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The Jews and the Third Angel’s Message

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 23, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 30.

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The Jews and the Third Angel’s Message

By HAROLD MAYER

HAROLD MAYER
Prophecy indicates that the final triumph of the third angel’s message will bring with it the conversion of many of the literal seed of Abraham; and it is clear from Scripture that the Jewish people must be given the gospel message of the kingdom before the Lord comes.
Jesus said at one time, speaking of the gathering of his people from all nations into the kingdom of God: “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” The spirit of prophecy makes it clear that the Jewish people will be the last of all peoples to receive the truth; but receive it they will, for we are encouraged to labor for them in the following words:—
“In the closing proclamation of the gospel, when special work is to be done for classes of people hitherto neglected, God expects his messengers to take particular interest in the Jewish people whom they find in all parts of the earth.”
“As his servants labor in faith for those who have long been neglected and despised, his salvation will be revealed.”
“Many will by faith receive Christ as their Redeemer.” “Their slumbering faculties will be aroused, and they will recognize Christ as the Saviour of the world.”—“Acts of the Apostles,” page 381.
And the Word of the Lord says (Hosea 3:4, 5) that “the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim; afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.”
We know we are living in the latter days, when all the signs of the end are being rapidly fulfilled; and we are engaged in the mighty work of helping the Lord to bring to pass his prophecy of Matt. 24:14. How important it is, then, for us to take into consideration the Jew and his relation to the third angel’s message! The apostle says the receiving of the Jews will be the finishing of the work. “God hath not cast away his people.” They have not stumbled that they should fall, “but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. . . . If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, . . . if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” Rom. 11:1-15.
“Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” The fullness of the Gentiles has come in. The gospel message has practically gone to all the world to gather out a people for His name. That work is almost finished; and it seems now that the Lord is but waiting for the Jew to take hold of the truth of God for these last days.
The prospect that the Jewish people will accept the message is very encouraging. We already have several Jewish believers, and others, here and there, slowly but surely, are accepting present truth. To be sure, it is difficult to work for the Jews. Perhaps there is no harder class of people to reach. This difficulty is accounted for by the fact that they have been so long bound by the traditions of men. Today, however, there are indications on every hand that these people are breaking away from the man-made precepts and ceremonies of their forefathers which have bound them in greater servitude than did their taskmasters in Egypt.
The Holy Spirit is moving upon the hearts of the Jewish people in these days, preparing them for the reception of the gospel, by convincing them that the persecutions of the past were no part of real Christianity, and by breaking the bonds of human tradition which have so long clung to them. The fear of the rabbi has now practically disappeared, and the Jew of today is an independent thinker. The Jew in this generation is not nearly so prejudiced as was his father, because he has come in contact with liberal-minded Christians and modern events, and this has broadened his mind.
The Jew today will talk to you about Christ. He believes that Jesus was a good man, and that his teachings are among the best; but he does not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. It is an impossibility with him for God to have a human Son. That is still the stumblingblock, as it was back in the days of Peter and Paul.
It is on this point that our people will have to meet the Jew. He needs to be shown this truth from the Old Testament. The great need of the Jews today is for us to go among them and show them the difference between professed and practical Christianity. They have always been taught that the name of Christ represents persecution, and that his followers are violators of the law of the Most High given through Moses. Therefore, Seventh-day Adventists are the only people who can set the Jew right on this question. Let him know you keep the Sabbath of the commandment, do not eat pork, and live up to the law as you know it from the Bible, and you will have established a tie between him and this people. You should not try to convince him that you know the Word of God better than he does, for he will quickly tell you that his people received the truth from God, and they are the correct interpreters of it. But speak to him about the similarity in his belief and yours. Tell him of your strong faith in the writings of Moses and the prophets. By and by he will begin to ask questions, and inquire where it is you and he differ. Then you can bring in Christ; for the Holy Spirit has impressed his heart to ask these questions.
“As his servants labor in faith for those who have long been neglected and despised, his salvation will be revealed. . . . The God of Israel will bring this to pass in our day. . . . ‘Thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.’”—“The Acts of the Apostles,” pages 381, 382.
Takoma Park, D. C.