David L. Cooper
Founder and President of The Biblical Research Society
David L Cooper (1886-1965) attended Tulane University, University of Louisville, University of Chicago, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned his Doctorate from Bob Jones University. He also earned his Master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, majoring in Semitic languages. He accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as His Saviour and redeemer when a young man of nineteen, and soon after felt God was calling him into the ministry. Immediately, he applied himself to a long period of intensive study and research in preparation for the Lord’s Service.
In 1923, he saw through the scriptures, God’s plan and purpose for the Jew. The thought of God’s chosen people being in a state of rejection when the Lord had destined that nation to be a channel for world blessing so overwhelmed his heart that he promised the Lord he would resign his teaching position to enter Jewish work if God so desired. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cooper had also become burdened, praying that God would call her husband into a ministry for Israel. He and His wife enrolled in a new Jewish Missions course at Moody Bible Institute, and Dr. Cooper also pursued special studies in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Babylonian (cuneiform) languages at the University of Chicago.
He later accepted a position at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles as chairman of its Jewish department. He served there until the great depression, when he was forced to leave because of cutbacks due to the depression. It was then that the Lord led him into his real life’s work. While at the Institute, he began writing the first of what would become a 7-volume set, titled “The Eternal God Revealing Himself to Suffering Israel and to Lost Humanity,” as his vision of Israel’s need grew as he pored over the Hebrew Scriptures. This book was the first to be sent free to Jewish people from the new Society (Biblical Research Society) after it was established in 1930.
Through two trips to Palestine in 1936-37 and 1939, he gained greater knowledge of the people, the land, and their need for the Gospel. During his first trip abroad, nine months were devoted to extensive research in the magnificent libraries and museums of London, Paris, Rome (including the Pontifical and Vatican), Athens, and Jerusalem, studies that richly enhanced the revised and later volumes of the Messianic Series and other works. A third trip to the Holy Land was made in December 1949, this time to visit the new nation of Israel. Dr. Cooper remained in Israel for 70 days, traversing its length and breadth and interviewing leaders in government, education, and religion, thus adding much valuable information to his knowledge of God’s chosen people, their destiny, and their place in the plan and purpose of God.
Throughout his ministry the words of Paul in Romans 1:15-16 remained a constant challenge and reminder to Dr. Cooper of the particular place of the Jew in God’s heart: “As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gopsel to you also. . . . for I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentile).” In the literature section under Theological Studies, the seven books by Dr. Cooper on Israel and the Messiah are listed. Two of his books are also listed in the prophetic section. These volumes are a valuable tool for understanding God’s position toward the Jewish people and for understanding our position as believers in Christ toward them. Dr. David Cooper’s definition of interpretation that has guided him and many others as they have studied the scriptures: Golden Rule of Interpretation
“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”
from PromisesToIsrael.org
