“The House of Israel”
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takable power. They saw in the husbandmen a picture of themselves,
and they involuntarily exclaimed, “God forbid!”
Solemnly and regretfully Christ asked: “Did ye never read in the
Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become
the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in
our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
Matthew 21:34-44
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Christ would have averted the doom of the Jewish nation if the
people had received Him. But envy and jealousy made them implaca-
ble. They determined that they would not receive Jesus of Nazareth
as the Messiah. They rejected the Light of the world, and henceforth
their lives were surrounded with darkness as the darkness of midnight.
The doom foretold came upon the Jewish nation. Their own fierce
passions, uncontrolled, wrought their ruin. In their blind rage they
destroyed one another. Their rebellious, stubborn pride brought upon
them the wrath of their Roman conquerors. Jerusalem was destroyed,
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the temple laid in ruins, and its site plowed like a field. The children
of Judah perished by the most horrible forms of death. Millions were
sold to serve as bondmen in heathen lands.
That which God purposed to do for the world through Israel, the
chosen nation, He will finally accomplish through His church on earth
today. He has “let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen,” even to
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His covenant-keeping people, who faithfully “render Him the fruits in
their seasons.” Never has the Lord been without true representatives
on this earth who have made His interests their own. These witnesses
for God are numbered among the spiritual Israel, and to them will be
fulfilled all the covenant promises made by Jehovah to His ancient
people.
Today the church of God is free to carry forward to completion
the divine plan for the salvation of a lost race. For many centuries
God’s people suffered a restriction of their liberties. The preaching of
the gospel in its purity was prohibited, and the severest of penalties
were visited upon those who dared disobey the mandates of men. As
a consequence, the Lord’s great moral vineyard was almost wholly
unoccupied. The people were deprived of the light of God’s word. The
darkness of error and superstition threatened to blot out a knowledge