AN OLD JEWISH MAN'S STORY 

While I was thinking how you, my dear Jewish brethren, would celebrate the Passover, I was reminded of a certain event. It was a spring evening in San Francisco, where in a gathering of Jewish people, an elderly Jewish man said the following: "You are now going to remove all leaven from your homes. You will eat matzot and prepare the roasted lamb. You will attend the synagogue and perform all the ceremonies according to the Talmudic directions. But, my dear brethren, you forget that you have everything except that which Jehovah requires of you. He did not say : 'When I see you eat matzot, or roast the lamb, or go to the synagogue.' His Word says: 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you' (Ex. 12:13). Brethren, you cannot substitute something else for the blood! You need blood, blood, blood!"

The old man's eyes sparkled and his Jewish brethren were very moved. After a while he continued:
"Nearly 70 years ago I was born in Palestine. As a child I was taught to read the Law as well as the Psalms and the Prophets. I attended synagogue and learned Hebrew from the Rabbis. I believed what the Rabbis taught us: that our religion was the only true religion.

But as I grew older and studied the Law more intently, I was amazed at the place that blood had in all the ceremonies outlined there --- and equally amazed by its absence in our present form of religion. I read Exodus 12 and Leviticus 16 and 17 again and again, and the latter chapters especially made me tremble as I thought of the great day of Atonement and the place the blood had there. Day and night I heard these words : 'It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul' (Leviticus 17 :11). I knew that I had broken the Law, and that I needed atonement. Year after year, on that day I beat my breast as I confessed my need of atonement, but it had to be made by blood --- and there was no blood!

In my distress I at last opened my heart to an old Rabbi. He told me that God was very angry with His people. The Temple was destroyed and a Mohammedan mosque erected on its site. The only place where we could shed the blood in accordance with Deuteronomy 12 and Leviticus 17 was desecrated and the Jewish nation scattered. That is why there is no more blood. According to the Rabbi, God had taken away from us the privilege of bringing the holy sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. Now we must study the Talmud, carry out its instructions and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers.

I tried to be satisfied with that but could not. Something inside me said that the Law had not changed. Even though the Temple was destroyed, nothing else but blood can make atonement for the soul. We were and are not allowed to shed blood in any other place than the one chosen by God himself. Then we are left without any atonement, a fact which filled me with horror. In my distress I consulted many Rabbis, asking them this one great question: 'WHERE CAN I FIND THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT?'

I was over 30 years old when I left Palestine for Constantinople (now Istanbul). My still unanswered question was always in my mind and my soul was much troubled about my sins.

One night as I was walking down a narrow street of that city, I saw an advertisement announcing a meeting for Jewish people. Curiosity made me enter the building. Just as I was seated, I heard a man say : 'The blood of Messiah Jesus, the Son of God cleanses us from all sin'. This led to my first step towards the true faith.

I listened breathlessly when the speaker quoted God's Word, saying that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, but that He had given His only begotten Son Who died as the Lamb of God in order that all who trust in His blood can obtain forgiveness of sins. I realized that He was the Messiah of Isaiah 53 and recognized Him as the Man of sorrows of Psalm 22.

My brethren, I had found the blood at last. I trust in it. Now I read the New Testament with joy and see that all the shadows of the Law are fulfilled in Jesus. His blood has been shed for sinners! It is all-sufficient and the only means of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles!"

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Reader, have you yet found the blood of Atonement?
Do you trust in the smitten Lamb of God?

"I AM," the God of Israel, said to Moses:

"When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13).
"It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11).
"The blood of Messiah Jesus, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
"We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col.1:14).

By permission of "Verlag Grosse Freude," Pfaflikon, Switzerland, published by the Good News Society, P.O. Box 7848, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2000.
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