Talking Out Of Turn

To the Jew first. Converted Israel, he declared, will give life to the dead world … just as we have found, among the parched hills of Judah, that the evening dew, coming silently down, gave life to every plant, making the grass to spring and the flowers to put forth their sweetest fragrance, so shall converted Israel be when they come as dew upon a dead, dry world. The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. — Robert Murray M’Cheyne

I was listening to the second half of Prof. Michael Haykin’s lecture on Robert Murray M’Cheyne (MP3), a Scottish pastor and evangelist in the early 19th century, and heard this delightful little story:

Although he was a relatively young man, still in his late 20s, M’Cheyne had been taken seriously ill with typhus. It was thought that a vacation to the fresh air and mild climate of Israel (then more commonly known as Palestine) would do him some good. So it was that a small, close group of Reformed Scottish Christians — including Andrew Bonar, who would later pen a moving biography of his beloved friend, The Memoir & Remains of Rev. R. M. M’Cheyne — accompanied M’Cheyne to the Holy Land.

In spite of his doctor’s orders to rest, that is, in spite of the main purpose of the travel for the recovery and restoration of his good health, however, it turned out M’Cheyne was an inveterate, even tireless evangelist and preacher; he would speak to any person who would hear him. During his travels across the European continent to Israel, M’Cheyne would not hesitate to share the gospel with all sorts of people from all walks of life — he spoke with privileged gentlemen and ladies, he spoke with those of lower estates in society, he spoke to French people, he spoke to Germans, he spoke in churches, he even spoke in synagogues! On one occasion, he even spoke in Latin (it seems) to a Roman Catholic priest. Thus it proved to be anything but a vacation for M’Cheyne. Sadly, after he returned home to Scotland, he would die a couple months shy of his 30th birthday.

Yet nothing done for the Lord is in vain. On their way back from the Holy Land, the group of Scottish Christians stopped by in Hungary. It was here that they were received by the local Jewish community and given a welcome (or at least curious) ear in which they might preach the gospel. Thus the Lord was gracious. For through the preaching and sharing of the gospel by M’Cheyne, Bonar, and the others, the Holy Spirit regenerated at least two Jews to trust in the person and work of Jesus as the promised Messiah — Alfred Edersheim and Adolph Saphir. Both men would later travel to Great Britain to study for the ministry and likewise bear good fruit to the glory of God. In addition, Edersheim would write arguably the 19th century’s most detailed work on the life of our Lord and Savior, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, while Saphir would write the influential Christ and Israel. No less prominent a figure in the 19th century than C.H. Spurgeon himself praised both Jewish believers (cf. Spurgeon’s remarks about the two in Commenting and Commentaries). The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to the Jew, and the Lord deemed it good to open their eyes, unstop their ears, and circumcise their hearts, so that they might come to know, love, and worship Him in spirit and in truth, for salvation is from the Jews.

The evangelistic work of M’Cheyne, Bonar, and the others, and their holy love for the Jewish people in particular, has made a deep and abiding impression in their day, and it continues to make one in ours.

Of course, it’s true that much of the contemporary Messianic Jewish movement has veered far away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, veered far away from the Reformed heritage and the doctrines of grace that M’Cheyne, Bonar, Edersheim, and Saphir preached, loved, and treasured with all their hearts simply because it was what the Bible itself taught, and today find themselves (as the Apostle Paul puts it in [/bible]) “bewitched” in the legalism of the foolish Galatians, still there is a remnant, chosen by grace, whom the Lord will save (cf. [bible]).

How then will He save them? The same way He has always saved His people: through the gospel of Jesus Christ. If anyone calls on the name of the Lord, then they shall be saved. But how are the Jews to call on Him when they don’t even believe in Him? And how are they to believe in Him when they’ve never heard about Him or only heard about Him in falsehood and lies (e.g. through the Catholic Church)? And how are they to hear about Him without someone preaching Him in the first place? And how are they to preach unless they are sent out to preach? So faith in Jesus Christ comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the Word of God.

Oh, let us pray that the Lord would once again raise up such men as M’Cheyne and Bonar in our generation to proclaim the gospel to the Jew first and also to the Gentile! And let us pray that the Lord would be gracious to us, and to them, and save men like Edersheim and Saphir, too, so that both Jew and Gentile might sing His praises with one voice, undivided! For the same Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over all. May His name be praised forevermore!

Update (11/18/06):

I want to add a personal note with a wider application.

Contrary to what certain Hebraic Roots or Messianic Jewish organizations might claim, perhaps even going so far as to allege that we are anti-Semitic or other rubbish along those lines, a return to the faith of the Reformers, to Reformation theology, to so-called Calvinism or Augustinianism, to the doctrines of grace, a return to what in truth we know the Bible itself plainly teaches, has actually increased my love for the Jewish people rather than decreased it.

What’s more, it has apparently done the same for many others down through the ages as seen with men like M’Cheyne and Bonar. Bonar himself made sure to maintain a significant Jewish ministry and witness, to share the gospel with them, all the days of his life.

Also, these quotes note many other examples of Christians who cared deeply for the Jewish people and longed to see their repentance from “dead works” — a righteousness which modern Judaism wrongly believes comes from Torah observance — and a return to the living God by trusting wholly and solely in the Messiah Jesus alone for salvation.

I’m even tempted to argue here that the more truly “Reformed” one is, which is really another way of saying the more one has taken in the full counsel of the Word of God itself, deeply cherishing its every teaching in one’s heart, the more love for the Jewish people (and for people in general) one will have. Despite the fact that some scholars argue that the Apostle Paul was the true founder of Christianity, thereby insinuating he has somehow broken with the Judaism of the Old Testament and/or first century to found a new religion, and despite the fact that some Hebraic Roots and Messianic Jewish ministries would even reject the Pauline epistles on these or similar grounds, Paul’s own sentiments for his people were vastly different. He in fact loved them, longing even to be cut off for their sake (sentiments which none other than Moses himself once echoed as well, cf. [bible][/bible]): [bibleblock][/bibleblock]

On the other hand, if, as some Hebraic Roots and Messianic Jewish ministries seem to believe, righteous Jews who do not so much as have even a profession of faith in Christ (to say nothing of a credible profession) might nevertheless somehow be saved in the last day (e.g. Rashi), then salvation is due to their obedience to the Torah and not to grace. Is this truly loving the Jewish people according to the Bible’s definition of love, by keeping them away from the Messiah? It may be expedient for so-called Jewish-Christian “relations” (e.g. funneling large amounts of money to the nation of Israel, without also sharing the gospel, perhaps in the hopes of ushering in the millennium per Dispensational eschatology), but is it Biblical love?

Most importantly, is this what Jesus Himself told His own people while He sojourned among them? Did He tell them it was fine not to believe in Him, so long as the Jewish people were scrupulous Torah observers?

Brethren, please consider these things.