with DR. J, RICHARDCHASE / DR. CHARLES L. FEIHBERG
Q. Sweet Home, Ore. — “My husband wants to know how you explain Isaiah 42:2.” A. This chapter shows us the suf fering Servant of the Lord. We also see this picture in chapters 49, 50 and on through the prophetic fore telling of Christ the Redeemer in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. God delights in His Messiah, His blessed Son. He has chosen Him and equipped Him with His Spirit. He will bring forth jus tice to the nations. When the Sav iour comes, He will not be some stag gering, boisterous, bragging individ ual. Rather, His life will be char acterized by gentleness, meekness, and infinite tenderness. That’s the thought in the clause: “a bruised reed shall He not break.” He won’t treat even the smallest thing in a rough manner. Q. Olympia, Wash. — “A re many Jewish people being saved today?” A. Those who work among God’s ancient people give a most affirma tive answer to this question. Natur- aly, there aren’t nearly as many re ceiving Christ as the Messiah, as we would like to see. There seems to be more of an openness among Jews than in past generations. Per haps some of it is attributable to the restoration of their homeland, despite tremendous troubles and tur moil. This is not to indicate that as a nation there is even the slightest encouragement to think that Israel owns and recognizes the Messiah. 20
May we pray, as Paul exhorts, that many more may be brought to the Lord in the days ahead. Incidentally, many of our Biola students have been called by the Lord into Jewish work. Many are right here in the United States, as well as across the seas. Biola, through the years, in co -operation w ith the Church of the Open Door, has main tained a Jewish Department to assist in evangelistic p ro je c ts h e re in Southern California where there’s a high concentration of those of He brew background. Q. Phoenix, Ariz. — “What’s the dif ference between Israelites and the early Jews? Also, is there a differ ence between an Israelite and the present Zionist Israelite?” A. Actually, there’s no difference be tween Israelites today and the early Jews. The Bible makes no such dis tin c tion . While techn ica lly we couldn’t say that Abraham was an Israelite, since Israel was another name for Jacob, yet Jacob was the patriarch’s grandson. There’s a sense in which we talk about America and Americans long before the name came into general usage. Many may seek to show a difference between Jew, Israelite and Hebrew. But all of these were terms equally used by the Apostle Paul in referring to himself. As to the second query, all Israel ites today are Zionists made up of all types: orthodox, reformed, con servative, political, cultural, linguis
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