SUCH is our Lord's testimony in His conversation with the Samaritan woman (Jno. 4:22). This means more than that He was a Jew, and the apostles were Jews, and the first Christian Church was composed of Jews, and that all the revelations God has been pleased to make to the world have come through the Jews. "What advantage then hath the Jew? . . . Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God' (Rom. 3:1-2). But over and above this, the Jews, who were faithful to their Scriptures, held the same truths that were essential to salvation which are held by Christians now.

FIRST, they believed in a triune God. "In the beginning God (plural) created (singular) the heaven and the earth. And the earth became a ruin and desolation; and darkness was upon the And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:1-3). Here we have God creating, the Spirit of God moving, and the Word. "And God (plural) said (singular). Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness" (Gen. 1:26). That this is not the plural of dignity, as many expositors call it, is certain, because in the next chapter but one we read, "The Lord God said. Behold, the man is become as one of US" (Gen. 3:22). The "One of us" shows conclusively that there was more than one in the Godhead.

The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a fountain of water in the wilderness, and three times afterwards it is written, "The angel of the Lord said unto her, and, "She called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her. Thou God seest me" (Gen. 16:7-13). So "the angel of God spoke" unto Jacob saying, "I am the God of Bethel" (Gen. 31:11,13). We can now understand what God meant when He said to Israel, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for My name is in Him" (Ex. 23:20-21). There is an uncreated and divine Angel, who often appears in the Old Testament. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4). The name of the deity occurs three times, and the word "one" expresses a compound unity, that is, a unity in connection with some other person or thing. It is found hundreds of times in this form in the Old Testament, and another word which expresses absolute unity or unity by itself, is not the one used here. Looking further, we read, "The Spirit of God hath made me"; "By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens" (Job 33:4; 26:13); "Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created" (Psa. 104:30); "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His Name Immanuel"; "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"; "And now the Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent me"; "The Angel of His presence saved them:... But they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit" (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 48:16; 63:9-10). Many similar expressions are scattered through the Old Testament, showing that the Jews worshiped one God in three persons, the same in nature and glory.

SECOND, they had an infallible word. "The word of the Lord came unto Abram" (Gen. 15:1). God said unto Moses, "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Ex. 4:10-12). "The tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables" (Ex. 32:16). "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it" (Deut. 4:2). "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue'' (II Sam. 23:2). "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psa. 12:6). "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Psa. 19:7-9). "Thy word is true from the beginning" (Psa. 119:160). There are hundreds of passages like these, and it is obvious that the Jews had an unerring guide in their Scriptures.

THIRD, they were taught the sinfulness of man. "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his< heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). "How then can man be justified with God.? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job.25:4). "Behold, I was shapert in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psa. 51:5). "Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God' looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to sec if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no; not one" (Psa. 53:1-3)- "We are all as an unclean thin<r, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9).

FOURTH, intelligent Jews held firmly the doctrine of vicarious atonement. It was taught in Abel's acceptable offering (Gen. 4:4). It was taught in the sweet smelling sacrifice which Noah offered (Gen. 8:20-21). It was taught in the sprinkled blood of the spotless lamb that purchased Israel's redemption (Ex. 12:13). It was taught in the burnt offerings, and peace offerings, and sin offerings, and trespass offerings, slain in the sinner's stead (Lev. 1-5). It was taught in the sprinkled blood of Jehovah's goat, and in the bearing away by the scape goat of Israel's iniquities (Lev. 16). It is taught in the announcement, "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. 17:11). It was taught in the doctrine, "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:5-6).

FIFTH, the Jews knew the necessity of faith. Abram "Believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The Hebrews believed the words which the Lord had spoken, and "then they bowed their heads and worshipped" (Ex. 4:31 ). "Believe in the Lord your God, So shall ye be established" (II Chron. 20:20). "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (Isa. 7:9). "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. 28:16); and Daniel was delivered from the den of lions, "and n manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God"" (Dan. 6:23).

SIXTH, the Jews held the truth of the forgiveness of sins through sacrifice and by faith. They knew that God had removed their transgressions from them, as far as the east is from the west (Psa. 103:12); that they were purged and taken away by the live coal from the altar (Isa. 6:5-7); that they were cast behind God's back (Isa. 38:17); that they were blotted out (Isa. 44:22); that though sought for they should not be found (Jer. 50:20); that they were cast into the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:18-19). '

THEY also knew the truth concerning the Second Coming of the Lord to judge His people, to judge the world (Psa. 50:3-5; 96:11-13); to reign in righteousness (Isa. 11:5-8; Jer. 23:5-6); to reign from the river to the ends of the earth (Psa. 72:8-11; Zcch. 9:10); to deliver Jerusalem from her enemies (Zech. 14:1-5; Zeph. 3:14-20); to gather scattered Israel and to plant them upon their own land as one nation (Jer. 31:10; Amos 9:14-15; Ezek 37:16:22); to make them a source of blessing to all nations (Isa. 27:6; Psa.: 67; 102:13, 16, 21; Zech. 8:22-23).

Thus, if we remember that God's revelation came to the Jews, and that through them the same great revelation came to us, it Will be easy to see that salvation is of the Jews. Surely this fact alone should be sufficient to rebuke the contempt and hatred which is so commonly manifested toward them by professing Gentile Christians who do not remember what they owe to the people they despise. Rather should they remember the divine command, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; that they shall prosper that love thee" (Psa. 122:6).