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Palestine for the Jews.
Government's decision.
pp. 11-13
"Foreign Office, Nov. 2, 1917.
"Dear Lord Rothschild.--I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His
Majesty's Government the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionists
aspirations, which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet:--
`His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the
achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.'
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist
Federation.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) Arthur James Balfour."
To the majority of our readers it will be recognized that the "Government's Decision"
quoted above has all along been the Lord's own decision. It is safe to say that not one of
the nations now at war consciously included in their original aim and object the
restoration of Israel to the land of promise, yet it seems to us quite feasible that such will
prove to be the result which the overruling power of God will bring out of the terrible
confusion, enmity and failure, which now surround us.
Since the call of Abraham the pivot of the purpose of God, so far as this earth is
concerned, has always been the people of Israel, and together as inalienable accessories,
the City of Jerusalem, and the land of Promise. The great nations of antiquity that are
mentioned in the Bible are those that played some part in the history of Israel--Egypt,
Assyria, Babylon, Persia. While many able and accredited students of prophecy make the
possession of BABYLON a crucial test with regard to world supremacy and position (in
the great vision of Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in Dan. 2:), we ourselves feel that
JERUSALEM is the key. That power which holds sway over Jerusalem is the successor
in the line of Gentile supremacy, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21: 24). A reference to Dan. 1: 1, 2 will
show that a mighty change had then taken place:--
"THE LORD GAVE Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels
of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god".
No longer, as in the case of Dagon, does the idol fall prostrate before the holy
symbols--the people have become "Lo-ammi", and the crown and throne have been
taken from them for a time, and a Gentile, with a succession of Gentiles, is to sit upon the
throne.
The question of the inclusion or exclusion of Rome from the prophetic vision of
Dan. 2:, if tested by its possession of Babylon, may leave the matter in doubt, but there is
no doubt in any mind that Rome was the power that held beneath its control the City of