Gods Sabbath

C HAPTER 36

The Jewish Tragedy

A careful prayer-filled reading of John chapter 6, together with The Desire of Ages chapters 31, 40 and 41 can help to deep en the understanding of this chapter.

Rejection—Why? O ne of the saddest and most extraordinary stories in history is the Jewish nation’s rejection of their Messiah. For centu ries, they had looked for His coming as the brightest hope in their future. The prophecies concerning this advent were the continu al subject of study and teaching. From the earliest dawning of in telligence, the Jewish children learnt of the Promised One. They knew the very year to expect Him, for the prophecies given to Daniel had stipulated that there would be sixty-nine weeks or four hundred and eighty-three years from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah’s coming (see Daniel 9:25). It was a matter of simple calculation to determine the date from the beginning point of the prophecy in 457 BC. It was no wonder then that when the Saviour and His disci ples came preaching that “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom

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