By Ernst Loewy
"Far better to be blind than deaf!” This was the considered opinion of a dear friend of mine who is hard of hearing. “After all,” he continued, “those to whom sight is denied keep in close touch with the world around them through an intensified sense of hearing. They are able to enjoy music and they can converse with others, whereas we are shut up to ourselves and cannot really communicate. If only we could hear!”
Yet many who have been endowed with the faculty of hearing do not exercise it to receive God’s communication to us. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord,” was the cry of Jeremiah of old. “O that thou hadst hearkened” was the lament of Isaiah to an even earlier generation. Again and again the Bible draws our attention to the importance of listening carefully, “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Any organ of our body which we do not use will atrophy, and it is a solemn fact that if we turn a deaf ear to God, our ear will turn deaf. The following paragraphs will illustrate how God’s promise was fulfilled in the life of the writer: “Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear and your soul shall live!” (Isaiah 55:3).
Earliest Days
Born into a Jewish home in Berlin, Germany, I am able to look back on a very happy childhood.
Born into a Jewish home
in Berlin, Germany...
in Berlin, Germany...
Another event stands out from my childhood days, namely: An open Air Meeting held by the Salvation Army on a certain Sunday afternoon in one of the open squares of Berlin. Our family had gone for a walk and as we passed by, the service was in full swing. I cannot remember anything about the message given, for none of us was interested enough to stay and listen, but the last line of a chorus which they sang impressed itself indelibly upon my mind. “Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?” Strictly speaking, these words did not convey anything to me, but the challenge they presented could not be evaded. God did not allow me to forget them, but from time to time, they would be on my lips and in my heart, “Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?” What about it?
Adolescence
Years passed, pleasant, carefree years, yet all the time the storm clouds were gathering. The hydra-headed monster of anti-Semitism was stalking through the land, gaining followers everywhere and eventually unleashing in January, 1933, a wave of persecution which grew in intensity, reaching dimensions hitherto unparalleled in the history of mankind. It did not leave our immediate family unscathed either, although God in His goodness preserved us from irreparable loss.
The inauguration of the “Third Reich” influenced the life of every Jew within its reach and, though only a teenager at the time, I was no exception. My High School education was cut short and, having always been interested in electromechanics, I was apprenticed to become a tradesman. About this time my real soul struggle began.
A legion of questions occupied my mind. Why this sudden outbreak of fury? Why should so many innocent people suffer? Why did God allow all this? Why did He not intervene? why? Why? WHY? The religious instruction received at High School could not supply the answer to any of these and many other queries. Not in any way bigoted, my parents had allowed me to learn the Old and New Testaments at school, but the prevailing rational approach to the Bible had robbed us of reverence for it, leaving one rather with a greater void in one’s heart. Consequently I turned to the one and only path open before me, the synagogue. I began to study Hebrew, knowing that it would help me to enter more deeply into the services and thinking that it would be a good preparation for going to Erets Israel when that way would open up.
However, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Our family decided to emigrate to South Africa and although left at liberty to stay behind to pursue my plans regarding what was then Palestine, I came to the conclusion that it would be best to leave the circle unbroken and set out with my parents for “Africa’s golden shore.”
A New Beginning
Busy months followed during which every one of us had to shoulder his part of the responsibility of making a new home,
So far I had not succeeded in
my search for truth and for God.
my search for truth and for God.
Following their advice I took part in the pleasures of the world, not heeding the solemn warning of the prophet Jeremiah. “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” For a time there seemed to be real enjoyment in this mad rush, but not for long. The pomp and dazzle of the world can only intoxicate for a little while; when seen in their true light they are, according to the words of the Psalmist, “altogether lighter than vanity.”
Crisis
During this critical period I made the acquaintance of a Christian who was on the office staff of the firm where I was employed as a scientific instrument maker. The difference between her and the other members of the personnel was so marked that it could not go unnoticed. In the course of our numerous conversations I realized that this was the first person I had met who knew God as a living reality. At last one who had not only sought, but found. So there was a way back to God, but, oh, how disappointing it was to hear that Jesus Christ was that way. As He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Christians accept this, but how could a Jew believe in the One, whose followers have persecuted us throughout the centuries? (I had yet to learn the difference between Gentiles and Christians. While the former may participate in acts of violence and hatred, the latter love our people.)
The very idea seemed so absurd that I tried to put it out of my mind once and for all; but in vain. Judaism had been “weighed in the balances, and found wanting”! If there is no other way besides Jesus Christ, what then? Pride and prejudice barred the road to further inquiry, but God dealt with them in His all-wise manner. He suddenly took away a very good friend of mine in the prime of life, and this proved a great shock to me. Where would I have gone if the call had come to me instead? But that is quite impossible, argued the adversary of our souls, you are even younger than he was, healthy and strong; don’t worry about it. Yet God showed me that such a possibility was not nearly as remote as we may think. An accident on a plateau of Table Mountain, which might have been fatal under different circumstances, was a further warning not to delay. “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel” was the message of the prophet of old. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.”
Hear and Live
Remembering that my father had sought comfort and consolation in the Bible at a time of crisis, I also turned to this precious book. Following the counsel of that Christian friend, I began reading in the Old Testament, namely, the prophecy of Isaiah. Nobody, except perhaps one who is utterly indifferent, can read the messages of this zealot and remain untouched; they did not fail to make a profound impression upon me.
Following the counsel of that
Christian friend, I began reading
in the Old Testament, namely,
the prophecy of Isaiah.
Christian friend, I began reading
in the Old Testament, namely,
the prophecy of Isaiah.
Thus the light became brighter day by day and my conviction deepened. “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” What balm to a troubled spirit! But the reading of the following chapter, the 53rd of Isaiah, brought the peace so keenly sought. In it the sufferings of the Messiah on behalf of Israel and the world at large are depicted in sublime language. “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” This was the superficial view once held by myself and by multitudes of my Jewish brethren all over the globe. Now, however, the eye of faith looked beyond the external. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” These solemn verses led me to the knowledge of the truth of God, and in Him, who is the true centre of Israel, I found the answer to my every problem. Confessing my sin and unworthiness, I looked away to Jesus Christ, my Corban, suffering anguish, dying in my place, and I received Him into my heart by faith. That night another one of the wandering, “lost sheep of the house of Israel” returned into the fold of the redeemed; home at last!
The newly-found joy in the Messiah, the peace of heart, the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and of eternal life were exceedingly precious in the difficult days that followed. Severe tests of faith were encountered, but nothing could undo God’s work of grace in my heart. It was my earnest desire to make this blessed salvation known to others, and some months later I heard God’s call to my present sphere of service. It came through the words which commissioned Ezekiel, the prophet, to his life task. “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me.”
Epilogue
That was years ago. But throughout all this time it has been a great joy to serve the Master, in spite of multitudinous difficulties and trials. As long as life shall last it will be my privilege to invite my Jewish brothers and sisters with the words of that great Jew on the shore of the Galilean lake centuries ago: “Matsanu et hammashiach!” “We have found the Messiah.” “Hear, and live!”
...Back to Personal Stories
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
©2004-2007 New Covenant House. All rights reserved. Copyright to individual articles held by authors. View Privacy Policy.