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A Jew's Search For The Atoning Blood
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A Jew's search for the Atoning Blood
"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor.5:7)
Dr. Harry Ironside says: "I was holding some Gospel meetings in San Francisco and on several occasions was able to address the Jews attending a Mission to Israel. Once, having concluded my discourse, the meeting was thrown open for discussion with any Hebrews who desired to ask questions or state difficulties; also for any who had been brought to Christ, to relate their conversions.
The experience of one old Jew interested me greatly, and as nearly as I can give his remarks in his own words, though not attempting to preserve the intimitable Hebrew-English dialect".
He said:" This Passover week among you, my Jewish brethern, and as I sat here I was thinking how you will be observing it. You will have put away all leaven from your houses; you will eat the 'matzoth' and the roasted lamb. You will attend the synagogue services, and carry out the ritual and directions of the Talmud; but you forget, my brethern, that you have everything but that which Jehovah required first of all. He did not say, "when I see the leaven put away, or when I see you eat the roasted lamb or the matozth, or go to the synagogue', but His Word was, " when I see the blood I wil passover you'. Ah, my brethern, you can substitute nothing for this. You must have blood, blood, BLOOD!"
As he reiterated this word with ever- increasing emphasis, his black eyes flashed warningly, and his jewish hearers quailed before him.
"Blood!" It is an awful word that, for one who revers the ancient oracle, and yet has no sacrifice. Turn where he will in the Book, the blod meets him, but let him seek as he may, he cannot find it in the Judaism of the present.
" I was born in Palestine nearly seventy years ago. As a child I was taught to read the Law, the Psalms and the prophets. I early attended the sunagogue and learned Hebrew from the Rabbis. At first I believed what I was told, that ours was the true and only religion,but as I grew older and studied the Law more intently, I was struck by the place the blood had in all the ceremonies outlined there, and equally struck by its utter absence in the ritual to which I was brought up.
" Again and again I read Exodus12 and leviticus16-17, and the latter chapters especially made me tremble as I thought of the Great Day of Atinement and the place the blood had there. Day and night one verse would ring in my ears. ' it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul'. I knew I had broken the Law. I needed attonement. Year after year, on that day, I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it; but, it was to be made by blood, and there was no blood.
"In my distress, at last I opened my heart to a learned and venerable
rabbi. He told me that God was angry with His people, Jer usalem was in the
hands of the Gentiles, the temple was destroyed and a Mohammendan Mosque was reared up in its place. The only spot on earth where we dare shed the blood of sacrifice in accordance with Deuteronomy 12 and the Leviticus 17, was desecrated, and our nation scattered. That was why there was no blood. God had Himself closed the way to carry out the solemn service of the Great Day of Atonement. Now, we must turn to the Talmud
and the rest on its instructions and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers.
"I tried to be satisfied, but could not. Something seemed to say that the law was unaltered, even though our temple was destroyed. Nothing else but the blood could atone for the soul. We dared not shed blood for atonement elsewhere than in the place the Lord had chosen. Then we were left without a atonement at all!
"This thought filled me with horror- in my distress I consulted many other rabbis. I had but one great question- 'Where can I find the blood of atonement?'
" I was over 30 years of age when I left Palestine and came to Constantinople, with my still unanswered question ever before in my mind,
and my soul exceedingly troubled about my sins."
" One night I was walking down one of the streets of the city when I saw a sign telling of a meeting of Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. just as I took a seat I heard a man say, 'The blook of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' It was my first introduction to Christianity, but I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that 'without shedding of blood is no remission,' but that he had given his only begotten Son , the lamb of God, to die, and all who trusted in His blood were forgiven all their iniquities. This was the Messiah of the 53 of Isaiah; this was the Sufferer of Psalm 22. Ah, my brethren, I had found the blood of atonement at last. I trusted it, and now I love to read the New testament and see how all the shadows of the law are fulfilled in Jesus. Hos blood has been shed for sinners. It has satisfied God, and it is the only means of salvation for either Jew or Gentile."
Reader, have you yet found the blood of atonement? "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Are you trusting in God's smitten Lamb? The sacrifice of God?-Isaiah 52-53
The following was copied from a translation by Isaac Lesser, a Jew:
1. Just as many were astonished at Thee, so greatly was his countenance marred more than any (other) man's and his form more than (that) of the sons of men;
2. Yea, he grew up like a small shoot before Him, and as a root out of a dry land: He had no form nor comeliness, so that we should desire Him;
3. He was despised and shunned by men; a man of pains, and acquainted with disease; and as one who hid his face from us was He despised, and we esteemed Him not.
4. Yet He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon Him; through His bruises was healing granted to us.
5. We all like sheep went astray; everyone to his own way did we turn; and the Lord let befall Him the guilt of us all.
Write for other tract in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Aramaic. We also have many other tracts in English.
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this excerpt was copied in full from a tract provided by : Osterhus Pub. House, 45oo W. Broadway, Minneapolis, Mn 55422. And the
United Pentecostal Church
14259 Calvert St.
Van Nuys , Calif. 91401
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