6月21日安息日下午
记忆经文：
“他回答他们说：‘我是希伯来人，我敬畏耶和华，那创造沧海旱地，天上的神。’”（钦定本）——约拿书 1:9
Memory Text: “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. KJV — Jonah 1:9
伟大的“自有永有者”在祂的圣言中赐下的预言，将事件链中从永恒的过去到永恒的未来，一个接一个地串联起来，告诉我们在时代发展中，我们今天所处的位置，以及未来将会发生什么。所有预言所预示的将要发生的事，直到如今，都已在历史的篇章中得以追溯，我们可以确信，所有尚未发生的事都将按其次序应验。PK 536.3
今日时代的征兆表明，我们正站在重大而严肃事件的门槛上。世上的万事都动荡不安。救主关于他复临前所作预言的应验，正在我们眼前：“你们要听见打仗和打仗的风声……民要攻打民，国要攻打国；多处必有饥荒、瘟疫、地震。”（马太福音24:6, 7）PK 536.4
当前是全人类都极为关注的时代。统治者和政治家，身居要职、位高权重的人物，以及各阶层富有思想的男女，都密切关注着我们周围正在发生的事件。他们注视着各国之间的关系。他们观察到，世上万物正处于一种紧张的状态，他们意识到，一件重大而决定性的事情即将发生——世界正处于一场巨大危机的边缘。PK 537.1
“圣经，也唯有圣经，对这些事给出了正确的见解。这里揭示了我们世界历史上伟大的最后几幕，这些事件的阴影早已在眼前，它们临近的声音使大地颤抖，使人心惊胆寒。” PK 537.2
“The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His word, uniting link after link in the chain of events, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tell us where we are today in the procession of the ages and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order. PK 536.3
“Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour's prophecy of the events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.... Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matthew 24:6, 7. PK 536.4
“The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis. PK 537.1
“The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things. Here are revealed the great final scenes in the history of our world, events that already are casting their shadows before, the sound of their approach causing the earth to tremble and men's hearts to fail them for fear.” PK 537.2
6月22日星期日
不情愿的先知
阅读马太福音12：38-42。耶稣在向文士和法利赛人讲话时，指的是约拿故事的哪些部分？从他的话语中，我们可以学到哪些关于审判的教训？
Read Matthew 12:38–42. Which parts of the story of Jonah does Jesus refer to as He addresses the scribes and Pharisees? What lessons about the judgment are found in His statement?
因此，耶稣在星期四清晨被捕；天还黑的时候，在亚那面前受审（约翰福音 18:13）；黎明时分，在公会中被带到该亚法面前（对他进行法律审判）（马太福音 26:57；27:1）；星期五，黎明前，在彼拉多面前受审——大约在正午（约翰福音 19:14）；然后是希律面前（路加福音 23:7）；然后回到彼拉多面前（路加福音 23:11）；最后，在同一天早晨，大约在巳初（马可福音 15:25）——现代时间上午 9:00——被钉在十字架上。
，安排在夜间和清晨进行，以避免引起骚动，因为“他们怕百姓”。路加福音 20:19。
他在坟墓里呆了两个晚上，并于星期日复活；这三天三夜是从他第一次法律审判到他复活的时间；地心被错误地解释为坟墓，而实际上，正如约拿的经历所表明的，它象征着基督被囚禁在罪人手中和坟墓中（马太福音 20:19；16:21；17:22、23；27:63；路加福音 9:22；24:21；18:33；24:7；“照经上所写的，基督必受害，第三日从死里复活。”（路加福音 24:46）；“三天三夜”的记号实际上是从星期四早上，即耶稣接受法律审判的时候，到星期天早上他复活的时候应验的；耶稣被钉在十字架上时即将被宰杀的逾越节羔羊，不是在逾越节周的第一天，即第十四天被宰杀的，而是在第十六天，节期的第二天；——所有这些结论都是建立在本文所简单确立的确凿事实之上的；亲爱的读者，这些结论并非建立在寓言或你不知道的译本上，也不是建立在所谓的“原始手稿”上，这些手稿你自己都读不懂，你也无法接触到，有些甚至根本不存在！
基督在地上服务期间，曾提到约拿在尼尼微传道所带来的益处，并将这异教中心的居民与祂时代自称是上帝子民的人作了比较。祂说：“当审判的时候，尼尼微人要起来定这世代的罪，因为尼尼微人听了约拿所传的就懊悔了。看哪，在这里有一人比约拿更大。”（马太福音12:40-41）基督来到这喧嚣的商业世界，在商业的喧嚣和生意的争吵中，人们竭力为自己谋取一切。祂的声音如同上帝的号角吹响，淹没了这混乱的景象：“人就是赚得全世界，赔上自己的生命，有什么益处呢？人还能拿什么换生命呢？”（马可福音8:36-37）PK 273.1
正如约拿的传道对尼尼微人是一个神迹，基督的传道也对他那一代人是一个神迹。然而，人们对这道的接受却形成了多么鲜明的对比！尽管面对冷漠和蔑视，救主仍坚持不懈地努力，直到完成了祂的使命。PK 274.1
Accordingly, Jesus was arrested early Thursday morning; tried before Annas while it was yet dark (John 18:13); brought before Caiaphas in the assembly of the Sanhedrin (His legal trial) at daybreak (Matt. 26:57; 27:1); next before Pilate, Friday, before daybreak – about the sixth hour (John 19:14); then before Herod (Luke 23:7); then back to Pilate (Luke 23:11); and finally was crucified in the morning of the same day, about the third hour (Mark 15:25) – 9:00 A.M., modern time.
This time-record shows that His capture, His trials, and His crucifixion were carefully and cunningly prearranged to take place at night and early morning to prevent any uproar, for “they feared the people.” Luke 20:19.
That He remained in the tomb two nights and rose on Sunday; that the three days and three nights is the time from His first legal trial to the time of His resurrection; that the heart of the earth has been erroneously interpreted to mean the grave, when, instead, it is, as Jonah’s experience shows, symbolical of Christ’s imprisonment in the hands of sinners and in the tomb (Matt. 20:19; 16:21; 17:22, 23; 27:63; Luke 9:22; 24:21; 18:33; 24:7; – “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to risefrom the dead the third day.” (Luke 24:46); that the sign of the “three days and three nights” literally is fulfilled from Thursday morning, the time of His legal trial, to Sunday morning when He arose; that the paschal lamb, which was about to be killed when Jesus was on the cross, was not that which was killed on the first day of the Passover week, the fourteenth day of the month, but that which was killed on the sixteenth day, the second day of the feasts; – all these conclusions are firmly founded on the solid facts established herein in simplicity; not, dear reader, on fables or on translations unknown to you, or on so-called “original manuscripts,” which you yourself cannot read, and which are not accessible to you, and some of which do not even exist!
“Christ during His earthly ministry referred to the good wrought by the preaching of Jonah in Nineveh, and compared the inhabitants of that heathen center with the professed people of God in His day. “The men of Nineveh,” He declared, “shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:40, 41. Into the busy world, filled with the din of commerce and the altercation of trade, where men were trying to get all they could for self, Christ had come; and above the confusion His voice, like the trump of God, was heard: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37. PK 273.1
“As the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation. But what a contrast in the reception of the word! Yet in the face of indifference and scorn the Saviour labored on and on, until He had accomplished His mission.” PK 274.1
6月23日星期一
忏悔之举
阅读约拿书3:5-10。为什么这个预言没有实现？
Read Jonah 3:5–10. Why was this prophecy not fulfilled?
约拿虽然困惑、羞辱，无法明白上帝饶恕尼尼微的旨意，但他还是完成了上帝托付给他的使命，警告这座大城；虽然预言的事没有发生，但这警告的信息却是来自上帝的。它也实现了上帝所预定的旨意。祂恩典的荣耀在外邦人中彰显出来。那些长期“坐在黑暗里、死荫里，被困苦和铁链捆绑”的人，“在苦难中哀求耶和华”，“他从他们的祸患中拯救他们，从黑暗里和死荫里领他们出来，折断他们的捆绑。”“他发命医治他们，救他们脱离死亡。”（诗篇107:10, 13, 14, 20）PK 272.5
我们的上帝是一位慈悲的上帝。祂以长久的忍耐和温柔的怜悯对待违背祂律法的人。然而，在现今这个时代，当男男女女有如此多的机会熟悉圣经所启示的神圣律法时，宇宙的伟大统治者却无法满意地看到那些充斥着暴力和罪行的邪恶城市。上帝对那些坚持不顺从之人的忍耐即将结束。PK 275.3
“至高统治者对待堕落世界居民的方式突然出乎意料地改变，人们应该感到惊讶吗？当刑罚随着过犯和日益增多的罪行而来时，人们应该感到惊讶吗？当上帝要降灾祸和死亡给那些用欺骗和欺诈手段获得不义之财的人时，人们应该感到惊讶吗？尽管关于上帝要求的亮光日益照耀在他们的道路上，许多人仍然拒绝承认耶和华的统治，并选择留在一切反抗天上政权叛乱始作俑者的黑旗下。PK 276.1
上帝的忍耐极其伟大——如此伟大，以致我们想到祂神圣诫命不断遭受侮辱，不禁惊叹。全能者一直在施展力量约束祂的属性。但祂必兴起惩罚那些胆敢违抗十诫公义要求的恶人。PK 276.2
“Confused, humiliated, and unable to understand God's purpose in sparing Nineveh, Jonah nevertheless had fulfilled the commission given him to warn that great city; and though the event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of warning was nonetheless from God. And it accomplished the purpose God designed it should. The glory of His grace was revealed among the heathen. Those who had long been sitting “in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,” “cried unto the Lord in their trouble,” and “He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.” “He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:10, 13, 14, 20.” PK 272.5
“Our God is a God of mercy. With long-sufferance and tender compassion He deals with the transgressors of His law. And yet, in this our day, when men and women have so many opportunities for becoming familiar with the divine law as revealed in Holy Writ, the great Ruler of the universe cannot behold with any satisfaction the wicked cities, where reign violence and crime. The end of God's forbearance with those who persist in disobedience is approaching rapidly. PK 275.3
“Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime? Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud? Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God's requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah's rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven. PK 276.1
“The forbearance of God has been very great—so great that when we consider the continuous insult to His holy commandments, we marvel. The Omnipotent One has been exerting a restraining power over His own attributes. But He will certainly arise to punish the wicked, who so boldly defy the just claims of the Decalogue.” PK 276.2
6月24日星期二
伯沙撒的盛宴
阅读但以理书5:1-31。我们可以从这段记载中汲取哪些重要的属灵信息？伯沙撒最终被什么绊倒了？
Read Daniel 5:1–31. What important spiritual messages can we take from this account? What ultimately tripped up Belshazzar?
由于尼布甲尼撒之孙伯沙撒的愚昧和软弱，骄傲的巴比伦即将覆灭。伯沙撒年轻时便被赐予王权，却因权力而自鸣得意，心高气傲，反对天上的上帝。他曾多次有机会了解神的旨意，并明白自己顺服神旨意的责任。他知道祖父因神的旨意被放逐，脱离了凡人的生活；他也熟知尼布甲尼撒的悔改和奇迹般的复原。然而，伯沙撒却任由享乐和自负的欲望抹去了他本不该忘记的教训。他浪费了上帝赐予他的机会，却忽略了利用一切可能的方式来更充分地认识真理。尼布甲尼撒最终以无尽的苦难和屈辱为代价所获得的一切，伯沙撒却漠然地放弃了。PK 522.2
不久，战事便败。巴比伦被米底亚人大流士的侄子居鲁士围攻，居鲁士是米底亚和波斯联军的总司令。然而，在看似坚不可摧的堡垒中，在幼发拉底河的庇护下，雄伟的城墙和黄铜大门，以及充足的粮食储备下，这位骄奢淫逸的君王感到安全无虞，尽情享乐，纵情狂欢。PK 523.1
伯沙撒骄傲自大，自以为安全，却不顾一切地“设摆筵席，宴请一千大臣，与这千人一同饮酒。” 财富与权势所能带来的种种诱惑，使这盛宴更加辉煌。宾客中不乏魅力四射的美女。才华横溢、学识渊博的男士也纷纷出席。王子和政要们畅饮美酒，如同饮水一般，沉醉于其令人疯狂的魅力之中。PK 523.2
“王因无耻的醉酒而丧失了理智，卑鄙的冲动和情欲也占了上风，他亲自带头狂欢作乐。筵席进行时，他“吩咐人将尼布甲尼撒从耶路撒冷圣殿里所掠的金银器皿拿来，王与他的大臣、后妃、妃嫔用之饮酒。”王要证明，没有什么东西是他不能亲手触碰的。“他们拿来金器皿，王与他的大臣、后妃、妃嫔用之饮酒。他们饮酒，赞美金、银、铜、铁、木、石所造的神。” PK 523.3
伯沙撒万万没想到，他的偶像崇拜狂欢竟有天上的见证；更没想到，有一位神圣的守望者，在不为人知的情况下，注视着这亵渎的场面，听见了亵渎的欢笑，目睹了偶像崇拜。但不久，那不速之客便显露出他的存在。当狂欢达到高潮时，一只没有血色的手伸出来，在宫殿的墙壁上刻下如火般闪耀的字迹——这些字迹虽然广大的民众并不知道，但却预示着这位良心受到谴责的国王和他的宾客们的厄运。PK 524.1
喧闹的欢笑顿时鸦雀无声，男男女女被莫名的恐惧所攫住，注视着那只手缓缓划过那些神秘的字符。他们罪恶一生的种种行径，宛如全景般展现在他们眼前；他们仿佛正被带到永恒上帝的审判台前受审，而他们刚才竟藐视了上帝的权能。片刻之前，他们还沉浸在欢闹和亵渎的俏皮话之中，如今却变成了一张张苍白的脸和恐惧的叫喊。当上帝使人恐惧时，他们无法掩饰自己恐惧的强烈程度。PK 524.2
“Through the folly and weakness of Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, proud Babylon was soon to fall. Admitted in his youth to a share in kingly authority, Belshazzar gloried in his power and lifted up his heart against the God of heaven. Many had been his opportunities to know the divine will and to understand his responsibility of rendering obedience thereto. He had known of his grandfather's banishment, by the decree of God, from the society of men; and he was familiar with Nebuchadnezzar's conversion and miraculous restoration. But Belshazzar allowed the love of pleasure and self-glorification to efface the lessons that he should never have forgotten. He wasted the opportunities graciously granted him, and neglected to use the means within his reach for becoming more fully acquainted with truth. That which Nebuchadnezzar had finally gained at the cost of untold suffering and humiliation, Belshazzar passed by with indifference. PK 522.2
“It was not long before reverses came. Babylon was besieged by Cyrus, nephew of Darius the Mede, and commanding general of the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. But within the seemingly impregnable fortress, with its massive walls and its gates of brass, protected by the river Euphrates, and stocked with provision in abundance, the voluptuous monarch felt safe and passed his time in mirth and revelry. PK 523.1
“In his pride and arrogancy, with a reckless feeling of security Belshazzar “made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.” All the attractions that wealth and power could command, added splendor to the scene. Beautiful women with their enchantments were among the guests in attendance at the royal banquet. Men of genius and education were there. Princes and statesmen drank wine like water and reveled under its maddening influence. PK 523.2
“With reason dethroned through shameless intoxication, and with lower impulses and passions now in the ascendancy, the king himself took the lead in the riotous orgy. As the feast progressed, he “commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which ... Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.” The king would prove that nothing was too sacred for his hands to handle. “They brought the golden vessels; ... and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” PK 523.3
“Little did Belshazzar think that there was a heavenly Witness to his idolatrous revelry; that a divine Watcher, unrecognized, looked upon the scene of profanation, heard the sacrilegious mirth, beheld the idolatry. But soon the uninvited Guest made His presence felt. When the revelry was at its height a bloodless hand came forth and traced upon the walls of the palace characters that gleamed like fire—words which, though unknown to the vast throng, were a portent of doom to the now conscience-stricken king and his guests. PK 524.1
“Hushed was the boisterous mirth, while men and women, seized with nameless terror, watched the hand slowly tracing the mysterious characters. Before them passed, as in panoramic view, the deeds of their evil lives; they seemed to be arraigned before the judgment bar of the eternal God, whose power they had just defied. Where but a few moments before had been hilarity and blasphemous witticism, were pallid faces and cries of fear. When God makes men fear, they cannot hide the intensity of their terror.” PK 524.2
6月25日星期三
幼发拉底河干涸
阅读但以理书5:18-31和启示录16:12-19。你发现启示录中的一些灾难与巴比伦陷落的故事有哪些相似之处？
Read Daniel 5:18–31 and Revelation 16:12–19. What parallels do you find between some of the plagues of Revelation and the story of Babylon’s fall?
“国王还在宴会厅里，周围都是那些注定要灭亡的人，这时，一个使者通知他，他的城已被敌人攻陷，而他曾以为敌人的诡计是稳妥的；“通道被堵塞，……战士们惊恐万分。”（第31-32节）正当他和他的贵族们用耶和华的圣器饮酒，赞美他们金银所造的神祇时，米底亚人和波斯人已经将幼发拉底河从河道引开，大军攻入了这座毫无防备的城池中心。居鲁士的军队此时驻扎在王宫的城墙下；城里挤满了敌兵，“如同蝗虫般”（第14节）；他们胜利的欢呼声盖过了狂欢者们惊恐的绝望的哭喊声。” PK 531.2
古巴比伦的首都建在幼发拉底河的两岸，因此将城市一分为二。幼发拉底河也是水源，为城市周围提供了一道防御工事。由于古巴比伦人是最早在幼发拉底河岸边建造城市的人，而且其最初的应用必然与最初的定居者有关，“幼发拉底大河”便预示着“淫妇坐的……水”（启示录 17:15）——现代的巴比伦。而这一重要真理因古城巴比伦如今已不复存在而更加凸显，而预言却预言了今天的巴比伦。
既然要说现代巴比伦的存在，就必然要重演古巴比伦与上帝子民关系中那些本质上表征其的境况和事件。因此，他们在巴比伦的囚禁（耶利米书 29:10）必然与巴比伦（其原型）相对应。因此，很明显，天使“被囚禁在幼发拉底大河”（启示录 9:14）必然象征着基督教会被囚禁在巴比伦的原型——约翰时代之后兴起的“那座大城”——的时期。
此外，金坛发出的声音说：“释放那被捆绑的四个天使”，这最终表明，当那“声音”说话时，教会（天使）已经被俘虏，即将被释放。
“释放那四个使者”这命令的执行，意在将教会从巴比伦的囚禁中释放出来。结果，教会从长期受制于政教合一的暴政中被释放出来，圣经也归还给了上帝的子民，使他们能够怀着敬畏之心研读和敬拜，不偏袒任何人，只对自己的良心和上帝负责。结果，政教合一解体了，“四个使者”也被释放了。
“While still in the festal hall, surrounded by those whose doom has been sealed, the king is informed by a messenger that “his city is taken” by the enemy against whose devices he had felt so secure; “that the passages are stopped, ... and the men of war are affrighted.” Verses 31, 32. Even while he and his nobles were drinking from the sacred vessels of Jehovah, and praising their gods of silver and of gold, the Medes and the Persians, having turned the Euphrates out of its channel, were marching into the heart of the unguarded city. The army of Cyrus now stood under the walls of the palace; the city was filled with the soldiers of the enemy, “as with caterpillars” (verse 14); and their triumphant shouts could be heard above the despairing cries of the astonished revelers.” PK 531.2
The capital city of ancient Babylon was built on either side of the Euphrates, thus dividing the city in two parts. The river was also the source of water supplying a fortifying mote about the city. So because the ancient Babylonians were the first to build on the banks of the Euphrates, and because the original application must attach to the original settlers there, the “great river Euphrates” emerges as a type of “the waters…where the whore sitteth” (Rev. 17:15) – modern Babylon. And this important truth is amplified by the fact that the ancient city, Babylon, does not now exist, whereas prophecy calls for a Babylon today.
Now in order for there to be a modern Babylon, there must necessarily be a repetition today of the conditions and events essentially characterizing ancient Babylon in its connection with God’s people. Consequently, their captivity in Babylon, the type (Jer. 29:10), must find its parallel in Babylon, the antitype. Very obviously, therefore, the angel’s being “bound in the great river Euphrates” [Rev. 9:14] must be figurative of the Christian church during the period of her captivity in antitypical Babylon – “that great city” rising after John’s time.
Furthermore, the statement made by the voice from the golden altar, “loose the four angels which are bound,” conclusively shows that when the “voice” spoke, the church (the angels) was already in captivity and was to be loosed.
The execution of the command, “Loose the four angels,” meaning to set the church free from her captivity in Babylon, resulted in her being liberated from her long bondage to the tyranny of church-state rule, and in the Bible’s being restored to God’s people, so that they might study and worship in fear and in favor of no man, and in accountability only to their conscience and to their God. In the consequent dissolution of the church-state union, the “four angels” were loosed.
6月26日星期四
居鲁士，受膏者
阅读历代志下36:22, 23。居鲁士的故事与尼布甲尼撒的故事有哪些相似之处？又有哪些不同之处？这道谕旨的意义是什么？它究竟对几个世纪后耶稣的第一次降临有何影响？
Read 2 Chronicles 36:22, 23. In what ways does the story of Cyrus paral¬lel that of Nebuchadnezzar? In what ways does it differ? What is the significance of the decree? After all, how did it impact the whole first coming of Jesus centuries later?
“居鲁士大军抵达巴比伦城墙前，对犹太人来说，是他们获救脱离奴役的征兆。早在居鲁士出生前一百多年，圣灵已提及他的名字，并记录了他要完成的实际工作：出其不意地攻占巴比伦城，并为被掳之子预备道路，使之得释放。以赛亚曾说过这话：” PK 551.1
“居鲁士是我的牧者，他必成就我所喜悦的一切。他必下令建造耶路撒冷，立定圣殿的根基。”“我凭公义兴起他，也必修直他一切的道路。他必建造我的城，释放我被掳的民，不是为工价，也不是为赏赐。这是万军之耶和华说的。” 以赛亚书 44:28；45:13。PK 551.2
居鲁士率领米底亚-波斯军队进军巴比伦，先知以赛亚记载他时，他尚未出生。但上帝记念祂的应许，当伯沙撒在狂欢作乐、放荡不羁的夜晚感到无比安全时，上帝在居鲁士面前打开了双扇大门，使攻占巴比伦成为可能。在那里，米底亚人和波斯人与但以理和他的同伴相遇，他们提醒居鲁士注意圣经，圣经不仅预言了他的胜利，甚至还预示了他的名字。居鲁士亲眼目睹并感受到上帝的大能，便下令：
以斯拉记 1:2-11 – “波斯王居鲁士如此说：‘耶和华天上的神已将天下万国赐给我，又嘱咐我在犹大的耶路撒冷为他建造殿宇。你们中间凡作他子民的，愿他的神与他同在！他可以上犹大的耶路撒冷去，在耶路撒冷建造耶和华以色列神的殿。他是神。凡剩下的人寄居在别处，他那地方的人要用金银、财物、牲畜帮助他，另外还要为耶路撒冷神的殿献上甘心祭。’于是犹大和便雅悯的族长、祭司、利未人，并一切被神激动心的人，都起来，要上耶路撒冷去建造耶和华的殿。四围的人都用金银、财物、器皿坚固他们的手，还有牲畜、珍宝，以及一切甘心奉献的礼物。居鲁士王也将耶和华殿的器皿拿出来，这器皿就是尼布甲尼撒从耶路撒冷掠来，放在他神庙里的。波斯王居鲁士将这些器皿交与库官米特利达，数点交给犹大首领设巴萨。器的数目如下：金盘子三十个，银盘子一千个，刀二十九把，金碗三十个，银碗之次四百一十个，别样器皿一千件。金银器皿共有五千四百件。这些都是被掳的人从巴比伦带到耶路撒冷的，设巴萨都带上来了。”
不难看出，如果米底亚-波斯帝国的统治者继续秉持居鲁士的精神统治，这个王国本应屹立至今。然而，这个王国后来被希腊所取代；希腊又被罗马所取代；罗马又被今天的列国所取代。显而易见，今天的列国依然屹立，是因为上帝的旨意。
“The advent of the army of Cyrus before the walls of Babylon was to the Jews a sign that their deliverance from captivity was drawing nigh. More than a century before the birth of Cyrus, Inspiration had mentioned him by name, and had caused a record to be made of the actual work he should do in taking the city of Babylon unawares, and in preparing the way for the release of the children of the captivity. Through Isaiah the word had been spoken:” PK 551.1
“‘Cyrus, he is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” “I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 44:28; 45:13.” PK 551.2
Cyrus, under whose command the Medo-Persian army marched into Babylon, had not yet been born when the prophet Isaiah wrote of him. But God remembered His promise and when Belshazzar felt perfectly secure on the night of revelry and fatal debauchery, God opened before Cyrus the two-leaved gates and made possible the capture of the kingdom. There the Medes and Persians met Daniel and his companions, who called Cyrus’ attention to the Scriptures which not only predicted his victory, but even foretold his name. Having seen and felt the power of God, Cyrus was moved to decree:
Ezra 1:2-11 – “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”
It is not difficult to see that if the rulers of the Medo-Persian empire had continued to rule in the same spirit as Cyrus, the kingdom would have stood until this day. That kingdom, though, gave way to Grecia; Grecia, to Rome; and Rome, to the nations of today. Plain enough it is to see that the kingdoms of today still stand because God has purposed it so.
6月27日星期五
进一步思考
每一个登上行动舞台的国家，都蒙准许在地球上占据自己的位置，以便确定它是否能成就守望者和圣者的旨意。预言追溯了世界各大帝国——巴比伦、米底亚-波斯、希腊和罗马——的兴起和发展。这些帝国，如同那些实力较弱的国家一样，历史也重演了。每个国家都经历了考验期；每个国家都失败了，荣耀消逝，权力消逝。PK 535.1
虽然列国拒绝了上帝的原则，并因此自取灭亡，但一个神圣的、至高无上的旨意却显然在历代中运行。先知以西结在迦勒底人之地被掳期间，在神赐给他的奇妙预表里，看到了这个旨意。当时，在他惊愕的目光面前，出现了一些象征，揭示了一位掌管地上统治者事务的至高无上的力量。PK 535.2
在迦巴鲁河岸上，以西结看见一阵旋风似乎从北方刮来，“有一朵大云，云中有一团火，周围有光辉，从云中发出，颜色好像琥珀。” 四个活物驱动着许多互相交错的轮子。在这一切之上，“有宝座的形像，仿佛蓝宝石；宝座的形像上方，又有人的形像。” “基路伯的翅膀以下，显现出人的手的形状。”以西结书1:4,26；10:8。这些轮子的排列极其复杂，乍一看似乎杂乱无章；但它们运转起来却十分和谐。天上的生灵在基路伯翅膀下的手的扶持和引导下，推动着这些轮子；在轮子上方，在蓝宝石宝座上，是永恒之主；宝座周围有一道彩虹，象征着上帝的慈悲。PK 535.3
正如轮子般的复杂运转受基路伯翅膀下那只手的引导，人类事件的复杂运行也受上帝掌控。在列国纷争骚乱之中，那坐在基路伯之上的主，依然掌管着这世间的万事万物。PK 536.1
今日，列国的历史都在向我们诉说。上帝已在祂伟大的计划中，为每一个国家和每一个人安排了一个位置。今日，人类和国家正经受着那位无误之主手中的试探。所有人都凭着自己的选择，决定着自己的命运，而上帝正统领着一切，为要成就祂的旨意。PK 536.2
“Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth, that the fact might be determined whether it would fulfill the purposes of the Watcher and the Holy One. Prophecy has traced the rise and progress of the world's great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with the nations of less power, history has repeated itself. Each has had its period of test; each has failed, its glory faded, its power departed. PK 535.1
“While nations have rejected God's principles, and in this rejection have wrought their own ruin, yet a divine, overruling purpose has manifestly been at work throughout the ages. It was this that the prophet Ezekiel saw in the wonderful representation given him during his exile in the land of the Chaldeans, when before his astonished gaze were portrayed the symbols that revealed an overruling Power that has to do with the affairs of earthly rulers. PK 535.2
“Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, “a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber.” A number of wheels intersecting one another were moved by four living beings. High above all these “was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” “And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.” Ezekiel 1:4, 26; 10:8. The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; yet they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling those wheels; above them, upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne was a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy. PK 535.3
“As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of this earth. PK 536.1
“The history of nations speaks to us today. To every nation and to every individual God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being tested by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.” PK 536.2