Unleashing the Beast

318 / U NLEASHING THE B EAST

ground and taking massive numbers of Jews captive. Those who escaped were Christians who remembered the words of Jesus, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation . . . standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) . . . flee to the mountains" (Mark 13:14). Centuries earlier, a famous prophet had sounded a warning to Israel. He revealed that the Babylonians would one day invade the holy city, destroy it and take the Hebrews captive for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11). The fatal day came when King Nebuchadnezzar and his legions roared through Judea and into Jerusalem, resulting in the first siege of the city since the time of David. While massive numbers of Jews were forcibly marched into captivity in Babylon, a handful of God's people remained in the land, including the very prophet who pronounced the coming invasion. The prophet Jeremiah purchased property near Bethlehem, burying a title deed as a sign that God would one day bring the Jews back to their homeland. In both instances, people escaped the danger and the captivity. One group did so by changing where they were living before the war began, and the other by a supernatural intervention of God. A MERICA , THE L AND OF R EFUGE America is called the land of the free and the home of the brave. It could very well be nicknamed "the land of refuge." For centuries people from every nationality and