Such is the testimony of a heathen, confirmed by Jews and Christians. The Mahometan Mosque of Omar now rears its lofty dome where once stood the Temple of Solomon, and no Jew is permitted to tread that sacred spot.
Of the Israelitish nation God predicted that it should be a peculiar, distinct people, dispersed among, yet separate from, the other nations of the earth: "I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." (Amos ix, 9). Again, "And yet, for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God." (Lev. xxvi, 44).
Here are four distinct predictions; national peculiarity, grievous oppression, universal dispersion and remarkable preservation. The fulfillment is obvious and undeniable. The infidel is sorely perplexed to give any account of this great phenomenon. How does it happen that these singular people are dispersed over all the earth, and for eighteen hundred years have resisted all the influences of nature, all the customs of society and all the powers of persecution driving them toward amalgamation, and irresistible in all other instances. In spite of the power of imperial Rome and the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, amid the chaos of Asiatic and African tribes, and the fusion of American democracy, on the plains of Australia and the streets of San Francisco, the religion and the customs of the children of Israel are as distinct this day as they were three thousand years ago when Moses wrote them in the Pentateuch, and their physiognomy the same as when Shishak caused them to be engraven on the monuments of ancient Karnack. Human sagacity cannot explain these facts as they exist to-day, much less could it foretell them three thousand years ago.
Did space permit, it might be shown that the predictions against the seven churches of Asia, were literally fulfilled. (See Rev. i and ii).
Ephesus, once famous for its magnificence and the great temple of Diana, the mart of commerce and the busy avenue of travel, was the first to receive the doom of abused privileges: "I will remove thy candlestick out of its place unless thou repent."
"A few unintelligible heaps of stone," says Arundell, "with some mud cottages untenanted, are all that remain of the great city of the Ephesians. Even the sea has retired from the scene of desolation, and a pestilential morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters which brought up the ships laden with merchandise" from the whole known world.
Laodicea, some of whose public buildings would contain 100,000 persons; Sardis, that once contained more specie than is now in circulation in the United States; Thyatira, that once manufactured the royal purple of kings and princes; Pergamos, the seat of learning and the birth-place of Galen, the father of medicine; all these cities are in ruins. Amid the fallen columns and broken arches, the temple of Jupiter, of Venus or of Diana, will equally elude the search of the curious traveler. They have all received their doom according to the words of Jesus. Yet, Smyrna, against which no doom was pronounced, is still the queen city of Asia Minor; and Philadelphia, of which it was said, "I will write upon him my new name," is still erect—a column in a scene of ruins. The prediction of the Savior is fulfilled in its modern name, Allah Sehr—the city of God.
The prophecies regarding the Messiah and their fulfillment might also be noticed. The time, the place, the manner of His birth, His parentage and reception, were plainly declared, hundreds of years before He appeared. Compare Micah v. 2, and Matthew ii. 1; also Isaiah lxi. 1, and Matthew xi. 5; likewise Isaiah liii. 3, and Matthew xxvi. 56. These and many other passages prove that the character and mission of the coming Messiah were pointedly foretold long before He made His appearance in the flesh.
The one grand, unparalleled fact of the resurrection from the tomb is also predicted, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt Thou give Thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm xvi. 10). Often did Jesus predict this event before friend and foe. Even His enemies declared, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive. After three days I will rise again." The last chapters of the gospel relate the proofs by which He convinced His incredulous disciples that the prophecy was fulfilled, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered. He saith unto them, 'Have ye here any meat?' And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And He took it and did eat before them" (Luke xxiv. 39). Afterwards, "He led them out as far as to Bethany and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while He was blessing them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven" (Luke xxiv. 50, 51). And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts i. 10-12). With our own eyes we shall see the fulfillment of this prophecy. Every eye shall see Him. The clouds of heaven shall then reveal the vision now sketched on the page of revelation.
In conclusion, let us notice a few of the prophecies given through the Prophet Joseph, and their wonderful fulfillment. When Joseph Smith was an obscure, unlearned youth, living at his father's house, in the then sparsely settled region of western New York, the angel Moroni told him that God had a work for him to do, and that his name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds and tongues. Men of all classes are witnesses how literally this has been fulfilled.