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Zionism In Prophecy
[On October
9, 1910, Pastor Russell addressed a Jewish Mass Meeting, in response to a
request by a Jewish Mass Meeting Invitation Committee. The invitation was
signed by many prominent Hebrews of New York City. The invitation and Pastor
Russell’s response follow:—
New York,
September 20, 1910.
Pastor C. T.
Russell, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Dear Sir:—Your sympathetic interest in the Jewish people for years past
has not escaped our notice. Your denunciations of the atrocities perpetrated
against our race in the name of Christianity have added to our conviction that
you are a sincere friend. Your discourse on "Jerusalem and Jewish Hopes" has struck a
responsive cord in the hearts of many of our people. Still we doubted for a
time if any Christian minister could really be interested in a Jew as a Jew and
not merely from a hope of proselyting him. It is because of this feeling that some
of us request you to make a public statement respecting the nature of your
interest in our people and we desire you to know that the statement you did
make was very satisfactory. In it you assured us that you are not urging Jews
to become Christians and join any of the sects or parties of Protestants or
Catholics. That statement, Pastor Russell, has been widely published in the
Jewish journals. We feel, therefore, that we have nothing to fear from you as a
race. On the contrary, in that statement you mentioned that the foundation of
your interest in our people is built upon your faith in the testimonies of our
Law and the messages of our Prophets. You may well understand how surprised we
are to find a Christian minister acknowledging that there are prophecies of the
Bible still unfulfilled, which belong to the Jew and not to the Christian, and
that these prophecies, according to your studies are nearing a fulfilment of
momentous interest to our Jewish race and, through us as a people, to the
nations of the world.
These things, Pastor Russell, have led to the formation of a Jewish Mass
Meeting Committee, which, by this letter, requests you to give a public
discourse, especially to our people. If you will kindly accept this invitation,
will you permit us to suggest a topic for your address, which, we believe, will
be very interesting to the public and especially to the Jews, namely,
"Zionism in Prophecy"?
As for the meeting: We suggest Sunday afternoon at three o’clock, October 9th. We
have secured an option on the Hippodrome, New York’s largest and finest Auditorium,
for that date, and we hope that this date and the place will be agreeable to
your convenience. We assure you also of a large audience of deeply interested
Hebrews, besides whoever may come of the general public.
Trusting to hear from you soon, we subscribe ourselves,
Yours respectfully,
JEWISH MASS MEETING COMMITTEE.
Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Sept. 21, 1910.
Jewish Mass Meeting Committee, New
York.
Gentlemen:—Your kind invitation to address the Jewish Mass Meeting in the New
York Hippodrome Sunday, October 9th, came duly.
I thank you for the confidence which this invitation implies. The date you have
selected is not only appropriate in its relationship to the Jewish New Year,
but very suitable to my own arrangements, as I leave on October 12th for
appointments in London
and elsewhere.
Amongst the several prominent members of your race suggested for Chairman of
the Mass Meeting, I select Mr. John Barrondess, because I have had the pleasure
personally of conference with him and because I know him to be very loyal to
the interests of your people and because I believe him to be very highly
esteemed as such in the counsels of your race.
Faithfully
and respectfully yours, C. T. RUSSELL.
The
Hippodrome is an Opera House with a capacity of about five thousand. It was
crowded that day, and many failed to gain access. The Jewish people of New York, who number
more than a million, have become deeply impressed by various discourses which
Pastor Russell has delivered and were alert to hear his presentation of
Zionism, as foretold by the Prophets.
The speaker held his immense audience spellbound for nearly two hours, all
apparently as unconscious of the flight of time as was the speaker himself.
After the service the Hebrews could be seen in little groups discussing the
subject. The
speaker’s views were evidently shared by the majority. Altogether the meeting
was something unique. Never before did Jews give such attention to the message
of a Christian minister; and never before did a Christian minister give such a
message to the Jews.]
WHAT PASTOR RUSSELL SAID
[On October
9, 1910, Pastor Russell addressed a Jewish Mass Meeting, in response to a
request by a Jewish Mass Meeting Invitation Committee. The invitation was
signed by many prominent Hebrews of New York City. The invitation and Pastor
Russell’s response follow:—]
While
once I had been inclined to discard the Bible as unreliable along the lines of
Higher Criticism, I subsequently have given it very earnest study, entirely
apart from all creeds and theories of men. This study has greatly enlightened
my mind and has given me a very different view of the sacred Book. I now have
absolute confidence in it. I now realize, not only that there is a great
Creator, but that He is definite, orderly, in His dealings with humanity, in
His shaping of earth’s affairs.
For instance, Psalm 102 mentions the time, yea, the set time, for the return of
Divine favor to Zion.
So we find matters all through the Scriptures. In due time David, Solomon and
others represented Jehovah in the kingdom
of Israel and "sat
upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord." Later the kingdom was taken
from Zedekiah, the last of the line of David to sit upon the throne of God’s
typical Kingdom. When the dominion was taken from him the Gentile governments
were recognized, but not in the same manner as was Israel. None of them was designated
the Kingdom of God. None of them was given perpetuity
of rule.
ZEDEKIAH
REJECTED—NEBUCHADNEZZAR ACKNOWLEDGED
But Gentile
governments were promised a lease of power during the period when Israel would be
cast off from God’s favor. Then at the end of the appointed time the Gentile
lease of earthly power in turn, and God’s original provision for Israel to
represent His Kingdom in the world, would return. These are the set times
referred to by the Psalmist. God’s promise to David—"The sure mercies of
David"—were that of the fruit of his loins one should sit on the Throne of
the Lord forever.
The real purport of this promise was that Messiah, the
long-promised King of Israel, would be the root and off-shoot of the Davidic
line and blessed of the Lord; His Kingdom should be an everlasting one and
fully competent to fulfil all of the Divine promises made to Abraham—"In
thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."— Ge 12:3
So long as
God acknowledged the nation of Israel
as His Kingdom their kings were His representatives; but when Zedekiah was
rejected it was not inconsistent on the Lord’s part to recognize the Gentile
governments, as above suggested. Of King Zedekiah we read, "O thou profane
and wicked Prince, whose time has come that iniquity should have an end. Remove
the diadem. Take off the crown. This shall not be the same. I will overturn,
overturn, overturn it until He come whose right it is [Messiah], and I will
give it unto Him." (Eze 21:25-27.)
It was at this very time that God gave the lease of earthly power to
Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, as is related in Daniel’s prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar
dreamed, but forgot his vision. Daniel the Prophet, made prisoner at an earlier
date, was by Divine providence introduced to the king as the one person in all
the world able to rehearse the king’s dream and to give its interpretation, and
his power so to do is declared to have been of the Lord.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S
VISION OF GENTILE DOMINION
The vision was of a stupendous image. Its head of
gold represented Nebuchadnezzar’s Empire—Babylon.
Its breasts
and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire. Its belly and thighs of
brass represented the Grecian Empire. Its strong legs of iron represented the Roman Empire, East and West. Its feet of iron and clay
represented Papal Rome. The iron continues to represent civil governments; and
the miry clay, making them appear like stone, represented ecclesiasticism as it
is now mixed up with the politics of the ten kingdoms of Europe.
The whole period of time in which these various Gentile governments would
dominate the world would last until Messiah’s promised Kingdom. And this period
is symbolically stated to have been "seven times"; that is, seven
years—evidently not literal years, but symbolical.—Da 2:28-45; Le
26:18,24,28.
At their end
the lease of earthly power of Gentile governments will terminate in the great
Time of Trouble foretold by Daniel (12:1). Then Messiah shall stand up in the
sense of assuming control of earth’s affairs and Gentile governments will
cease; for all nations shall serve and obey Messiah. Then God’s Chosen People,
Israel, will come to the front in the world’s affairs; for they will become the
representatives and instruments amongst men of Messiah’s Kingdom, which will be
spiritual and invisible, as is that of the Prince of this world, the Prince of
Darkness, whom Messiah will bind or restrain during the thousand years of His
Reign of Righteousness and destroy at the conclusion, when He shall deliver
over the Kingdom of earth to the Father. Mankind will then be perfect; for all
wilful sinners will be destroyed in the Second Death. Meantime, not only will
Messiah’s Reign bless and uplift Israel,
but through Israel
the blessing will extend to every nation, people, kindred and tongue in full
accord with the Divine promise and oath made to Abraham more than thirty centuries
ago.
All this is briefly and beautifully represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as
explained by Daniel. He saw a stone taken from the mountain without human aid. He
watched and saw the stone smite the image on its feet and beheld, as the result,
complete demolishment of the Gentile systems. This smiting of the image in the
feet symbolically represents that it will be by Divine Power that present
institutions will all come to naught preparatory to the establishment of the
Kingdom of God in their stead.
MESSIAH’S
KINGDOM IN THE VISION
Then Messiah’s Kingdom, symbolized by the stone, not
only will fill the place where the image stood, but gradually increasing, will
fill the whole earth. From this standpoint it is not difficult for us to
believe the words of the Psalmist that there is a time for God’s gathering Zion, yea, a set
time—fixed and unalterable. I do not pretend to say the day or month or year in
which these things would be accomplished, in which the Gentile lease
of earth’s dominion would expire and Messiah’s Kingdom assume control. I do,
however, offer a suggestion: So far as I can discern, the time for these
stupendous events is very much closer than many of us had supposed. The seven
Times, or years, of Gentile domination, reckoned on the basis suggested in the
Scriptures themselves, should be interpreted a day for a year, lunar time. Seven
years in lunar time would represent 2520 days; and these symbolically
interpreted, would mean 2520 years—from the time Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the
image, was recognized down to the time of the expiration of the lease of
Gentile power, when the stone shall smite the image in the feet. So far as I
have been able to determine, the year of Zedekiah’s dethronement was 606 B.C.
Thus calculated the 2520 years of Gentile lease of power will expire in
October, 1914. There are some who claim that Zedekiah’s dethronement should be
dated B.C. 588. If this be true it could make a difference of but eighteen
years and give the date 1932. My convictions, however, favor 1914.
ZIONISM’S FUTURE ASSURED.
For more
than thirty years I have been presenting to Christian people the views I am
today presenting specially to Jews, at the invitation of your Committee.
Thirty years ago I attempted to tell to Israel
the good tidings that God’s set time to remember Zion had come.
But that seemingly was too early. God’s set time for Israel to hear was still future. I
am still waiting for God’s own time and way for the fulfilment of Isa 40:1,2, and other Scriptures relating to Israel.
About twenty years ago Providence
raised up for your people a great leader, Dr. Herzl, whose name is now a
household word with your race. While your people were unready for any message
that I could give them they were ready for what God sent them through Dr.
Herzl—a message of hope, a message of national aspiration which quickened the
pulse of your people into new hope respecting the future of the Jews. Dr.
Herzl’s endeavor was to have all loyal sons of Israel
rise from the dust and aspire to be a nation amongst nations and to provide a
home for the persecuted of their race in Russia
and Eastern Europe. Dr. Herzl struck the
popular cord in the hearts of the people. At first it was purely political, and
the name of Zion
meant little of anything religious; but gradually Dr. Herzl and all the leaders
of the counsels of your people began to see that the religious element of the
movement was the most powerful.
Dr. Herzl has been succeeded by Dr. Nordau, also evidently a man of great
talent and great patriotism; but Zionism languishes. I am disclosing no secret
when I tell you that amongst the leaders as well as amongst the rank and file,
Zionism is trembling in the balances and fearful of coming to naught. It has
spent its force along the lines originally inaugurated; but it will not fail,
as many fear. Without assuming the role of a seer I answer you that Zionism is
about to take on fresh vigor; that its most prosperous days are yet to come. According
to my understanding of the Hebrew Prophets the time of "Jacob’s
trouble" is not yet ended. Further pogroms of Russia may be expected, and further
atrocities in Roumania and elsewhere. It is sad indeed to be obliged to admit
that these tribulations will probably come to you from professed Christians. How
ashamed I feel of those who thus dishonor the name and the teachings of my
Master, I cannot find words to express! They are deluded.
They have misunderstood the Teacher whom they profess to follow. Their thought
is that God will torment eternally all who do not profess the name of Christ. Controlled
by delusion they are serving the god Adversary and dishonoring Jesus. But as
the trials and difficulties of the patriarch Joseph were God’s providences to
lead him on to influence and power and honor, so will all these experiences and
persecutions work blessings for your race and tend to drive them out of their
present satisfaction and make them long for home—for Palestine.
These experiences, in connection with the voice of the Prophets, which will
henceforth more and more ring in your ears, will be the providences of God to
accomplish for you more along the lines of Zionism than personal pride and
national patriotism.
It is not my
thought that the eight millions of Jews in the world will all go to Palestine, even though it
has been estimated that, under most favorable conditions, the land could
support more than twice that many. It is my thought that some of your most
earnest and saintly people will go to Palestine
quickly, that the rejuvenation there will be astonishing to the world. Further,
it is my thought that Jews in every part of the world, in proportion as they
come under the holy influences of God’s promises through the Prophets, will go
to Palestine sympathetically—by encouraging those who can better go than
themselves and by financial assistance and the establishment there of great
enterprises. Permit me to suggest that in the Time of Trouble, incidental to
the transfer of Gentile rule to the power of Messiah, all financial interests
will be jeopardized. Many of your race, growing wealthy, will surely take
pleasure in forwarding the work of Zionism, as soon as they shall realize that
it is of God, foretold through the Prophets. And those of your people of
insufficient faith to use their means in forwarding the Lord’s work at this
important juncture will, before very long, find themselves in the condition
pictured by the Prophet Ezekiel, who declares (7:19) that in this great Day of
Trouble—"They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall
be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in
the day of the wrath of the Lord." The great Messenger of the Covenant
whom ye delight in (#Mal
3:1-3) will test and prove you as a people. Those who worship
idols of gold and silver, stocks and bonds, will receive severe chastisement at
His hand before He will grant them a share in the coming blessings.
SM-475