A JEW ON THE HOPE OF ISRAEL

The sons of Israel, who are students of the scripture, understand their prophets better than those pretenders to truth and holiness among the Gentiles, called “Reverend and Learned Divines.” Beyond the acknowledgment that the Messiah was to suffer for sin, and that Jesus is he, they hold very little in common with the prophets and apostles. Of Israel’s hope, which is the “one hope of the calling,” and the only hope of a bible-made christian, they are as ignorant as puling babes. They have not the remotest idea that the hope of the apostles and the hope of their countrymen, were the same; and that they differed only upon this point—Is Jesus the Messiah through whom the nation is to realise its hope; or is some other person yet to come? This was the true issue. The apostles said, “Jesus is HE;” their adversaries said, “Jesus is not he; but we look for another.” This is still the issue between Jews and Gentiles, who are learned in the prophets; those who are not learned in these are incompetent to deliver a judgment entitled to the least consideration in the case: for they have yet to learn “what be the first principles of the Oracles of God.” But, we do not here intend to dissert of our own mind upon Israel’s hope. We only allude to it on the present occasion introductory to the following extract from the pen of Mr. Isaac Leeser, the intelligent editor of the Occident, and formerly reader of the Synagogue in Richmond. He understands what his nation hopes for; and we who study the prophets are able to say whether or not this hope he says they entertain, be scriptural. In writing concerning the Messiah he says:

“It might have been that, had God not promised it, the world would not have needed a special messenger who is to restore the universal peace which was forfeited at the first sinning of man; this assuming it to be the intention of the Most High, might be within the range of possibility by a thousand methods all within the scope of God’s power. But the prophets teach us a doctrine different from this. They tell us that a time will come when something wonderful is to happen to the peculiar people who were established many ages before that time, the conservators of the laws and code promulgated through Moses. The establishment of universal peace, in short, is to be accomplished through a peculiar personage descended from the Israelitish Nation, who is to effect for the same a restoration of the ancient commonwealth first established at the going out of the original fathers of this people from Egypt, by means of peculiar laws and statutes embraced within the code called the Law of Moses, and accompanied by certain rites and ceremonies which anciently constituted the public worship of the Most High in the chief city of the Hebrew State. The God who revealed himself to men and made known his will, also made known through his accredited messengers these his intentions; and consequently they have become a matter concerning which no one can consistently entertain any doubt who truly believes in the biblical records transmitted to us through a long line of ancestors. It will not do to assert, that because the Jewish religion might be true without the coming of the Messiah, we will not believe in his coming; for since the promise has been made, it has become an integral portion of the things concerning which we have been instructed, and as such it has become a matter of credence, as being the intention of the Lord, just as the Sabbath and other commandments have become matters of duty from no other reason, than that they have been ordained as the will of God. How would it do for a believing Israelite to criticise the biblical ordinances, and dispute their obligatory force, simply because he could love God and serve his fellow-man without observing them? We would certainly say, that it is but a poor exhibition of faith to doubt of the positive duties which the Bible enjoins, although they might not have been originally necessary truths; and with as much reason must we say, that to presume even to cast a shadow of doubt upon the Hope of Israel in the ultimate fulfilment of all the good the Lord has promised unto his people through means of the Son of David, simply because this mission is not an event absolutely necessary to the existence of the divine law, is a refusal to be taught by the Lord, the only Source of all wisdom and truth.”

Yes; it is the doctrine of the New Testament as well as of the Old, that the Messiah, and consequently the Lord Jesus, is to restore to the Israelitish Nation their ancient commonwealth, as in the days of old. Thus, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. For, lo, I will command and 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. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake and prevent us. In that day will I raise up the dwelling of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof: and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD.”—for what purpose? “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations by whom my name has been called upon them, saith the Lord that doeth this”—Amos 9: 8-12. The apostle James in quoting this to show, that the prophets taught that upon the Gentiles would be called the name of the Lord, and thereby arguing that a people would be taken from among them for His name—so applies the quotation as also to show to the minds of all unmystified by the leaven of false teaching that Jesus (Ethyehowa-tzidkainu, THE JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS) would return to restore the Tabernacle of David, that is, his Kingdom, * and to put Israel in possession of the land of Edom, and the nations, after the work of separating the people from his name was accomplished, that they might then all of them seek the Lord.

This building again of the Tabernacle of David as in the days of old, is the Restoration of all the things spoken by all the prophets since Moses, even the Restoration of the Kingdom again to Israel. This is the work that Messiah has to do. It is a great work and will require almightiness to execute. Just let the reader reflect how utterly confounded and nonplussed would be the policy of all “the powers that be” in the event of a successful attempt to set up a powerful Kingdom in the Holy Land; and established, too, upon principles at variance with the continued existence of a single other government upon the earth. The fact is that the ambition of Messiah is so great, that were our planet as large as Saturn, Jupiter, or the Sun, it would be too confined for the existence of his Kingdom, and an independent state though not larger than the little republic of San Merino. He is Jehovah’s king, and the earth is Jehovah’s, and all upon it; therefore everything must be brought into subjection, that in the end there may exist not so much as one living soul that does not reflect his glory. This work is to be begun, carried on, and consummated by the Messiah promised to Israel. Hear what the spirit saith, by the prophet concerning Jehovah’s Servant, who is called by the name of Abraham’s grandson, Israel, that is, the Prince of God: “Listen, O Isles, unto Me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far; Jehovah hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name”—Luke 1: 31-33. “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword”—Revelation 1: 16; “in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me; and said unto me, Thou art my Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. And now, saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb to be his Servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength.” This is true of him at the present time, though Israel is not yet gathered, and therefore they refuse to recognise him. But let them not expect every thing to be done at once. The mission of the glorified Servant of Jehovah, though delayed with respect to them, will be assuredly accomplished. The testimony adds, “And He said, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my Servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob, and to restore the desolation of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation (my Joshua or Jesus) unto the ends of the earth”—Isaiah 11; 9: 1-6.

Further on the same prophet shows, that this Servant and Holy One of Jehovah, was to be at one period the despised of man, the abhorred of his nation, and a servant of its rulers; but that such a change of fortune should accrue to Him that he should become the honoured one of Kings and Princes who should arise in his presence and do him homage. To him thus exalted Jehovah saith, “In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of Salvation have I helped thee: and gave them for a Covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.”

Now all these things are indisputably affirmed of the Messiah. No man of sound mind would undertake to deny it. Admitted then; but what, we inquire, say ye to these things who profess to believe that Jesus is the Messiah? If Jesus be he, as he certainly is, then, as he has not hitherto, he has yet to perform those things we have just read. If you say that Jesus is not to execute them, then you in effect say that he is not the Messiah, for Messiah is Jehovah’s Servant for this especial work. But Jesus is the Messiah, and therefore, He must return and build again the Hebrew Commonwealth as in the days of old—He must raise up the Tribes of Jacob, and restore the desolations of Israel, and be the Joshua of Jehovah to the ends of the earth.

Gentile ignorance of the prophets is a great impediment to the conversion of the Jews. The Gentiles affirm the suffering of Messiah, but deny his mission and work in regard to Israel, their country and the world; while the Jews affirm his mission in its glorious relations to them and the nations, but deny his humiliation and sufferings altogether. They are both right in part, and both wrong in part, without right enough between them to do either of them any good. As to the conversion of the Jews by Gentile missionaries ignorant of the prophets, and consequently of Israel’s Hope, which is the only hope revealed in the Bible, why reader the idea is preposterous in the extreme. What! preach to the Jews a Messiah who is to visit earth no more until he comes to burn up the world; O ye holy prophets and apostles, is it not enough to make your ashes quiver in your graves with restless indignation, at the stupidity and perverseness of mankind! But the short of the matter is, that the Gentiles do not believe in Jesus as described in the prophets. Their faith is in a theological fiction—in “another Jesus,” “another Spirit,” and “another gospel,” than the one Lord, Spirit, faith, hope, of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles of Jehovah’s Christ—2 Corinthians 11: 4. If ye know not Moses and the prophets, who testified of Jesus, ye can by no means understand the writings of his ambassadors to the world. Therefore seek to understand the prophets as you value an interest in the Age to Come.