This is Passover week, my brethren. You will have put away all leaven from your houses; you will eat the matzoh and the roasted lamb; you will attend the synagogue services and carry out the ritual and directions of the Talmud. But you forget, my brethren, that you have everything but that which Jehovah required first of all. He did not say: “When I see the leaven put away, or when I see you eat the matzoh or the lamb, or go to the synagogue.” His word was: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Ah, my brethren, you can substitute nothing for this. You must have the blood!
I was born in Palestine, nearly seventy years ago. I was taught to read the law, the psalms and the prophets. I early attended the synagogue and learned Hebrew from the rabbis.
I knew I needed atonement. I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it. But atonement was to be made by blood, and there was no blood.
In my distress at last I opened my heart to a learned and venerable rabbi. I tried to be satisfied when he told me we must turn to the Talmud, rest on its instruction and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers. I tried to be satisfied, but I could not.
I was over thirty years of age when I left Palestine and went to Constantinople. I had one great question: Where can I find the blood of atonement?
One night I was walking down one of the narrow streets when I saw a sign telling of a meeting for Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. Just as I took a seat I heard a man say: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7)).
It was my first introduction to Jesus Christ. I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that “without shedding of blood is no remission,” but that He had given His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, to die, and all who trusted in His blood were forgiven all their iniquities.
I had found the blood of atonement at last. I trusted it, and I love to read the New Testament and see how all the shadows of the law are fulfilled in Jesus.
“How can a man believe that through the blood of the crucified Jesus he can receive the forgiveness of his sins and have peace with God? Isn’t that foolishness?” asked a man of a Christian.
“Surely it is,” answered the believer; “the Apostle Paul calls it that.”
“You are joking,” said the other. “Paul and I cannot agree on that subject.”
“Just read this,” the believer said, opening his Bible. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Now the preaching of the cross is no longer “foolishness” to the first speaker; he has found that it truly is “the power of God unto salvation.”
“Seek ye the Lord while He may
be found, call ye upon Him
while He is near.”