THE “RETURN OF THE JEWS.”
“I SAY the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” Rom. 9:1–5. Now, a pertinent question is, If the Jews are to return, if they are to be gathered because they are Jews, then why should Paul be willing to wish himself accursed from Christ, if only they might be saved? Under any phase of the claim of the return of the Jews, Paul’s heaviness, continual sorrow, and heart’s wish, are altogether an empty and groundless thing. For if the Jews who are alive to-day must be gathered to Palestine, and given such evidences as they can not resist, but must be converted and saved by them, then all the Jews from Paul’s time until now, who have not believed in Christ and been saved, must likewise be gathered with these of to-day. Otherwise God would be a respecter of persons. And if all the Jews from Paul’s day to the end of the world must be gathered again to Palestine, and there be saved by some specially new and wonderful means, then it is perfectly plain that all Paul’s anxiety and longing for their salvation are altogether a mistaken thing. But that is simply not true. What Paul has here written is the truth. He did have great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart, because his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, would not accept the gospel and be saved; and because they persisted in rejecting the gospel in whatever of the many ways it came to them, and so were confirming themselves in everlasting loss. The love of Christ in Paul’s heart caused him, in his longing after them, to be willing, if their salvation could be accomplished by it, to wish himself accursed from Christ, for them. All that is the truth; and it being the truth, it is thereby settled forever that except the Jews believe in Christ, they can not be saved; that whoever will not believe in him is lost; and that, therefore, there simply can not possibly be any such thing as this claimed “return of the Jews.” Though it be true that so many of the Jews, Paul’s kinsmen according to the flesh, persisted in rejecting the gospel, and so missing salvation, even all this did not make it “as though the word of God hath taken none effect.” The word of God abideth faithful, and He abideth faithful, even though they believed not (Rom. 3:3); because “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” “Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” Rom. 9:7, 8, 24–26. “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Verses 30–33. We have before remarked that, by the scriptures quoted from Romans 3, “it is demonstrated by the argument of the plain word of God that faith—faith, the faith of Jesus Christ—is the only way for any return of either Jew or Gentile, and is the one only way for both alike. And this faith is equally within the reach of Jew and Gentile wherever they may be. It can not be had any more certainly in Palestine than in any other country; and for the simple reason that it is not found in a place, but only in a Person—the person of Jesus Christ. And through the blessed administration of the eternal Spirit, this Person is now accessible to all people in all places alike.” And this is the further thought that is brought out in full in the tenth chapter of Romans. Study carefully the truth as it is there stated. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Rom. 10:1–3. Again: we may ask, Why should Paul have such particular and great anxiety that Israel after the flesh might be saved, if all that Israel is to be saved anyhow? But since they insist upon “going about to establish their own righteousness,” and “have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God,” they simply can not be saved; for whoever will not submit himself to the righteousness of God, simply can not be saved. For nothing but the righteousness of God can save any soul, Jew, Gentile, or what not; and the righteousness of God will save every soul who has it, Jew, Gentile, or what not. “For Christ is the end,” the object, the aim,