The name Israel (Champion of God, or Ruling withGod), is a title which was specially bestowed by God Himself upon Jacob,the ancestor of the Israel people.

Jacob-Israel had twelve sons, of whom Judah was the fourth.It is obvious, therefore, that Judah was one of the children of Israel,and equally obvious that the other eleven sons could not possiblyhave been Judah.

Each of these twelve sons foundeda tribe, with the exception of Joseph, who founded two tribes through histwo sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. There were thus,strictly speaking, thirteen tribes; but, inasmuch as the tribe of Levihad no territorial status but was dispersed throughout the other twelvetribes for the performance of special duties, it became customary to speakof the whole nation as the twelve tribes of Israel.

These tribes were organized into a kingdom, of which GodHimself was the King: a Theocratic State, which lasted about fourhundred years. At the end of that time they decided to set up a visibleand earthly king, and first Saul, then David, and lastly Rehoboam, reignedover the original united kingdom of all-Israel.

In the reign of Rehoboam this kingdom was split into twoparts: the tribes of Judah, Benjamin with some of the tribe of Levi scatteredamongst them formed the kingdom of Judah, while the remaining tentribes with the remainder of the Levites scattered amongst them formedthe new northern kingdom of Israel. This great division took placeabout 975 B.C., and from this time forward the terms Israel and Judah generallyrefer to the two separate kingdoms so formed.

Between the dates 741 B.C. and 676 B.C., the people ofthe kingdom of Israel were deported by the Assyrians to a district northof Nineveh; and shortly afterwards their land was handed over to colonistsfrom the Assyrian Empire.

The main deportations of Judah took place between thedates 606 B.C. and 587 B.C. when all the inhabitants of that kingdom, withvery few exceptions, were transported by the Chaldaeans to Babylon.

The people of the two kingdoms were thus deportedat different times, by different conquerors, and to differentdistricts.

In 537 B.C., under the decree of Cyrus, a portion of Judah(42,360 souls in all), some of whom had married non-Israelite wives andfathered children by them, returned to their own land - Judaea, and becameknown as Jews.

These Jews, being of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin andLevi, were, therefore, of the race of Israel, but of the kingdom of Judah.

On the other hand, the ten tribes, who never returnedhome from their captivity, were not only of the race of Israel, but alsoof the kingdom of Israel; they could not, therefore, by anypossibility have been either Judah or the Jews.

Until these facts are clearly understood, muchof the Bible must remain unintelligible.

When we come to the New Testament times, we find thatthe term 'Jews' has acquired a two-fold meaning. The same word is usedto indicate (1) the whole body of Jews, and (2) those Jews who were domiciledin Judaea, many of whom, like king Herod, were Idumaean (Edomite) convertsto Judaism.

During the Roman occupation that part of Palestine, whichlay immediately between the river Jordan and the sea coast, was dividedinto three sections: Galilee in the North, Judaea in the South, and Samaria,which lay between the two.

The Samaritans were the descendants of the Assyrian colonistswho have been mentioned above; they did not go up to Jerusalem to the Feasts,but worshipped YHWH (Jehovah - the "I AM") in their own fashion (Jonah1:2; 3:4-5) at their own temple on Mount Gerizim. The Jews were expresslyforbidden by their leaders to have any dealings with the Samaritans, exceptin so far as it might be incumbent upon them to buy food, or other necessities,when passing through their territory.

Thus Galilee and Judaea were separated from each otherby a wide tract of land inhabited by an alien, and hated, people.

This separation resulted in a divergence of manners, customs,speech and ideals, that caused the Jews of Galilee to fear the IdumaeanJews of Judaea for their political and religious power, and which led theJews of Judaea to despise the Jews of Galilee for their provincialism.

Thus it came about that the Jews of Galilee called themselvesGalileans, while the Jews of Judaea retained the name of Jews.

We are not surprised, therefore, when we find the Evangelists,who were Galileans, referring to their fellow-countrymen in Judaea as Jews,or when we find the Jews of Judaea referring to their compatriots of Galileeas Galileans.

This distinction between Jews (all Jews) and Jews (Judaeans)should not be overlooked by students of the New Testament.

It cannot be stated too often, that believersin the Truth, that the British* and related peoples are Israel, stake alltheir faith upon the Bible, because they believeit to be, not only a true Book, but the inspired Word of God.

* The word Brit-ishis Hebrew and means "Covenant-man", as it does also in Welsh.

In its pages they find the revelations of the purposesof God for the liberty, happiness and life of the whole human race; opposedto these purposes, they find great spiritual forces bent upon their enslavement,misery and death.

Man, they find, has been given free-willto choose his own destiny. He has the right to make his choice betweenfreedom and slavery, between life and death, not only in the spiritual,but also in the material sphere.

Because our forefathers chose slavery and death we areliving today under systems and organizations of evil which prevent us fromenjoying those blessings which might otherwise be ours.

We have grown so accustomed to the conditions under whichwe live that we take them for granted. Unemployment, poverty, disease,insanity and war, we dismiss with a shrug of the shoulders as being 'normal'and part of the 'scheme of things'. But let us make no mistake;they are not in any way part of God's scheme of things. On the contrary,they are the direct result of our own willful choice of Evil.

And what is Evil? Where may it be found, and how is itto be fought? For the answers to these questions we must study that greatGuide-Book which God has provided for this very purpose. Here, and hereonly, can we discover, not only the cause of all our troubles,but also the remedy for them.

Among others there is one great organization of Evil whichmenaces our liberty, our prosperity, and our happiness today, which hasundermined, and is still undermining our social,political and spiritual life. If we are not tobe further enslaved we must have a clear understandingof its origin, its aims, and its methods, and for this we must turn firstto the record of the life of our Lord Christ Jesus.

It is perhaps natural that some of us should assume thatthe Jews put Jesus to death in ignorance of his identity. We know thaton the Cross he prayed, "Father, forgive them; forthey know not what they do' (i.e. they are insane); but it mustbe remembered that Jesus himself blamed no one for his death. He said,'No man taketh (my life) from me, but I lay it downof myself' (John 10:18). And while we may be sure that he prayedfor all those who were in any way responsible for the death of the bodyhe was using, the last part of his prayer surely applies to those who weresubjecting him to the awful agony of crucifixion.

As we read the story of the life of Jesus it is impossiblenot to realize that there was, from the first, some sinister force at workwhich denied his claims, derided his teaching, and poisoned the mind ofthe people against him.

It was, moreover, a powerful force, for again and againwe read that many believed him, but did not confess him openly for fearof the Jews (Judaeans). Even the members of the Sanhedrin, the nationalcouncil, did not dare to incur the displeasure of this force. 'Nevertheless',we read, 'among the chief rulers also many believed him; but because ofthe Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out ofthe synagogue' (John 12:42).

What was this force which possessed such power and couldinspire such fear? What was this satanic agency which permeated and influencedthe Priesthood, the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin alike?

In our search for an answer to these questions, let usturn first to the eleventh chapter of Ezekiel, where we shall be broughtface to face with a certain caucus of highly placed individuals who hadbanded themselves together to secure the inheritance of the Kingdom ofGod for a small section of the tribe of Judah, to the exclusion of allthe rest of the whole house of Israel.

In later years it would seem that this caucus developedinto a highly organized secret society with ambitious designs for the worlddomination by subversive means. So widely extended was the growth of itsactivities, and so powerful the influence which it exerted over men andnations, that it became known in some quarters as the Brotherhood of theHidden Hand (a.k.a. the Synagogue of Satan).

At the time of the incident, which is recorded in thechapter which has just been mentioned, the greater part of the kingdomof Judah had been deported to Babylon, but the city of Jerusalem had notyet been captured by the Chaldeans. The members of the Hidden Hand thoughtthe city was impregnable, and ridiculed the warnings which had been givento them by the prophet Jeremiah. They likened Jerusalemto a cauldron, and themselves to the flesh within it.

Ezekiel had been taken captive with king Jehoiachin in597 B.C., and was living near Babylon at Tel Abib on the river Chebar.For the incident which follows he was transported by the Spirit of theLord to Jerusalem.

'Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me untothe east gate of the Lord's House, which looketh eastward: and behold atthe door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah theson of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
'Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the menthat devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city: which say,It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we bethe flesh.
'Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son ofman.
'And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said untome, Speak; Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: forI know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
'Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye havefilled the streets thereof with the slain.
'Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom yehave laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is thecaldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
'Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword uponyou, saith the Lord God.
'And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliveryou into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.. . .
'And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have notwalked in My statutes, neither executed My judgments, but have done afterthe manners of the heathen that are around about you.
'And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiahthe son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried witha loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnantof Israel?
'Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Sonof man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and allthe house of Israel wholly (the whole thirteen tribed nation of Israel),are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the Jews) have said, Getyou far from the Lord: unto us (the Jews) is this land given in possession.'*

That was the plot of the Hidden Hand, as revealed by theLord to Ezekiel, and it still is today.

* This came to its fulfillment in 1948when the Zionist Jews got the U.N.O. to take the land of Israel from itsrightful owners, the British peoples and give it to them.

Not long afterwards, in 588 B.C., Jerusalem was attackedand captured; the city was sacked and gutted; The Temple razed to the ground;and those of its inhabitants who escaped the sword were herded togetherby their conquerors, and urged with whip and spear upon their weary marchof five hundred miles to Babylon.

Seventy years later, when a portion of the tribe of Judah,42,360 in all, returned to Palestine, the Hidden Hand went with them, moredetermined than ever to put its plans into operation.

Obviously such a plot could not hope to succeed if thepeople believed implicitly the words of the Scriptures. It was necessaryto twist and misinterpret their meaning. And so cleverly and subtly wasthis accomplished that, by the time of the incarnation of our Lord, allsections of the Jewish community were expecting a military leader, whoshould expel the Roman invaders and establish the kingdom of Israel, withall its material blessings (but without its responsibilities), for thebenefit of the Jews, and of the Jews alone.

We are now asking ourselves the same question about Jesusthe Nazarite (Numbers ch. 6) which the Jews asked each other in the streetsof Jerusalem, 'Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?'Let us then examine the evidence a little moreclosely.

First of all, let it be remembered that the birth of Jesus,although it took place in a cow shed, did not pass by any means unnoticed.Quite apart from the talk of the people who were in Bethlehem at the time;quite apart from the testimony of the shepherds, who must have gossipedfor months about the wonderful vision which they had seen; quite apartfrom the witness of Simeon and Anna, when he was eight days old; the birthof Jesus was advertised far and wide in quite a different way, as we learnfrom the Gospel of Matthew.

'Now when Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judaea inthe days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men (druids)to the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of theJews? for we have seen his "Star" in the East, and are come to worshiphim. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled (thenfollow five words which might easily be overlooked), and all Jerusalemwith him.
'And when he had gathered all the chief priestsand scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christshould be born.
'And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: forthus it is written by the prophet' (Matt. 2:1-5).

Then follows one of the most shocking events in all history.Herod, alarmed for the safety of his rickety throne, orders the executionof all babies of two years and under, in Bethlehem and the country roundabout. He did this because Jesus was already two years old by the timethe wise men arrived (Matt. 2:11).

2:10 When they saw the "Star", they rejoiced with exceedinggreat joy.
2:11 And when they were come into the HOUSE, theysaw the young CHILD with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshippedhim: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto himgifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The news of this horrible massacre must have travelledfrom end to end of Palestine, and all Jerusalem, at any rate, knew thecause of it.

Twenty-eight years or so later, the Jews were forciblyreminded of these things, for John the Baptist (Elias - Elisha) appearedon the banks of the Jordan, announcing the imminent coming of the Messiah.Excitement flared up again, and the whole country was on the tip-toe ofexpectation.

When Jesus himself began his ministry in the north ofGalilee, the enthusiasm knew no bounds. He announced himself as the Messiahand the Son of God, and wherever he went he laid hands on the sick andsuffering and healed them. The people flocked to him in thousands, fromGalilee in the north, from Judaea in the south, from Idumaea, which wassouth of Judaea, and from the provinces of Ituraea and Decapolis on theeast side of the Jordan.

The authorities in Jerusalem sent out deputation afterdeputation to interview him. Here is the description of one such gathering:

'And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching,that there were Pharisees (politicians) and doctors of the law (lawyers)sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, andJerusalem' (Luke 5:17).

And what did they find? A young man in his thirties, ofperfect physique and great force of character, of the tribe of Judah andof the House of David, who had been born in Bethlehem (house of bread;note John 6:35; Matt. 26:26), and was now performing miracles of healingon a scale which had never before been witnessed, or even imagined.

This was all in accordance with prophecy; but his teachingpuzzled them. He had apparently had no military training, and so far frominciting the people to revolt, he was actually preaching peace and submissionto authority. He was not at all the man they expected, and they were notat all sure that he was the man they wanted.

Meanwhile, his influence was increasing at an alarmingrate, and they were faced with the necessity of making up their minds asto whether they would accept his claims or reject them.

The Pharisees, the popular political party, cameto him, and he denounced them for misleading the people. The priestscame to him, and he denounced them for misinterpreting theScriptures. The scribes, the lawyers, came to him, and he denouncedthem for twisting The Law. The spies of the Hidden Hand came, andheard him preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, not for the exclusivebenefit of the Jews, but for all Israel, and through Israel for all mankind.

Gradually the issue became clearer. It was evident thatthey could not make a tool of him; the man was far too honest and uncompromisingfor that. On the other hand, if they accepted him, they would have to takeservice under him, and obey his commands.

Annas and Caiaphas foresaw the loss of their immenserevenues from the tables of the money-changers, and from the sale ofsacrificial birds and beasts from The Temple farms. The priests,who shared in those ill-gotten gains, were equally apprehensive.The scribes (lawyers) foresaw the lossof their wealth, and possibly even of their very livelihood. ThePharisees (politicians) foresaw the loss ofall their prestige and political power.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, lawyersand politicians, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, andFaith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
23:24 [Ye] blind guides, whichstrain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
23:25 Woe unto you, lawyers andpoliticians, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and ofthe platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
23:26 [Thou] blind politician,cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outsideof them may be clean also.
23:27 Woe unto you, lawyers andpoliticians, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, whichindeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones,and of all filthiness.
23:28 Even so ye also outwardlyappear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and inequity.

Over and above these personal considerations loomed aneven greater danger, for the authorities lived in constant dread that apremature clash with Rome might bring about their expulsion from the HolyLand, and might even shatter their very existence as a nation.

'Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council,and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thusalone, all men will believe him: and the Romansshall come and take away both our place and nation'(John 11:47-48). To which sentiment Caiaphas, the High Priest, replied,'It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and thatthe whole nation perish not' (John 11:50).

Into such a hot-bed of greed, suspicion and fear the secretmembers of the Hidden Hand dropped the seeds of their poisonous provocation:'Kill him; and keep the inheritance for yourselves.'

Slowly but surely all the strength of the civiland religious organizations was concentrated upon the destructionof this one man. As he could not be cowed by their threats, he would haveto be silenced by action of a more violent kind. If they could not incitethe mob to stone him to death, he would have to be murdered as secretlyas possible.

Nicodemus, a secret follower of Jesus, protested againstthis action, and demanded a fair trial in accordance with the Mosaic Law;but the Sanhedrin howled him down (John 7:45-53).

Time after time Jesus escaped out of their hands and,fully conscious of his danger, went calmly to and fro, preaching the Kingdomof God, and healing all who came to him.

For at least three years he endured the bitterest persecution;and then, with death ever stalking at his heels, made his way southwardfrom Galilee for the last time.

After a stormy visit to Jerusalem, he retired to Bethabaraon the East side of the river Jordan. This was the very place where hehad been baptized with water by John, and had afterwards received the baptismof the Holy Spirit from the Father Himself.

Here he received a message from Mary and Martha begginghim to come down to their brother Lazarus, who was dangerously ill. AlthoughLazarus was one of his dearest friends Jesus did not go. He said, 'Thissickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of Godmay be glorified thereby' (John 11:4).

To his friends he probably seemed heartless, buthe had a great purpose in view. He was about to give to the Jews one lastgreat conclusive proof that he was indeed the Great Healer, the Messiah,the Christ. He had performed a great number of miracles; he had on severaloccasions raised the dead; but never before had he, or anyone else, broughta human+being back from the grave after corruption had set in.

When at last Jesus reached Bethany, Lazarus had been inthe tomb for four days. His sisters could not understand why Jesus hadtarried, and even reproached him. 'Lord,' said Martha, 'if thou hadst beenhere, my brother had not died' (John 11:21). Their friends were equallymystified. 'Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, havecaused that even this man should not have died?' Martha, at the last moment,attempted to prevent the Apostles from rolling away the stone which blockedthe mouth of the cave, 'Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath beendead four days.'

But at the command of Jesus the corrupted tissues aresuffused with blood, the spirit-being returns to the body, and Lazaruscomes out of the tomb, restored to life and health.

It was not long before the news of this, the greatestmiracle of all time, was being tossed from mouth to mouth in the streetsof Jerusalem, only two miles away.

The city was rapidly filling up with the large crowd ofworshippers who were coming up for the Passover, not only from Palestineitself, but from all the surrounding countries; and already Parthians,Medes, Elemites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia,Pamphylia, Egypt and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes andArabians were beginning to jostle each other in its narrow ways.

Sightseers began to pour out of the town to see for themselvesthe man who had been raised from the dead, and to hear the story of themiracle from the lips of Mary and Martha.

Jesus became the hero of the hour but he was nowhere tobe found. Nevertheless the authorities were genuinely alarmed. This miraclecould not be ignored, and they even considered the advisability of destroyingthe evidence by putting Lazarus to death.

With such a concourse of people in the city, many of themdisciples of Jesus from Galilee, it was impossible to say what might happen.At any moment they might attack the Roman garrison, and set up Jesus asKing. In that event Rome would hold the Sanhedrin responsible, and imposethe severest punishment on the whole nation.

'Then gathered the chief priests and the Phariseesa council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
'If we let him thus alone, all men will believe him:and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
'And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priestthat same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all.
'Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one manshould die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
'And this spake he not of himself: but being high priestthat year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
'And not for that nation only, but that he should gathertogether in one the children of God that were scattered abroad(Gen. 49:10; James 1:1).
'Then from that day forth they took counsel togetherfor to put him to death.'

Here we may pause for a moment to reflect that even withinthe Sanhedrin the decision to murder Jesus could not have been unanimous.There must have been a certain number who strongly disapproved of thiscourse.

Among them were almost certainly the following: Jairus,a ruler of the Jews, whose daughter had been healed at the pointof death; the rich young ruler, who knelt to Jesus and asked, 'Master,what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'; Nicodemus, a ruler ofthe Jews, who was a secret disciple; and Joseph ofArimathaea, who, as the Gospel of Luke tells us, was not one of thosewho consented to his death.

A few days before the Passover the very thing that theauthorities were dreading actually happens. Jesus, having spent the nightwith Lazarus and his sisters, comes up from Bethany to Jerusalem. The peopletreat him as a king entering his capital.

'On the next day' (says the Gospelof John), 'much people that were come to the Feast,when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palmtrees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the Kingof Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

'And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon;as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh,sitting on an ass's colt.
'These things understood not his disciples at the first:but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things werewritten of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
'The people therefore that was with him when he calledLazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.
'For this cause the people also met him, for that theyheard that he had done this miracle.
'The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceiveye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him' (John 12:12-19).

Even then, however, the authorities feared to arrest himopenly for, as we learn from the Gospel of Mark, 'The chief priestsand the scribes sought how they might take him by craft,and put him to death. But they said, Not on the Feast Day, lest there bean uproar of the people' (Mark 14:1-2).

Knowing only too well that this hesitation is only momentary,and that the end is now very near, Jesus makes no attempt to avoid hisenemies.

Only a day or two before his death Jesus is quietlyteaching in The Temple, when some of the chiefpriests and elders join his audience and challenge his authority.The object of their question is to trap him into making some statementwhich will put him in their power. But Jesus skillfully parries the question,and proceeds to tell them this parable.

'A certain man had two sons; andhe came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answeredand said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
'And he came to the second, andsaid likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
'Whether of them twain did thewill of his father?' (Matt. 21:28-31).

It does not seem to occur to them immediately that thetwo sons represent the House of Israel and the House of Judah, becausethey answer and say, 'The first'. But they know that this is not a prettySunday-school story, and that every word is pregnant with meaning for themselves.

While they are still speculating as to his meaning Jesusgoes on to tell them another parable. But this time they realize in thefirst few words the exact meaning of the vineyard to which he refers. Howdoes Jesus do it? Very simply. He used the actual words of another parableof the vineyard in the Book of Isaiah, a passage with which they are veryfamiliar, and which they cannot fail to understand.

This is the parable of Isaiah.

'Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my belovedtouching His vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitfulhill: and He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, andplanted it with the choicest vine; and built a tower in the midstof it, and also made a winepress therein: and He looked that it shouldbring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
'And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah,judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard.
'What could have been done more to My vineyard, thatI have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forthgrapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
'And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to Myvineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up;and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
'And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nordigged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also commandthe clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
'For the vineyard of the "I AM" Lord of hosts is thehouse of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant' (Isa. 5:1-7).

Remembering the intimate knowledge of the Old TestamentScriptures which was so constantly displayed by the Lord Jesus, we maysafely assume that he was well acquainted with the parallel passage inPsalm 80, where the Psalmist applies the same imagery to the House of Israel,and leads our thoughts to the promised Messiah, who was destined to leavethe right hand of his Father in order to become the Son of Man.

'Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast castout the heathen, and planted it.
'Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it totake deep root, and it filled the land.
'The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and theboughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
'She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branchesunto the river.
'Why hast Thou then broken down her hedges, so that allthey which pass by the way do pluck her?
'The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wildbeast of the field doth devour it.
'Return, we beseech Thee, O God of hosts: look down fromheaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
'And the vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted,and the branch that Thou madest strong for Thyself.
'It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perishat the rebuke of Thy countenance.
'Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, uponthe son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself.'

With consummate skill Jesus weaves these two passagesinto a parable which his audience cannot fail to understand.

'There was a certain householder,which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepressin it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into afar country.
'And when the time of the fruitdrew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receivethe fruits of it.
'And the husbandmen took his servants,and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
'Again, he sent other servantsmore than the first: and they did unto them likewise' (Matt. 21:33-36).

The chief priests andscribes and elders understand now exactly what Jesus means.The vineyard, as explained by Isaiah, is the House of Israel. God had plantedit in Palestine; hedged it about, that is, separated it from other nationsand protected it with His power; digged a winepress in it, given to itthe Divine Law; built a tower, established the Royal House of David. Theservants are the long line of prophets ending in John the Baptist, whosemurder only a year or two before is still fresh in their minds.

Having identified the vineyard, Jesus continues the parable,'But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying,They will reverence my son.'

The Jews know now that Jesus is referring to himself;and they listen attentively because they hope that he will say somethingthat will put him in their power. But, instead of that, they hear theirown plot unmasked, and Jesus uttering aloud the very words that they havebeen whispering in secret. Imagine their amazement as that calm voice proceeds:

'But when the husbandmen saw theson, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him,and let us seize on his inheritance.*'

* Ezekiel 44:2 Then said the "I AM" unto me; This gateshall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it;because the "I AM", the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, thereforeit shall be shut.
44:3 [It is] for The Prince (Dan. 9:24-27); The Prince,he shall sit in it to eat bread before the "I AM"; he shall enter by theway of the porch of [that] gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
48:21 And the residue [shall be] for The Prince, on theone side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession ofthe city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation towardthe east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousandtoward the west border, over against the portions for The Prince: and itshall be the holy oblation; and The Sanctuary of The House [shall be] inthe midst thereof.
48:22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, andfrom the possession of the city, [being] in the midst [of that] which isThe Prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shallbe for The Prince.

But Jesus has not finished yet. He has shown them thathe knows why they are going to put him to death; now he intends to warnthem of the consequences of their action. So he asks them this question:

'When the Lord therefore of thevineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
'They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wickedmen, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall renderhim the fruits in their seasons.'

The answer to our Lord's question comes probably fromone of the crowd, or possibly from one of his own followers. Luke, in hisversion of the scene, puts the words into the mouth of Jesus himself. Ifone of the chief priests, or scribes, or elders is speaking, then he isvery quickly made conscious of his stupidity, for Jesus drops the parable,and turns upon his enemies with these words: 'Thereforesay I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given toa nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.'

This statement leaves no shadow of doubt in their mindsas to the meaning of the parable. The guilty thoughts of their hearts havebeen laid bare and they are filled with fury, and the lust for murder,for we read, 'And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour soughtto lay hands on him; but they feared the people: for they perceived thathe had spoken this parable against them.'

If there is one thing that is made abundantly clear bythe Gospel narrative, it is this, that the influence of Jesus with thepeople was so great that the Sanhedrin did not dare to arrest him openly.

The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem had placedthe Jewish authorities in a very awkward predicament. If they arrestedJesus they would themselves be in danger from the mob; if, on the otherhand, they failed to arrest him, the mob might rise against the Romangarrison and set Jesus up as King (Dan. 9:24). In either case there wouldbe serious rioting, and for this the Roman governor would hold them responsible.

Faced with this dilemma, they decided that they must shelterthemselves behind the power of Rome. If they could only arrest Jesus withoutdanger to themselves, they would try him behind closed doors; they wouldthen take him to Pilate, and say that they had found him guilty of headingan insurrection, and demand his immediate execution.

Note God's opinion about Judah as spoken through Jeremiah(3:6-11; 11:9-10) almost six hundred years previously, when the conspiracyof the Hidden Hand had first been revealed by Godto Jeremiah; confirmed by Ezekiel (22:25) and which conspiracy was,six hundred years later, aimed against Jesus:-

Jeremiah 3:6 The "I AM" said also unto me in the daysof Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israelhath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every greentree, and there hath played the harlot (been unfaithful to Me).
3:7 And I said after she had done all these [things],Turn thou unto Me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sisterJudah saw [it].
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backslidingIsrael committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a billof divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but wentand played the harlot also.
3:9 And it came to pass through her making light of herwhoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stonesand with stocks.
3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judahhath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but in pretence, saiththe "I AM" (Matt. 15:8).
3:11 And the "I AM" said unto me, The backslidingIsrael hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah (Jew-dah).

11:9 And the "I AM" said unto me, A conspiracyis found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:10 They are turned back to the inequities of theirforefathers, which refused to hear My words; and they went after othergods to serve them: the House of Israel and the House of Judah have brokenMy Covenant which I made with their fathers.

Ezekiel 22:25 [There is] a conspiracy of her prophetsin the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they havedevoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; theyhave made her many widows in the midst thereof.

It was at this juncture that Judas went to the chief priests,and offered to show them how Jesus might be arrested in absolute secrecy.Needless to say, his offer was accepted. But the opportunity to put itinto practice did not occur until the following Tuesday evening, whichwas the Feast of the Passover.

On that day Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples,and late in the evening went out of the city to a garden near the villageof Gethsemane. In pitch-black darkness, broken only by the fitful lightof lanterns and torches, Jesus was arrested by officers and men of theTemple Guard. This was in the very early hours of Wednesday morning(Dan. 9:26-27 - 21st of April in 34 AD). By nine o'clock the same morninghe had been nailed to the cross, and by three o'clock in the afternoonhe was dead.

The Jewish authorities, inspiredby the infamous Hidden Hand, rejected Jesus, knowing full well thathe claimed to be the Messiah, and that every circumstance of his life provedhis claims to be true; and they laid themselves under an age-long curse,when they cried, 'His blood be on us, and on our children.'

He was rejected, as we have already seen, because he preachedthe restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, not to the Jews alone,but to all the seed of Jacob, for the benefit of all mankind.The real struggle had been between Jesus and the Hidden Hand, and the HiddenHand thought they had triumphed.

But the crime of the Crucifixion was already working outthe purposes of God. On the following Saturday (3 days and 3 nights - 72hours later), Jesus rose triumphantly from the dead; and for the next fortydays was occupied in setting up his Community.

It is not necessary to recall in detail how the Sanhedrintried to suppress the fact of the Resurrection, and to strangle the infantCommunity. Suffice it to say that the Apostles continued to preach thewhole Gospel of Christ Jesus; that is to say, the Gospel of the Kingdomand the Gospel of Salvation, two parts of one indivisible whole, neitherof which is complete without the other. The fight of Jesus with the HiddenHand was not finished; indeed it had only just begun.

Thirty-five years or so later the Jews, with the HiddenHand at their head, made their great attempt to wrest the Holy Land fromthe Romans. But the rebellion was crushed, and in A.D. 70 the words ofJesus were fulfilled to the letter*. The Temple was burnt to the groundand Jerusalem laid in ruins; thousands perished of famine and disease;thousands fell by the sword; and the remainder were sold into slavery.

* Matthew 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, Seeye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be lefthere one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (the"Wailing Wall"?).

Some few escaped, and not long afterwards the Sanhedrinwas reformed at Pergamos in Asia Minor. Its members were now aliens ina strange land. They had no country, no city and no Temple to administer,and the reason for their existence had largely disappeared. There remainedonly their dream of seizing the kingdom, and so the Sanhedrin became mergedin the Hidden Hand. The evil and material character, which it now assumed,is given to us in the Book of Revelation, where we find it described asthe Synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 2:9 I know thy works,and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [I know] the blasphemyof them which say they are Jews, and are NOT, but [are] (Idumaeans)the synagogue of Satan.

3:9 Behold, I will make them ofthe synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are NOT, butdo LIE (Idumaeans); behold, I will make them to come and worshipbefore thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Unable to acquire and hold land, they turned from agricultureto commerce. They bought and sold; they became the middle-men, the tradersand the merchants of the world. Wealth came to them easily, and in theemployment of their surplus funds they became also the pawnbrokers, themoney-lenders and financiers of the world. As their resourcesincreased, they discovered the enormous power of money, and they conceivedthe plan of gaining world-dominion by this means.

In the course of time their operation became more formidable.Working always in secret, they created discord among the nations; theydethroned kings; they engineered wars; they fostered revolutions.

Today they have their agents in every country, and inevery department of society; particularly in those departments where theycan influence a large number of people. These agents are of all nationalitiesand, for the most part, utterly unconscious of the identity of their realmasters.

Those masters, however, are the force behind InternationalFinance, and also the power behind Communism. Through Communism they havegained a large part of the world, from which they are spreading its godlessdoctrines. But Communism is only a means to an end. Their real objectsare the acquisition of wealth, the destruction of Christian civilization,and the erection upon its ruins of a world-wide dominion for theirbenefit, and for their benefit alone.

For centuries the world has believed the lie of the HiddenHand. In spite of history; in spite of the Bible;in spite of the voice of the Prophets, the Apostles, and even of Jesushimself, the world prefers to believe the LIE, that the Jews arethe entire House of Israel.

The great fear of the Hidden Hand is that the Israelof today will discover the truth and realize her identity; and so greatis this fear that they have invented or, rather, revived, the hideous doctrinesof Modernism and Humanism, whose sole object is to discredit the Bibleand the sure word of prophecy*.

* 2 Peter 1:17 For he received from God the Father honourand glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory("Cloud"), This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
1:18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard,when we were with him in the holy mount.
1:19 We have also the more sure word ofProphecy; whereunto ye do well that ye TAKE HEED, as unto a Lightthat shineth in a dark place, until the Day dawn, and the Morning Stararise in your hearts:

Now let us turn once more to that wonderful eleventh chapterof Ezekiel; for there we shall learn not only the end of this Satanicorganization, but also the means whereby that end is to be accomplished.

'Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I havecast them (the tribes of Israel with the larger part of Judah) far offamong the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries,yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where theyshall come.
'Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will evengather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries whereye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
'And they shall come thither, and they shall take awayall the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof fromthence.
'And I will give them one heart, and I will put a newspirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in My statutes,and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, andI will be their God.
'But as for them whose heart walketh after the heartof their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense theirway upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.'

The destruction of the Hidden Hand is not to take placeuntil Israel has been gathered from among the nations, until she has recoveredthe land of Palestine, and until she has reformed herself, and put in practiceThe Law of the Lord.

We have been gathered out of the nations into the littlesanctuary of the British Isles and her kindred Israelite countries, butwe do not yet walk in the Statutes and keep the Ordinances of the Lord,as given by Him through the mouth of His servant Moses. Until wedo this the Hidden Hand can NOT be destroyed.

It is our task, and our privilege, to fight this powerfulorganization; it is, moreover, a real fight, and one well worth the fightingif we value everything that is dear to us in this Britain and kindred countriesof ours, if we want to make the world a happier and a better place, ifwe want to share these blessings with all mankind.

The real character of the Hidden Hand, as we have seenalready, is given to us in the Book of Revelation, where it is describedas the Synagogue of Satan. This expression should not be applied to thewhole people of the Jews. It can only refer to the Hidden Hand, which hasnever been more than a small section of the Jewish people, although ithas brought, and is bringing, untold misery to the whole race, as wellas to the rest of mankind.

Behind the Synagogue of Satan are all the enormous spiritualforces of the Prince of Darkness - Lucifer. We are in reality fighting,as the Apostle Paul says, not only against flesh and blood, but againstprincipalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of thisworld, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Modern Israel, with all her Leagues, her Committees, herSocieties, is doomed to failure if she trusts in her own strength. Shemust seek a spiritual power (The "Force") greaterthan that of Satan; she must indeed seek the power of her Redeemer andKing, the Lord Christ Jesus. Only when she does this, only whenshe has re-established The Law of the Lord, will she be secure; onlythen will she be delivered from her plagues; only then willshe be free to fulfill her mission, and to become a blessing to all thenations of the Earth.

We see then how vitally important it is that modernIsrael should realize her identity for, failing this, she can notunderstand her mission, and her responsibility to the rest of the world.

Christ the Lord and Saviour still claimsto be the King of Israel. He is the same yesterday, today and for ever;and he is waiting until we, of our own free will, beg him to come totake his Kingdom, and save civilization.

In this struggle we can NOT remain neutral. Ifwe do not take service under our Redeemer and Saviour then, consciouslyor unconsciously, we must serve Satan and the Hidden Hand, to our own inevitabledestruction.

Matthew 12:30 He that is not WITHme is AGAINST me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

The choice before Israel today is between slavery anddeath on the one hand, and freedom and life on the other; between Satanand Christ. And this choice is the same as that which was offered by God,through the mouth of Moses, to our forefathers at Mount Sinai, 'See, Ihave set before thee this day Life and Good, and death and evil. . . .I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have setbefore you Life and Death, blessing and cursing:therefore choose Life, that both thou and thy seed may live' (Deut. 30:15-19).This is the very same but a more final warning that was given by God throughthe last Old Covenant prophet Malachi on the verylast page of the Old Testament, foretelling that, just before the Day ofthe Lord, He would send Eli-JAH the prophet to warn the world toreturn to His Laws given to all Israelites at Horeb and that He will burnto ashes everyone who refuses to do so.

Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the Day cometh, that shall burnlike an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the"I AM" Lord of hosts, that it shall leave of them neither root norbranch (nothing).
4:2 But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousnessarise with healing in his wings; and ye shall goforth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shallbe ashes under the soles of your feet in The Day that I shall do[this], saith the "I AM" Lord of hosts.
4:4 Remember ye and return to The Law of Moses My servant,which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the Statutesand Judgments.
4:5 Behold, I will send you Eli-JAH the Prophet beforethe coming of the great and dreadful Day of the "I AM" (Sura 43:61):
4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to thechildren, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come andsmite the earth with a curse (verse 1).
 

You can make a start by filling out and sending in therequest form at:-

http://i.am/jah/request.htm
 
 

If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny- The Fire.
 
 

Now read "The Way home or face The Fire" - JAH:-

http://i.am/jah/wayad.htm
 

and learn the "New Song" so you can survive (Isaiah42:10; Revelation 5:9; 14:3 and 15:3):-

http://i.am/jah/nsong.htm