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Holy Spirit. They could not refute his arguments, but refused to accept
his conclusions. The prophecies which the rabbis themselves applied
to Christ were a great annoyance to these opposing Jews; for the apos-
tle showed that the fulfillment of these very prophecies required them
to accept of Christ. His humble entry into Jerusalem, his rejection
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by his own people, the treachery of Judas, the paltry sum paid for his
betrayal, his death as a malefactor, even the bitter, stupefying draughts
offered him in his dying agony, the lots cast upon his garments, his
victory over death and the grave by the resurrection on the third day,
his final exaltation on the right hand of God,—all these were in direct
fulfillment of the words of the prophets. But the more conclusive
the arguments presented, the more determined were the Jews in their
opposition. Frenzied with malice, they reiterated their assertions that
Jesus of Nazareth was a deceiver.
Further argument was useless. Paul closed with a solemn address,
in which he applied to them the words of Isaiah, before quoted by
Christ himself: “Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto
our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive;
for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Paul’s words had not been in vain. Some fully accepted Jesus
as the world’s Redeemer, and, despite the opposition of their former
brethren, became earnest advocates of the truth.
The people of God living near the close of time should learn a
lesson from this experience of Paul’s. We should not be disheartened
because those who have no love for truth refuse to be convinced by
the clearest evidence. We need not flatter ourselves that the formal and
world-loving churches of this age are more ready to receive the teach-
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ings of God’s word than were those of ages past. Paul’s worst enemies
were among the Jews, who made the highest claims to godliness. It
was to this class that Christ said, “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither
the power of God.” The most bitter opposers of truth today are found
among those who profess to be its defenders.
God has made his people the depositaries of his law. They must
uphold the claims of that down-trodden law against the opposition