JEWISH CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.
By F. C. Gilbert
The Sanctuary and Its Services.—Continued.
The Function of the Sanctuary.
THE query has doubtless often arisen in the minds of the readers of these articles as to the relationship of the sanctuary to the customs and traditions of the Jews. It no doubt has been asked, Why has so much been said about the services of the sanctuary, and the building of that structure, and so little concerning the customs of the Israelites? We believe if the readers will continue with this series, they will discover the close proximity which exists in the minds of the Jews between the ancient sanctuary and their customs. The perplexity with which they are troubled and know it not, is expressed by Paul when he says, "But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart." 2 Cor. 3:14, 15. And that same blindness exists among the orthodox Jews who follow the customs of their fathers unto this very day; and it will follow them until they see Jesus. When Christ was upon earth, he was greatly surprised that the Jews were so ignorant concerning him and his work, when they devoted their entire time to the study of the Bible, and especially to that part which spoke concerning the Messiah. When the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, and asked, "Where is he born who is King of the Jews?" the priests, scribes, and Pharisees in reply to Herod's request, answered in the very words of the prophet who spoke of his birth, and, too, at the very time when he had come into the world. Matt. 2:1-6, compare Micah 5:2. And yet they did not know that the babe born in Bethlehem's manger was that very child. During the Saviour's entire ministry, he quoted Moses and the prophets to prove his mission and his Messiahship, and appealed to the Jews to study the Scriptures, for in them they had eternal life, and they also testified concerning him. John 5:39. And on another occasion he told them in the temple, "Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not." John 7:28. And yet of his true character and the divine purpose of his advent they were entirely ignorant. That they could have known him as he is, with all his glory and in the fulness of his power, and could have received of that fulness, is clearly taught to both the Old and New Testaments. For we read: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein [in the Gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:16, 17. The literal translation of this latter clause, quoted from Hab. 2:4, is, "And the righteous liveth on [or 'in'] his faith." But the power of God, which only can save man, must have been in existence before Christ became incarnate, since man, the sinner, has ever needed the power of God to save. But we read again, "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. The prophet Isaiah says, "Thy first father hath sinned" (Isa. 43:27); and we know that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23); therefore, as Christ is the only One in the universe able to impart to man the salvation of God, and mediate in behalf of humanity for forgiveness, as well as to grant power to keep from sinning, the Gospel of Christ must have been in existence since the days of our first parents. And again: "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 3:15. Then Timothy, his mother, and grandmother, were all acquainted with the salvation of God through faith in Jesus, the same as people have salvation to-day. And it is doubtless true that his aged grandparent lived prior to the Saviour's incarnation. 2 Tim. 1:5. We further read, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men." 1 Tim. 4:10. We are all aware that men lived in the world who antedated Christ's first advent. These people, therefore, who were saved prior to his birth in the flesh, were saved by his Gospel. Thus it is very plain and evident that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was in operation ever since man sinned and was in need of a Saviour; and it is equally true that those who were saved before the first appearing of Christ were saved in the same way that people have been saved during the last nineteen centuries. So we again repeat that the Jews did have opportunity to know Jesus as he is, and to have enjoyed the free and full salvation of God as it is revealed in Jesus Christ. When the Saviour met the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and learned by their conversation the ignorance in which they were of the recent events which had transpired concerning himself, he said to them, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Luke 24:25-27. He repeatedly told the Jews that Moses and the prophets wrote of him, and that if they did not believe Moses' writings, they could not appreciate his words; that if these writings could not convince them concerning himself, they would not be convinced tho an angel of God came to them directly from heaven, or a man was raised from the dead. John 5:46, 47; Luke 16:29-31. The New Testament is very clear in declaring that the people in the former dispensation had the Gospel of Christ, which was able to and did save their souls. Perhaps we will adduce just one more proof on this point. On one occasion when Christ had an interview with the Jews, and while they were boasting of their ancestry from Abraham, and therefore naturally good, he told them that he preceded Abraham, and that the patriarch received his salvation from him. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. . . . Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." John 8:56-58. And by comparing the last part of the latter verse in the original Greek, with Ex. 3:14, they will be found to represent the same person. Paul, a little later, gives the same testimony: "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham." Gal. 3:8. Just a few thoughts now from the Old Testament. "I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. 63:7-9. Here we are taught that the Lord not only will help his people, but that he did help them, that he was their Saviour. And we found that there is but one Saviour in the world, and that one is Jesus. The prophet not only for himself knew the blessings of the Gospel, but declared how others, in days gone by, had enjoyed the same privileges. And in those blessings were contained the same joys that we have to-day. For they had conversion, forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and the presence of God. See Ps. 51:9-13. The function, therefore, of the sanctuary, in the days of Israel, was to teach the Gospel as it is in Jesus. The spiritual Israelites saw in all those things the Saviour and the Gospel, just as we see the Saviour in the emblems he left to his people this side of the ascension. True, we partake of them by faith; they likewise accepted those things by faith to understand them truly. For we read that there the just lived by his faith; and to-day we read that he is the beginner and finisher of our faith. It is the same Saviour, and the same salvation. And thus it was all the way along from the beginning. God sought to lead men to understand the good news of salvation in Jesus in various ways; but the Alpha and the Omega of the whole is Jesus Christ. He is God's great treasure-house, from which everybody can draw all things necessary which pertain to life and godliness. Col. 2:3. As time elapsed with the Jews, and as they kept departing further from God, they lost sight of the spiritual life and power of the sanctuary and its services, and made simply a formality of them; and the belief finally became prevalent that those things were not merely means to an end, but the ends themselves. Instead of seeing the Christ by faith, and through him obtaining righteousness and life, they decided8that the virtues and the life could be obtained by simply performing the external services connected with them. The Lord had taught them that he was their justification and their righteousness; but they had lost sight of that, and become their own saviours, and the workers of their own righteousness. Isa. 45:25; Jer. 23:5. Thus we can see the close relationship which exists between the sanctuary and the traditions of the Jews; and we shall further note how, when the sanctuary was finally abolished and all the services of the temple destroyed, they made an imitation of nearly all things connected with the sacred service of God, and built up a great hedge and a mammoth structure of customs and traditions, thinking they were doing as real and as acceptable service to the Lord as when the sanctuary was in existence in the days of Moses and Aaron. In our next article we will contrast the day of atonement as commanded by God with the manner of its observance as established by tradition.
F. C. GILBERT.