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Prophets and Kings
foresaw the downfall of the kingdom and a scattering of the inhabitants
of Judah among the nations; but with the eye of faith he looked beyond
all this to the times of restoration. Ringing in his ears was the divine
promise: “I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds....
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall
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be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.”
Jeremiah 23:3-6
.
Thus prophecies of oncoming judgment were mingled with
promises of final and glorious deliverance. Those who should choose
to make their peace with God and live holy lives amid the prevail-
ing apostasy, would receive strength for every trial and be enabled
to witness for Him with mighty power. And in the ages to come the
deliverance wrought in their behalf would exceed in fame that wrought
for the children of Israel at the time of the Exodus. The days were
coming, the Lord declared through His prophet, when “they shall no
more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which
led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from
all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their
own land.”
Verses 7, 8
. Such were the wonderful prophecies uttered
by Jeremiah during the closing years of the history of the kingdom of
Judah, when the Babylonians were coming unto universal rule, and
were even then bringing their besieging armies against the walls of
Zion.
Like sweetest music these promises of deliverance fell upon the
ears of those who were steadfast in their worship of Jehovah. In the
homes of the high and the lowly, where the counsels of a covenant-
keeping God were still held in reverence, the words of the prophet were
repeated again and again. Even the children were mightily stirred, and
upon their young and receptive minds lasting impressions were made.
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It was their conscientious observance of the commands of Holy
Scripture, that in the days of Jeremiah’s ministry brought to Daniel
and his fellows opportunities to exalt the true God before the nations
of earth. The instruction these Hebrew children had received in the
homes of their parents, made them strong in faith and constant in their