42. “L. Μ. W.,” Cheltenham. We beg you will accept our warmest thanks for your truly kind and encouraging letter. We cannot say anything as to the publication of the volume to which you refer. The Lord will guide. We do not feel ourselves, in any way, bound to go on with the series. We simply look to God about it. We trust this reply will suffice to meet the many inquiries made as to our “Notes.”
43. “L. B.,” London. “The Jew,” as such, is bound to fulfill the law, or else to meet the curse pronounced upon “every man who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” But where is the Jew that can meet God on the ground of law—moral or ceremonial? Did you ever hear or know of one who could claim blessing on the ground of perfect obedience? It will be said, “There is mercy;” yes, but not under law. “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy.” Law and mercy are two different things. If a man can fulfill the law, he does not need mercy; and if he has not fulfilled the law, it has no mercy for him. What remains? Simply to take the place of a poor, ruined, self-destroyed, guilty sinner. “Ο Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” What then? “In me is thy help.” But on whom has this help been laid? On One mighty to save, even the Messiah of Israel—Him of whom Isaiah speaks in the following well-known passage: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his bruising we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Here, dear friend, the repentant Jew may find the true ground of deliverance from the curse of the law. Christ was made a curse by hanging on a tree. “He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” “And all who believe in Him are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Nor this only; they are delivered from the law as a rule or principle, being counted dead to it by the death of Christ.
This, in no wise, interferes with Jer. 31:36, 3736If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:36‑37), to which you refer. It has nothing to say to the question. If “the Jew embraces Christianity’ he ceases to be a Jew, and takes his stand on the new ground where there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one in Christ. This leaves wholly untouched the promises and purposes of God to Israel which shall all be fulfilled—literally and infallibly fulfilled, in due time. “All Israel shall be saved.” The scriptures teem with the evidence of this grand truth. Not one jot or tittle of the promises made to the fathers can fail. To quote the proofs would demand a volume. We cannot add more in our limited space, save to say that if you will apply your heart to the study of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, you will find a very full and satisfactory reply to your question, “What passages of scripture tend to release the Jew from ceremonial observance?” If he believes in Jesus, he is dead to the law; if he does not, he will be damned by the law.
44. “Μ. H. P.,” Somerset. Your question has a very legal ring about it. We are certainly responsible for what we profess to know and hold; but if your soul thirsts, as you say, to know more of Jesus, surely the more you can hear of Him the better. No doubt, we shall ever have to judge ourselves for our shortcoming in carrying out the truth we profess to know; and the more we know, the more searching must be our self-judgment. But we must never forget, dear friend, that we live under the reign of grace. Glorious, enfranchising fact! The Lord be praised for it! May we enter, more fully, into its sweetness, blessedness, and power! Thanks for the lines sent by J. P.
45. “I. R.” Accept our thanks for your kind letter. We must refer you to our publisher for a reply to your proposal. We have not yet received the “Highway Papers” which you so kindly sent.
46. “J. H.,” Haltree. In John 20 Mary illustrates the present relation of the church with Christ. We do not know Him after the flesh. We are linked with Him, not as the Messiah on earth, but as a heavenly Christ. Thomas, on the other hand, represents the Jew who must see, in order to believe. In Matt. 28 which, as you know, presents our Lord in His Jewish relations, we find the women holding Him by the feet, teaching us, in the most blessed manner, that He will yet resume His links with Israel, according to the promises made to the fathers. We must remember that the church forms no part of the ways of God with Israel and the earth.
47. “E. C.,” London. We never solicit contributions for this magazine. If any of the Lord’s servants feel led to send us a paper, we shall most thankfully accept it, and, if suitable, insert it.