ ‘The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem.  As the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of prophecy and the truth of revelation. . . .

“ ‘He resolved to erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a stately temple, . . . and to invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures of the pagan government.

“ ‘Among the friends of the emperor . . .the first place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and learned Alypius. . . .This minister . . .received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem.  The desire for rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. . . . Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious labour, and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people.

“’Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and enthusiasm were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered by a Mahometan mosque, still continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. . . .

“ ‘The Christians entertained a natural and pious expectation that, in this memorable contest, the honour of religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle.

“ ‘Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged, with vigour and diligence, the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned.’

“Julian could have rebuilt a whole city with his wealth and power, but he could not rebuild a single temple.  He began his work with a great flourish of trumpets, advertised to the whole world his purpose, and the reason for it; he was going to disprove the Bible prophecies and so destroy Christianity.

“Account for it as you please, two facts remain:  First, Julian boasted he was going to disprove Bible prophecy by doing what the Bible had said would not be done; second, with all the wealth and power of the world at his command, he failed.”

Mr. Emerson stood up, and David Dare listened while he spoke.  “Do you believe, Mr. Dare, that God predicted the event and then supernaturally intervened to see that His word was not thwarted?  Was it not rather the superstition of the workmen that defeated the project”

“It is immaterial whether the workmen were discouraged by superstition or not.  The prophets did not say how such attempts to rebuild were to be defeated.  The public were invited by God Himself to defeat His prophecies if they could.  Here was a man who boldly, boastingly accepted the challenge, put the power and wealth of the Roman Empire into the endeavour, and miserably failed.  God had said all such attempts would fail.  I am glad that if the endeavour was to be made, one who was wealthy, and who was more powerful than any man now living, tried it.  No one else since Julian’s day has made a similar experiment.

“Interesting as all this discussion has been to the student, the most important topic of all will be introduced next week:  Christ — the Heart of Prophecy and History.”