Gods Sabbath

T HE J EWISH T RAGEDY

475

nea, they went a step further by appointing a human committee to search the land and plan the invasion. Later still, they called for a king like those from the nations around them, thus burrow ing more deeply into trouble. When the Israelites were confronted with the disaster of Neb uchadnezzar’s onslaught, God offered them complete deliver ance until the time they were finally subjugated, if only they would let Him handle their problems, but they proudly and stub bornly refused. Those who came back from the captivity showed that history had taught them nothing, for they subsequently put themselves under Roman domination. By their persistent refus al to let God have His rightful place among them, they contin ued to make their problems worse, for they never seemed to learn the lesson that if human works bring so much trouble, then more of the same will only add to their distress. Unchanged and unrepentant, the Jews awaited the Messiah’s advent. They did not think of Him as their Problem Solver, but as the One who would add His mighty power to the solutions they had already formed. They cast the loving Saviour in the role of their assistant, not recognizing that the positions should be reversed. Naturally, they could think only in terms of a military solu tion, for this was their history. The victories gained by David over the Philistines were the model for their plans to overcome the Romans, but they were powerless to implement these schemes themselves, so they looked for the Messiah to use His mighty power to carry out what they had envisaged. They imag ined the cruel slaughter of the Romans, the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of the world, and themselves as the earth’s most powerful and wealthy people. As it suited his pur poses to perfection, Satan fostered these dreams until they be came a fierce and undeniable obsession with the Jews. When Christ finally appeared, the enthusiasm of the Jews was kindled because they recognized in Him the power they needed in order to accomplish their devisings. But they had no interest in Him as their Plan Maker or Problem Solver, nor did they have any disposition to accept Him as such because they had made their own solutions to the existing problems. There fore, they did not know God’s ways, could not enter into His rest,