II. The Jews

Preliminary considerations

How can anyone attempt to arrive at a serious understanding of the holocaust without having first come to at least some understanding of the Jews? Who are the Jews? What is a Jew? The Armenians, the Africans, the American Indians, the countless victims of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, or Castro - many people in the world have suffered, but there is a uniqueness about the Holocaust that is in some way I believe related to God's use of the Jews in the redemption of the human race. The facts that they have been used by God in the past for the dissemination of his truth, and will be used again in the future, make them especially the object of the wrath of Satan, and of men who serve Satan.

Before attempting to give a biblical explanation of God's plan for the Jews in world history, let us examine the singularity of the Holocaust. In the Middle Ages, the Mongols massacred a lot of people, but of course that was in the old days. People didn't even understand that the earth revolved around the sun - naturally, they could only behave in a barbaric and uncivilized fashion. Also, the Mongols lacked technology - you can only swing a sword or shoot arrows for so long before you need to take a break - so their ability to wreak havoc was far less sophisticated than ours. Moreover, they lacked ideology. As Solzhenitsyn pointed out, it takes an ideology for someone to do evil with the firm conviction that he is benefiting humanity. Likewise, the Crusades were primitive affairs. It was the same basic power of evil at work through a corrupt and false church that disregarded too many of the teachings of Christ, but it takes science to broaden the range of human evil to truly modern proportions.

There is not much point in discussing the extermination of the American Indians and the enslaving of the Africans. This is not to slight or minimize the suffering that occurred. Much could be said, in a different context, about the horrors of the slave trade, and the ruthlessness of the Indian wars. And, is there really much difference between the men who locked Jews into railway cars and the men who packed slaves into slave ships? - though the slaves were fed, as they were worth something. If an Indian village was burned in the dead of winter, and the people were left to perish of hunger and exposure, this is the same spirit that manifested itself in the holocaust - but still there are the obvious differences.

Again, we have the distance back in time, allowing us to flatter ourselves that people weren't as advanced back then as they are now. Also, there was the absence of technology - the industrialization and bureaucratization of hate and the mass production of death are factors that separate the Holocaust from other more distant disasters. Moreover, there are the obvious differences of motive. The Indian wars were fought over something tangible and real - land. Slavery was an economically profitable enterprise. But that all of the power of a modern industrial state should be directed toward the elimination of productive and law abiding citizens due to a quasi-religious mania of racial supremacy totally devoid of substance and now thoroughly rejected by all sane people, this defies ordinary analysis.

A closer parallel is in the attempt to exterminate the Armenians, but this was carried out by a nation with a long history of cruelty, ignorance, and barbarism. It can be explained away as the ignorant fanaticism of a benighted people, generally recognized as inferior in every way to the far more cultured, advanced, and sophisticated Europeans. Plus, the Turks lacked the most advanced technology, and were constrained to use primitive methods.

In the crimes of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao we have yet more parallels. We have larger numbers of people killed; we have concentration camps, tortures, deliberately induced famine, and atrocities of various sorts - all the result of the leader's false ideology. And, if evil could be quantified solely by the number of people killed, one could say that the crimes of the Communists were worse than those of Hitler. However, there are some differences. Once again, it is possible to dismiss the Russians and the Chinese as backward and primitive people (however much the Chinese like to boast of the medieval glories of the Tang Dynasty). Moreover, their massacres were carried out by comparatively crude means. This is not to minimize the suffering, as was said before, but only to emphasize two of the factors that set the holocaust apart. First, it took place in the heart of allegedly civilized Europe; second, it utilized to the fullest the power of modern technology for one purpose only - not to punish, or intimidate, or to enslave, or to derive profit, but to destroy for the sake of destruction.

Regarding the first of these two factors, that the worst sort of evil should emerge in one of the most advanced countries of the most advanced civilization - yes, this attitude was commonplace in Europe before WWII, and even more so before WWI - that strikes a dagger into the heart of Europe and has forever destroyed the illusion of European supremacy. In the past, Eurocentrics might have consoled themselves with the notion that such behaviour is to be expected of primitive peoples. When, however, the worst savagery and barbarism explode with astonishing force among the allegedly civilized Europeans, we are inescapably confronted with searching questions about the nature of progress, of civilization, and in the end of human nature itself.

The second factor results from the passivity of science and technology, which are powerful instruments in the hands of whoever chooses to use them. Scientific progress was the greatest boast of the Europeans. For much of the 19th century and into the 20th, it was sincerely believed by increasing numbers of people - many of them far too sophisticated to take the bible seriously - that man was becoming more civilized. The dimwitted intellectuals, some of them, even liked to boast around the turn of the century that war was obsolete. Even after the disasters of World War I, after their vaunted science had led to a previously unimaginable amplification of destruction, it was still possible for secularists and well meaning humanists to dream of progress and the goodness of man. This can be seen in the Humanist Manifesto of 1933, which speaks of "Today man's larger understanding of the universe, his scientific achievements, and deeper appreciation of brotherhood..." and other such pie-in-the-sky fantasies. "A cooperative effort to promote social well-being...a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good...Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task..." - these are words of people who prefer not to see the world in front of them. Of course, the myth of progress is also related to the equally invalid myth of the goodness of man. The two concepts are inextricably linked.

Strikingly, even the horrors of the Great War did not compel these thinkers to wonder if there might not be something intrinsically wrong with the heart of man. But, after the Holocaust, anyone who does not come to grips with the positive delight in cruelty and death that manifests itself most strikingly in the Holocaust, but in other places as well, is not philosophizing about the real world.

Looking at the situation more objectively, we find that science can benefit society somewhat, but it can also increase the power of evil as well. We are or should be reminded that in spite of all of the technological and scientific progress of the century preceding World War II, man was at the end no better morally than he was before, and, it would seem, had become even worse. What 18th- or 19th-century visionary or dreamer could have imagined the death camps? the ovens? the piles of corpses? the glorification of war as a good in itself, and the reasoned application of death, cruelty, torture, and murder to entire populations? Let us note parenthetically, that those who hate Jews are not kind, fair, and decent to everyone else. Those who succumb to the power of hate lose the power of reason, and hate is not logical - hence the Nazis were not cruel only to the Jews, while being kind and decent to the Poles and the Russians.

But, there are other atrocities in the catalogue of world crime. Recent mass murders in Cambodia or in Rwanda can be minimized also as the primitive excesses of backward people - and many will think this even if they know they are not supposed to say it. It is an effective escape mechanism that allows us to avoid directly confronting the problem of evil in human nature. There is, however, yet one more modern evil that also parallels the Holocaust in some striking ways, and cannot be so easily dismissed. I mean the destruction of millions of innocent lives by abortion.

Let us look briefly at the similarities between Naziism and feminism. In both cases we have a completely false ideology - Aryan supremacy on the one hand, and on the other hand the beliefs that women are supposed to be as much like men as possible; that child bearing and child rearing are hindrances that prevent a woman from finding true inner fulfillment; that sex is a sport or a game that a woman should be free to enjoy without any serious consequences.

Not only are both of these ideologies contrary to human nature and to the truths of God. Even worse, people who do not fit into the world view of these ideologies (Jews or unborn children) are then declared to be less than human, which means they can be killed with a clear conscience. Killing even becomes a positive good, and people flatter themselves that they are accomplishing something positive as the deaths mount up into the millions.

A third similarity is that the Nazis realized the importance of secrecy and obfuscation, and so do the feminists. The Nazis used such evasive euphemisms as "resettlement," "evacuation," "natural reduction" (meaning death due to hunger and disease), "labor utilization," "special trains for resettlers," "work camps," and "final solution" - and they did their best to keep the real meaning of these terms a secret.

In the same manner, baby killers use various neutral sounding terms to disguise the reality of what they are doing, such as "choice," "clinic," "women's rights," "fetus," "dilation and evacuation" (meaning tearing a little baby to pieces inside the womb and removing it bit by bit), and "partial birth abortion," which means "crushing a baby's head as it is being born." And, the killers do not like to see photographs of dead and mutilated babies, or have other people see them. No, like the Nazis they want, because of guilt, and so that they can the more easily deceive people, to hide their cruelty and evil behind a fog of obfuscation, and also like the Nazis they never dream that someday they will be called to account for their brutal and vicious crimes before the judgement seat of a holy and righteous God. However, there is mercy and grace for them if they will repent and come to Christ. Otherwise they must be cast into the lake of fire forever with all other unrepentant liars, murderers, and evildoers.

Of course, there are differences. A woman has a choice, if she wants to kill her child or not - but then, come to think of it, a Nazi had a choice if he wanted to kill a Jew or not. Did the Jews have a choice? They did not. Do the unborn babies have a choice? They do not. There is a difference between a Nazi tossing a baby out of a second-storey window to be impaled on the bayonet of a soldier of the master race waiting below, and crushing the skull of a baby even as it emerges from its mother's womb (or tearing it to pieces in the womb). In the one case the evil and wicked mother with a sick mind consents and approves, and is even happy with the destruction of her child; in the other case the mother is horrified, crushed, or in unimaginable despair. In both cases however a helpless human being is cruelly and fiendishly destroyed.

But, the feminists insist they are doing nothing wrong, and claim that babies are not really human anyway. The Nazis also insisted they were doing nothing wrong, and that Jews were not really human. It is not hard to imagine a modern abortion doctor in a Nazi death camp, directing the weak and the old and the sick and the useless into the gas chambers. It is the same evil and the same perversion of science and technology to meet the cruel demands of a false, destructive, and deceptive ideology. Referring to the Holocaust, people say "Never again," but it is happening again - and they have the same apathy and indifference that so troubles them in the Germans. They have their Holocaust conferences and write books and articles so that there will never be another Holocaust, and it is occurring right in front of them and they refuse to see it.

Getting back to the uniqueness of the Holocaust, however, it is not my intention to minimize the suffering of others. Someone who is tortured to death or forced to labor in subhuman living conditions can suffer just as much in one time or place as in the next. And, there are profound similarities between the Holocaust and the other previously mentioned atrocities and crimes. It is the same spirit of heartless cruelty and evil that manifests itself in different ways and at different times. Yet, they are also unique in their own ways, occurring at different times and in different situations, resulting from different motives and world views. Thus, the enslavement of the Africans, the slaughter of the American Indians, the massacres of the Mongols, the Crusades, all had their own distinguishing characteristics. The uniqueness of the Holocaust lies, to repeat briefly, in these factors: the utilization of advanced technology and bureaucracy; the bizarre nature of the Nazi ideology; the attempt to exterminate every man, woman, and child of a certain race or ethnic group; its having occurred in the modern period; its having occurred in the heart of supposedly superior Western Europe; and, to add yet another factor, its having been exposed to the full light of day, unlike the crimes of the Communists. If the murders of the Nazis had been as successfully concealed as those of the Communists, if there had been no photographs and little or no primary documentary evidence, the Holocaust would have registered much less deeply on the world consciousness.

Who were the victims of this willed and intentional calamity? The Jews - and who are these people, who occupy such a pre-eminent position in the annals of horror? What is it in them, if anything, that provoked or led to such a terrible response? We have claimed that God rules and controls the world. If God could have prevented this but did not, is it possible that there is a larger purpose in it somewhere? If there is, can we glimpse it, far beyond us, from our lowly human vantage point? As to those who claim that there is no God at all, or that he is remote and indifferent, rendering all human activity ultimately meaningless and purposeless, what can they say about the deeper meaning of the Holocaust, or of anything else for that matter? They may try to understand, and may do their best to explain or elucidate this mystery of iniquity in merely human terms, without reference to the higher spiritual powers that work behind the scenes of our lives. Some no doubt will prefer this sort of human wisdom and find comfort in an outward appearance of understanding that does not get to the heart of the matter, but those who are unaware of the spiritual dimension are doomed to failure from the outset in any attempt to explain the holocaust. For those who believe in the bible however, it is possible to at least try and look more deeply into the spiritual dimensions of this question.

It will be necessary to examine carefully, according to scripture, that mysterious people, the Jews. Unique among the peoples of the world, unique in their genius and contributions (I am referring here to ordinary human achievements, not to religion), in their history and in their suffering, but most important of all in their extraordinary contribution to human civilization in the field of religion - which contribution was not the result of paltry human genius but was the result of God's true revelation of himself, truth which has been manifest from on high - surely their singularity is in some mysterious way a part of the tragedy of the holocaust.

Who, then, are the Jews? The answer to this question depends on one's attitude to the bible. If the bible is not the true word of God, faithfully recording human history and revealing God's purpose in that history, then the Jew remains an insoluble riddle. If there is no God at all and life is pointless, then the history and the sufferings of the Jews are pointless as well. We can only look sadly at the historical record, and turn away in baffled silence - unless we are unable to live consistently with our basically meaningless world view, and strive with words to create an illusion of meaning that is inconsistent with what we say we believe. Or, if there is a God of some sort, but he does not communicate truthfully with us through the bible, the Jews still remain a mystery - and no amount of merely human wisdom or scholarship will ever unravel it.

If, on the other hand, the bible is the true and inerrant word of God, then a dazzling and brilliant light is shed on the origins and purpose of the Jews - at least until the time of Christ. Then the question of God's continuing plan and purpose for the Jews becomes more debatable. Therefore, this attempt to describe God's plan and purpose for the Jews according to scripture will naturally be divided into two parts - before Christ, and after Christ. As to those who do not accept the bible, I will not try to debate them here. That would be more suitable in another place.

The Jews of the Old Testament

How is the Lord of glory going to reveal himself to the human race? He could appear as a terrifying spiritual apparition, and people could worship him out of slavish fear - but such is the hardness of the human heart, that God would have had to reappear periodically to keep us cowed into a sullen and forced recognition of his existence (our sinful nature would prevent us from delighting in his presence without first having been cleansed from our guilt and from our sin).

God in his wisdom chose not to reveal himself in this way. He chose instead to reveal himself to the world in a way more suited to our feeble human capacity. He has made himself known clearly enough so that those who have eyes to see can see - and those who do not want to see can remain comfortably in their unbelief (unless God deigns to intervene and give them eyes to see and ears to hear). God revealed himself to us more subtly, and the instrument of his revelation was the Jewish people (the use of the past tense "was" is in reference to the Old Testament period only and is not meant to imply anything concerning the present).

Through the Jews we not only have the revelation of a single, supreme God, who is concerned with justice, righteousness, and holiness, a personal God of infinite wisdom and power. We also have the more specific revelation of God's character and laws given us in the writings of Moses, the prophets, and the other biblical writers. These men, so inspired by the Spirit of God in their writing that their words were and remain infallible divine truth, have had - through the medium of Christianity - an incalculable effect on the world for God. In fact - and the secularists may put their fingers in their ears or cover their eyes if they like - it is the beneficent truths of the Judaeo-Christian revelation that laid the foundation for the west's rise and dominance, in contrast to the dismal and ignorant squalor of much of the rest of the world. And, it is the turning away from those truths in the modern era that has led to the disastrous decline of Europe, which has lost all of its former greatness and is now a sad and dreary quagmire of vice, materialism, conceit, and petty secularist psuedo-philosophies. If the vast majority of Europeans don't want Christianity, perhaps they will be happier with Islam. Maybe they will hand the entire continent over to the Moslems, which would be a fitting end to their sad secularism. As for America, it is also going down the drain, more slowly perhaps, but with gathering speed.

Returning to the bible, we see that God decided to create for himself a special people to be used as a means of shedding his light into the world. This does not mean that the Jews were better than anyone else. God created the Jewish people out of one man to achieve his predestined purposes. Abraham was chosen because of his faith in God, and even though Sarah his wife was too old to conceive, she conceived, and bore a son, Isaac. Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered twelve sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel.

This is the origin of the Jewish people, and their further development is recorded in the bible, which accurately describes the events of this period. It is the divine origin of this book that sets it so far apart from all other writing of the period. In it we read how the Jews moved down to Egypt and remained there for centuries, increasing greatly in number. After some time they were enslaved by the Egyptians, but God delivered them. They were led out of Egypt by Moses, after God struck the Egyptians with mighty and disastrous plagues and miraculously destroyed the pursuing army which Pharaoh sent after then. They wandered for forty years in the Sinai desert, where God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai and revealed sacred truths that have reverberated down through the centuries even unto the present day, and have incalculably affected the course of world development both directly, through Christianity, and indirectly, through the general diffusion of higher moral principles in the countries where because of Christianity these laws were understood and venerated. These truths from God far surpass the trifles of Greece and Rome, and all of the glories of secular European culture combined are found to be lighter than vanity when weighed in the balance against the five books of Moses. Although the ceremonial rules contained therein have been replaced by the higher and fuller revelation that the same God has given us in Jesus Christ, the basic truths remain untarnished by age and by all of the intellectual contrivances of vain humanity.

After years of wandering imposed upon the Jews by God because of their sinfulness and unbelief, the nation of Israel entered the land of the Canaanites, which God had promised to Abraham's descendants. In order for the Jewish people to be established in the land, it was necessary for the Canaanites to be removed, and because of the wickedness of the Canaanites, God commanded the Jews to destroy them - and God not only commanded them, he helped them to carry out this command.

Those who are already predisposed to find fault with God object to the slaughter of the Canaanites, but they fail to consider that God is the Lord of life and death. He gives life and he has the right to take it. Many of these same people do not object however to the slaughter of millions of unborn children, as if we have the right to take life for our own convenience, but God does not have the right to take it for some higher purpose - as if we are now more powerful than God.

After the Jews entered into the promised land, so called because of God's promise to Abraham, another extraordinary epoch in their history began. The narratives of the judges, the prophets, and the kings, seem tedious to the natural mind, but to the spiritual mind they transcend the literary trifles of Europe's greatest writers as far as the heavens transcend the earth. The truths they contain have permanently altered western civilization for the better, through the medium of Christianity, and as we turn our back on them and reject them, we sink deeper into the delusion, evil, and folly that are now modern (or postmodern) western civilization.

At any rate, in this shallow and feeble summary we see the Jews as a people uniquely chosen of God to shed his light into the world, and to prepare the way for the Messiah. Does the fact of having been chosen for a divine mission mean, though, that the Jews are superior to others? No, for the bible testifies repeatedly to the sinfulness of the Jews. Although they disobeyed God many times, they were in the Old Testament period the instruments of God's higher purpose, which he carried out regardless of their numerous failures. Nor does the concept of chosenness mean that the Jews will get special treatment on the day of judgement, since the bible teaches that God "is not a respecter of persons." All have sinned, all require forgiveness, and no one can come before God in his own righteousness.

The concept of chosenness does mean, though, that the Jews as a people have a distinct relationship with God. As Paul teaches in the first chapter of Romans, there is "glory, honour, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." But, there is also "Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." If the Jews obey, they will be blessed above others; if they disobey, they will be punished above others. Notice also that Paul, writing after the resurrection and after the giving of the Holy Spirit, uses the present tense. He does not dismiss the uniqueness of the Jews as a thing of the past, made obsolete by the death and resurrection of Christ.

Paul is not introducing a new doctrine here. Moses also writes in detail of the blessings that the Jews will receive if they are faithful to God, and the punishments they will receive if they are not faithful. This was never said of any other nation. More will be said about this when we examine the fate of the Jews subsequent to their expulsion from the land of Israel.

Christians and Jews

Up to this point there is little room for disagreement among Christians - as to those who reject the authenticity of the Old Testament narratives, are they even Christians at all? In my belief they are not, no matter how many fine words they may spout about Christ or God's "mighty acts in history," no matter how many books of theology they may write or sermons they may preach (many pastors do not even preach at all, they only make speeches). With the coming, death, and resurrection of Christ, however, the situation becomes vastly more complex, and allows for much more diversity of interpretation.

Christians - using the term loosely to refer to those who publicly call themselves Christians and are so considered by the world, whether or not they have false doctrines and lack a real relationship with Christ - have four basic approaches to the question of the Jews and God's purpose for them after the beginning of the Christian period. One approach is to not think much about the question at all. This is characteristic of many Christians who think they can "trust" Christ or "accept" him and then go off and enjoy themselves. This approach of course does not merit consideration. No mere words of mine can break through the dark night of apathy and complacency that reigns in the hearts of many.

Three other approaches are more substantive and require some comment. Some believe that with the coming of Christ the mission of the Jews has been fulfilled, and that they are now in essence no different from any other people. Their history in the Diaspora is something of historical and cultural, but not of theological, interest. The return of the Jews to their biblical homeland is merely one more of history's many invasions, like the Norman conquest of England in 1066 or the coming of the Europeans to the New World. People in this camp are more likely to feel that the Jews are usurpers who have stolen Arab land (never mind that the Arabs had previously seized it by force as well).

Others believe that God still has a purpose for the Jews and that in the end they will be redeemed as a people. Some in this group see the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland as a fulfilment of biblical prophecy, and their victories in spite of all obstacles are attributed to the finger of God. Others admit some future purpose in God's will for the Jews but disassociate it from modern political Zionism. It is not necessary to examine these views in detail as none of them have anything to do with hatred and persecution of the Jews - at least on the part of serious Christians. Some disguise their anti-Semitism under the guise of hostility to Israel, but that is more true of the secular and theological left than of serious bible-believing Christians.

A fourth approach, which was more influential in the past, but has declined drastically since WWII, sees the Jews as being guilty of the death of Christ, and hence in some way the object of God's anger. This basic concept can be distinctly different from the other approaches if it is taken to the extreme of actually persecuting the Jews, which is devilish wickedness. Christians, however, are not appointed to be agents of God's wrath. It is our calling to show the salvation of Christ to all, Jew or Greek, and if anyone responds or not, that is up to God. Those who think that Christians should persecute Jews because the Jews have killed Christ have never understood the bible's message. "The Jews killed Christ, death to the Jews," reveals total ignorance of and rebellion against God's revelation of mercy and grace in Christ.

However, and this has complicated discussions of anti-Semitism tremendously, it is possible for Christians to believe that the Jews have suffered God's wrath in the Diaspora, and to assert that this is the case, while believing that this suffering has been inflicted on them by evil men. Thus many Christians have (or have had) a theological position which is tempered by biblical teachings of love, mercy, and forgiveness, and is never translated into action, but which is (in the minds of unbelievers) linked to those who do translate the position into cruel and merciless action. It asserts that the Jews have been cast out of the land and led into suffering in the Diaspora by the wrath of God who abandons them to evil men, but still sees the Jews as being potential objects of God's grace and salvation in Christ, and hence worthy of the same treatment that everyone else should receive. They do not fall outside of the commandment, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The stumbling and fall of the Jews has not removed them from the community of man. The Jews have as a people rejected Christ, but so have many other people in the world also rejected Christ.As Paul says in Romans, "There is none righteous, no, not one."

Moses said that if the Jews obeyed God he would bless them in the land, but if they disobeyed him too much he would in the end cast them out, scatter them among the heathen, and deliver them over to their enemies. Since this has in fact occurred, it is thoroughly biblical to say that God has cast the Jews out of the land in his anger, and abandoned them to their enemies (for suffering, not for total extinction, which would nullify the promise to Abraham). Thus the Jews are the objects of God's anger, but the Christian's role is not to be an agent of God's wrath. It is to be an agent of God's reconciling grace through faith in Christ.

Even some Jews will admit that they were expelled from the land for their sins. This is not "anti-Semitic," but is straight from Torah. It only becomes anti-Semitic when translated into hostile words and actions, but the idea itself is not wrong and many have held it as a biblical truth without ever interpreting it as a license or as a command to persecute anyone. If God is punishing anyone for their sins, whether a nation or an individual, my purpose as a Christian is not to facilitate that process, and in the end become an evil person myself. Thus, if a Lutheran pastor like Martin Niemoller said that the Jews suffered the wrath of God because they crucified Christ, this is not in and of itself anti-Semitic. It becomes anti-Semitic only when the teaching is held to without the mollifying influences of God's mercy, love, and forgiveness. This leads into the complex subject of Niemoller's initial support for Hitler, but that is best discussed in Part III in connection with the German Church.

It is necessary to elaborate on the difficult (and for some impossible to accept) concept that someone can consider the Jews as having been cast out of the land and sent into the Diaspora to suffer because of their disobedience to God, and still not be an anti-Semite. While some will refuse to accept it, it is possible nonetheless. My own belief is that God has in his anger punished the Jews by destroying their homeland, and that the sufferings Jews have experienced in the Diaspora are prophesied in their own scriptures, and are a fulfillment of their own scriptures. Some of these prophecies will be looked at in this section under the subheading "The Diaspora." I do not think though that the Jews were sent into exile because they killed Christ.

In the first sermon preached at Pentecost, Peter directly confronted the Jews who were guilty of Christ's death (not their distant descendants). He told them of their sin, but then offered them forgiveness and eternal life in Christ, and many of them responded. God's response to the crucifixion of his only begotten Son was not wrath and expulsion, but an offer of the free gift of salvation and eternal life, if the Jews would repent. This is the Christian response to sin - not hatred and persecution, but a rebuke of sin, a warning of the judgement, and the preaching of the glorious gospel of Christ.

As I understand it, the Jews were expelled from the land not for crucifying Christ, but for failing to repent and believe in Christ afterward. If they had believed in Christ, and accepted him as the Messiah, they would of course have obeyed his teaching to cooperate with the Romans and not resist them. With their minds set on the kingdom of heaven, there would have been no revolts, and hence no destruction of Israel by the Romans. The expulsion of the Jews from the land and their subsequent sufferings were the direct result of God's wrath at protracted disobedience, as prophesied by Moses and their own prophets.

Does this then make me an anti-Semite? In the eyes of some perhaps it will. They will automatically link this with evil actions wrought by evil men who made a similar point, but reacted to that point in a totally different way. My calling, however, is not to visit God's wrath on sinners, be they Jew or Gentile. My first calling is to follow Christ, and work out my salvation in fear and trembling, as the bible says. I want to experience and grow in the love and grace of God, and show that love and grace to the world to the best of my limited ability. I do not want to stand before God on the day of judgement as a cruel and evil murderer whose life was poisoned by hatred and who caused unbelievers to speak evil of Christ because of my wickedness. I want to hear Christ say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant," not "Depart from me into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

It is possible for Christians to see the Jews as victims of God's anger, yet in their hearts be free from malice, hatred, and evil. This is not merely a theoretical position, but has in fact been the case with many Christians who have felt that the Jews were suffering from the displeasure of God, but who did not see themselves as instruments of God's displeasure. So often in the Old Testament God used wicked men to punish the Jews in his anger, not good, holy, and righteous men. Parenthetically, I suspect that many even religious Jews have the same problems that Christians do when it comes to the relevance of scripture today. If God did something in bible times, say, send enemies to slay and ravish the Jews because of their wickedness, he could do that, because he is God and we believe in the bible - but that he should do such things today? Out of the question! But, as God sent the Philistines against Israel because of the sinfulness of Israel, could it be that God has also raised up and sent the Palestinians as a cruel enemy against the Jews because of their wickedness? How does a righteous and holy God look on his people who have been preserved by him over the centuries, and brought back to the land in a miraculous way in spite of numerous seemingly insuperable obstacles, only to practice evil and vice? Drugs, fornication, crime, homosexuality, prostitution, materialism, pride, vanity, pornography - in bible times God sent punishment for the godlessness of Israel. Is he the same God today?

If, however, the Jews have been suffering because of God's displeasure, shall we say that "They deserved what they got"? Shall we say even of the Holocaust that "The Jews deserved what they got"? God sent the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Philistines to punish the Jews - they suffered because of God's anger at their wickedness, but even there, where it is plainly stated in scripture that God was punishing the Jews, it seems callous to say "They deserved what they got." Such a response may seem logical in the abstract, but it is not the Christian or biblical response. If we are mindful of our own sins and guilt, and if we know that we as Christians are also sinners, then we are mindful - not only intellectually, but spiritually, in our hearts - of Paul's warning in Romans. Speaking of Christian attitudes toward the Jews, he writes: "because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." God's righteous anger and punishments are far beyond us. He punishes, we do not. If he judges anyone, our response is to be mindful of our own sinfulness, and to be aware that if not for God's grace we also would fall into a similar or worse condemnation. Thus, someone can say and believe in his heart that the Jews have suffered from God's anger in the Diaspora, yet be far from a judgemental, condemning, or superior (not to mention a hateful) attitude. Many Christians have been able to do this. If others see God's judgement as a matter for pride and rejoicing, or malice and hate, then they will have to give account of their sinful and unChristlike attitudes on the Judgement Day.

But, returning to the subject of Christians and Jews, we need to look more closely at the Jewishness of Christ.

Jesus the Jew

The 19th century German writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain was, like some of the German "theologians" who had no trouble reconciling Mein Kampf with the Sermon on the Mount, a believer in an "Aryan Christ." Being unwilling to part with Christ, yet also being unwilling to accept his Jewishness because of their malice against the Jews, people of this school dreamed up the fantasy of a non-Jewish Christ. In his notorious attempt at Nazi philosophy, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, Alfred Rosenberg denounced the four gospels and rejected the idea of Christ as the sacrificial lamb, suffering for the sins of the world, the Christ of the cross, and hallucinated instead about a powerful fighting Jesus who was only half Jewish - because his father was really a Roman soldier!

There is not much point in trying to retrace their tortured logic here. Suffice it to say that their devious philosophical manipulations have long since been added to the mouldering pile of attempts to harmonize biblical truth with worldly error (always to the detriment of the former). Not bothering to refute their reasoning directly, since no credible person adheres to "German Christianity" or "Aryan Christianity" or "Positive Christianity" any longer, let us merely look at the biblical picture of Christ the Jew.

Of course he was born in Israel (not in Germany), into a Jewish family. He was circumcised and his mother was purified according to the law of Moses. He was brought to Jerusalem and the sacrifice specified by Moses was offered on his behalf. As a child he celebrated the Passover yearly in Jerusalem with his parents, and at an early age astonished the religious leaders with his knowledge. When he lived he confined his ministry almost exclusively to the Jewish people, and when before his death he sent the apostles out he instructed them to go only to the Jews. After his death of course he said "Go into all the world." Jesus and his disciples claimed that many Old Testament prophecies referred to him, and the New Testament is full of references to the Old. Unbelieving Jews dispute the validity of those references, but the mere fact that they were made shows the deep connection between Christ and Judaism. Moreover, the early Christians were Jews - so profoundly Jewish were the origins of Christianity that it was debated whether Gentiles could become part of the church. There was also some difficulty in determining how much of the Jewish law Gentiles were supposed to follow after they became followers of Christ. Paul goes so far as to say in his letter to the Romans that Judaism is the root and Christianity is the branches - which is not surprising if we accept that Jesus of Nazareth and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are one.

Though the equating of Christ with the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will be disputed, the fact remains that Christianity is profoundly Jewish in its origins - though of course we Christians believe that God has given us in Jesus Christ a much fuller revelation than anything contained in the Old Testament alone. The Old Testament laws tell us what we should do - but since we always fall short, Christ offers cleansing for sin, and a real ability to fulfill the essence of the law in our hearts through the love of God granted by the Holy Spirit.

Before continuing with an examination of different possible approaches to the significance of the Jews subsequent to the resurrection of Christ, I would like to comment briefly on Christ's use of the Hebrew language. It has often been said that Christ normally spoke in Aramaic, but is that actually the case? Aramaic may have been (along with Greek) one of the most important international languages of the ancient Near East, but an international language does not typically obliterate native languages. In the book of Acts we see Paul speaking in Hebrew to a crowd. Some statements of Christ are quoted in Aramaic in the New Testament, but what if - I only ask the question - Christ commonly spoke Hebrew, and the Aramaic quotations are preserved in the original because of their uniqueness? Some translations of 19th century Russian novels will leave a French phrase in the translation to show that the author used French in the original. And what if Christ spoke Aramaic on the cross, but Hebrew when he appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, because Aramaic was a carnal language more suitable for Christ when he became sin and was experiencing the wrath of God for us, while Hebrew was more suitable for Christ in his glory?

Moreover, the gospel of John gives the Hebrew words for the place where Pilate gave judgement (Gabbatha), and for the place where Jesus was crucified (Golgotha). It hardly seems likely that there would be Hebrew names for specific localities if Hebrew were not still a living language. It is entirely possible, I would say more than merely probable, that Hebrew was used in daily life until the final destruction of Israel by the Romans, and for a generation or two thereafter.

Whatever the case, it takes no great scholarship to demonstrate Christ's Jewishness, and the Jewish origins of Christianity. It should be added of course that Christianity did not originate solely from the Jews, or from a Jewish cultural milieu. It originated with God, and was revealed to earth from the throne of glory, using the Jewish people as the earthly medium suitable to our earthly and fallen state.

Christian attitudes toward the Jews

Having said something very briefly about the profound relationship between Christianity and Judaism, let us now look further at attitudes toward Jews on the part of Christians. By "Christian" here I do not mean as was said before only those who have a serious belief in the bible, and a genuine love for Christ and a desire to serve him and obey him. My definition is very loose and broad - but not so broad as to include everyone that merely happens to have been born in Europe or America. Some people who are vocal in blaming the Holocaust on Christianity do not even know what Christianity is.

One group of Christians, as was said earlier, feels that God's wrath is on the Jews because they were responsible for the death of Christ. Some of these have taken it upon themselves to execute God's wrath, and have seen themselves as pleasing God when they persecuted and killed Jews (sometimes under the influence of alcohol).

Before examining this sort of conduct in the light of scripture, I think it is significant that although this attitude still lingers, it is much less common than formerly. The Holocaust has served to render virulent anti-Semitism so thoroughly repulsive in the eyes of all decent people, that even those who hold the Jews responsible for the death of Christ are less likely to put those views into practice than they were formerly. Also, secularism is much more widely established in many areas, making questions pertaining to the death of Jesus irrelevant.

It is significant that persecutions resulting from this attitude were much more common in medieval Roman Catholic countries and more recently in Russian or Greek Orthodox countries than they have been in predominantly Protestant countries. There are some reasons why the attitude of hostility toward Jews might have been more active in the aforementioned areas - although of course there were many Catholics and Orthodox people who did not persecute Jews, and some who helped them at great personal risk in the Holocaust. Gilbert in his book The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War shows the help given by the Vatican to Jews during the German occupation. Also, many "Protestants" followed Hitler and supported or even participated directly in the Final Solution. Nevertheless, it is a historical fact that the worst mistreatment of the Jews prior to the modern era was not uniform throughout all Christendom, as it should have been if such things were fundamental to the New Testament. As to Germany being a Protestant country, that will be discussed more thoroughly later. Suffice it to say for now that numerous histories of Germany between the two World Wars give no evidence of a strong Protestant presence. By the turn of the century, much of Protestantism in Germany was only a hollow shell, desiccated by the false teachings of the scholars, critics, and liberals - a shell that was blown away by the tempests of war and economic chaos. Of course, many Christians remained, but Protestantism was not a dominant force in Germany in the 1920's.

Looking more closely at the belief that Jews are to be hated and persecuted because they killed Christ, we see that there are a number of obvious responses (apart from the general ideas of Christian grace and forgiveness mentioned previously). First, many Jews were not even aware of the crucifixion at all. Scattered as many of them already were throughout the ancient Near East, they were far removed from the scene. The bible teaches clearly that we will be judged for what we have said and thought and done - not for what others have done without our knowledge.

Secondly, a number of Jews were not in favor of the crucifixion of Christ. Shall they - or their descendants rather - be punished for it? And which Jews today are descended from those who may not have supported the crucifixion or even been aware of it?

Thirdly, some Jews cried out "His blood be on us, and on our children," but God is not bound by that. After Christ's resurrection, forgiveness was offered to those who would repent and believe. The Jews were not considered by the apostles to be under and iron and perpetual curse. And, when those who were directly and personally responsible for the death of Christ were offered forgiveness and accepted it, their sins were forgiven - and those who did not accept the offer? Were they persecuted by the apostles? Did Peter organize a pogrom? Did Paul shun the synagogues as dens of iniquity? When the message was of the apostles was rejected did they hate and attack anyone? Christians are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. They are to offer the good news of Christ crucified and risen, and those who do not accept this good news are still to be shown the love of God. Also, in connection with this third point, the Jews in the Exodus wanted to return to Egypt, but God did not hearken to their request and send them back. His sovereign purposes are not cancelled out or overridden by our foolish statements - and his predetermined plan for the Jews was not unexpectedly thrown off course by the shouting of a small mob.

Fourthly, Jesus said "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Of course we all fall short, but to refrain from torturing, hating, and killing people is surely in our power, if we are in Christ, and not merely adherents of some ecclesiastical power structure. I have failed many times in the Christian life, but it has not been hard for me to avoid torturing and killing people. As John said, "He that loves not knows not God; for God is love...God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him." And, if I may make an obvious point, there have been countless Christians that never enslaved or slaughtered or hated or persecuted anyone, though of course they failed to live up to the commandments of Christ in other areas as all Christians do.

If I had lived in Nazi Germany I can imagine myself being intoxicated with National Socialism and devoted to the Fuhrer - if God abandoned me to such wicked thoughts, and did not uphold me by his grace. As Paul says in Romans, "...even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity...." But, if God had sustained me by the word of his grace, and upheld me by his Spirit, I could reject Naziism but keep silent out of fear, or be a real martyr and hero, as God gave me the measure of faith.

Fifthly, it says in James that "the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God." God is the judge. He will repay. Christians are not called to be agents of God's wrath. The calling of the Master is for us to show his light to the world. Are they Christians, who reject the teachings of Christ and do the exact opposite? All of this will be made clear on the Day of Judgement. Then it will be seen who were the ordinary Christians who did their best to follow Christ but made mistakes; who were the troubled and weak Christians, who had many problems but yet were saved by faith; and who were the false Christians who had the name of Christian but made no real effort at all to follow the commands of Christ, and knew nothing of God's Holy Spirit.

Sixthly, Christ laid down his life voluntarily. He could have saved himself, but he offered himself as a faultless sacrifice for the sins of the world. This was part of God's predestined plan for our redemption, and by Christ's death and resurrection the way into heaven has been opened for us. This should be a cause for gladness and rejoicing, not viciousness and brutality.

Seventhly, since Christ received in his person the punishment for our sins, insofar as each of us commit any sin of whatever kind, we become responsible for the death of Christ. Paul even says in his first letter to the Corinthians that Christians who partake of communion unworthily "shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Sincere Christians therefore are inevitably sensible of their own sinfulness, and of God's mercy and kindness toward them. They understand in their hearts the teaching of Christ "Blessed are the merciful" and sincerely want to do unto others as they would have others do unto them.

All of these things being so, there is no biblical reason whatever for hostility to Jews, and those who attacked and hated Jews because of the death of Christ were completely ignorant of the Gospel message. Will they stand before Jesus and say "Lord, for your sake we practiced cruelty and evil and caused suffering, misery, pain, and fear"? And will God then say to them, "Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter into the joy of the Lord"? Why do they call Jesus "Lord, Lord," but do not do the things which he said?

Having briefly discussed these elementary aspects of true Christianity, the question of God's plan and purpose for the Jews subsequent to the resurrection remains. This does not have to be discussed in great detail, as it is not directly related to the main topic of this essay, but it does have some significance in that it shows how far removed the bible's teachings are from the idea that Jews ere enemies of the blond, blue-eyed master race and hence should be exterminated for the good of humanity.

Does salvation by faith in Christ now mean that the purpose of the Jews has been fulfilled, and that they now are like any other people? Or do they still have a specific role to play in God's sovereign plan for the world - a plan that culminates in the destruction of the world and the revelation of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, where the righteous will dwell forever while the wicked are sent to hell?

As always, we must let the scriptures be our guide. The closer we adhere to its teachings, the better off we will be. But, there are many verses in the New Testament about the Jews, and people interpret them differently. There is no "pope" that can decide for us. We have to come to our own understanding according to the measure of wisdom that is given to us, being careful to remember that these questions, while important, are not essential to salvation. Genuinely saved Christians can see non-essential things differently as God has placed us in different parts of the body - he does not require complete uniformity on all points. When it comes to the Jews, though, there are five basic points that all Christians should agree on, whether or not they believe that God no longer has any special purpose for the Jews, that the promises and blessings given in the Old Testament refer to the Christian church, the body of true believers.

First, salvation is through the Holy Spirit that is received through faith in Christ alone - that is, salvation from the penalty of sin and eternal punishment in hell, by the cleansing from sin and the renewal of our nature so that we can live lives that are truly acceptable to God. And there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved. If this means that many people will not be saved, Jesus himself said that the way to heaven is narrow and few find it, but the way to hell is broad and easy and many find it. Speaking specifically of the Jews, no Jew will be given special treatment on the Day of Judgement merely because he is a descendant of Abraham; and no Jew will be able to claim entrance into heaven based on his fulfillment of the law of Moses. All have sinned, all need forgiveness, and forgiveness is from Christ alone.

A second point that Christians should agree on is that during the Old Testament period, the Jews as a people were in a special category. As individuals they could be virtuous or wicked, wise or foolish, but God dealt with them as a nation as he dealt with no other nation - and shall we find fault with God for this? Shall we complain that he should have revealed himself to all people equally, or to none at all? Was it wrong of him to reveal something of his glory to Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others while the rest of the world languished in the darkness of sin and ignorance?

As Paul says in Romans, God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and saves whom he will save. If he wants to reveal himself to some, or all, or none, he does not have to accommodate himself to our standards. We have to accommodate ourselves to his standards - and if God wants to deal with individuals or with nations differently, he knows more than we do. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries God blessed America and England with a measure of the gospel light while large parts of the world were in complete darkness and ignorance of Christ. Most Christians do not have any problem if God's particular plan or blessings include them but omit others. If God blesses us, that is good - if he blesses the Jews we should not be so fearful of favoritism.

The third point is that while in the Old Testament period and even in the earthly life of Christ there was a sharp distinction drawn between Jews and Gentiles, it was and is God's purpose in Christ to remove the barrier separating Jews and Gentiles and bring them together in a spiritual oneness. This is explained in Ephesians. After referring to the Gentiles as formerly "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world," he goes on to say:

But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby... Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God...

This is in agreement with a passage in Galatians which says:

For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, than are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

This means that while the Jews are descended from Abraham by the flesh, Gentiles who have received the Spirit of Christ can enter into the special relationship of descent from Abraham by sharing the faith of Abraham - that is the faith in the one true God who has come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Gentile believers are now one with those Jews who also are in Christ. This is a marvelous truth that too many Christians have failed to appropriate - in Christ we are now fellow citizens with the extraordinary saints of biblical times. David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Abraham, Joseph - we are united with them as members of one family.

This oneness, incidentally, this spiritual unity in which "there is neither Jew nor Greek," does not mean that all earthly differences are obliterated, and people are reduced to a bland homogeneity in which Jews, Greeks, servants, masters, males, and females, are all identical and interchangeable. There is a wonderful diversity that is inherent in the creation and is an expression of God's majesty. No, the Jews and the Greeks still have their languages, cultures, histories, physical features, and character traits. Men and women still have their physical, emotional, and intellectual differences; Christian employers and employees still have their respective positions and tasks - but above and beyond all of these real and profound differences there is a common goal, a common hope, a common faith, and an uncommon Saviour. These commonalities bring us all closer together on a deeply spiritual level as people, even as our feet remain on the physical earth, in the various places to which God has assigned each one of us individually.

The fourth point serious Christians should agree on is that in Christ we have a better covenant than that which was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. We have, if we are in the Spirit, a fuller and a more complete revelation, a deeper and clearer insight into the mysteries of God than is found in the Old Testament. Much is written about this in the letter to the Hebrews. For example, it says that Jesus is "worthy of more glory than Moses," for "Moses truly was faithful in all his house as a servant," but Christ was faithful "as a son over his own house." Jesus is "the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." This is what Jeremiah was speaking of when he wrote "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." This new covenant is not one of laws that tell us what we must do, but of grace and a deeper experience of God. As John says, "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

What attitude, then, should Christians have toward Jews? Whichever of the two schools of thought one adheres to, whether one thinks God still has a special purpose for the Jews or not, a fifth point that all serious followers of Christ should agree on is that we are supposed to show the love of God in Christ to all men. What this means is best described in Paul's famous description of love in I Corinthians:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is our standard, and if someone wants to point to those who called themselves Christians but persecuted Jews, they should not neglect to mention the great multitudes of Christians who never harmed a Jew and would never even dream of doing so. As to those who point to the Crusades and the Inquisition as evidence of the bloodthirsty nature of Christianity, it is odd that this innate bloodthirstiness should not manifest itself until over a thousand years after the founding of the church.

We should also note Paul's attitude toward the Jews. He says in Romans, "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." They were enemies because of their hostility to the gospel, and at that time the Jewish leaders were actively persecuting the young church, but they were also beloved because of their fathers, the great spiritual leaders to whom the world under God owes so much. As the people of Moses, Abraham, and the prophets, the Jews are worthy of a certain respect, even love, whether or not they reject Christ - there is nothing here about hatred and killing.

Elsewhere Paul expresses the feeling he has in his heart for the Jews who are alienated from Christ: "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart." He goes on to say "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." Consistently with these expressions, Paul sought to share the unsearchable riches of Christ with the Jews, and when they rejected him (though many did not reject him), and even on occasion persecuted him, he did not return evil for evil, but returned good for evil as a faithful servant of Christ.

True, Paul did make a negative statement about the Jews, saying in his first letter to the Thessalonians:

For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

This seems like a clear and undeniable statement of hostility, but those who point to it as an example of Christian hostility to Jews miss the statement "for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen." As bad as the Jews were in their persecution of the church, the unbelieving Thessalonians were the same. This is because of the sin that afflicts the entire human race, not only the Jews. And how did Paul instruct the believers to respond to their persecutors? With hatred and revenge? On the contrary, he said "See that none render evil for evil unto any man," and exhorted them to "study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without," "without" meaning "outside of the faith." Moreover, while recognizing that the wrath of God is over unbelievers, Paul did not see himself as an instrument of God's wrath to punish them, but sought mightily to save them from that wrath by the preaching of the word. He saw himself as entrusted with the gospel of reconciliation. Quoting Isaiah, he says "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

In connection with this fifth point, there is a warning against Christians who boast themselves too much against the Jews. This was referred to earlier in this section, but it has been stressed so little in discussions of the Holocaust that repetition will do no harm. Comparing God's people in the world to an olive tree, with the root being God's revelation to Abraham, Moses, the prophets and the other Old Testament writers, Paul describes the Christian Gentiles as new branches that have been grafted in, and the unbelieving Jews as branches that have been broken off. Then he gives a warning:

And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not the root, but the root you. You will say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you. Behold there fore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off.

This is the clearest possible statement that Christians who despise the Jews, or even boast too much against them - let alone torture and kill them - can be broken off themselves, if they fail to continue in God's goodness.

Two views of the Jews

Having made these preliminary remarks, it is now possible to discuss more closely the idea that God is finished with the Jews and no longer has a special purpose for them. This view is I believe mistaken, but it is possible for a sincere Christian to hold it - recognizing that even if God no longer has a special purpose for the Jews, they are still to be treated like everyone else, according to the teachings of Christ.

More to the point, it is believed by some that the church (not the buildings or the outward organization, but the true followers of Christ) is now the real Israel, the spiritual Israel. This is based on a passage in Romans. There Paul says that Jews who are Jews outwardly, in their physical bodies, are not really Jews inwardly, if they break God's law - while those who worship God in truth and believe in him in their hearts and spirits are the true Jews. They are Jews inwardly and spiritually, if not physically. Since it is clearly explained in Romans that love and faith and obedience to God from the heart are possible only with the forgiveness of sins and the living relationship with God that comes through faith in Christ, what this means is that the true followers of Christ are the real descendants of Abraham, while Jews who reject Christ are only Jews according to outward appearance.

This is very biblical, but like other biblical truths it can be taken beyond what was originally intended. Can it be taken so far as to mean that all of the Old Testament prophecies pertaining to Israel refer to the church, and have no application to physical Israel at all? Many would say that this is the case, and their belief is strengthened by the fact that many Old Testament narratives and prophecies do have a spiritual dimension, in addition to the literal and factual one. For example, God delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and brought them into the Promised Land. This is a literal historical fact, but it also has a spiritual dimension that can be applied metaphorically to Christians. We were in bondage to sin, but have been delivered from that bondage through faith in Christ. We are being led by God through the wilderness of this world, until we cross the river of Jordan (meaning death) and enter into the Promised Land (meaning heaven).

To take another example, David's defeat of Goliath is a literal fact, but it can also be taken metaphorically to mean that we too can have victory over seemingly insurmountable problems and adverse circumstances if we have enough faith in God and act on that faith.

To take one more example, the prophecy that the Jews will be regathered into their homeland from the various places where they have been scattered can also be spiritualized to refer to God's gathering together his elect, the followers of Christ, and bringing them into the kingdom of God from all over the world. And, if Jerusalem is referred to in the prophecies, might not this refer to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, seen by John descending from heaven?

Such interpretations are reasonable and edifying, but the first two examples had a literal truth preceding the spiritual application. Is the third example only spiritual, with no literal application? Some would say that it is only spiritual. My view is that this is spiritualizing things too much, but this is a topic of great subtlety and it is difficult to find a suitable starting point.

Perhaps the problem can be approached in this way: agreed, that true Christians are the spiritual Israel and the unbelieving Jews are Israel physically but not spiritually; agreed, that the prophecies and events of the Old Testament were written for our example and for our benefit and apply to us in many ways - does it follow from this that God no longer has a special purpose for the physical nation of Israel? It does not.

In answering this it will first be necessary to examine some passages referring to God's purpose in the falling away of the Jews. Then it will be asserted that even though the Jews as a nation have rejected Christ, there is yet a place for them in God's plan for human history culminating in the end of the ages and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ with great power and glory.

About the Jewish rejection of Christianity, there are some verses in Romans which state that this falling away was in some way necessary. To begin with, it states that God himself has kept them from believing in Christ (which does not mean creating unbelief in those who would have believed otherwise, but rather leaving them in their innate inclination to unbelief, common to all men as a result of original sin). Here are some relevant verses from Romans:

Israel has not obtained that which he seeks for; but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

This is confirmed in the second letter to the Corinthians:

But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

Scripture also says that God has a purpose in this: "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy." Elsewhere it says "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." Notice that this blindness is "in part," referring to those Jews who will be permitted to believe in Christ (an argument against persecution). And when the fulness of the Gentiles has come, the vail will be taken away - and when this happens it will not be an occasion for jealousy, resentment, and faultfinding on the part of the Gentiles, because they disapprove of God giving the Jews the same gift of salvation through faith in Christ that we have received. Rather, it will be a cause for rejoicing, "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?"

All of this is about physical Israel, the nation of the Jews, falling so that salvation might come to the Gentiles. But why should the falling and the blindness of the Jews benefit the Gentiles? The bible does not spell this out, but I think the explanation is this: we are because of our sinful natures so innately prone to vanity, that if the Jews from the beginning had constantly adhered as a people to Christ, there would have been an irresistible temptation on their part to think of themselves as being spiritually superior to the Gentile believers. Conversely, it would have been impossible for the Gentile believers to avoid the deepest feelings of inadequacy and inferiority before the spiritually elite Jews, the chosen people. Thus, the grace of God would have been hindered, and the oneness of Gentile and Jew in Christ would have been rendered an impossibility.

Since, however, the great majority of Jews have rejected Christ, it is possible for the Gentiles to more fully appropriate the fulness of their inheritance in Christ. And, when "the fulness of the Gentiles is come in," and God removes the vail from the hearts of the Jews as a nation (probably a great majority of them but not necessarily 100%), then the Gentile believers will know that this is solely because of God's grace and not because of the superiority of the Jews. And, the Jews will look at the centuries in which the church survived without them ("salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them unto jealousy"), and they will realize that they too are beneficiaries of God's grace, and in essence no better than anyone else. Then the verse will be fulfilled which says, "And so all Israel shall be saved" - the physical Jews, as many of them as have individually come to saving faith in Christ, and the believing Gentiles, who are Jews spiritually if not physically, as many of them as have individually come to saving faith in Christ. As it says in Galatians, "And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

I think that one reason some Christians object to God restoring the Jews as a nation to faith in Christ is that they fear favoritism. But, they should rejoice in the salvation of the Jews, which will enrich us all. If God were to work a mighty revival in some other nation, say Japan or India or France, and bring many heathen and pagan Japanese or Indians or Frenchmen into the kingdom of God, would we not be glad? How much more then should we be glad if God brings the Jews to a recognition of Christ?

But what of all the Jews who passed away over the centuries without Christ? Jesus taught that the way to heaven is narrow and few find it, while the way to hell is broad and easy and many go in by it. If God has ordained a plan in which, out of the whole lost human race (in which there is none righteous, no not one) he saves some, we can only say with Paul: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counseller?" There is another appropriate verse, also in Romans, but which is paralleled in Exodus: God says "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

In summary, I believe scripture clearly teaches that God will at some point bring the Jews as a nation - yet on an individual basis - to faith in Christ. This is clearly referred to in the previously mentioned passage about the olive tree. Speaking of the Jews, the natural branches that were broken off because of unbelief, the bible says, referring to the Jews:

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

When the natural branches that were broken off are grafted in, some theologians may complain that God is showing favoritism toward the Jews, and that this is a mistake and unfair on God's part because according to their reasoning he is now supposed to be finished with the Jews; but scripture teaches that "if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?"

The Diaspora

All of this may seem very remote from the Final Solution, but there is a connection. We see that according to the bible God has not cast away the Jews: "Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people which he foreknew." God has a purpose for them still, meaning that Hitler was from the outset doomed to fail in his insane and evil dream of exterminating the Jews. Moreover, God's plan for the Jews includes the Diaspora. And what do the writings of the Old Testament itself say about this? Is it a coincidence that no other ethnic group in the history of the human race has ever suffered such a single explosion of hatred as the group chosen by God to shed his light into the world?

Hitler, was I believe, (in the context of biblical principles clarified at the outset) God's wrath on Europe. And for wrath, God only has to remove his restraining hand and allow Satan to work (though he may of course punish directly). The greater part of Europe suffered in the war - but it was the chosen people of God who were also chosen for destruction by Hitler - and where was God?

Some people prefer to exclude this whole dimension from the outset. It falls outside of the parameters of their safe and comfortable hermeneutical-philosophical-phenomenological-sociological human wisdom. It is not on their radar screen, and hence cannot be even considered - but, we cannot understand the holocaust merely by reading accounts of what happened over and over again. There must be some analysis of cause, and that leads us into the spiritual realm - unless all of life is pointless material flux. In this case, the Holocaust can have no meaning, nor can anything else in life, including attempts to understand the Holocaust, have meaning. It is all a question of belief, the foundation of our presuppositions - and what scientific evidence to the materialists have for their belief? None.

To return to the subject, however, we need to look more closely at the concept of God's wrath. This has already been discussed in general, but what relevance does it have to the Jews specifically? This question has two aspects - God's wrath in the destruction of Israel by the Romans and the dispersion of the Jews, and his wrath over the centuries that followed. This subject will of course be disagreeable to some, but what does Moses say about the subject?

In the last book of the Torah, Moses writes under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit about God's blessings and wrath on Israel - and God revealed enough of himself to guide Moses' writing, but not so much as to destroy Moses by the full glory of his presence. This shows that while God is one, he can still manifest a certain portion or degree of himself (if I may use human words such as "portion" or "degree"). This aspect of God that guided Moses in his writing was of course divine, but less than the full presence of the Godhead.

Shortly before the Jews end their wandering in the wilderness (also God's punishment on them for their wickedness) and enter into the promised land of Israel, there is a long passage describing God's blessings on the Jews - if they are faithful to him. "And it shall come to pass, if you will hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth." This is followed by a long description of blessings: prosperity, fruitfulness, victory over their enemies - these are the results of obedience. Parenthetically, this refers to obedience to the commandments which Moses gave them "on that day" - this is a much shorter list of commandments than are contained in all of Torah. Perhaps someone who knows Torah better than I do could elaborate on this. Does it mean that the required obedience does not necessarily include all of the detailed ceremonial laws?

If, however, the Jews fail to be faithful to God, then an increasingly severe list of punishments follows. First, curses and punishments will come upon them in the land of Israel: disease, drought, defeat in war, a lack of prosperity and other curses will come upon them if they do not hearken to the voice of the Lord and if, after repeated punishments, they continue in their wicked way.

If all of this does not suffice to bring the Jews back to a right relationship with their God, then the passage goes on to say that God will bring a cruel enemy against them, to destroy the land and besiege them. Then, if the Jews still do not hearken, God will cast them out of the land.

And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you are going to possess it. And the Lord will scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have none assurance of your life...

Other verses also refer to God scattering the Jews abroad in his anger. God says in the book of Ezekiel, referring now to his mercy, "Although I have cast them far off among 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 they shall come." Here are some other verses from the prophets pertaining to God's wrath on the Jews:

I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in my great wrath... Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken to them. And I will pour out mine indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. You shall be fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it. Why do you cry for your affliction? your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of your iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things unto you.

In Ezekiel God also says that he will leave a few survivors "from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence" - and were not disease, hunger, and violence (using "sword" metaphorically) the main causes of death in the Holocaust? Is it conceivable that the Holocaust was God's wrath on the Jews, whom he delivered into the hands of men brutish, and skilful to destroy? God says in Jeremiah "I proclaim a liberty for you, says the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine." It has already been said that God does not do evil - but if he removes his protecting hand, and delivers the objects of his anger to evil men, that is biblical.

If God in his anger cast the Jews out of the land which he gave them, and scattered them abroad, and abandoned them to their enemies, while at the same time not allowing them to be permanently destroyed, this would be wholly consistent with scripture. True, the verses of Jeremiah apply to the Babylonians, and to the fall of Jerusalem - but has God's character changed since that time? Is it not the same God who reigns now just as surely as he did in bible times? How well do these verses from Lamentations apply to the Holocaust?

How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: he has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground: he has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about... The Lord has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he has thrown down, and has not pitied: and he has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, he has set up the horn of your adversaries... The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have killed, and not pitied.

Jeremiah attributes these disasters to the sins of the Jews: "The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned." It is also significant that Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of Babylon as punishment for its evil. God delivered the Jews into the hands of the Babylonians, as Daniel said to Belshazzar: "O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor." Then, God brought down the Babylonians: "Thus says the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken...." There is another passage concerning this in Jeremiah: "...all they that devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil you shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey." And did not all of the enemies of the Jews in the holocaust go into captivity - some to the Russians, and some to the British, French and Americans? Admittedly, the occupation of West Germany was mild, but it was captivity nonetheless.

The return to the land

Prophecies of God's anger are often accompanied by prophecies of his mercy, forgiveness, and restoration. As we have looked at some prophecies concerning his anger, we need to discuss the mercy and redemption that is also prophesied.

One could go on and on about biblical prophecies, and many books have been written on the subject. I know that there are different interpretations - but whatever one thinks about this or that prophecy, the fact remains that the Jews were cast out of the land, scattered abroad, and given over at certain times to great affliction and suffering, and now they have returned to their biblical homeland. Did God have nothing to do with this? The Jews were given the land, cast out of it, now they have come back to the land, all of which is referred to in the bible, and God had nothing to do with this?

There are many prophecies that after God has cast the Jews out of the land in his anger he will in the end have mercy on them and bring them back to it. These are so well known by students of the subject that there is no need to list them at length. One of them is in Ezekiel: "I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." Another verse, which refers to the permanence of their return, showing that it does not refer to the return after the destruction of the first temple by the Babylonians, is in Jeremiah: "I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up."

There are those who feel that these prophecies do not apply to modern Israel - then they must say that the return of the Jews is a purely secular phenomenon of no religious significance. To go around and around in circles on this would accomplish nothing and would be going too far from the subject. It does seem obvious, though, that such people do not believe God really controls what happens in the world today. I once had a debate with a Christian on this very point. He had a real knowledge of scriptures, and was able to argue very intelligently that the prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to the land did not refer to modern Israel. Trying to put my finger on the root of the disagreement between us, I asked him if he believed that God determined the outcomes of the two World Wars. He said that was a difficult question, and he did not know the answer.

Here is a Christian who doesn't even know if God controls the major events of the world or not. Of course, it would be absurd to imagine that God governed the affairs of only the Jews, preserving them and bringing them back to the land while the rest of the world was left to run on its own, as if God cared only about the Jews. If, however, God reigns over the entire world, as it says in the Psalms - "The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom rules over all" - then it would be absurd to say that something so often mentioned in scripture would be beyond his providence. If God regulates, directly or indirectly, the broad outline of human history and leads it to a certain predetermined end, this does not reduce us to thoughtless puppets. Rather it adds an extraordinary new dimension to the human experience and exalts us and our purpose. It gives us more meaning rather than less - but some are determined to worship only a Sunday school comic book God who does nice things and brings us to heaven but does not reign. This is not the God of scripture.

Part of the meaning and the significance of the Holocaust was the rebirth of Israel, and for those who are determined to think that the revival of political Israel has nothing to do with biblical prophecy, countless books of arguments about prophecy would not suffice. When they object to the military nature of the state of Israel, they forget that biblical Israel was one of the great military powers of its day. When they object to the fact that the state of Israel is full of unbelief, they do not want to consider that first the dry bones will be reassembled, and after the process is complete life will be breathed into them, according to the vision of Ezekiel. They apply this to the church, but then are left with major historical events with which God had nothing to do - perhaps they think that in 1948 and 1967 God was on vacation, or aloof and indifferent, like Aristotle's unmoved mover. Or maybe they believe God was so busy saving schools and blessing Sunday school recruitment drives that he had no time for the Middle East. Some people do not see God's hand in current events because they lack faith.

Others object to the suffering of the Palestinian Christians, but they do not consider that none of the current problems existed before the current intifada, before the Palestinian leadership led by Yassir Arafat began its campaign to terrorize Israel out of existence. Prior to that, the Palestinians were much better off. Those who are concerned for the plight of the Palestinian Christians also do not consider that many or most of said Palestinians have not taken a biblical or Christlike approach to the current situation. Many of the statements emanating from Palestinian Christians (all of them that I have seen) say nothing about eternal life through the blood of Christ, about the consolations of the Spirit, about the hope of eternal life, about living peaceful lives and cooperating with the authorities whole heartedly, as Jesus advised the Jews to do under foreign occupation. Did Jesus advise the Jews to start an intifada, fight for their "rights", and kill as many Romans as possible?

The Spirit of Christ is conspicuously absent from many of the complaints of these Christians, who always blame the Israelis for their troubles but not themselves or their own leadership. If there are some Palestinians who do have a more biblical approach, who would sincerely like to live in peace with the Jews, and who understand that things would be much better if they would accept the Jewish return instead of trying to fight against it - such Palestinians have to keep quiet or they will be murdered.

Palestinian Christians should from the very beginning have welcomed the return of the Jews. They should have rejoiced that God was bringing the Jews back to the land in fulfillment of prophecy, and extended a sincere hand of friendship and cooperated with the Jews 100%. Had they done this, they would today be living as equal partners in the land with full rights and responsibilities. But, they tried to fight for what was not theirs to begin with. They tried to fight against God, and in so doing have brought all of their sufferings upon themselves. And how did the Arabs themselves get the land? They seized it by force - does that make it their eternal homeland? Then Spain is their eternal homeland as well - it was seized in the same way and about the same time. The Spanish threw them out, but there were no left-wing news and movie magazines or United Nations to cry about it back then, and the Spaniards behaved with a lack of restraint that would provoke a blizzard of newspaper editorials and UN resolutions if it were employed by the Jews today.

The Arabs tried to fight to keep what was not theirs to begin with, and as a result forfeited the opportunity to take part in the blessings which God has given to Israel - and, yes, God does give prosperity to the nations, or takes it away. This applies to the whole world, not just Israel, so Christians do not have to feel jealous if God gives good things to Israel, as he has (though differently to be sure) given them to America.

It may seem that we have strayed rather far from the subject of the Holocaust, but it all has to do with God's purpose for the Jews subsequent to the resurrection of Christ. All of these things have not occurred without God. He was not absent or impotent, or occupied solely with saving souls and blessing Christians in the first half of our cruel and evil century.

Also, as was pointed out before, Paul in his letter to the Romans was writing after the resurrection, and after the granting of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, yet still he wrote that the Jews would be blessed above others if they did good, and punished above others if they did evil. This puts the Jews in a special and unique category, even though some Christians object. I think some of them at least object because they do not understand the full equality that they have in Christ, so they feel threatened and insecure instead of rejoicing that God is still at work with the people of Israel. God has preserved the Jews, and brought them back to their homeland, and Christians should find their faith strengthened to see God at work. As to the suffering of the Palestinian Christians, when the Palestinians sincerely accept Israel and are willing to live with it, then there will be peace. They have brought their misery on themselves by trying to fight against God.

As to prophecies about the end of the world, it is not necessary to examine them here. Jesus will return, and reign, and in some way the return of the Jews to the land of Israel is a part of the biblical end-time scenario - and the Holocaust was in some way a part of this return. Not only did it greatly facilitate the establishment of Israel in 1948, but it also showed the Jews that Europe was not their home - and this has profound implications for the rest of the Diaspora as well. The Jews in America are doing well, but so were the Jews in Germany in 1913 doing well. What unexpected disasters might befall America and transform it from a haven of democracy and prosperity into something else?

If it had not been for the Second World War, how many Jews would have been content to stay for thousands of years in Europe, always saying "Next year in Jerusalem" but never meaning a word of it? So many Jews preferred Germany and Poland and Lithuania to the land of their biblical forefathers - but disaster from Satan destroyed their substitute European homeland. Even after the Holocaust, some Jews tried to return to Poland. What wondrous blindness and hardness of heart was that. Yet, further killing even after the war drove them out, and quenched their tender affection for their Polish homeland. Parenthetically, did Jews who returned to Denmark, Norway, or Holland after the war experience continued persecution and killing? Maybe the problem was not with Christianity, but with Poland, or with the nature of Christianity that was dominant in Poland. People can study Poland and conclude that Christianity fostered Jew-hatred, but it would be better for them if they studied western countries, if they analyzed all of the Holocaust and not part of it, and drew less simplistic conclusions.

Summary

In the bible we see the Jews, a people separate among the nations of the world, chosen by God to shed his light into the world, and greatly used of him, not because of their moral superiority, but in spite of their stubborn sinfulness, according to the purposes of his own will. With the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the Jews as a nation have remained in unbelief, so that (according to my understanding - this is not expressly stated in scripture) the Gentiles might more fully appropriate the blessings of Christ. The Jews have also suffered from the anger of God, but he has not cast away the Jewish people, and is preparing them for a restoration to grace through faith in Christ.

If all of this is true, the Holocaust does not call into question the existence or the justice of God. Terrible and dark as the Shoah was, it fits within the overall concept of God's regulation of human affairs as provided by scripture. And, on the final day of judgement, full and divine justice will be served on every individual that did not find the forgiveness and grace of God. All of the Nazis and their helpers, from Hitler and Himmler down to the lowest soldier and guard will have to stand before the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. All of their acts have been recorded to the last detail, even down to the words of their mouths and the thoughts of their hearts, and on the Day of Judgement we will see the final fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: "Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter."

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