What does Scripture teach about the difference between Israel and the Churches? Are there different promises and destinies foretold? Examine by Scripture what our LORD has revealed, from Genesis to Revelation.
Excerpt:“This little book has been hastily prepared, with the hope that it may be helpful to some who desire to know more of God’s Word. No effort has been made to write it in what the world calls an attractive style, but only to present the truth in the plainest language possible. It consists largely of Scripture quotations, and the reader is warned at the outset that it will be dull and tedious, unless he is deeply interested in the subject of which it treats. But the subject alone is of sufficient importance to awaken and fix the attention of all who are willing to learn what testimony the Holy Spirit has borne upon the strange problem of Jewish history and destiny.
It is a problem which more and more engages the consideration of thoughtful minds. Not only Christians, but infidels like the poor woman who wrote Daniel Deronda, are pondering it with ever-increasing anxiety. It tormented the philosopher Hegel, according to his biographer, “all his life long, as a dark enigma.” Other philosophers and other novelists, and Review writers, and statesmen, and politicians, are wondering what is to become of this strange people that, homeless and oppressed, and persecuted for twenty-five hundred years, has yet outlived all of the mightiest empires of antiquity, refusing to be merged in other nationalities, and still bearing upon the very face unmistakable marks of distinction and separation from all the races of earth.
In answer to this question a vast majority of Christians, especially of those who have never examined the subject, will say that the Jews are to be converted one by one, and gradually absorbed in the church. It must be admitted that for eighteen hundred years, the work of conversion has been amazingly slow, and there is no immediate prospect of its speedier accomplishment in the future. Others think that the glowing promises, made to God’s ancient people in the Old Testament, have been fulfilled to us spiritually, and hence they see nothing but the Church in the Psalms and Prophecies. That is to say, they appeal confidently to the fulfillment of curses against Israel as an argument in favor of the divine origin of the Bible, and triumphantly point the infidel to the punishment, captivity, and dispersion of Abraham’s seed; and then coolly turn around, and appropriate to themselves every promise of forgiveness and restoration and happiness, given to the same scattered Israel. Let not a Gentile talk anymore after this of the meanness of a Jew.
The Scriptures should never be studied with the foolish idea that we are the center and the object of God’s counsels. Christ is the center, and Christ the object, of divine revelation; and those who will attentively read the passages here cited from the inspired Word, can not retain a doubt that it is the Father’s purpose to exalt the name of His Son in His special dealings with the Jews. In addition to the tribute of praise He will receive from the Church in the heavenly places, He will gather another tribute of praise on earth in the coming and certain glory of Israel."
200 pages.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Born in Tennessee in 1830, James Hall Brookes was the son of a Presbyterian pastor and church planter. His father passed away when James was just three years old. He saved his money and applied to West Point. Although he was approved, he surrendered to preach the gospel and headed off to prepare for the ministry at Princeton in New Jersey. He worked his way through school, met his wife Susan, and went off to his first pastorate in Dayton, Ohio.
James Brookes pastored for 39 years in the same city of St. Louis, built a strong church, and stood for the truth. He preached around the country, and for years headed up the fabled Niagara Conferences that historians recognize as being the forerunner of the Fundamentalist movement in America.
He was also convinced of the pre-millennial coming of Christ, during a time when very few people held to such a view. This view was not drawn from the teachings of any man, but by a careful study of the Scriptures. It was the Bible that was his teacher, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Brookes spent considerable time and money defending the Authorized Version. He resisted the English revision committee and proved himself ahead of his time in venerating the King James and warning about the coming confusion concerning translations. In his magazine, The Truth and Testimony of Jesus Christ, Dr. Brookes freely exposed the errors of modernism, compromise, and clergy unbelief. He gained both a cherished, worldwide following and an astonishing amount of opposition. Dr. Brookes authored several books and between 250 to 300 tracts and pamphlets, and he continued to publish his magazine until the time of his death on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1897.
