$1.

00

Israel,
God’s Clock
JOHN F. MacARTHUR
D.D., LITT.D.

CALVARY BOOK ROOM

a division of

VOICE OF CALVARY
P.O. BOX 1700, EUGENE, OREGON 97401
1969
 By the Same Author
Is It All a Pack of Lies?
When the Red Flag Goes Down Forever
Kiss of God
Adventuring in the Next World
Devotional and Critical Commentaries
Gospel of Matthew—3 volumes
The Acts of the Apostles—2 volumes
and other books

F irst E dition

S ix t h P r in t in g

Copyright © 1969 by Voice of Calvary

All Rights Reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
6832
 INTRODUCTION
This book is an introduction to a subject that
wouid nil a number of volumes. It represents part
of the material presented in a series of talks given
on our television program, the Voice of Calvary.
Numerous requests prompted us rather hurriedly
and without much careful editing to ready the
manuscript for printing. I am sure the reader will
be indulgent because the truth expressed is both
flawless and inspiring.
The purpose of this book is simply to demon­
strate from the Word of God that Israel is God’s
“clock,” and Jesus Christ is Israel’s Messiah and
mankind’s only Savior. I Peter 1:19-21
John F. MacArthur
 ISRAEL, GOD’S CLOCK
It has been a common conclusion among Bible
scholars and students of Biblical prophecy that if
anyone desires to know approximately where we
are in God’s plan for the ages, all that is necessary
is to compare the prophecies concerning Israel in
the Word of God with the present plight of these
ancient people on the world scene. Indeed, Israel
is God’s clock! One of the most remarkable evi­
dences of fulfilled prophecy, indicating the soon
return of our Lord, is the regathering and re­
birth of Israel. Jesus said, “And Jerusalem shall
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times
of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). The
time of Gentile rule is that entire period when
Jerusalem and Palestine are under Gentile domin­
ion. When King Nebuchadnezar captured Jeru­
salem and took the people of Judah captive, it
marked the end of Jewish time and the beginning
of Gentile time. “The times of the Gentiles” will
continue until the end of the age, the second
coming of Christ in His revelation. We are actual
witnesses to the beginning of the end of this
period known as the “times of the Gentiles.”
The most significant date in modern history is
May 14, 1948. At 4 P. M. on that day, David
Ben-Gurion banged the table with his fist and
read “the establishment of the Jewish State to be
called Israel.” As his audience cheered and wept,
Zionist flags, with their two pale blue stripes and
the blue Star of David, flew overhead. For the
first time in centuries, multitudes of Jews were
5
saying, “It’s a miracle; it’s a miracle; God has
worked miracles.” By this they referred to the
establishment of an independent government af­
ter more than 2,500 years under the yoke of one
Gentile nation after another.
PROMISES OF RESTORATION
The Word of God is filled with promises of the
ultimate restoration of Palestine to Israel: “And
I will bring again the captivity of my people
Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gar­
dens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant
them upon their land, and they shall no more be
pulled up out of their land which I have given
them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:14, 15).
This is an event of which the Jews had been
dreaming for centuries—an event many distin­
guished statesmen and economists had declared,
in voluminous words and learned speeches, could
never take place. But it has! The Word of God
has been fulfilled! The modem state of Israel has
been bom.
In March, 1891, William E. Blackstone of Chi­
cago, who wrote the famous book Jesus Is Coming,
declared: “If Israel is beginning to show signs
of national life, and is actually returning to Pal­
estine, then surely, the end of this dispensation
is nigh, even at the doors.” Dr. Blackstone pre­
sented a petition to President Harrison asking
our nation to assist the Jews in obtaining Pales­
tine as their national home. At that time, the
petition made little impression, but God was at
work.
6
 The fig tree is the national symbol of Israel,
so our Lord said, “Now learn a parable of the
fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is
nigh: So, likewise ye, when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not
pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:
32-34). Generation does not mean the Jews then
living, because they died. Generation does not
mean the race, because the race never passes a-
way; and this is not the same word for race. The
word used is “genea,” which cannot be translated
in this context any other way than generation.
The Amplified New Testament clarifies the
meaning: “Truly, I tell you, this generation —
that is, the whole multitude of people living at
the same time, in a definite, given period—will
not pass away till all these things taken together
take place.” The generation that sees the fig tree
budding will see everything connected with the
closing events. This means that the people on earth
when the birth pangs of the new age begin will
not all die until all be fulfilled, and our Lord
Jesus Christ comes back. Remember, too there
need be no specific sign with regard to the rapture
of the Church. That may take place at any mo­
ment (I Thess. 4:13-18).
GOD’S AGENCY OF REDEMPTION
General Moshe Dayan, the heroic new Moses of
Israel, said, concerning the lightning Six-Day
War won so gloriously by the Israeli forces in
June, 1967: “Now that the war is over, the trouble
begins.” As Time magazine commented: “For
7
months and perhaps years, debate will rage about
the borders of Israel and about how much (if
any) of its conquered territory it has a right to
keep.”
We can be sure that the shambles of defeat will
but intensify the fanatic hatred of the 14 Arab
nations, with its 110,000,000 people that ring a-
bout the tiny land of Israel. Even the resounding
military disaster they have suffered has not for
a moment daunted the Arabic desire to kill every
living Jew in Palestine and wipe the nation from
the earth. This is precisely as our Lord said it
would be; and, according to the Bible, Israel’s
troubles are not over, they are just beginning.
The Jews have been at once the most highly
honored and most basely dishonored nation in the
world. Honored of God, dishonored of men. God
loves the Jews; men hate them. It was always so.
Men have always hated what God loved, and loved
what God hated.
It is often asked why God loved Israel above
other peoples. Though much of the answer is mys­
terious and profound, we do know that His love
for Israel was only an impression of the out­
reach of His love for us. Israel has been the
vehicle of God, the instrument of His redemptive
purpose for all men. What God did through Israel,
He did because He loves man so much. “While
we were yet enemies,” He sent His Son to die for
us, and that Son came by way of a Jewish womb,
a Jewish ancestry, a Jewish heritage.
On the basis of one of the oldest promises in
the Bible, God chose Israel. “For thou art an holy
people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto him­
self, above all people that are upon the face of
8
the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you,
nor choose you, because ye were more in number
than any people, for ye were the fewest of all
people: But because the Lord loved you, and be­
cause he would keep the oath which he had sworn
unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the
house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh,
king of Egypt” (Deut. 7 :6-8). This explains that
God set Himself in a peculiar place or relation­
ship to Israel.
OLD TESTAMENT
COVENANT STILL VALID
In the morning time of history, approximately
1936 B. C.—412 years after the flood—God called
Abram, a Shemite, to be the father of a new
nation, through whom He might work out His
plan of redeeming the human race. Merrill F.
Unger points out: “In the call of Abram, and the
creation of the nation Israel, God purified and
separated a small stream from the vast, polluted
river of humanity. His purpose was to keep this
branch pure and separated, that with it He might
eventually cleanse the great river itself.”
The account is found in Genesis 12:1-7. God
promised Abram,
(1) A Personal Blessing
“I will bless thee, and make thy name great...”
This was literally fulfilled. Abraham gave tip
much to be obedient to God’s call, but God is
never indebted to any man. He made Abraham
wealthy beyond measure in cattle and land, in
silver and gold, in power and influence. It is said
9
that when he died, he was the richest man in
the world materially, and certainly spiritually;
that is, in the knowledge of God. Abraham’s name
occurs 313 times in the Scripture. It is mentioned
in 27 books of the Bible. Interestingly, his name
is venerated by both Jews and Mohammedans (in
spite of their deep-rooted antagonism and hat­
red), as well as by Christians.
(2) A National Blessing
“I will make of thee a great nation.” This was
an acute test of faith. Abraham was about 75
years of age and his wife nearly as old, and they
were childless. Yet, this promise was fulfilled to
the very letter in the Jewish nation that sprang
from them. The distinction of this nation was
not to be in her military power or commerce, but
in her knowledge of the true God.
(3) A World-Wide Blessing
“In thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed.” This has been partially fulfilled in the
first advent of the Messiah, who was born of the
Jews, and also in the preaching of the Gospel in
this age. But it will be completely fulfilled in the
future when Israel becomes the medium of bless­
ing to the whole world.
(4) Divine Protection
“I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
him that curseth thee.” This promise still oper­
ates and will continue until the end of the age.
God says, in effect, Israel’s enemies are His ene­
mies, their friends are His friends.
There is no excuse for anti-Semitism. The en­
tire 11th chapter of Romans is written to show
that though God is temporarily saving more Gen­
10
tiles (“the fulness of the Gentiles”), and using
more Gentiles than Jews; yet, according to Ro­
mans 11:25-29, God will eventually restore the
Jewish nation to favor. This Scripture makes it
clear that God has not cast away Israel, that
blindness in part is only for a season, that the
portion of the nation left alive at the end time
will be saved, that they are beloved in God’s sight
for the sake of the Jewish fathers from Abraham
on down, and that God has never repented of
selecting Israel. The Old Testament covenants
with Israel still stand. Israel is as much “the
chosen people” as she ever was, and God’s plans
for her are unchanged.
ANTI-SEMITISM CONDEMNED
All who are tempted to persecute or think evil
of the Jews should remember the plain statement
of God: “I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee” (Gen. 12:3). That
has been so in the past, and it is so now. Judaism
and Christianity have the same God. Whenever
Christian people have persecuted Jews, their
Christian usefulness and blessing have dried up
and become Christian in name only. The hatred
fomented against Jews by Greek Catholics under
the reign of the Czars doubtless contributed to
the revolution that has made the Soviet Union
what it is today. From Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin,
and other dictators, on down until the antichrist
(the man of sin), makes his diabolical appearance,
there can only be the wreck of Anti-Semitic em­
pires and the ruin of their dreams because of
God’s curse on Jew-haters.
We should never forget that Jews and Chris­
ll
 tians have the same Old Testament, and Jews and
Christians alike hold the Old Testament to be the
very Word of God. In fact, Judaism and Chris­
tianity have the same God as presented in the Old
Testament and the same Christ as foretold by
every prophet and pictured in every sacrifice and
offering. The Messiah of the Jews is the Savior
of Christians.
Though Jews generally do not accept the New
Testament, it was written by Jews. The twelve
apostles were Jews. Paul was a Jew. Barnabas
was a Jew. All the prophets were Jews. Christ
Himself was born of a Jewish mother, of the seed
of Abraham, of the house of David. He grew up
among Jews, had His ministry among them,
selected His disciples from among them, saved
Jews, taught Jews, healed Jews. No one can be a
Christian who does not have a Jewish Bible and
a Jewish Savior. How unthinkable it is for any­
body who claims to be a Christian, even nom­
inally, to persecute the Jews. They are patriotic,
generous, unselfish, philanthropic, wholehearted
Americans in their outlook. The accident that
some Jews are anarchists or Communists, just as
some Gentiles are, is no proper excuse for the
hellish persecution of Jews and the age-long hate
and mistreatment of Jews by Gentiles.
There are unseen forces working. Satan, under
the surface, is carrying out a definite plan to
destroy the Jews. Anti-Semitism is satanic. It
has been repeatedly demonstrated in the history
of the nations that those who seek the good of
Israel are blessed, and those who oppress her
are cursed. If there are those among the distin­
guished and august assembly of the United Na­
tions who know anything about the Word of God,
12
this irrevocable truth should influence their
thinking and their decisions. God has placed a
curse on anti-Semitism, and the ultimate and
final defeat of Israel’s enemies is assured on the
basis of this curse.
It is told that a Hyde Park orator in England
once denounced the feeble efforts of the Jews to
resist the Roman oppression and suggested that
if they had appealed more to the sword and less
to the Bible, they might have gotten along much
better. A man in the crowd asked, “But where
are the Romans today? And where are the Jews?”
“Everywhere,” was the answer, which was greatly
appreciated by his hearers! Israel is under the
protecting hand of God to this very hour.
PALESTINE BELONGS TO ISRAEL
(5) The Gift of the Land of Canaan as an Ever­
lasting Possession
“Unto thy seed will I give this land.” As the
years passed, Abraham’s faith began to waver,
for Sarah had not borne the promised son. So
God renewed the promise, making it a covenant.
“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with
Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this
land, from the river of Egypt unto the great
river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). The
area of the land promised is more extensive than
present-day Israel.
In response to an article on Israel’s famous
Six-Day War with the Arabs, Time magazine re­
ceived the following letter:
Through the usual din of Middle East propa­
ganda, we heard the voice of Israel at the U. N.,
sincere and compassionate, sweeping before it like
13
 a refreshing, cleansing storm, all the filth of Arab-
Russian intrigue and deception, exposing truth
for all to recognize. All this with malice'toward
none, with condemnation of deeds only, not of
people.
Here was a voice that reflected the spirit and
will to peace that are the foundation of which
the U. N. was built, and its raison d’etre. Here is
a conqueror offering co-existence and cooperation,
claiming nothing for himself but security and the
right to exist. Who dares put the tag of aggressor
on him?
It is fascinating, in the light of Luke 21:24—
“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”—that
although Israel is willing to make concessions
upon territory acquired during her magnificent
defense, there is no concession with respect to the
city of Jerusalem. This Israel intends to keep.
To those who understand the prophetic Word, this
is merely the down payment or guarantee that
one day Israel will possess all the territory God
promised her through Abraham.
Because of Israel’s disobedience, she has expe­
rienced three dispersions, and, to this point, two
regatherings—with the third now taking place.
First, there was the dispersion from the land of
Canaan into Egypt, where it was predicted Israel
would be afflicted 400 years (Gen. 15:13-16). The
second dispersion was into Babylon, where Israel
remained in captivity 70 years (Jer. 25:11, 12).
Only a remnant returned. The third dispersion
took place after the fall of Jerusalem in A. D. 70.
Today we are actually seeing the beginning of
the regathering of the nation after dispersions
of almost 2,500 year’s duration. In the first two
14
dispersions, Israel was led back into the Promised
Land from Egypt by Moses and Joshua, and from
Babylon by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. De­
clares Time magazine: “There is no other people
that has been dispersed so long from its original
home, yet has maintained the memory of that
home as a living reality.”
In their former return to the land, the Jews
never occupied more than 28 to 30,000 square
miles, but the territory included in God’s gift to
Abraham is something like 300,000 square miles.
Therefore, Palestine, as originally given by God
to the Jews, is more than 25 times the size of the
modem state. Dr. Edgar C. James points out that
this vast area promised to Israel includes present-
day Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South
Arabia, Muscat and Oman, Trucial Coast and
parts of Egypt, Kuwait, and Iraq. All this area is
to be the possession of Israel in her future millen­
nial reign with Christ. The long dispersion des­
cribed in Deuteronomy 28:63, 64 is nearly over.
ISRAEL—A WITNESS TO THE WORLD
The mission of Israel is to be a witness in the
midst of universal idolatry, to teach the world
there is but one living and true God. At the time
Abraham was called, the heathen world wor­
shiped many gods. If God was acknowledged at
all, He was regarded simply as one among many.
The Jews were raised up in order that through
them the precious truth of monotheism—one God
—might be taught to a heathen world. Moses,
their great leader and lawgiver, asserts this truth
in one of his farewell addresses in Deuteronomy.
See also Isaiah 43:10-12. History shows that the
15
Jews have always been the teachers of monothe­
ism. Until the time of Christ no other nation
taught this doctrine. Monotheism was unique to
Israel. Without this doctrine there is no possi­
bility of salvation for any man.
As far as we know, there is not a writer of the
Scripture who was not a Jew, except perhaps the
physician, Luke. Furthermore, through the cen­
turies, the Jews have kept the sacred Word from
being mutilated and contaminated. The Bible is
a miracle book, preserved through the storms of
centuries by a miraculous people. Had it not been
for the Jewish guardianship of the Bible, it
would have long ago been lost to mankind.
Israel’s ultimate destiny was to provide the
world with a Savior. When sin entered the world
through the agency of Satan, disguised as a ser­
pent, God gave Adam a promise that He would
raise up through the seed of the woman a Savior
or Deliverer from the power of sin (Gen. 3:15).
This Deliverer would eventually crush the power
of Satan, the author of sin, and cast him out
forever. When God called Abraham, He gave the
promise that the Messiah, or the Deliverer, would
come through his descendants. “And I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed” (Gen. 12:3). This is the culminating
and climaxing promise, the one toward which the
others are leading.
The nations of the earth have been blessed and
will be blessed by Abraham’s seed. When God
called Abraham 2,500 years before our Lord was
bom, it was announced that the Messiah would
be a Jew. The Jew highly treasures this promise.
It is his only star of hope. It has beamed in his
16
sky during the darkest hours of his history. With
all that is taking place in Israel today, this one
expectation—Messiah’s coming—holds the fore­
most place in his heart.
The difference between Jews and Christians is
that Christians believe the New Testament ac­
count that Messiah has already come, and they
recognize Him as Lord and Savior. One day He
will also be recognized by the nation Israel. The
anticipation of our coming Lord is the one hope
for the darkness and chaos of the world in this
hour—the visible appearance of the Messiah of
Israel, our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ (Titus 2:13).
ISRAEL IN THE DIASPORA
The whole world is watching Israel. This is
the indication that more and more the world will
begin to revolve around God’s chosen people. Ul­
timately, as Israel becomes the center of concen­
trated attention, it will play an even more impor­
tant part in the closing days of our age. Our Lord
foretold the scattering of the Jews to all parts of
the globe in Luke 21:24: “And they shall fall by
the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be
trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This event took place
forty years after Jesus spoke, when the Roman
armies, under Emperor Titus Vespasian, over­
threw Jerusalem in A. D. 70, after a merciless
and bloody siege.
Six hundred years before Christ, the prophet
Jeremiah predicted this scattering. “And as the
evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil;
17
surely thus saith the Lord, So will I give Zede-
kiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the
residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land,
and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: And I
will deliver them to be removed into all the
kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a
reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in
all places whither I shall drive them. And I will
send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
among them, till they be consumed from off the
land that I gave unto them and to their fathers”
(Jer. 24:8-10).
Fifteen hundred years before Christ, God spoke:
“And I will make your cities waste, and bring
your sanctuaries unto desolation.. .And I will
bring the land into desolation: and your enemies
which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And
I will scatter you among the heathen, and will
draw out a sword after you: and your land shall
be desolate and your cities waste” (Lev. 26:31-33)
With the scattering of Israel, the land became
desolate as prophesied.
Ruth Gruber wrote: “For over a thousand years
Israel was a country with a few cities, ancient
settlements, and vast stretches of desert where
there was not a tree, a shrub, or a blade of grass,
where the sun rode the sky in fierce and often
terrible loneliness.”
The scattering of the Jews is called the “dias­
pora” (Greek for dispersion, or scattering). In a
marvelous fulfillment of prophecy, we have lived
to see the beginning of the end of the diaspora.
Dr. Avidor, Director General of Education and
Culture in the new state of Israel, says that Jews
have returned to Palestine from 70 nations,
speaking approximately as many different lan-
18
griages. Jeremiah prophesied this when he an­
nounced: “Therefore fear thou not, O my servant
Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, 0
Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy
seed from the land of their captivity: and Jacob
shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet,
and none shall make him afraid.
“For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save
thee: though I make a full end of all nations
whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make
a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in
measure, and will not leave thee altogether un­
punished” (Jer. 30:10, 11).
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “And it shall
come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set
his hand again the second time to recover the
remnant of his people, which shall be left, from
Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and
from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar,
and from Hamath, and from the islands of the
sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations,
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:11, 12).
He further states: “Fear not: for I am with
thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and
gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring
my sons from far, and my daughters from the
ends of the earth; even everyone that is called
by my name: for I have created him for my
glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him”
(Isa. 43:5-7).

19
 ISRAEL TEMPORARILY SET ASIDE
Raymond Cox, in an article entitled, Eyewit­
ness: Israel, said:
If the scripturally inspired dream of Jews,
since the first century, to be settled again in their
Promised Land, is to remain true in our times,
the Israeli apparently must keep militarily vigi­
lant. A nation of less than three million people
lies like an island in a sea of Arab enemies
numbering over 110,000,000, and those Arab na­
tions proclaim as prime national policy the
proposition that Israel as a nation must be ex­
terminated. The Jews want peace, but are pre­
pared to defend themselves. Many Arab citizens
and soldiers want peace, too.
As we all know, the deep-rooted enmity burst
into flames in an amazing vindication of Israeli
military strength that literally rocked the world.
Israel has reason to be proud of its army, and the
morale of its soldiers may be the highest in the
world.
A Christian tourist discovered the Israeli sol­
dier’s sense of mission when he attempted to
witness for Christ to an officer and his family
he met while strolling along the Mediterranean
shore. “Do you know the Prince of Peace?” in­
quired the tourist after exchanging a few pleas­
antries. “I am the prince of peace,” the soldier
replied proudly. This incident reveals dramati­
cally Israel’s supreme tragedy: the rejection of
her Messiah.
In the New Testament we find the state of
affairs entirely different from that in the Old
Testament dispensation. We hear Paul saying in
Romans 3 :9: “.. .for we have before proved both
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.”
20
Here Paul is putting Israel, as privileged as she
was, on the same level as the Gentiles who were
“aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:
12). This makes it absolutely clear that Israel has
been rejected from her position of privilege dur­
ing this present age of grace. Many Old Testa­
ment Scriptures also clearly point out Israel’s
setting aside by God.
PARENTHESIS BETWEEN
69th AND 70th WEEKS OF DANIEL
After the prophet Daniel spoke of the end of the
desolations of Jerusalem in Daniel 9:24-27, and
after he earnestly poured out his heart before
God in fervent confession of his sin and those
of his people, God sent the powerful angel, Gab­
riel, to give him understanding in the matter.
The “weeks” spoken of are not meant to be seven-
day weeks; they are heptads of years. The di­
visions are: (1) seven weeks or 49 years, (2)
62 weeks or 434 years, (3) one week or seven
years. The weeks of years begin with the decree
to restore and build Jerusalem in the 20th year
of Artaxerxes, or 445 B. C. (Neh. 2). From that
time till Messiah the Prince there were to be 69
“weeks” or 483 years, another proof of the in­
fallibility of the Word of God; Our Lord Jesus
Christ entered Jerusalem (according to the reck­
oning of the prophetic years) at the expiration of
the 69th “week.” This prophecy, as readily seen,
has been fulfilled. God’s clock stopped at the end
of the 69th week, interrupting the Jewish age.
The interval of time in which we now live is the
21
Church age, not foreseen in the Old Testament.
This interval solves the problem that troubled
the prophets as they searched for the specific
time of the sufferings of Christ and the glory
that should follow.
Jesus made this clear in the synagogue at
Nazareth when He stopped in the midst of His
reading Isaiah 61:1-3 and announced the portion
of the prophecy that was fulfilled. “And there was
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaias.
And when he had opened the book, he found the
place where it was written, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliver­
ance to the captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke
4:17-19).
Immediately following this, we read, “And he
closed the book, and he gave it again to the min­
ister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And
he began to say unto them, This day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ears” (vss. 20, 21).
A comparison with the passage quoted in Isaiah
shows us an instance of the exquisite accuracy
in the way in which our Lord used the Word of
God. He stopped at “the acceptable year of the
Lord,” which, of course, is connected with His
first coming and His gracious offer of Himself.
The rest of Isaiah’s prophecy was not for that
day. “The day of vengeance of our God” belongs
to the second coming of Christ, and the Judgment.
He made it very graphic that only a part of this
prophecy was then being fulfilled.
22
 This parenthetical interval is further brought
into prominence by Matthew who begins his Gos­
pel account with the Lord’s ministry among Israel
—the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom,
His great signs and miracles, and His choosing of
the disciples to “go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6).
The interval between the 69th and the 70th
weeks of Daniel and the age of Christendom
(Matt. 18), is the same period Paul speaks about
in Romans 9:22 to 10:21, as he demonstrates
God’s forewarning of Israel, that because of her
sin — specifically the crucifixion of Christ — she
should be set aside and the Gentiles would come
into blessing. Hosea prophesied that God would
call a people His people which were not His peo­
ple (Hosea 2:23). Isaiah foretold that if it were
not for the Lord, Israel would have been left as
Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:9).
THE TRAGEDY OF
ISRAEL’S BLINDNESS
During Israel’s rejection, she is spiritually
blind and deaf. Jesus Christ was a tremendous
disappointment to Israel when He failed to deliver
the nation from her Gentile oppressors. All the
prophets had foretold that when Messiah came
He would throw off the Roman yoke, assume the
throne of David, bring in the Kingdom of Heaven,
and restore the nation Israel. Believing this, His
diciples had followed Him; but when, instead,
the road led up the hill of Calvary, they all forsook
Him and fled (Mark 14:50). They had dreamed
of the glory and majesty of Messiah’s reign.
Eagerly they went forth proclaiming the mes­
sage of the kingdom (Matt. 3:2).
23
 Gradually it became apparent that something
was wrong somewhere, and the disciples were con­
fused when, instead of the glory of Messiah’s
throne, the shadow of the cross appeared. It is
then that Jesus began to reveal to them He was
not going to set up His kingdom at that time,
but instead was going to die. This was a severe
shock and bitter disappointment. As a result we
read one of the saddest records in the Holy Book:
“From that time many of his disciples went back,
and walked no more with him” (John 6:66). But
everything was in God’s plan; and before the
Messiah was to set up the kingdom, He would
come first to die for the sins of the whole world.
God’s plan of redemption included far more than
the redemption of one nation, Israel—it embraced
all mankind.
To accomplish this God blinded the eyes of the
nation until after the sacrifice of the Messiah had
been made, and then revealed the “dispensation
of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2) ; “the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:11) ; and
the “mystery among the Gentiles” (Col. 1:27).
The “kingdom of heaven” was no mystery, for
that had been clearly revealed and the disciples
were earnestly expecting our Lord to set up that
kingdom at His first coming. Their confusion re­
sulted from ignorance of the “mystery of the
kingdom,” that at His first coming Jesus would
be rejected, the nation of Israel disowned and
scattered for centuries among the nations. The
kingdom would be postponed, and in the interval
the Lord would call out the Church to be His
bride, to reign with Him in the kingdom age of
the future.
Because of Israel’s rejection of her Messiah,
24
she is experiencing judicial blindness. However,
we must not make the mistake of believing that
this blindness, caused by the rejection of Christ
over 1900 years ago by their forefathers, makes
their conversion today an impossibility. As Dr.
A. C. Gaebelein explains:
The judicial blindness is certainly not to be
understood that every Jew is born with this
blindness upon him; far be the thought. Every
generation of Jews, in refusing the light which
shines for all in sharing the sin of their fathers
in rejecting their Messiah, in continuing in their
evil ways of unbelief, is put under the sentence
of this judicial blindness.
The Jew may see if he so chooses, and he may
refuse the light if he so chooses. God declared
in His Word beforehand what would happen to
them in this respect.
THE PARABLE OF
THE HOUSEHOLDER
The progress of Israel’s blindness from the
time of the prophets to the time of the rejection
of Christ is well illustrated in the parable of the
householder who planted a vineyard and let it out
to husbandmen before he departed for a far
country (Matt. 21:33-39). When harvest time
arrived, the householder sent servants to receive
the fruit of the vineyard from the husbandmen.
However, they abused the servants, beating one,
killing another, and stoning another. When the
householder sent other servants, they fared no
better than their companions. Finally, the house­
holder sent his son, thinking they would surely
reverence him. On the contrary, they took him
and slew him.
25
 The meaning is evident when we remember
that God speaks of Israel as His vineyard (Isa.
5:1-7) ; and Jesus addressed Jerusalem as “thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee...” (Matt. 23:37). No prophet
of Israel, however, had suffered the indignities
that were heaped upon Christ. When He first
appeared in Israel, Matthew relates that Herod
attempted to slay Him. After He entered upon
His public ministry, it was evident that Israel
would have none of Him. They plotted continually
how they might destroy Him, and many times
attempted to stone Him.
When the Lord Jesus asked His disciples,
“Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”
the reply was that some thought He was Elijah,
others testified He was Jeremiah, and still others
maintained that He was one of the prophets. No
one thought Him to be the Messiah. The only
reasonable conclusion is that the people were evi­
dently willing to account for Him by any sub­
terfuge that would relieve them of acknowledging
Him as their king. So intent were they on His
destruction that two decidedly antagonistic par­
ties, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, were in
complete agreement in plotting His death. When
Judas went out to betray the Lord into the hands
of His enemies, it was at night; but it was just
as dark a night when the religious leaders sought
to kill Him. They would rather have their “place
and nation” than yield allegiance to Him who
came only to bless.
THE HARDENED HEARTS OF ISRAEL
Since Israel was intent on His rejection, lightly
esteeming His Person and refusing to receive His
26
 testimony and work, the Lord inaugurated an
altogether different phase of His work, that in
which He is designated “son of Abraham,” as well
as “the son of David.” He began to speak in
parables, so that the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9-12
might have its most complete fulfillment in His
ministry. They would hear His parables, but they
loved darkness rather than light.
Says Dr. Charles L. Feinberg in his book,
Israel in the Spotlight*:
After the Lord had therefore turned from Is­
rael, He directed the hearts of His disciples to the
purpose—the salvation of the lost—which had
brought Him to earth. Thus He ministered until
the hardened hearts of Israel were satisfied with
the crucifixion of Him whose last words in their
behalf were, “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.” Such was the calamitous
climax of all Israel’s blindness and hardening
throughout her life’s history.
Nor was their condition after Pentecost im­
proved, for although some believed, the majority
rejected the offer of the Holy Spirit’s ministry,
even as they had rejected the loving kindness of
the Father and the undying love of the Son. The
hardness of heart continued until Paul could
bring the full indictment against them, when he
declared that they had killed the Lord Jesus Christ
and their prophets; they had persecuted the apos­
tles; they did not please God; they were contrary
to all men, forbidding the apostles to speak to
the Gentiles that they might be saved, for “the
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (I
Thess. 2:15, 16).
From the time of Christ till this day this
hardening of heart has been going on. Especially
*Israel in the Spotlight, published by American Board of Missions to
the Jews, New York, N.Y. Used with permission.
27
 is this true in regard to the Messiah. The Lord
Jesus knew full well whereof He spoke when He
said, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in. his own
name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43).

THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES

Israel’s blindness will continue until the Church
is complete. The key to the understanding of
prophecy is recognition of the mystery of Israel’s
temporary rejection. God “set aside” the nation
for a time, but He has not cast them off forever.
This is confirmed by Romans 11:25: “For I would
not brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own con­
ceits ; that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
The “fulness of the Gentiles” is the completion
of the purpose of God in this age; that is, the
outcalling from among the Gentiles of a people
for Christ’s name. See Acts 15:14. The “fulness
of the Gentiles” must be distinguished from the
“times of the Gentiles,” that prophetic period
when the land of Palestine, and particularly
Jerusalem, are under Gentile dominion. When the
last member is added, completing the body of
Christ, the Church will be raptured, the “clock
will start,” and the awful 70th week of Daniel
will begin.
All the other sins of the Jewish nation do not
compare with the sin of rejecting Christ, their
own Messiah and King. Pilate, during the trial
of Jesus, washed his hands before the multitude,
saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just
person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people
28
and said, “His blood be on us, and on our chil­
dren” (Matt. 27:24, 25).
OUR LORD’S SOLEMN W ARNING
Before He walked the lonely way of sorrows to
the cross, our Lord warned the Jews that the
destruction of their city would soon come; they
would be dispersed to all nations of the earth,
and there would be “great distress in the land,
and wrath upon this people” (Luke 21:23). Near­
ly 40 years after the crucifixion of Christ the
Roman army, under Titus, besieged Jerusalem
(then in revolt), and at last took it with terrible
slaughter. The historian Josephus said 1,100,000
Jews perished in one day after a siege so horrible
that cultured women cooked and ate their own
children before the city fell. Ninety thousand
Jews were sold into slavery in Egypt and else­
where. The temple was burned to the ground.
Jews were forced to fight wild beasts in Roman
arenas. The remnant was literally scattered
throughout the world, and none, save a handful,
were left in Palestine. Titus took some of the
noblest Jews to march in his triumphal procession
through the streets of Rome. The city’s Arch of
Triumph was built by Titus to commemorate this
victory. On the arch were carved figures of the
young captives carrying sacred temple vessels.
Later the Arabs took possession, and today the
Mohammedan Mosque of Omar stands near the
site of Solomon’s temple.
Jerusalem, until recently, has been trodden
down of the Gentiles. Undoubtedly, now we are
seeing the beginning of the end of that domina­
tion, as the times of the Gentiles rapidly draw to
29
a close. Jews have been and are a persecuted
people, suffering the vengeance of their unbelief
because they turned their hearts away from the
Lord and did not accept God’s Son, their own
Messiah, foretold by all the Jewish prophets. To
read the tale of Israel’s woes is to learn of a
people who have been the object of the hatred of
all nations.
THE TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS
OF ISRAEL
Israel’s woes began as Christ predicted, with
the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70. After
the scattering of the Jews from Palestine, they
dwelled in various countries with comparative
safety. Their awful night of terror began with
the Crusades. The words of Deuteronomy 28
found shocking fulfillment. In his book, Stranger
Than Fiction, Lewis Browne gives many details
of the scattering and suffering of the Jews. He
writes:
From the 5th to the 7th century the Jews were
at rest in hardly a land in the world. In Christian
countries—especially in Spain—they were hounded
out of town after town, or were penned in like
lepers in a single, foul little alley. Christian kings
and noblemen robbed them. Christian bishops
wrote books against them, and Christian ruffians
murdered them.
The year 1096 inaugurated the first Crusade.
Europe seemed to go stark, raving mad. The
bloodthirstiness of the Mohammedans was whet­
ted first with the blood of Jews. One Godfrey C.
Bouillon enlisted fellow crusaders to swear with
30
an oath that no infidel Jew would be left alive in
the land of Palestine. In Worms 800 Jews—al­
most the entire population—were slaughtered. In
Mayence over one thousand Jews were massacred.
In Cologne, Regensburg, Treves, and Prague the
pogrom continued—violent, bloody, and shameful,
while the hordes of crusaders left their trail of
blood all over Europe during that devastating
year. Sometime later, when they reached Jerusa­
lem, in unbelievable sadism all the Jews were
driven like animals into one of the synagogues
and burned alive.
Dr. Feinberg relates:
In the great city of Worms many of the Jews
had gained the protection of Bishop Allebrandus.
It was not long, however, before the crusaders
made a raid on the Bishop’s palace, it appears,
and demanded that the Jews be turned over to
them. The Bishop then informed the Jews that
they would have to be baptized in order to enjoy
his further protection. The Jews asked for time
to consider. When the time had elapsed and the
Bishop went to receive the answer, he found some
of them dead in their own blood. When the in­
furiated mob heard this, they murdered the sur­
vivors and dragged their corpses through the
streets.
After the massacre at Worms, the crusaders
moved on to the city of Mayence. Here the un­
scrupulous Archbishop Euthard had craftily in­
vited the Jews to take shelter in his palace.
When their surrender was demanded, the mob
was allowed to seize them without any opposition
on the part of the Archbishop’s guard. The hor­
rible massacre at Worms was then re-enacted.
In England the accession of Edward I brought
to the Jews some feeling of security because they
31
looked upon the King as a just monarch. Hu
showed them no favors, but neither did he extort
their wealth from them. He protected their per­
sons and their property.
All was indeed going well until a Dominican
monk, studying the Hebrew language in order to
be able to convert the Jews, became converted to
Judaism, even undergoing the rite of circumcision.
This monk was handed over to the Archbishop of
Canterbury for punishment, but from all appear­
ances, he escaped without injury. The Dominicans,
smarting under the disgrace that this member of
the Order had brought upon them, resolved to take
vengeance on the Jews. The Order first sought
the ear of the Queen, who shortly afterwards ex­
pelled the Jews from the town of Cambridge,
which was her property, and aroused ill feeling
toward the Jews among the merchants of the
whole country.
Soon parliament began to pass discriminating
laws against the Jews. Every opportunity that
afforded itself of draining them of their wealth
was seized upon. Shortly after this, a charge of
counterfeiting the coin of the realm was brought
against them, for which they were hanged. Others
were sentenced to life imprisonment, and yet
others were expelled from the country, while their
property was confiscated.
The outcome of this was that many Jews in
London were tom asunder by horses and their
dead bodies were hanged on the gallows. It was
not long before other accusations were forthcom­
ing and similar penalties were inflicted. Finally,
in 1290, the King, through the influence of others,
issued a decree that all the Jews of England were
to be expelled from the country. Failure to leave
was to be punished by hanging.
From England many Jews went to France. The
misfortune of the Jews in France began with the
32
 last quarter of the 12th century. One Phillip
Augustus, son of Louis VII, came to the throne.
He accused the Jews of usury and compelled them
to pay huge sums for their exoneration. The
accusation brought against them was that they
slaughtered Christian children so they might have
their blood for the feast of the passover. Misery
upon misery followed them until 1181. The King
issued an edict forcing all the Jews to leave his
province. Upon their departure, the King enriched
himself with their property. What Phillip Augus­
tus had begun, Louis IX carried on. A year
before his death, he ordered the wearing of a
badge of red felt or saffron yellow cloth in the
form of a disk upon the breast and back of every
Jew.
In the middle of the 14th century, during the
time of the great epidemic known as the Black
Death, it was from the southern portion of France
the rumor originated that the Jews had poisoned
the brooks and wells. In one town a whole Jewish
congregation of men, women, and children were
burned to death with the Scriptures by the incited
populace.
The Jews in Germany felt so keenly the an­
guish of their martyred saints, the kedoshim,
they went about in mourning clothes of sackcloth
sprinkled with ashes. The years following were
no better. The persecution went on at the hands
of serfs, priests, kings, and popes. In further
humiliation, a law was passed by the Roman
Catholic Church in 1215 requiring the wearing
of a colored badge sewn to their clothing when­
ever they were seen in public. This “Jew badge”
was a sign of inferiority and shame.
The Jew was a constant target for all forms
of abuse, including stoning. He could not be a
33
 craftsman because the trade unions rigidly ex­
cluded him from membership. He was restricted
as trader, for in many lands a law forbade him
to sell any but secondhand goods. He had to eke
out a livelihood as a rag peddler or a haggling
pawnbroker.
The Spanish Inquisition began in 1480; and in
1492 about 200,000 Jews were driven from Spain
leaving their gold, silver, and jewels behind. These
persecutions drove the Jews together, and they
were forced to live in ghettos which were located
in the filthiest parts of town. Here they were
crowded together, with two or three families liv­
ing in a single room. High walls surrounded the
ghetto, and the gates were closed and locked at
night. (What we call a ghetto today is not really
a ghetto.) All this caused the Jews to dream again
of the Messiah. Their only solace was found in
prayer in the places of worship on the Sabbath.
The agony of the Jews in Spain was their worst
hell. The most intense persecutions were during
the reign of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella
of Castile. Their diabolical “holy zeal” seemingly
knew no bounds. The entire Spanish population
was enlisted to inform the Inquisitorial officials
of all those guilty of so-called Jewish heresy. In
1481 all “heretics” were thrown to the flames.
In unbelievable desecration they attempted to pun­
ish the dead by burning their bodies, unearthing
the corpses of even the converts to Judaism who
had been murdered for heresy. They seized the
possessions of these dead converts and reduced
their heirs to abject poverty. From Spain many
Jews went to Turkey, Russia, and other Eastern
countries to seek a place of refuge.
34
 MODERN JEWISH POGROMS
The story of Russian persecution takes us to
comparatively recent times. Under the Soviet
Regime the Jews are now drinking the cup of
sorrow to the dregs. Reports of recent years have
been to the effect that officials took whole com­
munities in order to extort money by torture.
Those who did not have money were compelled
to write to their relatives in America asking
money of them. Later reports continue to tell of
the sad situation of the Jews in Russia.
Finally, we turn to the condition of the Jews
in Germany under the Nazi regime. No one can
fully tell the whole tale of sorrow that was enacted
in that country, as well as throughout the Con­
tinent of Europe. The Jewish population of the
world before World War II was about 17,500,000.
Over six million Jews were slaughtered by the
Nazis and their allies. In the light of this terrible
attempt at genocide, Jeremiah gives us a remark­
able prophecy: “Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said,
“The Lord liveth, that brought up the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The
Lord liveth, that brought up the children of
Israel from the land of the north, and from all
the lands whither he had driven them: and I
will bring them again into their land that I gave
unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many
fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them;
and after will I send for many hunters, and they
shall hunt them from every mountain, and from
every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks”
(Jer. 16:14-16).
35
 ANTI-SEMITISM AND ZIONISM
After World War I the “bait” of the homeland
for the Jew in Palestine was offered. Zionism
began to “fish” for Jews to return to their ancient
home. Those who were comfortably settled in
various nations of the world did not accept the
“bait.” At times the interest in the return of the
Jews to Palestine was kept alive more by Chris­
tians than by the Jews themselves. It was only
toward the end of the 19th century that Zionism
found broader echoes in the Jewish world.
The plight of the Jew in Germany revived
Zionism and brought it to the highest pitch it
had ever known. The idea of a Jewish homeland
became an obsession. The time had come for the
“hunters” to arrive, as Jeremiah prophesied, and
drive the Jews back to Palestine. Though the Jew
had been hunted, driven, and persecuted through
the centuries, none of his experiences compared
with the brutalities under Hitler’s rule. He a-
roused a new wave of anti-Semitism and Jewish
extermination. The memory of those desperate
days is preserved in a “Chamber of Destruction”
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. There one can see
lamp shades made from human skins, and con­
tainers that hold bars of soap made from the
bodies of the prisoners collected from the prison
camps of Germany. Each bar is numbered to
identify the person. The German army used this
soap. Julius Streicher, the most extreme Anti-
Semite among the Nazis, said, “The holiest night
in the world will be the night the last Jew dies.”
The decree of July 6, 1939, determined to speed
up Jewish immigration and “get the last Jew out
of the Reich.”
36
 The story of the concentration camps of Ger­
many—Belsen, Dachau, Sachsenhausen—is too
hideous to relate. An American correspondent,
when he saw the ovens of Buchenwald, where it
is said as many as 3,000 a day were suffocated
and burned, exclaimed, “If I had not seen it, I
could not have believed it!”
Dr. Feinberg further comments: “And for
Israel the end is not yet. Full well did the Lord
Jesus Christ, with breaking heart, foresee this
long night for Israel when He stretched out His
arms to receive them as a hen does her chickens,
but they would not. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how long wilt thou turn from the light and life
and love of Him who seeks only thy blessedness
and peace?
“With these centuries of suffering,” writes
Lewis Browne, “the old Messianic ache began to
throb again, and once more Jews, even in the
West, began to long for their ancient homeland...
Dr. Feinberg relates how the Zionist movement
started first in Russia during the dread days
following the murder of Alexander II. Its Rus­
sian adherents were enthusiastic over it, but that
was all. Zionism with them remained a dream,
a thing to talk about. They lacked the worldly
ability required even to attempt to realize it. Then
came Theodor Herzl. At the time of the first
Dreyfus trial, Herzl was in Paris serving as
foreign correspondent for a Vienna newspaper.
A young Jew named Alfred Dreyfus, an officer
in the French army, was accused of selling mili­
tary secrets to the Germans. Dreyfus was con­
demned and sentenced to a living death on Devil’s
Island. Immediately his people began an agitation
for a new trial. Protests were made, mass meet­
37
ings were held; articles, pamphlets, and books
were written in defense of the innocent man.
France was convulsed to its very depths, and all
the civilized world became aroused.
Twelve long years the excitement lasted. Fi­
nally, after the true criminals committed suicide
and the corrupt government had been overthrown,
Dreyfus was exonerated. It was a frightful or­
deal, not alone for Alfred Dreyfus, but for the
whole Jewish people. With him they all stood on
trial, for he had ceased to be a Jew and had
become the Jew. The strange people were a far
sadder but wiser lot. They had been telling them­
selves that they were at home everywhere, but
now they knew again they were at home nowhere
at all. All this set the stage for Theodor Herzl
and the Zionist movement, which began in 1897.
The first Zionist congress met in Basle, Switzer­
land in August of that year, after the publication
of a pamphlet by Herzl entitled, The Jewish State.
The program adopted by the first congress stated:
“Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish
people a publicly recognized and legally secured
home in Palestine.” To attain this end, the pro­
gram specified “the promotion of the settlement
of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen
in Palestine.”
PALESTINE, ISRAEL’S HOMELAND
There were about 25 Jewish colonies in Pales­
tine in 1898, which increased to 43 in 1915, with
a population of about 100,000. The outbreak of
World War I ended the influx of Jewish settlers,
and the program came to a standstill, with many
leaving the colonies. Yet, out of the despair and
38
darkness of the war, there was to shine a bright
light, for God had not forgotten Israel or the
land of Palestine. In November, 1917, Lord Alfred
Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, issued the
famous Balfour Declaration, stating that the
British government looked with favor on the
“establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people.” A special Jewish battalion
was organized to assist General Allenby in the
conquest of the Holy Land. Israel’s former Prime
Minister, David Ben-Gurion, was a corporal in
that army.
One who exercised a tremendous influence on
the British was Israeli chemist, Chaim Weizmann.
Born in Russia, he was naturalized in 1910 and
appointed director of the British Admiralty Lab­
oratories in 1916. In this capacity, he discovered
and developed a method of synthesizing acetone,
a substance essential in the manufacture of a
smokeless explosive powder called cordite. In 1921,
Weizmann was elected president of the World
Zionist Organization and served eight years. May
16, 1948, he was elected president of Israel and
served in this office until he died November 9,
1952.
David Lloyd George, late Prime Minister of
Great Britain, wrote about Weizmann:
I was confronted by a serious crisis. It became
clear that the supplies of wood alcohol for the
manufacture of acetone would prove quite insuf­
ficient to meet the increasing demands, particular­
ly in 1916. The matter was urgent, for without
the acetone there would be no cordite for our
cartridges, for rifles, or big guns.
In exchange for this scientific discovery, on
39
behalf of the British Cabinet, Balfour promised
Palestine as a national home for Israel. One
month later, December 9, 1917, Jerusalem was
freed from the Turks by General Allenby. The
city was taken without firing a shot.
ISRAEL’S DEED TO THE LAND
In 1967, infant Israel bravely defended her­
self with invincibility that has startled the world.
Even though Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of
the Arab League, announced, concerning his na­
tion’s war with Israel that same year: “This will
be a war of extermination and a momentous
massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mon­
golian massacres and the Crusades,” and even
though Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that his
forces would drive Israel into the Mediterranean
Sea forever, and reiterated his threat, “We want
a decisive battle, to annihilate that germ, Israel,”
their failure was dismal and devastating.
None of Israel’s 14 Arab neighbors will admit
that she has a right to be a nation; but the Word
of God makes it clear that the Jew is the only
man on earth who has a country promised to him
by the original Creator of all things—a country,
a nation of this earth forever. On the deed of the
gift are the words, “I am the Almighty God,” and
there is no other nationality that can show such a
claim to any portion of the earth. Since the Al­
mighty has spoken and has laid down the bound­
aries of the land which is to be Israel’s, how
foolish for Communist Russia and the Arab na­
tions to think her land can ever be taken from
her. The history of modem Israel should convince
any skeptic that God is still deeply involved in
40
the affairs of this world. God has a purpose in
the life of His chosen people, though He per­
mitted them to be scattered among and persecuted
by the Gentile nations for about 1900 years, be­
cause of their unbelief. He has also directed the
recent possession of part of their ancient home­
land, and eventually they will possess all of it.
This is a direct fulfillment of the prophecy: “I
will bring again the captivity of my people of
Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine thereof; they shall also make
gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will
plant them upon their land, and they shall no
more be pulled up out of their land which I have
given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:
14, 15).
ISRAEL THE MIRACLE NATION
No nation can trace its lineage by the clear
light of religious history so far back as the Jew.
They had literature before most nations had let­
ters—a literature that is today more widely dif­
fused than that of any other people. In compar­
ison with the Jews, the nations making history
today are but babes. The Jew is the key to
prophecy, and all prophecy is intimately con­
cerned with the Jews. When we speak of the
Jews, we are speaking of a people that had their
origin in a miracle. From 90-year-old Sarah,
sterile and past hope, was bom Isaac. From Isaac
came Jacob; and from Jacob the 12 tribes of
Israel. In the course of natural events, Isaac
could not have been. By the power of God he
came into being, and from that point a nation,
41
clothed in the supernatural, stood up on its feet
and began its strange march down the centuries.
As my father, the late Dr. Harry H. MacArthur,
expressed it: “No other nation in history has had
such manifest and visible tokens of the divine
presence.” For them the Red Sea was driven back
and the Jordan parted. They were miraculously
fed in the wilderness, sheltered and guided by the
divine pillar of fire. For them the sun and moon
were stayed in their courses that their enemies
might be cut down. They began as a miracle, and
their endurance to this hour is a miracle.
How fascinating it was to hear the interviews
held by CBS's Mike Wallace with several defeated
Egyptian generals in an Israeli prisoner of war
camp, following the Six-Day War. In every in­
stance these generals concluded that Israel’s vic­
tory was an impossibility, that no nation could
have won against such odds unless they received
outside help. These military men were firmly con­
vinced that the United States and Great Britain
aided Israel. One general stated that there was
absolutely no other explanation. What he does not
realize is that Israel’s aid was divine, and behind
her magnificent defense was God Almighty. Their
preservation is the miracle of history.
The number of eminent Jews in the world is,
and always has been, out of all proportion to
their population, not because they plotted to put
themselves in places of eminence, but because of
sheer brilliance and application. Their positions
on the faculties of universities are awarded by
competitive examinations, where names are not
signed to the papers. Yet, under these conditions,
they have advanced in outstanding proportion.
42
 ISRAEL’S INFLUENCE
AND INDESTRUCTIBILITY
It was Jewish money that financed Christopher
Columbus and made possible the discovery of this
country. It was Jewish money that carried
through the Revolutionary War. Haym Salomon
was the Jewish broker who, almost singlehand-
edly, carried Jefferson, Monroe, and Madison
through the days of their financial difficulties,
bringing America to victory. Rarely did Salomon
ask interest on his loans, and frequently he made
them, knowing he would never be repaid. He died
in squalor, his lungs choking with tuberculosis.
Nothing was done to repay his heirs, and nothing
to perpetuate his memory.
The number of Jews receiving Nobel prizes is
extremely large, indicating great achievements in
science and other worthy causes for the blessing
of humanity. During World War II the Miami
Daily News carried this item:
A Nazi who has syphilis must not allow himself
to be cured by salvarsan, because it is the dis­
covery of a Jew, Ehrlich. He must not even take
steps to find out whether he has syphilis, because
the Wassermann reaction used for that purpose is
the discovery of a Jew. A Nazi who has heart
disease must not use digitalis, the use of which,
in the treatment of heart disease, was developed
by a Jew, Ludwig Trabo. If he has a toothache,
he will not be able to use cocaine, for he will be
benefiting from the work of a Jew, Solomon
Strieker. Typhus must not be treated, for he will
have to benefit by the discoveries of the Jews,
Widall and Weill. If he has diabetes, he must not
use insulin, because of the research work of a Jew,
Minkowsky. If he has a headache, he must shun
43
 pyramidon and antipyrine, discovered by Spiro
and Eiloge. Anti-Semites who have convulsions
must put up with them, for it was a Jew Oscar
Leibreach, who thought of using chloral hy­
drate.
We could add that Salk and Sabin, who ended
the awful epidemic of polio, were Jews.
As we have seen, these wonderful people have
been blamed for almost everything from the Black
Plague of the 14th century to a recent plot to
overthrow all Gentile governments. Because of
the recent victories of this little miracle nation
in the Middle East and the embarrassment of the
great gigantic colossus, the Soviet Union, we
can be sure there will rise a new tide of hate
that the Word of God assures us will climax in
that great invasion from the north, led by a
Soviet confederacy and motivated by the evil de­
sire to destroy Israel once and for all. But God
will defend his people, and terrible beyond de­
scription wil be the slaughter of Israel’s enemies
in the valley of Megiddo (Ezek. 38 and 39). See
also Ezekiel 37:11-13; Jeremiah 31:35-37; Gene­
sis 3:14, 15; Genesis 17:7, 8. This will mark the
end of the blasphemous, God-defying, Christ-hat-
ing, Communist hordes with their dream.
THE THRILLING AW AKENING
OF ISRAEL
The story of Israel’s recent awakening is dra­
matic and thrilling because of its prophetic and
Biblical significance. At last, May 14, 1948,
Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled, “Who hath heard
such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or
44
shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as
Zion travailed, she brought forth her children”
(Isa. 66:8). And that is exactly what happened!
After 1,878 years of Gentile domination, shortly
after sunrise, the Union Jack of Great Britain,
flying over the government house in Jerusalem,
came down, and at 4 P. M., the 24th day of Iyar,
5,780 years after creation on the Jewish calendar,
the state of Israel was bom, with still eight hours
left before the British mandate ended at mid­
night. The United States recognized the Jewish
state at the very moment of her birth. As Pres­
ident Truman signed a formal document, he said:
The U. N. voted to partition Palestine. We went
along with that decision and recognized Israel.
It was my responsibility to see to it that our
foreign policy fits in with the foreign policy of
the world. Besides, after what Hitler did to the
Jews, and after the reports I got when I sent
Earle Harrison to make a study of the displaced
persons camps and found that the Jews wanted
to get out of Europe and go to Palestine, I felt
that they ought to have a democratic home of
their own.
An eye-witness of the event reported that the
day the state of Israel was established, they ran
up the Jewish flag with its six-pointed Star of
David. The Jews went almost wild. Jews with
long, white beards, wearing little skull caps,
climbed upon two-wheeled oil carts used for de­
livery of gasoline and kerosene. Two or three of
these old men, astride one barrel, were waving
their flags and shouting. An old grey-haired Jew
said, “I have been waiting since 1885 for this
great event. It is time for the Messiah to come.”
The thirteen men who were to rule the new
45
state sat down at a long table. Zionist flags, with
the two pale blue stripes and the blue Star of
David, flew overhead. They all arose and sang a
Zionist anthem, “Song of Hope,” which in part
says:
We have not forgotten, nor shall we forget our
solemn promise. . . The ancient longing will be ful­
filled to return to the land.. .of our fathers.
At this, the audience cheered and wept. In two
hours it would be the Sabbath when many would
be praying for the nation’s future, while its
armies fought for freedom. The name of the
army commander-in-chief of Haganah was Israel
Galilee, which became the national rallying cry.
The prophet Jeremiah gave a word for all na­
tions to heed: “For thus saith the Lord; Sing
with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the
chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and
say, 0 Lord, save thy people, the remnant of
Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the coasts of the
earth.. .a great company shall return thither.
They shall come with weeping, and with suppli­
cations will I lead them.. .for I am a father to
Israel.. .Hear the word of the Lord, 0 ye nations,
and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He
that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep
him, as a shepherd doth his flock” (Jer. 31:7-10).
The fulfillment of this prophecy is as exacting as
the mathematics which says 2 plus 2 equal 4. It
is beyond denial!
In her book, Israel Today, Ruth Gruber writes:
The drama of Israel’s own birth had its counter­
part in the drama of the discovery of the Dead
Sea Scrolls. It seemed almost an act of destiny
46
 that both occurred on the same day. In New York,
Saturday, November 29, 1947, the nations of the
world were voting to partition Palestine and create
a Jewish state. In Jerusalem Dr. Eleazar Sukenik,
professor of archaeology at the Hebrew University
was hurrying home from Bethlehem with the
sacred scrolls wrapped in paper under his arm.
He opened them in his study and began excitedly
reading the writing on the ancient leather.
It is interesting that the scrolls contained the
whole book of Isaiah, the Gospel of the Old Testa­
ment that prophesied of the coming Messiah. In
fact, it is the must detailed book of Messianic
prophecy. Isaiah also told of the regathering of
Israel. “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob
whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my
friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends
of the earth, and called thee from the chief men
thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away”
(Isa. 41:8, 9).
Said David Ben-Gurion, reading the Proclama­
tion of Independence:
The land of Israel was the birth place of the
Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious, and
national identity was formed. Here they achieved
independence and created culture of national and
universal significance. Here they wrote and gave
the Bible to the world.. .It is the natural right
of the Jews to lead, as do all other nations, an
independent existence in its sovereign state.. .by
virtue of the natural and historic right of the
Jewish people and the establishment of the Jewish
state in Palestine, to be called the state of Israel.
With trust in Almighty God, we set our hand to
this declaration on this Sabbath eve, the 5th of
Iyar, 5,708, the 14th of May, 1948.
47
Ruth Gruber continues her narrative—
It was a miracle at midnight. One minute
before midnight of May 15, any Jewish man,
woman, or child caught carrying a gun could be
arrested by the British. One minute after mid­
night the Jew was called upon to defend himself
against six Arab states with all the help Britain
could give them. “The miracles” became logic.
The rationalists, the disbelievers, the materialists
and the 20th century existentialists, could find no
better word. The miracle was the State. The mir­
acle was winning the war after the Arabs had
threatened to drive every Jew into the sea. The
miracle was that a heterogeneous people from
every cultural level in the world was being fused
together into a nation again. The miracle was
that an enlightened democracy was springing up
in the middle of the feudal and corrupt Middle
East. The miracle was that ordinary human be­
ings, full of ordinary desires, mistakes, visions,
pettiness, quarrels, dreams, and ambitions—noble
people and mean ones, strong people and ordinary
ones—were doing this extraordinary thing.
THE AMAZING
EXTEN T OF THE REGATHERING
Our Lord declared, “Behold, the fig tree (the
symbol of Israel), and all the trees; When they
now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own
selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So like­
wise ye, when ye see these things come to pass,
know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at
hand” (Luke 21:29-31). He referred not only to
Israel, but other similar nations that have been
dormant for centuries. With the rise of Israel,
there has been an awakening among other small
nations that have been downtrodden and op­
48
pressed. We have seen the shooting forth of
Burma, India, Ghana, Nigeria, and a number of
other African states. A wave of nationalism has
arisen among the Arab states and African colo­
nies.
There is no stranger story in the history of
the world than the regathering of the Jews from
all parts of the earth forming the new nation of
Israel. This began a new “exodus” of thousands
of Jews from every nation. About one million
returned from 70 nations during the first 12 years
of Israel’s history. See Jeremiah 16:14, 15. For
the first three-and-one-half years after the found­
ing of the nation, they came at the rate of 23 per
hour, day and night. Yitshak Ben Zevi, President
of Israel, said, “We are witnesses of the wondrous
process of the joining of the tribes of Israel bone
to bone, flesh to flesh, into one people; an ancient
people, condemned to exile and dispersion, has
sprung to life again.”
One of the most thrilling accounts of Israel’s
regathering relates to the return of 50,000 Jews
from the Arab kingdom of Yemen, where for
centuries they lived in slavery. Before 1949 it
meant death to try and leave Yemen, but that
year they were permitted to leave if they aban­
doned their property or sold it for almost nothing.
They were a deeply religious people and had to
pay a head tax on themselves and their Bible
scrolls. They walked for hundreds of miles to the
British protectorate of Aden when the American
Joint Distribution Committee, through the United
Jewish Appeal, flew them out in giant C-54 Sky-
masters, piloted by American boys, in what was
called “Operation Magic Carpet.”
The Yemenite Jews claimed to be the oldest
49
 Jewish community in the world, having gone into
voluntary exile in 628 B. C. to escape from Neb­
uchadnezzar. They made a strong place for them­
selves in Yemen, and refused to return to Jeru­
salem during the invasion of Cyrus, king of
Persia. By the 7th century they became second-
class citizens. Oppressed and humiliated, they
nevertheless practiced their Jewish faith. The
Yemenites were a primitive people, bypassed by
civilization for centuries, but they returned to
Israel as foretold. Although overwhelmed by all
the awesome contrivances of the modern world,
they were not frightened when they saw the air­
liners standing by to take them to their new home.
They stepped aboard without hesitation, claim­
ing this was prophesied in Isaiah 40:31. One of
them firmly established this claim when he said,
“For all these years we waited upon the Lord and
He kept renewing our strength. Now we are
mounting up with wings as eagles, only the Bible
didn’t say they would be American eagles’ wings!”
In May, 1950, the Iraqi government gave the
Jews one year to get out. Once again, weeping
Jews by the rivers of Babylon were returned to
Palestine in the largest human air lift in history.
A thousand Jews a day were flown from Iraq to
Israel, in an operation called “Ali Baba.” Ameri­
can planes flew out 122,000. In 1951, 80,000 Jews
came from Romania. Others came from Hungary
and Czechoslovakia. The entire Jewish community
of Yugoslavia returned to Israel, and about
44,000 came from Bulgaria. From 1952 to 1956
thousands of Jews arrived from North Africa.
They came from Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Many came from Egypt after Nasser stole the
businesses of wealthy Jews. More came from
50
 Hungary, and in one year 40,000 fled from Poland.
Thousands came from Iran and others from
Kurdistan, Afghanistan, and Bukhara, a small
community on the Iran border. Many of them
traced their descent from the lost tribes of Israel.
Over 2,000 “black Jews” of India returned and
settled in Israel between 1953 and 1956. They had
taken on the dark skin of the Indian people dur­
ing the centuries they had lived there. Records
show also the existence of autonomous Jewish
communities in the southern extremity of India
as far back as the 4th century. They have kept
certain traditions of the Jewish faith, observing
many of the rituals, and praying in Hebrew. They
are proud of their historic past and racial ances­
try, though they have had very little association
with the rest of the Jewish world. Travelers from
America and Europe brought them information
of other Jewish communities, as well as Torah
scrolls and prayer books. What prompted them to
go to Israel? They were unfamiliar with 20th
century Zionism and modern trends in Jewish
life. It has been said they were moved to take
this step out of a vague, religious, Messianic
feeling.
Miss Dvora Elon, associated with the Israeli
embassy in Washington, told of the black Jews
who came from Ethiopia. These black Falashas
trace their descent from King Solomon’s guards,
who escorted the Queen of Sheba back after
her stay in Jerusalem. These guards then settled
in the Ethiopian mountains.
A community of 2,000 Jews returned from
China. Ten of them came at first; five had a
serious disease, so the remaining Jews were not
allowed to enter Israel. Jewish doctors were sent
51
to the Institute of Tropical Diseases in London
to find a cure for this sickness. The doctors then
went to China to cure them, and now all have
returned to Israel.
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF ISRAEL’S REBIRTH
After Ezekiel's vision of the “dry bones” (Ezek.
37), God asked him the question, “Can these
bones live?” To which the prophet answered, “0,
Lord God, thou knowest.” It is explicitly stated
that these bones are representative of the house
of Israel (vs. 11). God announced that He would
open their graves and bring them home to the
land of Israel. This would be followed by a new
spiritual relationship with God. Then the prophet
saw the realization step by step. There was a
noise and a rattling, and the bones came together.
Next, the muscles and flesh formed over the bones,
and skin covered them. Finally the bodies began
to breathe and live.
The dry bones are a dramatic picture of the
Jewish nation before the people returned to their
land. Here we have indication that there will be
successive and distinct stages of development,
with preliminary organization and gradual imple­
mentation over a span of time. It often seems
that great historic events appear abruptly on the
scene. As a matter of fact, the underlying causes
are usually at work over a period of time.
The exciting, astonishing victory of Israel in
1967 is significant in pointing toward the fulfill­
ment of the climax of history—the second coming
of Jesus Christ. His feet are to stand upon the
Mount of Olives. The celestial visitors said at
52
His ascension, . .this same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”
(Acts 1:11). He is not recognized today as Is­
rael’s Messiah, but He will be when He comes
(Zech. 12:10).
Orthodox Jews are anticipating the coming of
their Messiah. I have heard them praying at the
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. With genuine tears
they pleaded for the peace of Jerusalem, the re­
building of the temple, and the return of the
Messiah. The Apostle John promises that their
longing will not be in vain, as he proclaims:
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced him:
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail be­
cause of him. Even so, Amen” (Rev. 1:7).
THE DIVINE TIMETABLE
It was Zechariah, one of God’s prophets who,
in the year 520 B. C., intimated the formation of
the United Arab Republic by identifying the en­
emies of Israel that would surround the land of
Palestine. But not until February 21, 1958, was
this announced to the world as an accomplished
fact. See Zechariah, chapters 9 through 11. Sim­
ilarly, the empires of Rome, Egypt, Greece,
Medo-Persia, and Babylon have run a course
clearly foretold in the Old Testament. Alexander
and the Caesars did not change destiny; they
were only part of it. And so it is with the leaders
of nations today, as a United States of Europe
is a very real possibility on the basis of the pres­
ent European Common Market (Dan. 2, 7, 8, and
11 ).
53
 The Bible clearly fixes the world on a precise
timetable. In prophecy it establishes the destiny
of nations without violating the free will of the
individual, and the history of this world will find
its consummation in the One who declared, “I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, which is and which was, and which
is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).
On July 27, 1959, President Nasser of the
United Arab Republic said Israel was “a crime
established by treachery.. .1 announce on behalf
of the United Arab Republic people.. .we will ex­
terminate Israel.” Nasser had obviously not read
the Bible very carefully, or ignores its unerring
profhetic record which declares: “And they shall
no more be pulled up out of their land which I
have given unto them” (Amos 9:15). See also
Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 33; Ezekiel 11; Amos 9.
Because of Nasser’s lack of Biblical knowledge,
on Monday, June 5, 1967, in stunning pre-dawn
air strikes, the tiny nation Israel all but anni­
hilated the massed air forces of hostile Arab
countries. Within hours the 25 most vital air
bases in the Arab world had been wrecked. In
four hours the air war against Nasser was won;
in 60 hours the Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi air
forces were shattered. In six days the war was
over. Those who believe in the integrity of the
Bible realize Israel’s military victory is renewed
evidence that the God of Israel lives, that His
promises of protection and guidance will be ful­
filled, and that the establishment of a strong
Israel ushers in what Richard Wolff called “Act
II” on the stage of world history.

54
 THE UNERRING ACCURACY
OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY
As G. B. Hardy warns in his book, Countdown,
high-powered diplomatic corps, it would appear,
in the absence of crystal balls, might well use
Bibles as they ponder the future of the world.
Mr. Hardy lists the following prophetic facts as
being easily discernible:
1. The long dormant people of the Middle East
cannot be put back to sleep.
2. The new nation Israel will always exist, and
ultimately increase, not decrease.
3. Israel will continue an irremovable thorn to
her neighbors.
4. There will be destruction in that area that man
can only work with his newly found “nuclear
1 toys.”
5. China will rise as a giant among the nations.
6. A confederation of Europe is inevitable.
7. The nations will ultimately submit to a world
dictatorship (Ezek. 38; Zech. 12, 14; Dan. 2;
Rev. 13, 16, 17).
When the Church age is brought to a close by
the completion of the body of Christ from among
Jews and Gentiles, Israel's blindness will be taken
away, and the Jewish clock will begin to tick.
This is foreknowledge beyond question. Yet, with­
al, behind it is the hand of God, for we have had
the privilege of seeing God fulfill the promise
He made to Moses and the other Old Testament
prophets that one day He would bring His people
65
back to the land God gave them through Abra­
ham. This remarkable fulfillment of prophecy vin­
dicates forever the integrity and infallibility of
the Word of God. If there were no other evidence
(though of course, there is), this should be suf­
ficient forever to substantiate divine inspiration.
Fulfilled prophecy is found in the Bible alone.
Hence, it presents proof of divine inspiration that
is positive, conclusive, and overwhelming.
No man, unaided by God, foreknows the future,
for it is an impenetrable wall, an “iron curtain”
to all mankind. Only an all-knowing God can
infallibly predict the future. If one can find true
prophecy (as one does in the Bible), with definite
fulfillment, with sufficient time intervening be­
tween the prediction and the fulfillment, and with
explicit details to insure that the prophecies are
not clever guesses, then the case is perfect and
unquestionable. Desperate atheists and other un­
believers, seeking a way to circumvent the fact
of fulfilled prophecy and its connotation, have
argued that fulfillments were “accidental,”
“chance,” or “coincidental,” but when a number
of details are given, the “chance” fulfillment is
ruled out.
JERUSALEM AND
THE PROPHETIC WORD
An outstanding example of a specific, detailed
prophecy and its fulfillment is found in the
graphic prediction our Lord made regarding the
destruction of Jerusalem. He had remarked that
the things admired by thj disciples—the beaut­
iful stone work of the temple, constructed of
immense stones, some of which were more than
56
six feet long, ten feet wide, and eight feet high—
would be knocked down, and one stone would not
be left on top of another. In answer to the ques­
tion of His disciples as to when this would take
place, our Lord said, “And when ye shall see
Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that
the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them
which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and
let them which are in the midst of it depart out;
and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance,
that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
But woe unto them that are with child, and to
them that give suck, in those days! for there
shall be great distress in the land, and wrath
upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge
of the sword, and shall be led away captive into
all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down
of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled” (Luke 21:20-24).
In A.D. 70, forty years after our Lord spoke
these words, the Roman soldiers of Titus, in ex­
press violation of his orders to preserve it, leveled
the temple to the ground; the symbol of the Jew­
ish faith was no more. The Romans sent thou­
sands of prisoners to the Egyptian mines. Mul­
titudes perished in Roman arenas, slain by the
sword, and tom asunder by wild beasts. Those
who were under 17 years of age were sold into
slavery. Josephus estimated the total number of
captives at 97,000, and the number of those who
perished during the siege at 1,100,000.
Our Lord predicted that they would “fall by
the edge of the sword”—literally by “The mouth
of the sword.” The sword is poetically represented
as a biting animal with a mouth devouring and
57
destroying. One interesting side light to this
prophecy took place in the following manner.
After the conquest, Titus considered Palestine
his private possession. He gave large sections to
his friends and favorites and allowed 800 Roman
veterans to establish themselves close to the ruins
of the city of Jerusalem.
Jesus had said, “When ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then know that the deso­
lation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are
in Judaea flee to the mountains.” If ever a mes­
sage from our Lord required explicit belief
contrary to appearances, it was this one. There
were thousands of Christians in Jerusalem at the
time, and they were told the sign to watch for
was the surrounding of the city by hostile armies.
It would seem that the fulfillment of the promised
sign would automatically cut off any hope for
anyone profiting by it. But the believers trusted
their Lord. General Cestius brought up his troops,
and then, as Josephus says, he withdrew “without
any just occasion in the world.” The great his­
torian, Phillip Schaff, wrote: “The Christians
of Jerusalem, remembering the Lord’s admonition,
forsook the doomed city in good time and fled to
the town of Pella in the Decapolis beyond the
Jordan.” When Titus utterly destroyed the city,
everyone who believed the warning of the Lord
escaped the dreadful fate of Jerusalem.
JESUS CHRIST, ISRAEL’S MESSIAH
AND THE WORLD’S SAVIOR
How solemn are His words, “He that rejecteth
me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that
58
judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the
same shall judge him in the last day” (John
12:48). Christianity is not a new religion, unre­
lated to the Old Testament; it is based on the
solid ground of fulfilled Old Testament prom­
ises. Someone said:
Christianity, with Jesus as its central figure—
human and divine, prophet, priest, and king—
is nothing less than the translation of prophecy
from the region of ardent belief to actual fact.
And we see the living and organic connection be-
fwggri tlis two dispensations and recognize it as
the same God who spake in both—in the first to
prepare, in the second to accomplish.
And if you think, as surely you ought, that
there is a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy in
the history, preservation and restoration of Is­
rael, this overwhelming evidence is not to be com­
pared with the prophecies and their fulfillment
concerning the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The golden milestone in the ancient city of
Rome was the point in the Old World at which
many roads, running from all directions in the
Roman Empire, met and converged. So all lines
of Old Testament Messianic prophecy meet in
Jesus the Christ of the New Testament.
He is the burden of the prophets’ messages,
the theme of the Psalmist’s song, the chief char­
acter of the Gospels, the fountainhead of inspir­
ation in the Epistles, and the sublime and majes­
tic central figure of the Revelation. If, in the
light of the evidence presented, it becomes plain
to you that the preservation of Israel is the
miracle of God, an undeniable fulfillment of
prophecy, an undeniable evidence of divine fore­
knowledge, then Jesus Christ is even more so.
59
He is the center of Old Testament prophecy. He
is the center of New Testament history, and most
important of all, He is your only possible Savior.
He is God invading the world with a redemptive
purpose. He is alive—His presence is manifested
in the world by His Holy Spirit. He promises,
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to m e;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out” (John 6:37).
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts
4:12).