(Continued-Chapter VII-Israel God's Witnesses Of The Truth To All Men)

Of Frederick the Great it is said that he asked for proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures in one word. His attention was called to the Jew as the evidence. The history of Israel has been such through the centuries that her preservation can be accounted for only upon the basis of her having, been supernaturally cared for by the Deity. In this sense, and in this sense only, can the whole nation of Israel be said to be God's witnesses.

But in Isaiah 43:10 the Lord declares to the remnant, "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he...."As stated before, the term servant in Isaiah has three connotations. An examination of this immediate context shows it here refers to the faithful remnant, which comes to know the Lord personally, to believe in Him, and to understand that He is the Supreme God. To know God is to come into a vital experimental knowledge of Him and to sustain personal relationships with Him--as one person does to another, a friend. Abraham knew God in this personal way. He was therefore called a friend of God. He walked with God by faith, who was as real to him, yes, more so, than his own personal friends. Thus he had an experimental knowledge of the Almighty. God has chosen this faithful remnant that it shall come into fellowship with Him and have this experimental knowledge of His friendship.

It is God's purpose that those constituting the remnant--the new Israel--shall know Him, not only in this personal manner, but that they shall believe Him--that is, trust Him for everything that pertains to life and godliness. When a person comes to know God in this manner and walks with Him by faith, trusting Him for everything, he will come to trust Him for the fulfillment of all His promises. Faith grows by exercise.

God also has chosen the new Israel to understand the proposition that "I [Jehovah] am he"--the Absolute One. What is it to believe that God is He? In Deuteronomy 32:39 we have the answer.

See now that I, even I, am he,
And there is no god with me:
I kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal;
And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

To believe that God is He, therefore, is to be fully assured that Jehovah is the Absolute One, that there is no one besides Him; that He controls the material universe; that He directs the movements of the nations; and that He overrules in the life of the individual.

Moreover, God has chosen the new Israel that she might know of His eternal existence, which antedates time. There were no gods formed before Him. Gods, idols, are the product of man's hands. There were therefore no gods until men were created and departed from the true and the living God. Moreover, the time will come as we learn in Psalm 102, when the material earth will pass away. After that event, there will be no more gods made by men. Jehovah is the one who inhabits all eternity, and besides Him there is no god. Israel thus has been chosen to come to a realization of these marvelous, fundamental truths and to be witnesses of these facts.

As we have already seen in the preceding chapters, there is a plurality of personalities or distinctions in the one divine essence. At the same time they constitute a peculiar unity, no unity being like His as is set forth in Article II of the Thirteen Principles of the Faith, which were formulated by Moses Maimonides. At the same time there are the three distinctions or personalities subsisting in this one divine essence.

We have already learned the significance of Israel's Great Confession: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד׃ "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our Gods is Jehovah a unity" (lit. trans.). When we examine certain passages throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we find that one of these personalities is Jehovah the Father; another, Jehovah the Son; and the third one is Jehovah the Holy Spirit. In a certain context we can see from the facts that the word Jehovah refers to the Father; but observing the facts of a different context, we learn that the term is applied to Jehovah the Son. But in certain other instances the same word is a designation of the Holy Spirit. In addition to these meanings, as we have already learned, the word Jehovah is applied to the Holy Trinity. In view of these facts we must determine from the data of each context which connotation is intended.

God has chosen the new Israel to know the facts concerning these three personalities or distinctions in the Divine Being and to understand the subject of the Holy Trinity in order that she might proclaim to the world the truth regarding each of them. Hence she is chosen of God to declare to the world, speaking in behalf of the Almighty, "I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour." She is elected to proclaim to the world the truth that the self-existing one, Jehovah, the Holy Trinity, is the Absolute One; that besides Him there is none other, and that He is the only Saviour. To declare these essential truths, God has chosen the faithful remnant.

In verse 12 God asserts, "I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed. . . ." The word in the original rendered "declared" literally means, "I have made known." From the flow of thought of the context, when read in the light of related passages, we see that this making known refers to predictions uttered by the Lord, showing that He planned redemption for man. In fulfillment, then, of the predictions regarding the working out of the scheme of redemption, the Lord next declares, "I have saved. . . ." This clause indicates that God has worked out the plan of redemption and is offering it to men. In other words, the predictions concerning God's purchasing man's redemption have been fulfilled.

Finally, the Lord states, "I have showed." After He has worked out the plan of redemption, He shows or makes it known to the world. In other words, He tells the world what He has done for it and offers salvation full and free to all who will accept.

The next clause in the verse is, ". . . and there was no strange god among you." The words in the original are וְאֵין בָּכֶם זָר. The term, ēyn, אֵין is a substantive meaning nothing. In the construction appearing in this clause, the verb is to be supplied. The form is to be gathered from the context. Our translators inserted the copula was. When they did this, they were thinking that Isaiah was looking back to the historic past. The same construction appears in verse 11, אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי יְהוָה וְאֵין מִבַּלְעָדַי מוֹשִׁיעַ which is translated: "I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour." They used the present form is in this instance; but when they translated the clause under consideration, they inserted the copula was. In verse 13 we have the same idiom appearing in the following quotation, גַּם־מִיּוֹם אֲנִי הוּא וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּיל אֶפְעַל וּמִי יְשִׁיבֶנָּה a literal translation of which is, "Even from this day I am he; and there is no one delivering out of my hand; I will work and who can reverse it?"

We have seen from verse 10 that the servant here really knows, believes, and understands that Jehovah is the Absolute One. Only the new Israel will come to such an intimate experimental knowledge of God as is here set forth. But the time when she thus comes into this knowledge of God is yet future. From other passages we know that she will thus arrive at this position spiritually in the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7). Hence the context of our passage is looking out into the future. When we bear in mind this fact and remember that the clause which we have under consideration, וְאֵין בָּכֶם זָר, translated "and there was no strange god among you," is both preceded and followed by the same idiom--where it is rendered in the present tense---we feel constrained to render it "and there is no strange god among-you."

When the new Israel comes to know God, to believe Him, and to understand Him, there will be no strange god in her midst nor any false ideas relating to Him. Being in this condition, she will indeed be God's witnesses to His everlasting truth. Her testimony then will be weighty and effective.

Verse 13 is rendered "Yea, since the day was I am he. . . ." The marginal reading is, "Yea, from this day forth I am he. . . ." This latter translation is likewise grammatically, correct. It fits all the facts of the context. When the new Israel thus comes to this knowledge of God--from that day forward---she will be in a position to give forth a clear, ringing testimony to God's existence, His unity, His triune nature, and to His truth in general.

When the time here foreseen arrives, this new Israel will have been given all the essential facts of the truth. In the power of the Spirit she will then go forth and proclaim the whole redemptive career of King Messiah to the world. She will thus be used of God in bringing a blessing to all peoples. These future heralds of the truth will go forth, meeting all opposition and trusting God to fulfill the promise of protection and deliverance on all occasions. To them the Lord declares, "I will work, and who can hinder it?" or, "I will work, and who can reverse it?" There is no one in the universe who can thwart the purposes of God, who works all things according to the counsel of His will. Let us remember, however, that He is working all things for the good of all concerned and that He never coerces anyone or forces his will.

"The eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (II Chron. 16:9). In the days of Abraham God's eyes ran to and fro throughout the earth to find someone whose heart was right toward Him, and whom He could trust. Of all the myriads of people in the world at that time, there was but one such man whom God could find--Abraham. Thus the Lord gave him a special call to leave his father's home and his native land to go to the land which He promised He would show him. Abraham, though living in a heathen, idolatrous environment--in his own home and in his home town--had an appreciation of spiritual realities. Hence by faith he left his home and started out to the land to which the Lord directed him. By his so doing he became the friend of God and the father of all the faithful.

As noted in the beginning of this chapter, it is God's plan to bless all nations in and through Abraham's literal descendants, the Jews. The eyes of the Lord are running to and fro throughout all Jewry to-find men like Abraham whom He can trust and who will go all the way with Him. This fact throws out a challenge to every Hebrew. May those who read the message of this book consider these eternal verities concerning which I have spoken, weigh the evidence impartially, with only one desire; namely, to learn the truth and to conform their lives to the program that God has for them.

God sees and knows the deepest thoughts and intentions of the heart. He declares that He does "direct the path of the just" (Isa. 26:7) The one and only qualification that a person must possess is that he desire truth and facts above everything else. Of course he must be willing to take his stand upon the truth whenever he learns it. All such God will direct into the path of the just.

Having read and pondered over the momentous truths which have been presented in this volume, the one who wishes to know more about the scriptural teaching regarding Messiah should procure the second book of this series entitled Messiah-His Nature and Person. When he has thoroughly investigated the scriptural truth contained in this volume, he should then study Messiah-His Redemptive Career, which presents from certain blocks of scripture the entire redemptive career of King Messiah-from His first appearance upon the human stage until He has set justice and righteousness in the earth. Following this book, the reader should master the message of the fourth volume of the "Messianic Series" Messiah-His First Coming Scheduled, which shows the scriptural teaching concerning the time when Messiah appears upon earth to begin His redemptive work. This fourth treatise is to be followed by Messiah-His Historical Appearance, a book which will when completed, present indisputable evidence from the Scriptures that Messiah has already appeared and has begun His redemptive work. The sixth of the set, when it appears, will interpret the prophetic scriptures which discuss present-day conditions, and which show us absolutely that we are in the end of this age and are facing the greatest crisis of the centuries. The seventh and the last of the series will present the penitential confession of the remnant of Israel, which it will make in the year 1945-plus.

Any Hebrew who wishes to know the truth of God's Word on the subjects discussed in the volumes mentioned above should write to me regarding the same.

In view of the fact that God created and called the nation of Israel to be the channel of world-blessing and of the further fact that out of present-day Jewry God will call the new Israel that will proclaim His truth to all nations, I must warn any and all who have anti-Semitism in their hearts that they should pray to the Lord to take this feeling out of their souls and give them a love for His ancient people. The promise and the threat contained in the following passage still stand: "I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3).

This volume goes forth with my prayer that God will soon bring this horrible global war to a close, will permit peace once more to return to the earth in order that the inhabitants thereof might have an opportunity to listen in peace to the message of God contained in His Holy Word.

May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lead all of us into a clearer understanding of the truth of His Word.