I was born in Palestine nearly seventy years ago. As a child I was taught to read the law, the Psalms and the prophets. I early attended the synagogue and learned Hebrew from the rabbis. At first I believed what I was told, that ours was the true and only religion. As I grew older and studied the law more intently, I was struck by the place the blood had in all the ceremonies outlined there and equally struck by its utter absence in the ritual under which I was brought up.
Again and again I read Exodus 12 and Leviticus 16-17. The latter chapters especially made me tremble as I thought of the great Day of Atonement and the place the blood had there. Day and night one verse would ring in my ears: “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)). I knew I had broken the law. I knew I needed atonement. Year after year, on that day, I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it, but it was to be made by blood, and there was no blood!
In my distress I opened my heart at last to a learned and venerable rabbi. He told me that God was angry with His people. Jerusalem was in the hands of the Gentiles, the temple was destroyed, and a Mohammedan mosque was reared up in its place. The only spot on earth where we dare shed the blood of sacrifice was desecrated and our nation scattered. That was why there was no blood. God had Himself closed the way to carry out the solemn service of the great Day of Atonement. Now we must turn to the Talmud, and rest on its instructions and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers.
I tried to be satisfied but could not. Something seemed to say that the law was unaltered, even though our temple was destroyed. Nothing else but blood could atone for the soul. We dared not shed blood for atonement elsewhere than in the place the Lord had chosen. Then were we left with no atonement at all? This thought filled me with horror. In my distress I consulted many other rabbis. I had but one question: Where could I find the atonement?
I was over thirty years old when I left Palestine with my still-unanswered question always before my mind and my soul exceedingly troubled about my sins.
One night I was walking down a narrow street when I saw a sign telling of a meeting for Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. Just as I took a seat, I heard a man say, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7)).
It was my first introduction to Christianity. I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that “without shedding of blood is no remission” but that He had given His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, to die, and all who trusted in His blood were forgiven all their iniquities.
This was the Messiah of Isaiah 53; this was the Sufferer of Psalm 22! Ah! I had found out the blood of atonement at last. I trusted it, and now I love to read the New Testament and see how all the shadows of the law are fulfilled in Jesus. His blood has been shed for sinners. It has satisfied God, and it is the only means of salvation for either Jew or Gentile.
“The blood of Jesus Christ
His [God’s] Son cleanseth us
from all sin.”