THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

FOREWORD
"NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES" (Tit. 1:14).
Jewish fables (literally, myths') are no new thing.
Paul has plainly warned the household of faith not to
give heed thereto. He has not given us a list of those
grievous heresies; but it is well known that the one
that was most fondly cherished, and that constituted
the gravest menace to the truth of the gospel, was the
notion that the leading purpose of the mission of the
coming Messiah would be the reconstitution of the
Jewish nation and its elevation to the highest pinnacle
of earthly dominion and glory; for that fatuous doctrine
was the cornerstone of orthodox Judaism in
Paul's day; and because of his sturdy opposition to it
he was persecuted, his enemies plotted to take his life,
and he was sent a prisoner to Rome. No wonder that,
during the term of his imprisonment there, he wrote
to Titus his plain-spoken warning against "Jewish
fables."
Such being the case, we question if there be anything
in all the long history of Christianity that is
more difficult to account for than the fact that that particular
fable, concerning the purpose of Christ's mission
to the Jewish people, has become the central feature
of a system of doctrine which, in this 20th century
of our era, has found numerous and zealous advocates
amongst orthodox Christians. In viewjpf this extraordinary
phenomenon, it surely behooves those who take
the Holy Scriptures for their guide and instructor in
all matters of faith and doctrine, to search them with
the utmost care "whether these things be so." This