Mattie, Jerusalem 1928

I praise the Lord that He permitted me to spend my jubilee in the Bible Lands. God said, "A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field." Lev. 25: 11-12. This was my year of jubilee, because fifty years ago the Lord spoke to my humble childish heart, and I began to seek His blessed face at the age of nine years, and was gloriously saved at twelve years. "I will bless the Lord at all times." Ps. 34: 1.

It was indeed a year of jubilee after fifty years of effort to seek and to serve the Lord, to have His approval on my life, at the end in spite of all my shortcomings and failures along the way. Ps. 103. "Praise me Lord. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. 150: 6. I trusted the Lord for the trip and He most graciously supplied my needs.

Palestine is a country with a history next to none in importance to the entire human family, because God chose to put His name here. Although, in fulfillment of the Holy Scriptures it has been in desolation for centuries, and it is now in a state of rapid transition upon which the eyes of the whole world are eagerly looking, and according to God's Word it is a country with a glorious future.

SS Asia in 1928 on the way to Jaffa

To find our place in the march of events, and in chronology we have only to look at the Promised Land and its rightful owners, Israel. This small country is situated at the junction of three continents, and has an extremely important place in history. It formed the hub around which the civiliaztions in the wheel of time have turned.

First: Now the Lord had said unto Abraham,"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great." Gen. 12: 1-2. "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place whereon thou standest, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. Gen. 13: 14-15.

We know their history of victory and blessing followed by sin and disobedience; and now we have seen this glorious, chosen nation homeless because of their disobedience to God, and their land which flowed with milk and honey in desolation for centuries. But, God said, I will bring again the captivity of my people, of Israel, and they shall inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." Amos 9: 14-15.

I spent days touring the land with Zionist tourists and guides, and this prophecy is being fulfilled literally now. The response of these dry, rocky desert Jewish Colony spots is akin to the miraculous in fruitfulness and beauty. time and harvest." Copious "Former and later rain" fell this year. Isa. 31: 45. "So shall the Lord of hosts come down and fight for Mount Zion." "Who are these that fly as the clouds?" Airplanes. Isa. 60: 89. "The desert shall blossom as the rose." Isa. 35: 1. "Thy gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day nor night." Isa. 60: 8-11.