CORRESPONDENCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 235, 3 September 1937, Page 12

CORRESPONDENCE

(To the Editoi - .) Sir, —Apparently “A Jewish Sympathiser” is not at all pleased with the answers to his questions, which was as I expected. Nevertheless, they are absolutely correct. He accuses me of “proceeding to the New Testament for proof that all the nation of Israel were Jews, thus ignoring 2000 years of historical development within the nation.” Can 2000 years or 10,000 years of historical development (whatever that may be) restore to the Jewish nation its lost privileges and position; that is to say, usurp the authority of the Apostles, or cancel the New Testament? It was not “historical development” hut obedience to the terms of the Covenant that was required, as stated by the King of Israel Himself. “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law, and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:36, 40). But, while rejecting as unreliable the testimony of the Apostles, who were themselves Jews, he naively quotes Dr. Felix Yalvi as an authority on the matter of “the future leadership of mankind.” However, let us remember that what we wish to learn is God’s purpose for the world. AH man’s plans will be, as he suggests, as useful as the League of Nations. Now for what reason did Jehovah select the fleshly descendants of Abraham the Hebrew (Gen. 14:13) (and if a Jew is a Ilebreu® is not a Hebrew a Jew? But let that pass) to be the custodians of His word and to bear His name? Abraham’s sole virtue was that he “believed God” (Horn. 4:3) and acted upon that belief. Such was a vindication of Jehovah’s word and name, to the extent of Abraham’s ability. Because one of His creatures believed His word Jehovah bound Himself with an oath to “make of thee a great nation” and also to “bless all the families of the earth.” In all His dealings with men the fact stands out convincingly clear that God’s primary purpose is the vindication of His name, for which reason it is written, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6) and “without knowledge it is impossible to have faith” (Rom. 10:17). At the time of the making of this Covenant God gave him the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he then had, that he might be “the father of all that believe” ‘Rom. 4:11), thus ignoring fleshly descent. For the promise that he should be heir of the world (one of earth’s visible rulers) was not through the Law Covenant which was hundreds of years later, but through the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:Il). In corroboration of this interpretation of St. Paul’s that Abraham should be heir of the world, we recall the words of the King of Israel to the Jewish rulers, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets (resurrected from the dead and in official positions) in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out” (of those positions) (Luke 13:28-30) for it was that which they coveted. Now circumcCsionf meaning the cutting off of the flesh, represented the spiritual. “Israel after the flesh” (1 Cor. 10.18) ignored entirely the prophecy of Moses in which he said, “A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever lie shall say unto you” (Acts 3 :22-36.) This prophecy foretold the coming of Messiah or Christ. They overlooked, too. the prophecy of Jeremiah, “Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the la,nd of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31: 31-33). The Law Covenant was made between Jehovah and the 12 tribes of Israel, with Moses as mediator, “in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt.” They were commanded to kill the Passover Lamb on the 14th day of the first month in the evening (Exod. 12:2-6) and strike the blood on the sideposts and upper doorposts, in protection of the firstborn son of every house. Likewise, it was on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish year, while keeping the Passover (Matt. 26:18) that_ the new covenant was made between’ Jehovah and the 12 Apostles, representing the 12 tribes, with Christ Jesus as “the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Heb. 8:67). On making this covenant our Lord said, “For this is my blood of the New Testament (Gr. diathelce, arrangement) which is shed for many” (Matt 26:26-28). On that self-same day, too, the 14th of the first month, in the evening, the antitvpieal Passover Lamb was slam, the blood struck on the doorposts of the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven” (Heb 12:23) and not on earthly hooks. Also on that selfsame day, Jesus prayed to His Father, “I have manifested Thy Name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world,” Egypt in the type. Type and antitype dovetail exactly and it is so throughout the Scriptures. It will be seen, therefore, that the future government of the earth will be theocratic, the different offices and officers being prepared during past ages, the visible rulers to be those men resurrected from the dead, who have been proved faithful to Jehovah (many of whom are named in Heb. 11:32-40) under the Law Covenant, these taking the places of the present visible rulers of tne earth. The invisible Ruler, Judge, and Head over all will be Christ the King, having as his “Cabinet” those spirit begotten Sons of God, developed under the New Covenant (and foreshadowed by the Lord’s goat in the type) who, likewise, have demonstrated. even unto death, their faith in God. Their number complete is 144,000, not one move or less, being “the firstfruit unto God” (Rev. 14:3, 4), these, likewise, taking the place of the present invisible rulers of earth, Satan and his organisation, the angels who joined Satan in his rebellion at Creation. “The angels that kept not

their first estate” (Jude. 6). Tl lese evi l spirit creatures are now bending every energy in an effort to wreck the world as it is written in Rev. 12: 12: “Because he knowetli that lie hath but a short time.” The time has come for the complete vindication of Jehovah’s name for He said: “For this same purpose I have I permitted thee (Satan, typified by Pharaoh) to remain that I might sliew thee My power, and that My Name might be declared throughout the whole earth” (Exod. 9: 16). —I am, etc,, NORMAN KELLY. Tokomaru, September 1, 1937.

This correspondence is closed,