Our High Calling
A schoolteacher of Anglo-Saxon background recently telephoned the editor of this magazine and as a way of authenticating her credentials, she began by declaring that she holds a university degree in religious studies. Then, with almost a haughtiness, she proudly confirmed she is an atheist and that not only does she disbelieve the Israel message, but even it were true, it doesn’t mean anything. As the conversation lengthened, I realized I was talking to the Liberal of all liberals, who, for all her causes, could only berate Christianity and the Israel Truth, without any foundation whatsoever for her position. I thought how typical she is of so many today who grow up in a Christian environment but fall prey to modernistic teaching, i.e., they develop their opinions through the words of others rather than through study of the Word. Still, like most atheistic people, she kind of hedged her bets with the old “I’m a good person” defence, meaning, of course, that if by any chance she is mistaken, then God has no other choice but to make exception to His requirement of a relationship with Jesus and permit her into the Kingdom anyway.
After the conversation, I got to thinking about our calling as True Israel nations and as individual Israelites. And the frustration we experience by not being able to convince brethren of their identity and responsibility. I know our task is to simply sow the seeds that will sprout at God’s direction, but I suppose like all gardeners, we can’t wait to see seeds take hold and flourish. Yet, we realize there is order to God’s Plan and it can only unfold as He planned. Ironically, the day after my conversation with the schoolteacher, two dates were brought to my attention while researching on another topic, these being the years 1558, when the “Golden Years” of Anglo-Saxondom began with England’s greatest monarch, Elizabeth I, and 1588 when God so obviously intervened in the greatest military victory of Britain’s history, the Spanish Armada. The author utilized the prophetic “time” or 360 years, which, when added to both these dates brings forth important terminals in God’s Plan, a 1918 date which signaled the beginning of the end times and 1948 signaling the fulfillment of the parable of the fig tree. Without knowledge of the Israel message, most Bible interpreters would not give these dates the significance they deserve but all pretty well agree that the return of Christ is in the very near future. Consequently, we who at least are aware of the Israel Truth must keep to our purpose of being God’s gardeners. We can only wonder what that purpose must entail.
Certainly God acts in astonishing ways. As I pondered this purpose, less than five minutes later I opened an old issue of The National Message and under the title, “Our High Calling,” R. Llewelyn Williams, in an address to a British-Israel-World Federation meeting, said this about the responsibilities of the Israel Nations and, as it follows, our brethren.
“SIMPLE as it is, the Federation’s message is no ordinary message; nor can it be lightly disregarded, because it has behind it all the authority of the Bible, which is the written Word of God. It is indeed the message of God Himself to that nation of which He said, ‘This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise. Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth’ (Isa. 43: 21; 49: 3, 6).
Israel was created by God to spread abroad the knowledge of His intense desire for the material and spiritual welfare of all His great human family; and she was to do this in very large measure by demonstrating the life-giving properties of His holy laws to all the families of the earth.
This was the mission for which she was developed, trained and equipped; this was the mission which she trampled underfoot; and this was the mission for which she was redeemed upon the Cross of Calvary.
If the British Commonwealth of Nations is the company of nations which was promised to Abraham, as we believe it is; if all the identifications of the true Israel are to be found in the British Empire, in the United States of America, and in certain kindred nations, as we believe they are, then we are a redeemed people. We have been ransomed for a noble purpose, and a high calling, as the servant nation of our Redeemer. We have been recommissioned for His service by the Risen, Ascended, Living Son of God under the terms of our ancient charter, ‘Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God’ (Isa. 43: 12).
As individuals, all true believers do bear witness to Almighty God by their worship, by their faith, and by their lives. But God demands more than this from the nation and company of nations which He has created and set apart for His special service. Their witness must be manifested to the world on the national plane.
The whole nation, and not merely some individuals within it, must proclaim the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of the whole world from all the miseries and sufferings which it has brought upon itself by its arrogant assumption of human self-sufficiency.
Before they can make their witness a dynamic spiritual force, the nations of modern Israel must be roused to a sense of the tremendous responsibility which has been laid upon them by Divine Charter; they must undergo a complete change of heart; they must return to God in true penitence, by faith in the Lord Jesus; and they must order all their affairs in accordance with His will.
Only so can the true Israel of God hope to lead the world out of the terrible danger of wholesale destruction in which it stands today. Only so can she hope to enjoy the blessings of peace, prosperity and happiness. Only so can she make ready a royal highway for the promised return of the Everlasting King of Righteousness and Prince of Peace.”
