“Tidings of Great Joy” “Tidings of Great Joy” –– page 3page 3Why you Must Believe in God Why you Must Believe in God –– page 5page 5

God’s Revelation in the Bible God’s Revelation in the Bible –– page 12page 12

OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1543GladTidingsGladTidings

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GladTidingsO F T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

127th Year 1543A monthly magazine published by the Christadelphians (brothers and sisters in Christ)and available throughout the world.

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Cover and pages 10-11:Reading the Bible

istockphotosIllustrations:

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ContentsA12

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Contents“Tidings of Great Joy”3

Why you Must BelieveGod.............................5

The Witness of Stephen...................................7

Help with your DailyBible Readings..........9

Bible Reading Tables ................................10-11

God’s Revelation in theBible.........................12

The Return of the Jews .................................16

Jonah and the Whale.................................18

Its objectives are – to encourage the study of the Bible asGod's inspired message to men; to call attention to theDivine offer of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ; andto warn men and women that soon Christ will return toEarth as judge and ruler of God’s world-wide Kingdom.

128th Year 3

came to pay homage for the angelsaid:

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bringyou good tidings of great joy which willbe to all people. For there is born toyou this day in the city of David aSaviour, who is Christ the Lord. Andthis will be the sign to you: You will finda Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths,lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10–12).

Then an entire company of angelsappeared and proclaimed together:

“Glory to God in the highest, and onearth peace, goodwill toward men!”(Luke 2:14).

Great JoyThose marvellous events happenednearly two thousand years ago and it ishard for us to realise just how excitingthe news was. The people of Israelwere subject to a Roman occupyingforce – something they hated. Theyhad been waiting and waiting for apromised Deliverer or Saviour.

He was first promised to Adam andEve, when they were in deep distress;then promises about him had beenmade to Abraham, Moses and KingDavid. His Coming was often spokenabout when God’s prophets foretoldfuture events and there were peoplewho lived in daily expectation. But thenews that came to the shepherds wascompletely unexpected and unlookedfor.

You sense their appreciation,however, in their readiness to leavetheir sheep and go into Bethlehem, toseek out a child who had just beenborn there and to pay their respects.And the record says that: When they

When things get you down what do youdo? Some people go shopping in thehope that will help. Others eat a bitmore and then worry about their waist-line! But sometimes things are sodepressing that nothing seems to help.

Really BadWhat must it be like to be living in Syriaat present, with the nation being tornapart by opposing factions? Many whofled from Iraq to Syria, when Iraq wasat war, are now fleeing back to Iraq, tostart their lives all over again. Andthere are many countries whereparents fear that they cannot feedthemselves or their children becauseof the weather, the government, theirhealth and everything else. For many,life is full of uncertainty.

Put yourself in the shoes of a heavilypregnant girl who was told to leavehome with her young husband to goand stay with friends many miles away.Transport was difficult and the journeyarduous and when they reached theirdestination their friends couldn’t orwouldn’t accommodate them. Theyhad to sleep rough and her baby wasborn that very night with nobody tohelp. They felt unwanted and unloved,yet they prized that child, as though hewas the most special baby ever.

Something RemarkableThen a group of agricultural workerstracked the young couple down, to theouthouse where they were staying, andknelt before the baby boy. They camewith the news that they were out in thefield when a company of angels cameto tell them that the king of Israel – theMessiah – had just been born. They

“Tidings of Great Joy”“Tidings of Great Joy”

4 Glad Tidings

in the First Centurypeople wanted deliv-erance from theobvious things –oppression, taxation,illness, hunger anddeath. But theydidn’t think about theunderlying problem:the indirect cause ofall those things. Thereal problem is sin –disobedience to, andrebellion against, thelaw of God. Solvethat and you solve allother problems.

What of Us? The issues that now confront us are

rehearsed every day by politicians andpundits who are anxious to get ourvote or our money. All the time we hearabout the world’s economic problems.We see how unstable our world is andhow easily a nation can slip into chaos.There are daily news bulletins aboutcrimes, mistakes, lies and deceptions.But you hardly ever hear about theunderlying problem – which is still sin!

The great news is that Jesus hasdied to set us free from sin and death.Soon he will come from heaven to ruleon earth as King and to solve all ourother problems. But, like the shep-herds, we must be diligent to searchand seek out the Lord.

Reading the Bible regularly is a bighelp to get to know the Saviour of theworld. That is why we have included aBible Reading table in this issue, sothat you can read God’s Word rightthrough the coming year, if the Lordremains away. Don’t miss the opportu-nity!

Editor

had seen him, theymade widely known thesaying which was toldthem concerning thisChild. And all those whoheard it marveled atthose things which weretold them by the shep-herds (Luke 2:17–18).

They just couldn’t stoptalking about it, andunderstandably so.These were tidings ofgreat joy for them, asindeed they are to “allpeople”.

A SaviourAngels no longer appear as they did inBible times, at least if they do we areunaware of the fact (Hebrews 13:1).The Romans are no longer a conquer-ing race, so nobody is now looking fora Conqueror to get rid of them. Norcan we ever again expect that a childwill be born to a virgin: that was a oncefor all happening for the child was the“only begotten Son of God” (John1:18).

As things worked out, Jesus had notcome to conquer the Romans, or to becrowned as King of Israel, ruling fromJerusalem over God’s worldwidekingdom. That time will come, but hehad first to accomplish a much moredemanding deliverance – somethingneeded by every person, in everynation and in every age.

This is what Joseph, his foster father,was told by the angel:

She (Mary) will bring forth a Son, andyou shall call his name Jesus, for hewill save his people from their sins”(Matthew 1:21).

It was sad, but understandable, that

128th Year 5

Not believing Young Wilfred was helping his father,working with his best tools. The fatherwarned his son ‘Be careful how youhandle this one. Hold it exactly like thisor you will hurt yourself’.

A few minutes later, when hisfather’s back was turned, Wilfred letout a cry: he had misused the tool andhurt his hand. Wilfred had not trulybelieved his father, and he suffered theconsequences. We need to make surethat we do not make this mistake withthe Almighty Father.

Eve did not believe GodIn the Garden of Eden, God had toldAdam and Eve that if they ate fruitfrom the tree of knowledge of goodand evil then they would die: “… but ofthe tree of the knowledge of good andevil you shall not eat, for in the daythat you eat of it you shall surely die”(Genesis 2:17). Eve was tricked bythe lying words of the serpent. “Thenthe serpent said to the woman ‘You willnot surely die’.” (Genesis 3:4). Sadly,Eve believed the serpent, rather thanGod, and suffered the consequences.

There is a clear lesson for us all. It isnot sufficient to believe in God; Eve

believed in God, Wilfred believed in hisfather. We must believe what God hassaid and try to obey it.

Jesus always believed GodThe supreme example of belief in Godis Jesus, God’s Son. In everything hedid he obeyed his father, the Lord God.In Matthew chapter 2, when he istempted he always fends off the temp-tation with the Word of God, alwayssaying: ‘It is written…’, and thenquoting from the Old Testament Scrip-tures. In the Psalms we have abeautiful description of how Jesustreasured his father’s commandments,for the Psalmist wrote prophetically ofJesus:

“Then I said ‘Behold, I come; in thescroll of the book it is written of me. Idelight to do Your will, O my God, andYour law is written in my heart’” (Psalm40:7-8). Hebrews chapter 10 tells us that thesewords are about God’s Son, Jesus.They show how the commands of Godwere so precious to Jesus that hedescribes them as being ‘in his heart’.It was his joy to do what his fatherasked of him – even though this some-times involved horrendous suffering.

A Friend of GodNo-one else has ever loved God’s

commands and obeyed them likeJesus did. But there are notablepeople in the Bible who did try to obeyGod. One example is Abraham, who isdescribed in James 2:23 as a ‘friend ofGod’. What a lovely testimony! Whathad Abraham done to warrant this?

Why you Must BelieveWhy you Must BelieveGodGod

6 Glad Tidings

The scripture says:

“Abraham believedGod, and it wasaccounted to him forrighteousness” (James2:23).

God had askedAbraham to offer hisonly son Isaac as asacrifice. This isrecorded in Genesis22. Abraham andSarah his wife hadwaited years for a son,and God had promisedthat from Isaac wouldcome a great nationand one who wouldeventually be theSaviour and Ruler of the world.

Abraham was prepared to do exactlywhat God asked of him and was willingto sacrifice his son (although an angelstopped him at the last minute),because he believed that God woulddo what He had promised. If only wecould be like this!

UnchangeableWe cannot change God’s Command-ments. Time and again we are told thatit is very important to follow exactlywhat God says, and not to use our ownideas.

King Saul, the very first king of Israelmade this mistake. God told King Saulto utterly destroy the Amalekites – anation of people who had treated theIsraelites very badly. God said to him:

“Go and attack Amalek and utterlydestroy all that they have, and do notspare them” (1 Samuel 15:3).

Saul did go to battle, as he was told,but he did not destroy everything.

“But Saul and thepeople spared Agagand the best of thesheep, the oxen, thefatlings, the lambs andall that was good” (1Samuel 15:9).

God was very angrywith Saul. Saul tried tojustify what he haddone:

“…the people sparedthe best of the sheepand the oxen, to sacri-fice to the LORD yourGod” (I Sam. 15:15).

This may seem like avery good reason, but

God was angry with Saul and the con-sequences were very serious. Samuelthe prophet says to him:

“Behold, to obey is better than sacri-fice and to heed than the fat of rams… Because you have rejected theword of the LORD, He also has reject-ed you from being king” (1 Samuel15:22-23).

Aim to BelieveAll these examples given us in theScriptures of truth show us plainly thatwe must aim to believe God. Manypeople believe in God. They may alsobelieve that He will give them eternallife. Are they right? The Bible clearlyteaches that although we must believein God, this is not enough. We must tryto find out exactly what He wants us todo, and to obey as best we can, andthen to commit our lives completely toHis ways. This alone is how we trulybelieve God, and it is the only way tobe saved.

Anna Hart

128th Year 7

That serious accusation meant thatStephen was on trial for his life beforethe High Priest and Jewish Council.

Stephen’s DefenceInstead of refuting the charges madeabout him, Stephen went right back tothe times of Genesis chapter 12, whenthe Lord God asked Abram to leave Urof the Chaldees and to move to theland we now know as Israel. Heexplained about the promises Godmade to Abraham, the way Isaac wasborn and how the line of descent con-tinued through Jacob and his twelvesons. He talked about their time inEgypt, and the way Moses, “instructedin all the wisdom of the Egyptians”, ledGod’s people out of Egypt. He remind-ed them of how God had performedwonders and signs in Egypt, and at theRed Sea.

Now he was ready to deal with theissue of whether Jesus would changethe customs delivered by Moses, forhe now introduced the promise thatGod made by Moses that He would“raise up for you a prophet like mefrom your brothers” (Acts 7:37). Thiswas a very clever move, for it is recog-nised that the Lord Jesus was theprophet like Moses, but it was not pos-sible for High Priest or Council toacknowledge this, even though the fol-lowers of the Lord Jesus would do so.

Then Stephen turned to the timewhen the people of Israel were in thewilderness. Far from keeping faithfullyto the commands and laws which Godhad given them through Moses, whilsthe was away from them receivingGod’s law, they had made an idol of

It was perhaps inevitable thatas the Jerusalem congrega-tion of the young church grewquite large there would besome, and so there were.

Some of the members felt neglected,especially widows from the Greek-speaking areas, who felt they were notgetting their fair share of the welfaremoney. The Apostles did not wish toleave the preaching work they weredoing to attend to the issue, but clearlysomething had to be done.

Zealous OpponentsSeven men were specially appointedfor the task. One of these wasStephen, who comes to our noticebecause he soon became involved inthe preaching work as well as lookingafter the daily distribution to those inneed. He seems to have upset somefrom the synagogue of the Freedmen,who would have liked to oppose whathe was saying, but found it impossibleto refute his arguments. So theyresorted to the tactics of the mob,stirred up a commotion and thendragged Stephen before the JewishCouncil.

They knew that any charges theybrought would not stand up before thecouncil, so they arranged for false wit-nesses to say:

“This man does not cease to speakblasphemous words against this holyplace and the law; for we have heardhim say that this Jesus of Nazareth willdestroy this place and change thecustoms which Moses delivered to us”(Acts 6:13–14).

First Century Preaching – 5

The Witness of StephenThe Witness of Stephen

8 Glad Tidings

gold in the shape of a calf and wor-shipped it. This was possibly the lowestpoint in Israel’s history, but there wereother low points.

History LessonContinuing to trace Israel’s history,Stephen talked about their worship ofGod, first a tabernacle or tent, made inthe wilderness then a permanentTemple constructed in Jerusalem inthe reign of Solomon. God had notasked for such a building, but KingDavid had wanted to build it as a placein which to worship God. Stephen nowquoted the prophecy of Isaiah, whereGod asks:

“Heaven is My throne, and earth is Myfootstool. Where is the house that youwill build Me? And where is the placeof My rest?” (Isaiah 66:1)

Then God explained that He is theCreator of everything, and what Hewants is people with the right attitudeof mind and heart.

Stephen contrasted God’s expecta-tion with the attitude of those whoresisted the claims made by JesusChrist, the Son of God:

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised inheart and ears! You always resist theHoly Spirit; as your fathers did, so doyou. Which of the prophets did yourfathers not persecute? And they killedthose who foretold the coming of theJust One, of whom you now havebecome the betrayers and murderers(Acts 7:51–52).

In a masterly way, Stephen hadshown that God’s people were alwayswayward, forsaking the commandswhich God had given them. Time andagain God had sent prophets to callthem back to the right way, but theresponse had been to persecute andkill them. The prophets had spoken

about the coming of the “RighteousOne”, a clear reference to the LordJesus. Stephen showed that the oppo-sition to the Apostles and to the rest ofthe congregation of believers was justlike the hostility shown towards God allthrough the history of Israel. His finalrebuke to the Council was stinging:

“You are the men who have receivedthe Law of God miraculously, by thehand of angels, and you are the menwho have disobeyed it” (Acts 7:53,J.B. Phillips).

Stephen’s EndStephen’s defence was a compre-

hensive rebuke of the Jewish nation,who should have been the guardiansand keepers of a law which was yearsahead of any other such code, andwhich should have ensured the bless-ings of the Lord God, generation aftergeneration. That it had not done sowas entirely due to their failure toobserve its wise provisions, in particu-lar their failure to faithfully worship theLord God.

Sadly, those who heard this spiriteddefence took absolutely no notice.They were so incensed by what he hadsaid that they threw him out of the cityand stoned him to death, becomingthe first to suffer such a fate after thedeath of the Lord Jesus himself. Justbefore they stoned him, Stephen sawa vision: “the glory of God, and Jesus

128th Year 9

standing at the right hand of God”(Acts 7:55). He told them what hesaw, but they just “stopped their ears”.They did not want to hear whatStephen was saying for they felt surethey knew God’s will better than him.In fact they ignored one who reallycould have guided them to a betterrelationship with God, by their accept-ance of Jesus Christ as Lord.

This whole incident provides a pow-erful lesson for us. Stephen wasinspired by God to explain importantaspects of Israel’s religious history, sothat his hearers would not rely on theirtraditions, but would learn instead toaccept God’s truth. But they weren’t

prepared to listen and would not followhis argument, or reason thingsthrough. Yet he was clearly speakingthe truth, and was a man approved ofGod, as his vision of the Lord Jesusdemonstrated. How careful we toomust be not to rely upon human tradi-tion, or the things we have alwaysbelieved unthinkingly. The Scripturesgive us the opportunity to read for our-selves what God wants of us. Byreading them on a regular basis, wecan ensure that we fully understandthe whole counsel of God. What ablessing that can bring!

Mark Sheppard

Help with your Daily Bible ReadingHelp with your Daily Bible Reading

Use The World Wide Web to help you to do your daily Bible readings (using thereading tables on pages 10 & 11). This is the 13th year in which this Chris-tadelphian web site has been available to help people understand the Biblemessage.

There are over 24,400 comments, charts and tables from over 50 differentChristadelphians.

W View the different thoughts on the day’s readings online.

W Have each day’s thoughts e-mailed to you daily – over 1,000 use this facil-ity.

W Read each reading online in any of 5 different versions

W Correspond by e-mail with any of the contributors who have writtenthoughts.

W Search for comments on specific chapters – a real aid to Bible Study.

The object of the site is to encourage personal Bible reading.

The site can be viewed at http://www.dailyreadings.org.uk/

For further information either visit the site and click on CONTACT US or e-mail bible_truth@thebiblesite.co.uk or peterf@thebiblesite.co.uk

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ng Tables

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12 Glad Tidings

Throughout history peoplehave often sought some Beinggreater than themselves –sometimes to worship, atother times to blame for any-thing they didn’t understand!

When in trouble, it was thereforenatural for them to turn to that greatBeing to champion them, first inbattles between tribes and later inwars between nations.

The Enlightenment?Things changed dramatically in the17th century. The dawn of modernscience brought answers to a wholerange of questions which had previous-ly been regarded as unfathomablemysteries. Man’s knowledge abouthimself, the earth and the universegrew hugely and the need for a god to“fill in the gaps” in his understandingbecame far less urgent. Despite thisthere were many scientists in thatperiod who viewed their discoveriesand work as something that revealedmore about the might and power ofGod: something that added to what Hehad revealed about Himself in theBible. Other leaders of men also sawthe Bible as God’s revelation:u “It is impossible to rightly govern

the world without God and theBible” – George Washington(1732-1799), the first US presi-dent.

u “I believe the Bible is the best giftGod has ever given to man. All thegood from the Saviour of the

world is communicated to usthrough this book” – AbrahamLincoln (1809-1865), sixteenthUS president.

u “There are more sure marks ofauthenticity in the Bible than inany profane history” – Sir IsaacNewton (1642-1727), one of thegreatest scientists of all time.

u “The existence of the Bible, as abook for the people, is the great-est benefit which the human racehas ever experienced. Everyattempt to belittle it is a crimeagainst humanity” – ImmanuelKant (1724-1804), Germanphilosopher.

u “The New Testament is the verybest book that ever was or everwill be known in the world” –Charles Dickens (1812-1870).English novelist.

Science and ReligionIt was later still in the 19th centuryafter the work of Charles Darwin thatsome thinkers proposed a new ideaaltogether. They argued that scienceand religion present two different con-cepts about the earth and indeed theuniverse. They are equally true, theysaid, but they do not overlap. They arethe two sides of the same coin. Oneshows us how things are and how theywork, the other tells us why they areand what the purpose of it all is.

Things have moved on again so thattoday man thinks he knows theanswers to pretty well all of the ques-tions that can be thrown at him. Some

God’s Revelation in theGod’s Revelation in theBibleBible

128th Year 13

men have become insufferablyproud of their achievements andthink they can do without a God.Some even deny His existence.

But all is not lost, even today. OneChristian writer of the last century,who was also something of aphilosopher, made the followingpoints in one of his books.

Bible RevelationI hope I’ve said enough to at leastset your minds thinking about theidea of God. As Christadelphians, wehave come to believe that there isan Almighty God and that He hasrevealed Himself and His purposewith His creation and that revelationis uniquely to be found in the bookwe know as the Bible. This is very

much in accord, as we have seen, withthe thinking of some men of earliergenerations. So let’s look at someBible passages to see what it tells us.

u The Bible tells us that Godis the Creator and Sustain-er of all things. He dwellsin the heavens in unap-proachable light. He is thepersonification of wisdomand power:

In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth. The earth waswithout form, and void; and darknesswas on the face of the deep. And theSpirit of God was hovering over theface of the waters. Then God said, “Letthere be light”; and there was light.And God saw the light, that it wasgood; and God divided the light fromthe darkness. God called the light Day,and the darkness He called Night. Sothe evening and the morning were thefirst day (Genesis 1:1–5).

“To whom then will you liken Me, or towhom shall I be equal?” says the HolyOne. Lift up your eyes on high, and seewho has created these things, whobrings out their host by number; Hecalls them all by name, by the great-ness of His might and the strength ofHis power; not one is missing (Isaiah40:25–26).

He who is the blessed and only Poten-tate, the King of kings and Lord oflords, who alone has immortality,dwelling in unapproachable light,whom no man has seen or can see, towhom be honour and everlastingpower. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15–16).

u The Bible tells us thatGod’s power is limitlessand so He is everywherepresent by His spirit. He

“Suppose, for a moment, thatthere was no intelligence behindthe universe, no creative mind. Inthat case, nobody designed mybrain for the purpose of thinking. Itis merely that when the atomsinside my skull happen for physicalor chemical reasons to arrangethemselves in a certain way, thisgives me, as a by-product the sen-sation I call thought. But if so, howcan I trust my own thinking to betrue? It’s like upsetting a glass ofmilk and hoping that the way thesplash arranges itself will give you amap of London. But if I can’t trustmy own thinking, of course, I can’ttrust the arguments leading toatheism; therefore I have no reasonto be an atheist, or anything else.Unless I believe in God, I can’tbelieve in thought, so I can neveruse thought to disbelieve in God”(C S Lewis).

uses His power for specialpurposes. Some, by theirvery nature, are uniqueoccasions:

Prophecy never came by the will ofman, but holy men of God spoke asthey were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2Peter 1:21).

The angel answered and said to(Mary), “The Holy Spirit will come uponyou, and the power of the Highest willovershadow you; therefore, also, thatHoly One who is to be born will becalled the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

(Jesus) was handed the book of theprophet Isaiah. And when he hadopened the book, he found the placewhere it was written: “The Spirit of theLord is upon me, because He hasanointed me to preach the gospel tothe poor; He has sent me to heal thebrokenhearted, to proclaim liberty tothe captives and recovery of sight tothe blind, to set at liberty those whoare oppressed; to proclaim the accept-able year of the Lord” (Luke 4:17–19).

Suddenly there came a sound fromheaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,and it filled the whole house wherethey were sitting. Then there appearedto them divided tongues, as of fire,and one sat upon each of them. Andthey were all filled with the Holy Spiritand began to speak with othertongues, as the Spirit gave them utter-ance (Acts 2:2–4).

u The Bible tells us that Godhas not only revealedHimself to mankindthrough His Word but alsoin the person and the lifeof His Son, the Lord JesusChrist:

While he thought about these things,behold, an angel of the Lord appearedto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph,son of David, do not be afraid to taketo you Mary your wife, for that which isconceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.And she will bring forth a Son, and youshall call his name Jesus, for he willsave his people from their sins”(Matthew 1:20–21).

When the fullness of the time hadcome, God sent forth His Son, born ofa woman, born under the law (Gala-tians 4:4).

For indeed He does not give aid toangels, but He does give aid to theseed of Abraham. Therefore, in allthings he (Jesus) had to be made likehis brethren, that he might be a mer-ciful and faithful High Priest in thingspertaining to God, to make propitiationfor the sins of the people. For in thathe himself has suffered, beingtempted, he is able to aid those whoare tempted (Hebrews 2:16–18).

God, who at various times and invarious ways spoke in time past to thefathers by the prophets, has in theselast days spoken to us by His Son,whom He has appointed heir of allthings, through whom also He madethe worlds; who being the brightnessof His glory and the express image ofHis person, and upholding all things bythe word of His power, when He had byhimself purged our sins, sat down atthe right hand of the Majesty on high(Hebrews 1:1–3).

What is God Like?But you will want to know what the Godof the Bible is like as a person, giventhat it’s possible to think of Him in thatway. Is He vengeful or forgiving? Is Hefull of anger or of love? Does He have

14 Glad Tidings

128th Year 15

a quick temper, like so many of us, oris He incomparably patient?

One of the great leaders of theJewish people – Moses – asked thesequestions of the Lord God Himselfwho, in reply, revealed this to him:

The Lord passed before him and pro-claimed, “The Lord, the Lord God,merciful and gracious, longsuffering,and abounding in goodness and truth,keeping mercy for thousands, forgivinginiquity and transgression and sin, byno means clearing the guilty, visitingthe iniquity of the fathers upon thechildren and the children’s children tothe third and the fourth generation”(Exodus 34:6–7).

If you ask why God should speak witha man who was a leader of the Jews,and not some other nation, have alook at the article about the Return ofthe Jews to their own land. They arethe people whom God has chosen andwe do well to remind ourselves thatJesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son,was born of a Jewish woman.

Why is God like that?Why is God merciful, gracious andlongsuffering? Why has He all thesewonderful characteristics? We need tothink about this for a moment. Godcreated man in the beginning describ-ing His creation as “very good”. Yet Hegave man a thinking mind and theability to exercise choice. Would manchoose to worship and obey God asGod intended he should, or would herebel? History tells us the answer tothis question time after time. Thisstate of human rebellion is called sinand it leads mankind to death andoblivion. So we ask, “What aboutthose who really want to worship Godand be obedient?” What will happen tothem?

Have a quiet read of Psalm 103:8-18. Here is God’s gracious mercy inaction. The Creator has, through thesacrifice of His Son, made it possiblefor honest, repentant men and womento turn to Him and not to perish atdeath. Meditate a while on the follow-ing Bible passages (John 3:16; 1John4:9-11 and 2 Peter 3:9).

At death, men and women whomake a covenant relationship with Godare asleep in Christ, unconsciouslywaiting for the day of resurrection (see1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 51-57). Forthe Bible tells us that God, althoughhigh and lifted up, almighty andimmortal, is yet loving and mercifultowards weak and rebellious mankind.As the crown of His creation we need,as individuals, to show God that werealise how weak and failing we are.We must then turn to Him with repen-tant hearts seeking forgiveness for ourwrongdoings, as says the prophet:

“Seek the Lord while He may be found,call upon Him while He is near. Let thewicked forsake his way, and theunrighteous man his thoughts; let himreturn to the Lord, and He will havemercy on him; and to our God, for Hewill abundantly pardon” (Isaiah55:6–7).

This gracious, kind and loving God isthe majestic person that the Bibleuniquely reveals to us. We all need toturn to Him through His Son, and whatgracious words of invitation Jesus

Also spoke:

Come to me, all you who labour andare heavy laden, and I will give yourest. Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and lowly inheart, and you will find rest for yoursouls” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Trevor A Pritchard

16 Glad Tidings

In AD70 the Jewish nation came to anend when the Roman army conqueredJerusalem, killed many of its inhabi-tants and scattered the survivorsthroughout all the nations of the world.

Prophecy Fulfilled!This was a remarkable fulfilment ofBible prophecy, one which foretoldtheir scattering being in Deuteronomychapter 28, a prediction given byMoses over a thousand years earlier.And some forty years before it hap-pened, ‘the prophet like Moses’ – theLord Jesus – had foretold this event aspart of the extensive prophecy he gaveon the Mount of Olives:

They (the Jews) will fall by the edge ofthe sword, and be led away captiveinto all nations. And Jerusalem will betrampled by Gentiles until the times ofthe Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke21:24).

Jewish DispersionSo it was that, following the destruc-tion of Jerusalem in AD70, the Jewsbegan a long period of dispersionthroughout all the nations of the world,having no homeland of their own, andoften being moved on as anti-Semi-tism led to persecution and pillage.This period of dispersion lasted formore than 1800 years until near theend of the 19th century when a move-ment toward national recovery andresettlement in the land of their forefa-thers began.

Between 1918 and 1939 there wasa steady trickle of Jews back to theland, mainly into the area around Tel

Aviv. Many of these were fleeing frompersecution in Russia. It was, however,the holocaust during the Second WorldWar which turned the trickle into aflood. Since then, there has been aregular return of Jews to the land oftheir forefathers. It is a national recov-ery which is unique among the nations,for throughout the long period of dis-persion, despite the manypersecutions which they suffered, theJews kept their distinct national identi-ty.

Modern MiracleIn the return of the Jews to the landand the establishment of the State ofIsrael as a Jewish State, we see amodern day miracle which also fulfilsBible prophecy. For just as their disper-sion was prophesied, so was theirrestoration. These prophecies also givecompelling evidence to the veracityand reliability of God’s Word. Here aresome of the prophecies of return andrestoration, taken from the prophecyof Jeremiah.

“Therefore behold, the days arecoming,” says the Lord, “that it shallno more be said, ‘The Lord lives whobrought up the children of Israel fromthe land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord liveswho brought up the children of Israelfrom the land of the north and from allthe lands where He had driven them.’For I will bring them back into theirland which I gave to their fathers.“Behold, I will send for many fisher-men,” says the Lord, “and they shallfish them; and afterward I will send formany hunters, and they shall huntthem from every mountain and every

Prophecy and the Time of the End – 6

The Return of the JewsThe Return of the Jews

His prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah:

“Therefore say to the house of Israel,‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not dothis for your sake, O house of Israel,but for My holy name’s sake, whichyou have profaned among the nationswherever you went. And I will sanctifyMy great name, which has been pro-faned among the nations, which youhave profaned in their midst; and thenations shall know that I am the Lord,”says the Lord God, “when I am hal-lowed in you before their eyes. For Iwill take you from among the nations,gather you out of all countries, andbring you into your own land. (Ezekiel36:22–24).

“Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant isnot with day and night, and if I havenot appointed the ordinances ofheaven and earth, then I will cast awaythe descendants of Jacob and DavidMy servant, so that I will not take anyof his descendants to be rulers overthe descendants of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob. For I will cause their cap-tives to return, and will have mercy onthem.’ ” (Jeremiah 33:25–26).

The Jews in general think they areacting on their own initiative and skillin returning to the land of their forefa-thers, and in their ability to remainestablished in the land. This is how italso appears to the nations of theworld, but nothing could be furtherfrom the truth.

The Jewish people are back in theland of their forefathers in fulfilment ofBible prophecy, and in these prophe-cies of the return we have seen andare seeing the Word of God being ful-filled before our very eyes.

John Shepley

128th Year 17

hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.For My eyes are on all their ways; theyare not hidden from My face, nor istheir iniquity hidden from My eyes(Jeremiah 16:14–17).

For behold, the days are coming,’ saysthe Lord, ‘that I will bring back fromcaptivity My people Israel and Judah,’says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them toreturn to the land that I gave to theirfathers, and they shall possess it’ ”(Jeremiah 30:3).

Behold, I will bring them from thenorth country, And gather them fromthe ends of the earth, Among them theblind and the lame, The woman withchild And the one who labors withchild, together; A great throng shallreturn there. They shall come withweeping, And with supplications I willlead them. I will cause them to walk bythe rivers of waters, In a straight way inwhich they shall not stumble; For I ama Father to Israel, And Ephraim is Myfirstborn. “Hear the word of the Lord, Onations, And declare it in the isles afaroff, and say, ‘He who scattered Israelwill gather him, And keep him as ashepherd does his flock.’ (Jeremiah31:8–10).

God’s Work – God’s WorldAlthough all of the above quotationsare from the prophecy of Jeremiah, heis not the only one who foretells thesemomentous events. The return is awork of God. It is He who is in control.It is for His Holy Name’s sake, and asa vindication of His Word, that theseevents are taking place, not becauseof any righteousness displayed by theJews. In fact they are returning inunbelief and generally are quite igno-rant of the hand of God at work in theirlives. This is what He declares through

18 Glad Tidings

to imagine the impact on him. As aJew, Jonah had always kept himself atarm’s length from all Gentiles (non-Jews). They worshipped idols, andwere unclean. How, he asked himself,could Israel’s God have anything to dowith such people? Besides, the Assyri-ans had powerful kings, and couldeasily bring trouble for Israel (thirtyyears later they would indeed invadeIsrael and take captives). Nineveh was700 miles away to the north east.Jonah decided God was making a bigmistake. He went to the shippingcompany office at Joppa, bought aticket, and sailed off in the oppositedirection.

No Escape!You cannot run away from God. After awhile a great storm blew up, and theship was in danger of sinking. Thesuperstitious mariners cast lots todecide whose fault it was, and the lotfell on Jonah. He admitted he wasrunning away from God. But, to hiscredit, he volunteered to sacrificehimself to save them from drowning.“Hurl me into the sea”, he said, “thenthere will be a calm”.

So they picked him up and threwhim overboard. The irony is, the sailorswere Gentiles. Jonah had been forced

Jonah came from Galilee, where Jesuslater grew up. He was a prophet to theTen Tribe kingdom. Like Amos andHosea, he lived during the long reign ofKing Jeroboam the Second and whatwe learn from the record in theaccount in the historical record isJonah was a very willing prophet whenhe thought that his nation wouldbenefit from his prophecies.

The date would be about 780 BC,and this is what we read:

And (Jeroboam II) did evil in the sightof the LORD; he did not depart from allthe sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,who had made Israel sin. He restoredthe territory of Israel from the entranceof Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah,according to the word of the LORD Godof Israel, which He had spokenthrough His servant Jonah the sonof Amittai, the prophet who wasfrom Gath Hepher (2 Kings14:24–25).

Jonah the ProphetProphecying about the expansion ofIsrael was one thing but then Jonahreceived an extraordinary request fromGod. He was told to go to Nineveh, thecapital of Assyria, and call on thepeople there to repent. It is hard for us

The Books of the Bible – 19

Jonah and the WhaleJonah and the Whale

128th Year 19

to realise that Gentiles have feelings,just like Jews. They did not want to die.And he had been prepared to give hislife to save them! Perhaps he wasbeginning to see that God was rightafter all.

Mercifully, God did not let him die. Agreat fish saw him fall through thewater and gobbled him up. It was prob-ably a whale – they have been knownto swallow men alive when chased byharpoon boats, and they breathe airlike men. The second chapter of Jonahrecords his amazing prayer to Godfrom the darkness and terror of hisunderwater prison. God heard it fromthe depths of the ocean and had pityon him. Three days later the whalethrew him up on a Mediterraneanbeach.

A SecondTimeAgain Godcommand-ed theprophet to go toNineveh. And thistime, grumpily, he went.The Assyrian capital was a hugemetropolis – it took three days to crosson foot. Jonah cried to the people thatif they did not repent from their vio-lence and their wicked ways Ninevehwould be overthrown. Remarkably, theking set an example, clothed himself in

sackcloth as a sign of mourning andstarted praying to the God of Israel.

Jonah sat down outside the city towait for the outcome. He was reallypeeved when God told him the capitalhad been saved. But God reprovedhim.

“Should I not pity Nineveh, that greatcity, in which are more than onehundred and twenty thousand personswho cannot discern between their righthand and their left (presumably Hemeant little children) – and much live-stock? (Jonah 4:11).

As the apostle Peter writes in theNew Testament, God does not wishthat any should perish, but that allshould reach repentance (2 Peter3:9). So, whatever our race, we canbe sure that if we truly humbleourselves before God,He will have mercy onus.

In the New Testament,Jesus remarks on the repen-tance of the Ninevites, andcontrasts them with thehard-hearted Jews of

Galilee who

refusedto listen to

his call to repen-tance. He also saysthat as Jonah was

three days in the belly of the whale, hewould be three days in the tomb, andthen rise again.

David M Pearce

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