God announced to Abraham that it was His intention to bless all nations through him and his seed (Gen. 12:1-3). This promise and plan are expanded in different utterances found in various connections throughout Genesis. God never goes back upon His plans, even though He may, humanly speaking, be delayed in carrying them out. For instance, when He created the world, He purposed that it should be inhabited (Isa. 45:18). Satan by deception caused Eve to sin. This act of transgression brought ruin upon the earth. From that time to the present the curse has been lying very heavily upon the world and all things therein. This condition will continue until the Lord returns from Glory and lifts it from all creation (Rom. 8:18-25). When we read the connection of Isaiah 45:18, we see that the prophet was talking about the glorious millennial reign of Christ. At the dawning of that day, the earth enters the period when it will be fully inhabited. This one case is proof that, even though the Almighty might be delayed in carrying out His purposes, He never abandons them but rather steers the course of history until conditions develop when He can carry out His original design.

During the days of Jacob conditions in Palestine were more or less unsettled; hence the Chosen People could not properly develop into a nation in such an environment. The Lord, knowing what was best for them, providentially prepared the way for their descent into Egypt by sending Joseph before them. He was elevated to the position of prime minister of the country. When the time arrived for Jacob and his family also to go, the Lord worked all things together for the good of His servants and providentially directed their way to the land of the Pharaohs. There under a highly organized government they grew into a mighty nation, the kings of the country being favorable to them. Under the patronage of royalty they settled down complacently and were satisfied to remain there. This was not God's will for them. They were out of place--out of the land which the Lord had given to them, Palestine.

God always uses men and means to accomplish His purposes. He makes even "the wrath of man" to praise Him (Ps. 76:10). Therefore "there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph" (Ex. 1:8). This man dealt subtlely with the Hebrews and put them under a yoke of bondage the like of which they had not experienced. The Pharaohs of the Oppression were elevated to the position of power in order that the Lord might use them in weaning His people from the flesh pots of Egypt, the leek, and the garlic. Moses was born at the beginning of the period of bondage as one learns from a study of Exodus two. Since he was eighty years of age at the time of the deliverance from Egypt, the servitude lasted at least that long, growing in intensity as the years passed. Hence the popular conception that the Hebrews were in bondage for 400 years is a mistake, which is due to a misunderstanding of such passages as Genesis 15:12-14 and Acts 7:6. Under the galling yoke of servitude the children of Israel suffered. It took much persecution to bring them to the point that they were willing to leave the country for the land which the Lord had given to them and their forefathers. They, like many people today, learned the lesson of obedience very slowly. Nevertheless, when the Pharaoh of the Oppression, who was Thotmes III, as I shall show in Messiah: His First Coming Scheduled, died (Ex. 2:23,24), they cried to Jehovah by reason of their sufferings. He heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses, who had fled from Egypt forty years prior to that time upon the death of Hatshepsut, "Pharaoh's daughter" who drew him from the water and adopted him as her son, was in the land of Midian, keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. God always has a man prepared and ready to do His bidding. On this occasion he was the chosen servant whom the Lord was delighted to use in leading His people out from under the yoke of bondage. Hence the Lord appeared to him in "the burning bush," calling and commissioning him to return to Egypt for the purpose of delivering His people (Ex. 3 & 4). The Lord met all of his objections regarding his being unfit for the task. Then he was willing to go and did so, returning to Egypt to begin his life's work.

Moses had a rather difficult time convincing the children of Israel that God had sent him to deliver them. See Exodus 4:29 and 6:12. The Lord never forces one against his will. On the contrary, He sets the facts of His redeeming love before men and allows them to exercise that most precious faculty with which He endowed them, the freedom of the will and the power of choice. Nevertheless, He reasons with them. "Come, let us reason together, saith Jehovah" (Isa. 1:18). He is persuasive, laying every inducement before them to accept that which is for their own good. He always stops short of overpowering the will or of mental coercion. If argument and logic coupled with a due amount of persuasion will not convince the intellect and move the will, He waits until adversity and providential circumstances bring one to the point that he will listen to reason. This very thing He was doing by means of the persecutions which He allowed to come upon them in the form of the bondage. Finally, Moses and Aaron by their clear testimony and demonstrations of divine powers miraculously conferred upon them convinced their brethren that the time had arrived for them to leave Egypt for the Promised Land. Being brought to this point they were willing to accept the deliverance which the Lord was desirous to bring about in their behalf.

On account of her rejection of King Messiah, Israel has been scattered among the nations for approximately nineteen hundred years. He has allowed her to exercise the power of choice and the freedom of the will. He has refused to coerce her. Of course, she has refused the testimony concerning redemption through the blood of Christ during this period. All who have taken this attitude have done so to their eternal sorrow.

As the time is drawing near for the Messiah to return in glory for the purpose of setting up His blessed reign of righteousness, the Lord is graciously allowing anti-Semitism to come out of its places of hiding and to stalk abroad throughout all lands. We see its deadly effects in Europe today. With the passing of each day anti-Jewish hatred and persecution are increasing in all lands. According to the Scriptures this satanically inspired feeling will eventually burst forth into a mighty conflagration of bitterest persecution throughout the world. To Isaiah was granted a very graphic vision of this last stroke of anti-Semitism, which we know will be dealt toward the close of the Tribulation (Isa. 42:22). Those engaging in this titanic effort to destroy Israel will be profligates who abandon themselves to Satan and his wiles to be used at will. The sacred writer gave us another and detailed account of the horrors of that time in Psalm 74.

History, we are told, repeats itself. Undoubtedly this statement is true. As we have already seen, God raised up the Pharaohs of the Oppression to wean the Israelites from the flesh pots of Egypt. He is today raising up modern Pharaohs to do the same thing. As the years pass (possibly I should have said months) we may expect others to arise in the various countries to put on anti-Semitic drives against God's ancient people. This is just what we may expect, if we are to judge by Israel's experience in Egypt. We are logical in making this analogy since the deliverance from the bondage in the land of the Pharaohs is held up as a type of their being gathered out of all countries into the land of their fathers and since human nature is the same now as then.

God directs the course of history. The counsel of the nations shall be brought to naught but that of Jehovah shall stand fast forever (Ps. 33:10,11). His ordering and determining (never arbitrarily nor irrespective of man's volition and actions) the channel through which the current of human events is now flowing are evident to the Scriptually-taught and spiritually-discerning people. His raising up these modern Pharaohs to persecute the Jews in order to turn their hearts to things spiritual and to create in their souls a longing for the land of their fathers is proof positive that we are close to the time for the final regathering of Israel and the dawn of that day without clouds (Jer. 23:7,8; II Sam. 23:4).

God is the potter and Israel is the clay. When I was in Jerusalem I went down to the potter's house and saw a sight similar to the one observed by Jeremiah. (Read Jeremiah 18:1-12). The potter with his hands pressed the clay in different ways, making it assume successive shapes until he was able to develop it into the form which he had in mind. The clay had to pass through all stages in order to reach the final form. The same principle is true in the making of steel. In this respect Israel is like the steel and the clay. God is the master potter and she is indeed the clay. He is breaking, shaping, and making her so that she might be a vessel meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work. (Compare II Tim. 2:20,21). Eventually the Lord will bring her to the point that she will cry out to Him, "But now, 0 Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand" (Isa. 64:8).

At the present time God is shaping Israel. He is using the modern Pharaohs to put the pressure on her. Through them He is accomplishing that which He could bring to pass in no other way. At the same time He is using the message of His Word, which is flowing out to the entire nation in the form of properly prepared books, booklets, and tracts, together with the oral proclamation of the Word by the various agencies now laboring faithfully among His ancient people, in shaping her to become a chosen vessel to give forth His Word to all nations. This ministry is necessary to the moulding of the clay and the shaping of the vessel.

The persecutors of Israel can not escape the judgment of the curse with which He threatened all who curse His people (Gen. 12:1-3). On the other hand, those who through love for God and His people faithfully proclaim His Word to them will come in for the special blessing promised in this passage. 0 brethren, let us give the message of redeeming love to His people while it is day, for the night is fast approaching.

That the present troubles which are befalling the Jews are preparing their hearts for things spiritual is evident from the following quotation which is an excerpt from "The Truth About Germany and the Jews" by Will H. Houghton, D.D., President of Moody Bible Institute, in The Sunday School Times, Sept. 2, 1934.

"What has been the effect of this persecution on the Jews who are left in Germany? There is a religious revival. They are not turning to Christianity, of course. The Christians are their persecutors. They are turning back to the synagogue. Before the outbreak the synagogue was quite deserted--now it is overcrowded."

Since they are turning back to spiritual values, now is the opportunity to give them God's Word. But the only method open to us is that of the printed page. Let us be wise and avail ourselves of this most efficient method of proclaiming the truth to those who otherwise would never have an opportunity of hearing it.

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