The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 7

The European Union in Prophecy
slaughter." Isaiah 53:7. Not far distant was Calvary, the place of crucifixion. Upon the
path which Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror of great darkness as He
should make His soul an offering for sin. Yet it was not the contemplation of these
scenes that cast the shadow upon Him in this hour of gladness. No foreboding of His
own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish spirit. He wept for the doomed
thousands of Jerusalem--because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom He
came to bless and to save.
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
honoured 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. There rested the base of that
mystic ladder connecting earth with heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 1:51)-- that ladder
upon which angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened to the world
the way into the holiest of all. 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 favoured people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They
had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities.
Although Israel had "mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words,
and misused His prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:16), He had still manifested Himself to
them, as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6); notwithstanding repeated rejections, His mercy
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