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Chapter 2—The People Who Should Have
Welcomed Him
For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited
the Saviour’s coming. And yet at His coming they knew Him not.
They saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. See
Isaiah
53:2
. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
John
1:11
.
God had chosen Israel to preserve among men the symbols and
prophecies that pointed to the Saviour, to be as wells of salvation
to the world. The Hebrew people were to reveal God among the
nations. In the call of Abraham the Lord had said, “In thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.”
Genesis 12:3
. The Lord declared
through Isaiah, “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for
all peoples.”
Isaiah 56:7
, RV.
But Israel fixed their hopes on worldly greatness and followed the
ways of the heathen. In vain God sent them warning by His prophets.
In vain they suffered the chastisement of heathen oppression. Every
reformation was followed by deeper apostasy.
Had Israel been true to God, He would have made them “high
above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and
in honor.” “The nations, which shall hear all these statutes,” shall
say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
Deuteronomy 26:19
;
4:6
.
But because of their unfaithfulness, God’s purpose could be
wrought only through adversity and affliction. They were brought to
Babylon and scattered through the lands of the heathen. While they
mourned for the holy temple that was laid waste, through them a
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knowledge of God was spread among the nations. Heathen systems
of sacrifice were a perversion of the system God had appointed;
from the Hebrews many learned the meaning of the service divinely
ordained, and in faith grasped the promise of a Redeemer.
Not a few exiles lost their lives because of their refusal to disre-
gard the Sabbath and to observe heathen festivals. As idolaters were
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