Manuscript Releases, vol. 7 [Nos. 419-525]

MR No. 499—Christ and the Jewish Economy

The formation of the Christian church, and the union of all that it embraces, and preserving the consecration of all its powers as the appointed agencies of God, for the spiritual recovery of the moral image of God in man, was the object of Christ assuming human nature. Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, which was the symbol prescribed in type for the religious faith and obedience of all people.—Manuscript 130, 1901, 3. (Untitled, November 27, 1901.) 7MR 333.1

Through human instrumentalities he [Satan] has cast contempt upon the Sabbath of Jehovah and has stigmatized it as “the old Jewish sabbath.” Thousands have thoughtlessly echoed this reproach, as though it were something to which was attached great weight of argument; but they have lost sight of the fact that the Jewish people were especially chosen of God as the guardians of His truth, the keepers of His law, the depositaries of His sacred oracles. They received the lively oracles to give unto us. The Old and New Testaments both came through the Jews to us. Every promise in the Bible, every ray of light which has shone upon us from the Word of God, has come through the Jewish nation.—Manuscript 91, 1894, 3, 4. (“A Perpetual Memorial,” 1894.) 7MR 333.2

The time of Daniel's work, as a chosen vessel of honor for God, was six hundred years before Christ. In this book we find many miracles, and marked, positive evidences that the Lord God of heaven ruled. The Jewish nation were in captivity, scattered as the Lord declared they would be if they did not as His peculiar people honor and glorify God. They departed from God; they did not fear and honor His holy name, and the temple in which they gloried was destroyed. Their sacred rites, their sacrifices and ceremonies, ceased. The sacred order of the Levitical priesthood was no longer maintained. Their form of religious service, which the Lord had given them as a blessing whereby they might have a pure and understanding faith, and, through the sacrificial offerings, see Christ as the one who would take away the sin of the world, became a ceremonious transaction. The outward ceremonies took the place of the inward work of the heart. The splendid dress of the priests covered hearts that were not renewed by the spirit of the Lord. The outward signs of their religious service were broken up, and the word of the Lord was fulfilled.—Manuscript 122, 1897, 1. (“Daniel,” March 10, 1897.) 7MR 333.3

Had the Jewish nation received the Teacher sent from God, they would have given up the traditions and maxims handed down from rabbi to rabbi, and accumulating from age to age as other, non-essential theories were invented. But instead of advancing from light to greater light, they took the wrong way. By sinful indulgence they expelled from the heart the love of God, the love of the principles of His holy law. The love of the world filled their hearts, prompting them to disobey. If they had hidden the law of God in their hearts, if they had given due respect to the sacred principles of this law, it would have exerted a corrective influence on the entire life, and would have remodeled their selfish, avaricious dispositions, after the character of God.—Manuscript 125, 1901, 4. (“The Unchangeable Law of God,” December 9, 1901.) 7MR 334.1