THE Biblical Research Society has as its objective the dissemination of the truth as extensively in Israel as God permits and also the breaking down of anti-Semitism. To counteract this satanic influence is most important since it clears the way for the presentation of the gospel to the Jewish heart. That God called the Society into existence for this purpose is evident from the fact that He has owned and blessed its labors in behalf of His Chosen People.

But why is the Lord so very much interested in Israel who has, according to the prophets, been rebellious and disobedient against Him throughout the centuries of His special dealings with her? The answer is to be found in the revelation made in the Scriptures concerning the supernatural origin of the Hebrew people. According to the Genesis account, when Abraham and Sarah were past the state of parenthood, God performed a biological miracle which made the birth of Isaac possible. By so doing, He injected new powers and potentialities, physical, intellectual, and spiritual, into the blood stream of the Hebrew people. This miracle alone accounts for the marvelous way in which they have through the centuries survived unspeakably horrible pogroms, have surmounted difficulties from which less virile nations would have drawn back, and have forged forward with incredible success into the foremost positions of influence and power among the nations. Confirmation of this statement is found in such a passage as Isaiah 43:1, in which the Lord declared that He had created Jacob and had formed Israel. God alone performs the creative act; hence whenever this verb is used in the active voice, He is the subject of the sentence. Isaiah delighted to speak of God as "the Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King" (Isa. 43:15). The Jewish people are as much a result of His creative activity as the heavens and the earth of old together with man were, because the Lord declared that He had created all of them. In comparing the nations to grapevines Isaiah said that Israel was the choicest (Isa. 5:1-7.). Everyone who accepts the Scriptures at their face value must, therefore, admit that the origin of the Hebrew people and their history are both miracles.

But why did God create and why has He preserved them through these centuries of rebellious disobedience? The answer is found in the statement that He created them for His glory (Isa. 43:7). According to 46:13 He speaks of His plan to "place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." Once more, we read God's blue print of messianic times in Isaiah 61 where the prophet, after having spoken of her conversion (vs. 3), said that she being saved would be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, "that He may be glorified." From this we can see that God's being magnified in the earth is contingent upon the conversion of Israel. Only in the small minority of people who have accepted His salvation through the centuries has He been glorified. The great masses of humanity have either not heard the message of salvation or have rejected it; hence He has not been exalted in the world yet. When, however, Israel is converted to her long-rejected Messiah, He will be given the honor due His Name. The way in which these people will glorify God is by setting forth His praise, because for this purpose He declared that He had formed them (Isa. 43:21).

This same reason is set forth by Paul in Romans 11. In discussing the Jewish problem the Apostle spoke of their past (ch. 9), their present (ch. 10), and their future (ch. 11). He affirmed that Israel's being set aside on account of her rejection of Messiah has proved to be the occasion of God's enriching the world and bringing salvation to the Gentiles. But he declared that, "if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. 11:15). In this sentence Paul thought of present conditions as if the world were a corpse and of the earth, transformed at the second coming of Christ when Israel is brought back into fellowship with God, as a living person. From this we see that God's glory, as far as this earth is concerned, is wrapped up with the Jewish people. This being a fact, we can understand why He is so very greatly interested in them and in bringing them back to Himself.

Should we who wish to glorify and honor God be less concerned about these people than He Himself is? Everyone who loves the Lord will answer this question in the negative and will likewise do all within his power to advance His program which will bring glory to Him. My earnest plea is that everyone who knows Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour may take this matter with the seriousness which it demands and ask God to open his eyes to see the present situation and to enable him by His grace to fit his life and plans into that of his Maker.

"FOR Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. 2. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name" (Isa. 62:1,2). God is interested in the salvation of the individual, and the angels in heaven rejoice whenever a sinner repents and returns to God. At the present time He is calling out from among the Gentiles a people for his name (Acts 15:14). Hence the note of individualism sounds throughout the New Testament. But the one burden which is lying most heavily upon the heart of God is the salvation of Israel. According to the quotation given above He will never have any peace nor take any rest until Zion, that is, the daughter of Zion (the Jewish people) are clothed with His righteousness and their salvation becomes an accomplished fact.

This glorious return to God on the part of Israel will be brought about by preaching the gospel to her. Moses foresaw the national sin of his people, which would be the occasion of their dispersion throughout the world and which they must confess before they will be restored to their own land. "And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me, I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies" etc. (Lev. 26:40,41). Following this quotation is the promise of final restoration to the land. But one must note the fact that she must confess her own iniquity (singular number) and that of her fathers, before she can be restored to the land. Her iniquity and that of the fathers is one and the same thing. The fathers committed the sin and their descendants have participated in it, in that they did not denounce the crime but acquiesced in it. But they will yet see the facts and repudiate the same. This same prediction, only in different words, is found in Hosea 5:15, which declares that "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me earnestly" (Hosea 6:15). Jehovah came to Israel in the form of Jesus of Nazareth and his own did unto Him as they would. Then He went away and returned to His place and will remain there until they confess "their offense" against Him and seek His face. This they will do "in their affliction" which is "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7).

Since "they shall confess their iniquity" and "acknowledge their offense" against God, it is evident that they will know what their iniquity and their offense are. What do these predictions presuppose? That the Jews as a race will have learned the facts concerning the national sin and that they will be brought under conviction to the extent of repudiating it. God convicts men of sin by the preaching of the gospel to them. It is His good pleasure to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching (I Cor. 1:21). He has committed to men the word of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18,19). Therefore these predictions concerning Israel's repentance and repudiation of the national sin presuppose that the truth of the gospel will be given to her by those who have it. Those who are holding to the ancient faith are the ones who have it; hence they are the ones who will pass on the truth to this people.

This position is further confirmed by the two confessions which Israel as a nation will make. They are recorded in Isaiah 53:1-9 and 63:15-64:12. A careful study of these two passages reveals the fact that they are Israel's national confession which she will make in the year 1938 plus (x). In that year they will have learned the facts about the ancient martyrdom of their Messiah and will acknowledge their mistaken ideas concerning Him and will proclaim to the world the truth which they will have learned at that time relative to His atonement and to their having been in their sins "of long time." When they thus learn the facts, make these confessions, and "look unto me whom they have pierced," God will accept them and reinstate them into His favor.

The interpretation of Zechariah 12:10 which affirms that Israel is to be converted by looking personally upon the Lord Jesus when He returns in glory after the Tribulation does not accord with the facts of Scripture. Those holding this view see no need of evangelizing Israel at the present time. Why should the church concern herself with these people if the Lord is to convert them by the personal, visible coming of Jesus in glory? If this position is correct, to attempt to give the truth to the Jews as a nation now is but a waste of time and to run counter to the plan of God. But, as seen above, the Lord saves people through the preaching of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). When the eunuch wanted the truth, God sent Phillip to preach to him (Acts 8:26-40). When Cornelius prayed for more light, the Lord had him send for Peter, who would speak to him "words" whereby he could be saved (Acts 11:12-14). The Lord has made no distinction between Jew and Gentile, "cleansing their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:8,9) which comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

The rendering of Zechariah 12:10 as it appears in the Common Version has contributed to the misunderstanding of the method whereby Israel will be converted. In this translation we find these words, "and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." But in the American Revised Version, which is far more accurate, we read "and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced." The preposition which in the former translation is rendered "upon" and in the latter, "unto" primarily means, as defined by Brown, Driver, and Briggs in their Hebrew Lexicon, "to, towards, for." In Isaiah 45:22 we have the same preposition rendered "unto" after the verb "look." In this passage God calls upon those in the ends of the earth to look to Him in faith and be saved. This is the idea which Zechariah expressed in 12:10 in his speaking of the future conversion of Israel. Having heard the Word of God and having been convicted of the national sin of rejecting her Messiah she will look to Him by faith, which comes by hearing the word of Christ, and will be saved.

The proclamation to be issued by the leaders of the nation calling the people to repentence is found in Hosea 6:1-3. "Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth." In this call to national repentance and a return to God, the affirmation is made that Jehovah is the one who has torn and who will heal. The acknowledgement of their pitiable condition and the appeal for a return to God on the part of the nation in order that they might be healed show that the repentance and returning to the Lord precede their conversion. The knowledge of one's lost and hopeless condition coupled with assurance of salvation through the Saviour is the thing which leads men back to God.

In view of the facts which have been presented and the many more that might be given, one must conclude that Israel's conversion is contingent upon the preaching of the Word. Since Jehovah, who created the nation of Israel and called her to be the channel of world-blessing, can not take any rest until she is clothed in the righteousness of her Messiah and Lord, and since she will never turn to Him for salvation until the message of the cross is given to her, we who have the glad tidings of redeeming love and who are not giving it to her are certainly grieving His heart. May He open our eyes to see His program for the return of His ancient people and may He stir our hearts to cooperate with Him in bringing them back to Him.

When Israel does return to God, she will be as the dew of Jehovah among the nations of the earth (Micah 5:8). Then ten men out of every nation will "take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zech. 8:23). At that time God will be glorified in Israel (Isa. 44:23). Then will the "earth be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). God will then for the first time be glorified in the earth (Isa. 61:3).

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