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S P I R I T O F P R O P H E C YBy Ellen G. Whiteto theAnd Also to the GreekAt the time when Jerusalem was destroyed and theTemple laid in ruins, many thousands of the Jewswere sold to serve as bondmen in heathen lands.Like wrecks on a desert shore, they were scattered amongthe nations. . . . Maligned, hated, persecuted, from centuryto century theirs has been a heritage of suffering.Notwithstanding the awful doom pronounced upon theJews as a nation at the time of their rejection of Jesus ofNazareth, there have lived from age to age many noble,God-fearing Jewish men and women who have suffered insilence. God has comforted their hearts in affliction, andhas beheld with pity their terrible situation. He has heardthe agonizing prayers of those who have sought Him withall the heart for a right understanding of His word. Somehave learned to see in the lowly Nazarene . . . the true Messiahof Israel. As their minds have grasped the significanceof the familiar prophecies so long obscured by traditionand misinterpretation, their hearts have been filled withgratitude to God for the unspeakable gift He bestows uponevery human being who chooses to accept Christ as a personalSaviour. . . .From Paul’s day to the present time, God by His HolySpirit has been calling after the Jew as well as the Gentile.“There is no respect of persons with God” (Rom. 2:11),declared Paul. . . .“The gospel,” he declared, “is the power of God untosalvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, andalso to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of Godrevealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shalllive by faith” (Rom. 1:16, 17). It is of this gospel of Christ,equally efficacious for Jew and Gentile, that Paul in hisepistle to the Romans declared he was not ashamed.When this gospel shall be presented in its fullness to theJews, many will accept Christ as the Messiah. AmongChristian ministers there are only a few who feel calledupon to labor for the Jewish people; but to those who havebeen often passed by, as well as to all others, the message ofmercy and hope in Christ is to come.In the closing proclamation of the gospel, when specialwork is to be done for classes of people hitherto neglected,God expects His messengers to take particular interest inthe Jewish people whom they find in all parts of the earth.As the Old Testament Scriptures are blended with the Newin an explanation of Jehovah’s eternal purpose, this will beto many of the Jews as the dawn of a new creation, the resurrectionof the soul. As they see the Christ of the gospeldispensation portrayed in the pages of the Old TestamentScriptures, and perceive how clearly the New Testamentexplains the Old, their slumbering faculties will be aroused,and they will recognize Christ as the Savior of the world.Many will by faith receive Him as their Redeemer. . . .Among the Jews are some who, like Saul of Tarsus, aremighty in the Scriptures, and these will proclaim withwonderful power the immutability of the law of God. TheGod of Israel will bring this to pass in our day. His arm isnot shortened that it cannot save. As His servants labor infaith for those who have long been neglected and despised,His salvation will be revealed.“Thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerningthe house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now beashamed. . . . But when he seeth his children, the work ofMine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify Myname, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fearthe God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall cometo understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine”(Isa. 29:22-24). ■This article is a selection taken from Gospel Workers (pp. 397-399), by Ellen G. White. Seventh-day Adventists believe that EllenG. White (1827-1915) exercised the biblical gift of prophecy duringmore than 70 years of public ministry.November 2012 | Adventist World 25