Work for the Jews
At the time when Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple laid
in ruins, many thousands of the Jews were sold to serve as bondmen
in heathen lands. Like wrecks on a desert shore, they were scattered
among the nations. For eighteen hundred years the Jews have wandered
from land to land throughout the world, and in no place have they been
given the privilege of regaining their ancient prestige as a nation.
Maligned, hated, persecuted, from century to century theirs has been a
heritage of suffering.
Notwithstanding the awful doom pronounced upon the Jews as
a nation at the time of their rejection of Jesus of Nazareth, there
have lived from age to age many noble, God-fearing Jewish men and
women who have suffered in silence. God has comforted their hearts
in affliction, and has beheld with pity their terrible situation. He has
heard the agonizing prayers of those who have sought Him with all
the heart for a right understanding of His word. Some have learned
to see in the lowly Nazarene whom their forefathers rejected and
crucified, the true Messiah of Israel. As their minds have grasped the
significance of the familiar prophecies so long obscured by tradition
and misinterpretation, their hearts have been filled with gratitude to
God for the unspeakable gift He bestows upon every human being who
chooses to accept Christ as a personal Saviour.
It is to this class that Isaiah referred in his prophecy, “A remnant
shall be saved.” [See
Isaiah 10:20-22
.] From Paul’s day to the present
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time, God by His Holy Spirit has been calling after the Jew as well
as the Gentile. “There is no respect of persons with God,” [
Romans
2:11
] declared Paul. The apostle regarded himself as “debtor both to
the Greeks, and to the barbarians,” [
Romans 1:14
] as well as to the
Jews; but he never lost sight of the decided advantages possessed by
the Jews over others, “chiefly, because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God.” [
Romans 3:2
.] “The gospel,” he declared, “is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God
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