_Bethany, House of Mary and Martha, a Month after the Passover._
I deeply regret, my dearest father, the delays which have detained you
so long from arriving at Jerusalem, but trust that, ere many days,
the caravan for which you wait will reach Gaza, and that you will be
enabled to resume your journey to the Holy City. I am now at Bethany,
where I have been some time making my home.
Uncle Amos has retired, for the present, to his farm, near Jericho,
but will be here to-morrow to remain with us. Therefore, when you come
near to Jerusalem, instead of going directly into the city, turn aside
by the road leading past the king's gardens, and go up the brook of
Kedron, into the way to Bethany. I pray that God may preserve you in
safety, and soon permit me the happiness of once more embracing you,
after three long years of separation.
And what events have transpired in these three years! Once more, my
dear father, read carefully over the whole narrative, and answer to
yourself this inquiry: Is not this man the Son of God? Is not he the
very Christ, the long-looked-for Messias?
Isaias prophesied of the Christ whom he saw afar off, that he should be
"a man of sorrows;" that he should be "despised and rejected of men;"
that he should be "taken from prison and judgment, and cut off from
the land of the living;" that he should be "numbered with the wicked
in his death, and make his grave with the rich!" How light, how clear,
how plain, all these prophecies now are to me, and to us all! How
wonderfully in their minuteness they have been fulfilled, you already
know.
His resurrection, also, was foretold by himself, but we did not
understand his words until now. When he spoke of destroying the temple,
and raising it in three days, he spoke of the tabernacle of his body!
Oh, how many sayings, which, when spoken by his sacred lips, we
understood not, now rush upon us in all their meaning, proving to us
that every step of his life was foreknown to him; that he went forward
to his death aware of all things whatsoever that were going to befall
him!
But his resurrection was also foretold by the holy David, when he
said, "Thou wilt not leave his soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One
to see corruption;" and his arraignment before Pilate, Caiaphas, and
Herod, was foretold by David, when he said: "The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and
against his Anointed;" yet the Lord saith, "Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee." Also, my dear father, turn to the Psalms (22) of
King David, and compare the following words, which speak of Messias,
with what I have described in my previous letters:
"They shoot out the lip at me; they shake the head; they laugh me to
scorn. They say, He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him. Thou
hast brought me into the dust of death."
Read the same psalm of the holy king a little farther, and you will see
these words, which were put by the royal prophet into the lips of his
future Messias:
"The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture cast
lots!"
Read and compare these prophecies of Messias, with the accounts in my
letters, dear father, and you will not only be convinced that Jesus is
the Messias, but you will perceive that his humiliation and sufferings
before Pilate and Caiaphas, his agony on the cross, his death and
burial, instead, as we ignorantly conceived, of being evidences that
he was not the Christ, are proof that he was the very Son of the
Highest--the Shiloh of Jehovah foretold by the prophets--the Anointed
King of Israel.
Oh, wonderful is all this! How marvelous these things passing before
our eyes! Now all is dazzlingly clear! The Prophets are unveiled to
our sight, and we see that these things must have happened to him. Oh,
our darkness, our blindness, to have seen in the prophecies of Messias
only the passages which speak of his glory and power! Read the Prophets
no longer, my dearest father, with a veil before your eyes! See, in
all you read, Jesus as the end of the Prophets, the goal of all their
far-seeing prophecies, the veritable and sure realization of their
prophetic visions.
Thus, my dear father, has Jesus in all particulars proved himself to be
the subject of all prophecy--the King of Israel. But you will now ask,
"Is he to re-establish the throne of David, and live forever?"
Yes, but not a Jerusalem of earthly splendor. Oh, how clear are all
things to my apprehension now! The Jerusalem in which his throne is to
be placed, is heavenly, and the true Jerusalem, of which the present
one is but the material type--what the body is to the soul of man.
Jesus has talked with me since his resurrection, and explained all this
to me, and much more that is wonderful and full of joy.
It is now four weeks since he arose, and in that time he has been not
only seen by all the disciples, but by hundreds of his followers. The
only change in his usual appearance, dear father, to the eye, is a
transparent paleness, which gives a soft radiance to his whole aspect,
and a certain majestic reserve, which awes all who draw near to him;
so that men speak in his presence in subdued whispers. His mother,
happiest of women now, as she was before the most wretched, ever sits
at his feet, and silently enjoys his sacred presence, seldom speaking,
and looking up to him rather as a worshiper to her God, than a mother
upon her son. That he is in the flesh in reality, and not a spirit, he
has proven to his disciples, by eating with them; and in a remarkable
way to an incredulous disciple, called Thomas, who, not believing that
Jesus was risen in his real body from the dead, was told by the divine
Lord to place his fingers into his hands, and his hand into his side;
which Thomas, convinced, with awe refused to do; but, falling at his
feet in amazement and adoration, worshiped him as God.
To-day his disciples are with him in the gardens of David, at
Bethlehem, where he is holding daily a solemn council with the
eleven, unfolding to them the glory of his kingdom, and opening their
understandings to the clear apprehension of all which the prophets
have written concerning him. John, who is a member of this divine
council, says that the power of Jesus, the extent and majesty of his
kingdom, the infinite results of his death and resurrection, are not
to be conceived of by those who have not listened to these sublime
revelations of his own lips.
"He hath shown us," said John, "how that his true office as Son of God,
and Son of Man, is to be a mediator. He showed us that he himself was
the High Priest, and how that the cross was the veritable altar of this
great world's sacrifice, and its Temple the whole earth and heavens!"
How wonderful, dear father, is all this! He further teaches his
disciples that he will shortly ascend from the earth, to enter upon his
celestial reign, and that his subjects there are to be all who love
him and keep his commandments. It is to be a kingdom of holiness, and
none will enter there but the pure in heart. He says, further, that as
we do now confess our sins over the blood of the victim we sacrifice
for ourselves in the Temple, so henceforth we must look to him (by
faith when we shall see him no longer), slain a sacrifice for us, and
confess our sins to the Father for his sake. Jesus has moreover taught
his disciples that the Gentiles are to share equally with the children
of Abraham the benefits of his death and resurrection; that this good
news shall be proclaimed to them by his disciples, and that they will
gladly hear it and believe.
"The fountain of my everlasting kingdom," saith he, "truly shall be
laid upon earth in the hearts of men; but the building is with God,
eternal in the heavens. The tomb through which I have passed is its
gate, and all who would come after me, and enter in, must follow in my
footsteps."
Thomas then asked his Lord whither he would go, and the way; how he
would leave the earth, since he could die no more.
"Thou shalt see for thyself ere many days pass," answered Jesus. "In
that I have risen, all whom my Father giveth me shall rise also from
the dead; and those whom I raise up, I will take with me the way I go;
for where I am, they shall evermore be with me also."
Such, dear father, is a brief account of what John has told us,
touching the divine teaching of Messias, the Son of God, respecting his
kingdom. Yet much is still mysterious; but we know enough to be willing
to trust ourselves to him for this life, and for that which is to come.
We know that all power is given into his hands, and that he can save
all men who believe in and accept him.
What is remarkable, dear father, notwithstanding the Jews have heard
that Jesus walks everywhere through Jewry, yet no efforts are made
to lay hands on him. At his presence, crowds of his enemies fly like
the stricken multitude before the advancing sirocco. His presence in
Judea is a present dread, like some great evil, to those who fear
him; but like a celestial blessing to more who love him. Pilate, on
the eve of making a journey last week to Bethel, before quitting the
city dispatched couriers in advance to ascertain "whether Jesus the
Crucified was on the line of his route!" Caiaphas, having occasion to
go to Jericho, a few days after the Passover, hearing that Jesus had
been seen with his disciples on the road, made a circuit round by Luz
and Shiloh, in order not to meet him. The gates of the city are kept
constantly shut, lest he should enter within the walls; some of the
chief priests fearing greatly to behold his face, while others imagine
that he is engaged in raising an army, to advance upon and take
Jerusalem from the Romans.
I rejoice to see by your last letter, that you may be expected to reach
here the week after next. Oh that you were here now, that you might
be taken by John to see Jesus! for from what he says he will not long
remain visible among us. Whither he goeth or how he goeth away, no man
can say.
Faithfully, your loving daughter,
Adina.