No. 482
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” (1 Cor. 11:26)
The Passover season, as celebrated by the Jews, is approaching. But the interest of Christians centers especially in the slaying of the lamb, which preceded the Passover Feast, and which typified the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus. Our celebration of this Passover season, therefore, relates to the great Antitype. At this time we as Christians commemorate the greatest event of all history, the sacrificial death of the Savior of the world. Our celebration this year properly begins on the evening of March 21, after six o’clock, which is the beginning of the 14th of Nisan.
We greatly regret that, while millions of professed Christians and Jews will in some formal ceremonies and in a perfunctory manner celebrate at that season this most important event, but few of either religion discern the real significance of the celebration. Could their minds be thoroughly awakened to its true significance, there would be a religious revival such as the world has never yet known. But, as St. Paul declares, “The god of this world hath blinded the minds” of many; and even some whose eyes of understanding are partially opened, St. Peter describes as being blind and unable to see afar off. They are unable to see the deep things of God in respect to these ceremonies, which have been celebrated for now more than three thousand years, in type and antitype.
The Passover of The First-borns: A memorial of first rank with the Israelites is the Passover. It celebrates one of the most momentous chapters in their history. It stands at the beginning of their ecclesiastical year, as the Day of Atonement stands near the beginning of their civil year. It is associated with their national birth. The Scriptures declare that God at that particular time had brought to the throne of Egypt a Pharaoh of indomitable will. The Scriptures declare that whereas other persons might have been in line for the throne, God specially favored this man’s attaining it in order that through his natural stiff-neckedness and obstinacy Divine Power might be manifested in one after another of the plagues which his course would make necessary and proper. We read, “For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show forth my power in thee.” (Ex. 9:16) The ten plagues sent upon the Egyptians were manifestations of Divine Justice in opposition to their unjust treatment of God’s Chosen People. The last of the ten stands related to our subject, The Passover.
The edict sent forth was that all of the first-born of the Egyptians should die, and that the first-born of the Israelites should not die. And the Chosen People residing in Egypt were directed to take special steps whereby to mark themselves as separate and distinct from the Egyptians. They were to take for each family a lamb without blemish and bring it into the house on the tenth day of the first month. They were to cherish it and care for it until the fourteenth day, and then to slay it. Its blood was to be sprinkled on the outside doorpost and lintels while its flesh was to be roasted in the fire without a bone of it being broken. It was to be eaten in the night of the fourteenth with bitter herbs and with unleavened bread. On the morrow, in the strength of the food, they were to march forth out of Egypt to go to the Land of Promise for an inheritance under the Covenant made with Abraham.
The Destroying Angel Passed Over: The results were as the Lord by the mouth of Moses had foretold. The first-borns of the Egyptians died in that night, but the first-borns of the Chosen People were passed over or spared. This notable miracle was memorialized by Divine direction, and every year at the appropriate season a lamb was taken on the tenth day into each of the houses of the Israelites, one for each family or group. All leaven was put away from their dwellings. Everything representing corruption was burned, and unleavened bread alone was eaten with the lamb. The annual celebration of the Passover was for eight days, the first and the eighth day being high days, or to be specially commemorated.
The Passover is not only the oldest Jewish institution but the most joyous festival of the Chosen People. It celebrates one of the earliest manifestations of Divine favor toward them, and reminds them of the prophecies which declare that at some future time God will manifest Himself in their favor still more markedly; as it is written, “It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the North, and from all the lands whither he had driven them.” (Jer. 16:14,15) Again, “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 land of Egypt; which my Covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 31:31,32)
The intimation here again is that this deliverance from Egypt at the Passover time, the most notable event in the past history of the Chosen People, will be cast entirely into the shade when the due time shall come for establishing with Israel the New Covenant – old in respect to the Law and the Divine requirements, but new in the sense that it will be based upon better sacrifices and have a better Mediator, able to do for Israel exceedingly better things than Moses, the Mediator of the Sinai Covenant was able to accomplish – noble as he was in his every endeavor to serve the people as their Mediator. It is of this better Mediator and better Covenant which he would accomplish for them that Moses spoke, saying, “A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me [but greater – antitypical of me]; him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:22,23; Deut. 18:15)
The Meaning and Interpretation: For thirty-five centuries God’s Chosen People, obedient to the Divine Direction, have celebrated the memorial “Passover,” seeing merely its outward signification and not for a moment realizing the true significance of the grand fact which they celebrated – that it typified a grand feature of the Divine Program of great value to them and to all mankind. The lamb they slew typified “the Lamb of God,” Jesus, whose death constitutes the Ransom-Price for the sins of the whole world. His death was necessary before the promise to Abraham and through Him to the Chosen People could possibly have fulfillment. A redemption from sin, to be everlastingly efficacious, must be based upon a better sacrifice than the literal lamb repeated annually. It was not only necessary that Jesus become a man in order to give His life a sacrifice for mankind (Adam and his race), but it was necessary, additionally, that having finished the sacrificing work He should ascend up on High to Jehovah’s right hand, to be the Spiritual Messiah, who in due time will accomplish for the Chosen people all the gracious promises made to them in the Covenant with Abraham, in which they trust, and in harmony with which they will be used of the Lord in conveying His blessings to all nations, peoples and tongues. A sin-condemnation was on the world – “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) Man’s penalty must be met before this condemnation of death could be fully and forever set aside – before man could be entirely forever lifted out of death conditions back to eternal life and into harmony with his Creator.
In harmony with the Divine arrangement, Jesus first offered Himself to Israel as their King. But Israel saw not how He could be their Messiah, because He had neither wealth nor armies nor influential friends: they disdained Him as a deceiver. When He declared Himself the Son of God and their Deliverer, they thought Him an impostor and blasphemer, and worthy of death. After sentencing Him in their own Sanhedrin Court, not having the authority to execute Him themselves, they charged Him with the only crime which the Roman Governor would hear – treason to the Roman Emperor. By threatening Pilate that they would associate him with Jesus in treason, they finally effected the crucifixion of the Antitypical Passover Lamb. He was stretched upon the cross much after the manner in which they impaled their Passover lamb for its roasting.
“On The Tenth Day of The First Month”: Additionally, let us note the fact that just at the appropriate time, namely, the tenth day of the first month, when the Chosen People were taking up their lambs for the Passover, Jesus presented Himself as the Lamb of God, and was rejected. His presentation was on the exact day and in exactly the manner prescribed by the Prophet Zechariah, “Behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass... He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominions shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth.” (Zech. 9:9,10) This was fulfilled to the very letter, as we have already seen. It was fulfilled as the Prophet foretold, on the very day that Israel’s “double” of experiences began. The Chosen People were blinded with self-satisfaction and repudiated the lowly King and refused to accept Him as their Lamb and to receive Him into their hearts and homes. Nevertheless, He proceeded to fulfill this wonderful type. As the antitypical Passover Lamb, He died on the fourteenth day, exactly in accord with the type.
The Antitypical Passover Lamb: The Israelites were commanded to celebrate this Passover as the first feature of the Jewish law and as one of their greatest memorials as a nation. As a matter of fact, we find that in some degree the Passover is celebrated by Jews in all parts of the world – even by those who claim to be agnostics and infidels. They have a measure of respect for it as an ancient custom.
Blessed are those whose eyes of faith see that Jesus was indeed “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” – that the cancellation of the world’s sin is effected by the payment of Adam’s penalty – that as the whole world lost the favor of God and came under the Divine sentence of death, with its concomitants of sorrow and pain, it was necessary before the sentence could be removed that a satisfaction of justice should be made; and that therefore, as the Apostle declares, Christ died for our sins – the just for the unjust, that He might bring us back to God. Thus He opened up “a new and living way” – a way to life everlasting.
Let us notice also that there were two Passovers. There was a great one, when the whole nation by Divine Power was miraculously delivered by the Lord and led by a sand-bar across the channel of the Red Sea especially prepared for them by the accentuation of winds and tides. That picture, or type, shows the ultimate deliverance from the power of sin and Satan of every creature who will ultimately come into accord with the Lord and desire to render Him worship – not an Israelite was left behind.
By and by the night will have passed, the glorious morn of deliverance will have come, and The Christ, the antitypical Moses, Head and Body, will lead forth, will deliver all Israel – all the people of God – all who when they shall know will be glad to reverence, honor and obey the will of God. That day of deliverance will be the entire Millennial Age, at the close of which all evil and evil-doers, symbolized by the hosts of Egypt will be utterly cut off in the Second Death.
“As Oft As Ye Do This”: The Apostle clearly and positively identifies the Passover Lamb with our Lord Jesus, saying, “Christ our Passover is slain for us; therefore let us keep the feast.” (1 Cor. 5:7,8) He informs us that we all need “the blood of sprinkling,” not upon our houses, but upon our hearts. (Heb. 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2) We are also to eat the unleavened (unfermented, pure) bread of truth, if we would be strong and prepared for the deliverance in the morning of the new dispensation. We also must eat the Lamb, must appropriate Christ, His merit, the value that was in Him, to ourselves. Thus we put on Christ not merely by faith, but more and more to the extent of our ability we put on His character, and are transformed day by day into His glorious image in our hearts.
Our Lord Jesus also fully identified Himself with the Passover Lamb. On the same night that He has betrayed, and just preceding His crucifixion, He gathered His disciples into the upper room, saying, “With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15) It was necessary that as Jews they should celebrate the Passover supper on that night – the saving of the typical first-born from the typical “prince of this world.” But as soon as the requirements of the type had been fulfilled, our Lord instituted a new Memorial upon the old foundation, saying, “As often as ye do this [celebrate the Memorial of the Passover season – annually] do it in remembrance of me”! (1 Cor. 11:24,25) Your Jewish neighbors, whose eyes of understanding have not been opened, will not appreciate the matter in its true antitypical sense, but you who recognize Me as the Lamb of God, who in God’s purpose has been slain from the foundation of the world – who recognize that I am about to give my life as the world’s redemption price – will note this Passover season with peculiar and sacred significance that others cannot appreciate. Henceforth you will not celebrate any longer the type, but memorialize the antitype, for I am about to die as the Lamb of God, and thus to provide the blood of sprinkling for the Church of the first-born, and meat indeed for the entire household of faith.
“This Is My Body Broken For You”: That the Lord’s followers should no longer gather as the Jews had done previously to eat the literal Passover supper of the lamb, in commemoration of the deliverance in Egypt our Lord shows by choosing new emblems – “unleavened bread” and the “fruit of the vine” – to represent Him as the Lamb. Thenceforth His followers, in accord with His injunction, celebrated every year His death as their Passover Lamb, until after the Apostles had fallen asleep in death, and a great falling away had confused the faith of nominal Christendom, producing the epoch known as the Dark Ages. Even during the Dark Ages the teaching that Christ was the antitypical Passover Lamb persisted, though the celebration of His death in the Passover Supper which Jesus instituted fell into disuse. It was crowded out by that most terrible blasphemy, which has deceived and confused so many millions of Christendom – the Mass – introduced by Roman Catholicism. This in the Scriptures is called “the abomination of desolation,” because of the disastrous influence it has had upon the faith and practice of the Lord’s people. Although Protestants in general have repudiated the Mass, as being wholly contrary to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, nevertheless the practices of Protestants are largely influenced yet by that terrible error, from which they have only partially escaped.
The Mass Is Not The Eucharist: Many Protestants will innocently ask, Is not the Mass merely the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, under another name? O, no! we answer – it is wholly different! The Lord’s Supper celebrates the death of Christ accomplished at Calvary. The Mass represents a new sacrifice for sins made every time the Mass is performed. Our Roman Catholic friends believe that when the priest blesses the wafer it becomes the actual body of Christ in his hands, for the very purpose of sacrificing Him afresh. High Mass is a particular sacrifice of Christ for a particular sin of a particular individual. Low Mass is a sacrifice of Christ for the general sins of a congregation. Roman Catholics claim to believe in the merit of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary – that it covered the original sin, general sins that are past; but they claim also that daily sins, shortcomings, blemishes of every individual, require to be cleansed by fresh sacrifices of Christ from time to time. Thus, from their standpoint, as represented in the Mass, and as practiced by the Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics and High Church Episcopalians, Christ is being sacrificed afresh all the world over every day. This in the Scriptures is called an “abomination” in God’s sight, because it disregards, sets at naught, the fact as stated in the Bible, that Christ dieth no more, “that by one sacrifice he hath perfected forever all who come unto the Father through him.” (Rom. 6:9; Heb. 10:14)
It will be readily seen that the repeated sacrifices represented in the Mass would have the effect of nullifying or minimizing the value of the great Sacrifice at Calvary, represented in the Passover and in the Memorial Supper. How could those who had come to look especially to the Mass for the cancellation of their sins be expected to look with as deep concern and as high an appreciation as otherwise back to the antitypical Passover? While, therefore, the celebration of Good Friday has continued, the celebration of the Memorial Supper preceding it fell into disuse long ago.
As for Protestants, repudiating the dogma of the Mass as wholly unscriptural, they have abandoned it and returned to a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Meantime, however, accustomed to the frequency of the Mass, they have considered it merely a matter of expediency how often the Lord’s Supper should be celebrated. Hence we find some celebrating it every four months, some every three months, some every month, and some every Sunday. This general laxity and failure to reach a common ground of conformity is due to two things: (1) Christian people generally have overlooked the fact that our Lord’s death was the antitypical Passover Lamb, and that its celebration is the antitypical Passover; (2) They have misunderstood our Lord’s words, “As oft as ye do this,” to mean, Do this as often as you please, whereas the words really signify, As often as you, my disciples (all of whom are Jews and accustomed to keeping the Passover), celebrate this occasion, do it in remembrance of me – not in remembrance of the literal lamb and the typical deliverance from typical Egypt and its bondage through the passing over of the typical first-born.
It would be a great blessing, doubtless, to many Christians if they could see this subject in its true light, could lay more weight upon the value of the death of Christ, and join more heartily in its celebration – on its anniversary, instead of at various other times and seasons, irregularly and without special significance. We believe that such a celebration brings special blessings to both heart and head. The nearer we come to the Divine requirements the greater is the measure of our blessing, the more closely are we drawn to our Master and Head.
The Cup Of Joy In The Kingdom: On the occasion of the institution of the Memorial of His death, the Master in His conversation with the Apostles, said: “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matt. 26:29) Our Lord was here contrasting two great days – the day of suffering and the day of glory. This Gospel Age has been the day of suffering. The Millennial Age will be the day of glory, and is especially spoken of as “the day of Christ.”
The fruit of the vine, the literal cup, represents two thoughts. The cup of wine is produced at the cost of the life of the grape. The grape loses its own individuality. The juice is pressed out, and thus the fruit of the vine is made ready for use. The cup of wine – the juice of the grape – represents, however, not only the crushing of the grape, but also the exhilaration that comes as the result. So it is in our drinking of this literal cup. To us it symbolizes our Savior’s sufferings and death. But wine also represents joy, gladness, and is thus used in the Scriptures. So in the sense in which the Lord used the words “fruit of the vine” in the text just quoted, it represented the joys of the Kingdom.
The Father marked out for our Lord Jesus in His earthly experience a certain specific course. This course constituted His cup of suffering and death. But the Father promised Him that after He had drunk this cup faithfully, He should be given a different cup, a different experience – glory, honor, and immortality.
At this Memorial season all of the consecrated should manifest their love, loyalty, obedience, faithfulness, by symbolizing the Redeemer’s death. As always, we suggest reading of the chapter on the Passover in Volume Six of the Scripture Studies.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Heb. 13:20,21)
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QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST
QUESTION – Do you believe That Servant’s announcement that the Kingdom was set up on September 21, 1914 in Reprint 5632 was by Bible chronology?
ANSWER – Yes, we believe it was by Bible chronology. We cannot believe he came up with that date because he decided it was time. That Servant gave us several dates by Bible chronology: 1874, 1878, 1881 and 1914. Time itself proved these dates correct. He had predicted that 1914 was the end of Gentiles times, but everything was so quiet the world over that he went over the chronology and saw no error in it. But when World War One, involving all nations, suddenly burst out, precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, it was a sure indication that Gentile Times were ended.
There was no necessity for That Servant to announce the Kingdom was set up so far as numbers were concerned, as the number was complete in 1881 and remained complete from then until now. When one lost his crown someone else took his place. He taught the harvest work for gathering the saints was a 40-year period. We should accept all Brother Russell wrote on the Plan of Salvation for all mankind when he gave us Scriptural proof. However, he came to some wrong conclusions and expectations, which time has revealed. When the Lord came and found him searching the Scriptures He made him That Servant of Matthew 24:45-47. “Blessed is that servant, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing [searching the Scriptures].”
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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST
Dear Brethren,
It is a huge spiritual battle that we are fighting now in Israel. We do it with our very last forces. Never before have the trials been so crucial and the battle so vehement. We send you some actual messages – for some of them we had to pay really with our lifeblood. We are thankful that many brethren are praying for us. Without this help we wouldn’t be able to continue here on the forefront.
We urge you, please continue with us to pray fervently, and let us draw even more closely together to one another, to become sufficiently united to overcome Satan. His empire puts up a desperate resistance against the progress of the ongoing preparations for Messiah’s Kingdom in Israel.
Your brethren in Israel depend upon your continued spiritual support in this crucial struggle.
Brethren Herman and Joseph (ISRAEL)
P.S. We are receiving many requests from all over the world about Truth topics: Ransom and Redemption, The Kingdom, The Temple, Antichrist, etc. As answer, we are sending photocopies from Pastor Russell’s articles and reprints. For this we would need all his writings, but we still are lacking the Harvest Gleanings, vol. 1 & 2 (the newspaper sermons), the Laodicean Messenger and the Convention Report Sermons. We would also need some more Overland Monthly books, because we are sending them to prominent Jews together with a copy of the Pastor Russell biography which we composed out of various sources.
Your letter from September 20 was for us a special spiritual joy and comfort, but we did not find the time to answer. Now we received your letter from November 11 and are sorry that we caused you sorrows. Please excuse.
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Dear Emily!
Back home again from another visit to Herman Bezner and Joseph Elisha at Emek ha Shalom. My seventh, since February 1995, when my friend Anders Karlen and I visited Herman and Joseph for the first time.
The first time we in Sweden heard about the activity at Emek ha Shalom was in your publication, Epiphany Bible Students Ass’n of November 1993. Since then Anders Karlen has kept up a continual correspondence with Herman and Joseph and has also visited them on three occasions to help them with their work.
During our visits, we have had the pleasure of helping them with farming and gardening, among other things, in order to relieve Joseph of as much work as possible. And we have seen one group of visitors succeeding the other on the veranda and in the pavilion, where Herman and Joseph give their lectures.
Unlike my previous visits at Emek ha Shalom, it became obvious to me this time how totally burnt out Joseph is. He is the uniting force at Emek ha Shalom. Together with Herman, he takes care of the visitors who come to listen to him preach on God’s Plan. He keeps up all correspondence in Hebrew. He also keeps up correspondence in English and German with Bible Students all over the world. Furthermore he shall handle the machinery and see to it that it works, run the farm and do the gardening. All this work is an enormously heavy burden and Joseph’s health is in grave danger.
Hermann, Joseph and myself came up with an idea of maybe how to save the situation at Emek ha Shalom. Perhaps some guest-workers could help out, on a voluntary basis, in all sorts of work and stay at the farm for some time, giving Joseph the possibility of rehabilitating himself. Such work could mean financial setback to those volunteering and it is important that we all support such activities through Herman and Joseph.
Dear Emily, I cannot emphasize enough upon the critical situation as it now appears for Hermann and Joseph at Emek ha Shalom.
All the best and many kind regard from your friend, ------------------ (SWEDEN)
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Dear Brother: Greetings in the name of our dear Redeemer.
I would like to share some of my experiences in Israel last October. I left New Jersey Sunday evening October 13th. The plane was filled with young Jewish boys going back to Israel. My traveling companion turned out to be a teacher from a nearby town in New Jersey. I had a wonderful opportunity to tell her about the truth which she eagerly accepted and freely admitted she was not aware of. She was on a mission for the Jewish people and needed to get to the Knessett as soon as the plane landed.
Ray and Carmela Luke were waiting for me at the airport. It was noon or later when the plane landed so we decided that we would drive to Arad to see Connie and Stuart. It was good to see them both doing so well. Our fellowship was wonderful as we exchanged thoughts. Later we were able to meet John Livermore who was very helpful with our baggage. That night we slept in the Old City of Jerusalem and learned that the building where we spent the night was built by Kaiser Wilhelm and is now owned by an Arab family. In the morning the hostess spent a lot of time while we ate telling us about the Arabs and how poor they were and many were given money to shoot at the Israelis and throw stones at them. The Hostess told us they are very poor and can use the money they get from this, but said they are very good people. She came from Florida to get more education and worked as a Hostess. She told us many interesting things as we had our breakfast. She also said they are basically very good people and work hard to make ends meet.
We drove up past the Allenby bridge on the way to Tiberias. We left Jerusalem early in the morning in order to get to a Kibbutz for their religious service which we wanted to experience. It was very interesting. They sang their hearts out. Most of the time it was singing in Hebrew. They had Sunday School for the many children that were there. Finally a young man gave a sermon from the New Testament on one of the parables which was very good. This was one of the many groups that are in Israel that are converted to Christianity. It was such a long service we could not stay too long to try to talk with them as we had to go on to Emek ha Shalom (the purpose of our visit to Israel.)
We already had a visit with Brother Bausche and stayed there two nights. We were sorry to miss seeing Sister Bausche. She was in the States for her mother’s funeral. She returned the day I had to leave Israel. One other visit we made was to visit the Brother I met at the International Convention. He was on the other side from Tiberias in Akko. He is the brother that I met at the Convention in Hungary and gave me his address and invited me to visit him. We were glad to make the connection since the next day He was leaving to visit Poland. He said he would have gathered together a group to have a meeting if he knew when we would be there. I doubt if it would have happened since his friends were all Jewish and Polish and Ray knew English. He wanted to show us the town but we had to get back before dark. He wanted Bausche’s address to contact him as he seemed very eager to meet brethren in Israel. He already knows Eleazer the young Jewish brother who I met on my last visit to Israel. He has the Polish volumes and is very active in spreading the truth. I tried hard to meet him. He sent me three addresses and we tried them all with no response.
Emek ha Shalom was our next stop where we intended to spend most of our time to see what we could do to help. Ever since the Jerusalem Convention I have been in contact with Brother Herman who is 96 years old and still working on the land up on the mountain. They have made it a beautiful Paradise where many of the Jews travel to see them and to hear his message. They have more opportunity to witness to the people there and many other groups ask them to come to them. The latest invitation they have is from Netanyahu. They find it difficult to leave their area when no one else is there. One young man that lived at a Kibuttz down the Hill comes up to help them once in a while and was there while we were there. They are all so very helpful and willing to help whenever they can without pay.
There is a lot of work to be done to keep the beautiful gardens in shape. Brother Bezner is not always able to work on the fields. Brother Joseph is also not too well and needs rest. He is very busy with correspondence.
It was seven months since they had rain and while we were there the rains came and a lot of it. Everyone was so happy to finally get some rain. On the Sabbath Brother Joseph was dressed up because he knew they would have visitors and sure enough as we were driving out, a group of about 16 young soldiers came up with two others who were probably the leaders of the group. We were just leaving and would have liked to hear the message but then realized it would have been in Hebrew which we could not understand. Later they had a few more that also came up. This was on the Sabbath when no one worked so it was a good time for them to come up the mountain and hear a good message of God’s Plan. Also during the week a few would come and go and there was always a table filled with Jewish articles for any that would be interested. They were all placed there in plastic see-through cases.
One of the interesting things we learned was the life of Brother Bezner who was an elder for many years in Germany. When things were getting bad in Germany Brother Bezner thought it best to leave, and he told his twin brother who didn’t think it was necessary. After Brother Bezner left his twin brother was taken by the Nazi’s to experiment on his body, and that was the last Brother Bezner saw of him. After that they began searching for Brother Bezner but he kept one step ahead of them and had to escape from one country to another. Finally he decided to go to Israel, bought some land up on a hill, and has been there for many years, 30 or more. The land was and still is full of stones. Not pebbles, but huge rocks. Ask Ray Luke, he worked digging out many of those rocks. After the large rocks were removed there still were plenty of smaller stones that had to be dealt with. Israel is full of rocks throughout the land. In spite of it they manage to make use of everything that is available.
The dedication and zeal of these two brethren has been remarkable. They are there ready and able to give a message of the coming kingdom to all who come up the mountain to hear a message that gives them hope for the future. They appreciate very much Brother Russell’s message of truth and continue to share it with so very many that they have had contact with. They do believe the door to the High-Calling is still open, and recognize that the time is short. Brother Joseph works hard to share the precious truth as well as Brother Herman. It has been a very interesting opportunity to see these two brethren laying down their lives to serve those who are hungering and thirsting for the truths that we all love. Many of the Jews realize things are not getting better and they have hope after hearing of God’s plan.
The Jewish people in Israel are very easy to talk to. When Ray and Carmella went to have a fax made at the home of a Jewish family they had a wonderful opportunity to witness to them and tell them about the coming Kingdom.
Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. It has been a wonderful experience, and I thank the Lord for this opportunity to see how many are looking for the coming Kingdom.
By His Grace, Alpha (NEW JERSEY)
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