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Was Abraham a Jem?
No, Abraham was a Gentile. His father was a wor-
shipper of idols. He not only worshipped idols, but he
taught others to indulge in the same abomination.
And yet God loved Abraham. Indeed, so great
was God’s love for this remarkable man, that He
honored him by calling him “my friend.” And Abra-
ham has come down to us in history as the only
person in all creation whom God ever called “friend.”
What -would you not give, dear reader, if you too
could be called the friend of God? Sometimes we
Jews get the false idea that just because we are Jews,
we are therefore entitled to some sort of charmed
existence, and that somehow God owes us eternal
care and eternal life. Nothing could ‘be further from
the truth than this. The Jews in the times of the
Lord Jesus Christ used to boast of this false security,
but one day the prophet John the Baptist said to
them:
“And think not to say within yourselves, We
have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, |
that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham” (Matt. 3:9).
In the days of Abraham, the word “Jew” was un-
known. Such a thing as a Jewish nation was unheard
of, and on every side were only Gentiles. And yet,
God loved Abraham, a Gentile.
It is of supreme importance that every thinking
Jew should find out why God loved Abraham. The
answer is not hard to find, nor far to seek. It is found
in our own Torah, in Genesis 15:6—
“And he believed in the Lord; and he counted:
it to him for righteousness.”
At that time, Abraham was one hundred ents
old, and Sarah his wife was ninety years old. Both
of them were beyond all human possibility of ever
becoming parents. Yet God came. to Abraham and
told him, “He that shall come forth out of thine own
bowels shall be thine heir.’””’ And Abraham was just
simple enough and trusting enough to believe that
what God had said would come to pass, even though
all human nature indicated that it would be an utter
scientific impossibility.
Long before this incident, our Jewish Talmud tells
us that Abraham had become disgusted with his
father’s and mother’s idols; and although he had been
brought up in his parents’ religion, his own mind
realized that that religion was vile and was in direct
disobedience to the will of God. And Abraham as a
young boy set his teeth, and turned his feet away
from his father’s home, and away from his own
kindred, and went forth wherever God would lead
him. If Abraham had not done that—if he had stayed
by his father and mother, which was the easiest thing
to do—would there be a Jewish nation today?
Listen, you rabbis! Hear us, you so-called Jewish
leaders, who mislead thousands of innocent Jews!
Don’t ever again describe a Jew who becomes a be-
liever in the Lord Jesus Christ as a “traitor to his
mother’s religion.” If Abraham had not been a
“traitor” to his mother’s religion you would not be a
rabbi today, and you would not be a Jewish leader
today. It is only because we have had such “traitors”
among us—men who have dared to stand for what is
right, and who have gone down to death because of
their fath—it is only because of such men among
us that God did not destroy the Jewish nation many,
many years ago because of the fulness of their
iniquity.
God sent his only begotten Son into the world
nearly two thousand years ago, thus providing
an answer to Augur’s question in the Hebrew
Proverbs, “What is his (God’s) son’s name?” (Prov.
30:5). God asks us to believe in His Son as the only
Saviour from our sins, as the only person through
whom we may have eternal life. In asking us to do
this, God has required from us exactly the same
exercise of faith which He asked from Abraham
nearly four thousand years ago. Abraham believed
God, but we Jews of today are so much smarter than
Abraham that we refuse to believe God; and we
quibble as to whether the Lord Jesus Christ could
scientifically have been born of a virgin!
Thousands of Gentiles today are actually believing
God, just as Abraham did of old. They are willing to
believe God could and did cause the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ by the Virgin Mary. In so believing,
these Gentiles are exercising exactly the same kind of
faith that Abraham exercised, and so they have be-
come, and God has called them, “the spiritual seed of
Abraham.” They are truly God’s children, and they
are putting to shame our Jewish nation, because they
peliexe God, and our Jewish nation does not believe
God.
The synagogues were crowded this Yom Eippur
as in previous Yom Kippurs, and thousands of Jews
fasted and prayed and cried to God the whole day
long. But when the day was finished, did they have
any assurance that their sins were forgiven? Did
God answer their prayers? No! Listen to what God
says in Isaiah 1:15.
“And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make
many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are
full of blood.”
So, dear reader, you can keep on praying and
fasting until the crack of doom, and your prayers
will get no higher than the beautiful dome of your
synagogue. The reason is that God has provided for
you a way by which your prayers can be answered.
If you will not take it, He cannot receive you. That
way is through the Lord Jesus Christ, who said in
John 14:6.
“T am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
How long then will our Jewish people remain
blind? How long will you allow only Gentiles to enjoy
all the blessings that God has promised to those who
believe in:the Lord Jesus Christ? Why not put God
to the test? Just say in your own heart that you
honestly do want to be a child of:God, and that you
honestly want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
if God wants you so to believe. If you will do this
sincerely, and then ask God from the bottom of your
heart to show you whether or not the Lord Jesus
Christ is truly your Saviour, we are satisfied to abide
by the results you will receive. Will you try it? Then
you will truly be. a child of Abraham, because you
will have the same faith in God’s promises that
Abraham had.
I would be helping some brother today;
Help him to’sing as he goes on his way;
Help him to pray when the burden is there;
Help. him’ to trust in God’s infinite care.
I ‘would be telling what Jesus has done;
Tell of the wonderful love of God’s Son;
Tell of His mercy forgiving our sin;
Tell of His blood, and of cleansing within.
I would be doing, from morning till night;
Finding His service my joy and delight;
Doing His will when the last shadows fall;
Waking at dawning to answer His call.
. —Howard T. N. Ussher.
I do kere and now accept the Lord Jesus Christ
as my personal Saviour and his sacrificial death on
Calvary as an atonement for all my past sins. I
purpose to seek a church that believes, preaches and
practices the teachings of this tract, and ene wor-
ship and work with them.
Signed
The Salvation Tract Society, Pittsburgh 5, Pa.