Page 301 - Bible History

274 GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE IN CAPTIVITY
our sins. ThQ chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed.
''He was o ered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth. He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb befo His shearers, and He shall not open His mouth.''
Isaias foretold that the Church of Christ would draw the people to herself, that all nations would ow to His Church and that the Gentiles would be con­ verted to God. He wrote :
"My spirit is in thee and My words that I have put in thy mouth shall not depart from out thy mouth . . . from hence­ forth and forever.
''And I will set a sign among them and I will send those who shall be saved to the Gentiles, into Africa . . . into Italy and Greece, to the islands afar o , to them that have not heard Me and have not seen Iy glory. And they shall de­ clare My glory unto the Gentiles."
It was in 588 B.c. that the Jews were carried o into Prophet captivity by the Babylonians. For forty years the J mias prophet Jeremias had been warning them that this
terrible punishment would come upon them unless they repented of their sins and remained true to God. But they would not listen to him. The terrible day came, and we have seen how the king of Juda, all the nobility, the people and the vessels of the Temple were carried o by the king of Babylon.
Jeremias was left behind in the midst of the ruins of the Temple to mourn for his people. It was then that he wrote the Lamentations. This is one of the ost beautiful books in the Bible. It describes the
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