ZECHARIAH 8

19 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

All who possess an intelligent belief in the Bible, look forward in full assurance of hope to that happy period, when Israel shall be gathered from the four corners of the earth, and restored to the land of their forefathers, and the favour of God. The days of their mourning shall then be ended, and their fasts, now observed on account of the misfortunes of their nation, shall be turned into joy and gladness.

At that time, the prophet goes on to tell us, Jerusalem shall be the metropolis of the world, the common centre to which all nations of the earth shall flow "to seek Yahweh of armies, and to pray before him."

Intelligent believers, though not the so-called "Christians" generally, believe this as fully and long for the happy accomplishment of it as ardently, as the Jews. It would give us unspeakable pleasure to behold the Jews on that height of moral dignity and glory for which God destined them, from the first hour that he chose their father Abraham to be his friend.

We desire the arrival of this happy period, for the sake of the Jews themselves; but surely no Jew will be offended with us, if we say that we desire it also for our own sakes, and the sake of all the families of men.

We should wish to see Divine truth triumphant, sin and misery banished, and brotherly love universal; but we see all these things connected with the restoration of Israel, and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth, and therefore we join with all our heart in the most ardent aspirations of the Jewish people, and say "Amen!" to every prayer that God

"would remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that he would also remember the land."

The Christadelphian, Sept 1888