Chapter VII
The Restoration of Israel in Relation to the World's Redemption
Abraham is the father of the Hebrew nation. As we have seen in the covenants of promise, God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation. Upon the principle laid down by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 15.--First the natural, afterward the spiritual--the great nation which was to come from Abraham was to be his descendants according to the flesh, the natural, out of whom and through whom, as the medium of Divine revelation, would be evolved the spiritual, the holy nation and royal priesthood. The nation of Israel was favored of God above all nations of the earth in the past, to say nothing of what awaits it in the ages to come. The esteem in which Israel was held by God is shown by the following testimonies:
Deut. 7: 6--For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deut. 14:2--For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Deut. 26:17, 18--Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and walk in his ways and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments.
Deut. 32:9--For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Psa. 105:6--O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
Psa. 135:4--For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
Psa. 41:8--But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
WHY THEY WERE FAVORED
The reason given for Israel being a favored nation with God will be found in the following testimonies:
Deut. 7: 7, 8--The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deut. 10: 15--Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Deut. 26: 19--And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.
After Israel's deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, they were by God's direction and under His laws organized and became the most remarkable nation that has ever existed upon the face of the earth. It is generally admitted that their laws were the most perfect, and that so long as they were obedient they were the healthiest and happiest nation that could possibly exist in the evil days of mortality. They were taken into the land of Canaan, which is called "the land of milk and honey," where they were blessed in their basket and in their store. So highly favored were they that they became the repository of Divine revelation, and to them we are indebted in the hands of God for the entire Bible. "What advantage then hath the Jew?" asks the Apostle Paul. "Much every way," he answers, "because unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Rom. 3: 2). And the Saviour speaking of them says, "Salvation is of the Jews" (Jno. 4: 22). The wonderful miracles which were performed in Israel made them a dread and fear among all other nations, and on that account Israel's God was recognized as a great God even by the nations, who were worshippers of idols.
But their history is a checkered one. They did not continue long blessed in their basket and in their store with things temporal and spiritual, for they departed from the laws and the statutes, obedience to which had vouchsafed them health, longevity, and happiness in this life, and the use of the present life as a stepping-stone to that which is to come. Stiffnecked and stubborn, they continually rebelled against God and His laws and terrible were the results from time to time as we come along down through their troubled history. In the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam the ten tribes revolted against the lawful king and were carried away under rebellious Jeroboam, who it is said "made Israel to sin." Subsequently they were taken captive by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and after awhile were lost sight of, and they remain to this day "the lost ten tribes of Israel." The other two tribes who remained under Rehoboam also became rebellious and disobedient and were taken captive to Babylon, where for seventy years they were subjected to the tyranny of that proud and despotic empire. Restored from that captivity, they endured under great hardships a temporary occupation of their land, the land of their fathers; but a future and wider scattering had been foretold. Moses had declared it in language which leaves no doubt as to its application to a scattering subsequent to the Babylonish captivity. He says:
Deut. 28: 25--The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Verses 36, 37--The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
Verses 49-53--The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth--a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed, which also shall not leave thee either corn, or wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedest, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee.
Verses 62-65--And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto thee other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.
FINAL SCATTERING BY THE ROMANS FORTOLD BY MOSES
That this scattering did not refer to their captivity in Babylon is clear from verses 49 and 50, "as swift as the eagle flieth" the nation should come, and "of fierce countenance" should be the nation that should "besiege them in their gates" and cause them to devour their own offspring. This is evidently the Roman nation, and it is generally understood that this terrible prophecy found its dreadful fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem seventy years after the birth of Christ and in what has since then been their history. That the prophecy referred to the fate of Israel subsequent to the Saviour's time will be seen by the following:
Luke 19: 41-44--And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and keep thee on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee: and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Luke 21: 19, 20--In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Verse 24--And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.
Now in this we have a key that will serve us well in unlocking the real meaning of the Scriptures in their application to Israel in the future as well as in the past. The prophecies quoted are not to be taken in a spiritual sense, that is, spiritual in the sense which is claimed for certain prophecies of the Scriptures by popular teachings. Israel's sad experience in fulfillment of these prophecies has been really and bitterly literal. They were literally in the land of promise. They were literally taken into captivity in Babylon, and were literally delivered. They were literally scattered by the Romans, driven into captivity among all nations of the earth. The prophecies apply to a real nation, having a real existence, and their existence in the scattered state foretold is a reality to-day. There is no need for seeking a "spiritual" meaning. There is no room for any misunderstanding.
SUBSEQUENT RESTORATION ALSO FORETOLD
Now if we find that there are testimonies which speak of the future restoration of the twelve tribes, should we not also look for these testimonies to have a fulfillment, just as literal as those have had which speak of their history and present scattered and trodden down condition? Fifteen hundred years before Jerusalem was taken by the Romans, Moses had declared minutely how it would be done and what would be the result, that Israel would be scattered among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other (Deut. 28: 4). Notwithstanding this Moses also declared their future acceptance by God. "Rejoice," he says, "O ye nations with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people" (Deut. 32: 43). And he also declares, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Deut. 18: 15). "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee," says God to Moses, "and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him" (Verses 18, 19).
The prophet here is Christ. He was "raised up" to Israel, and appeared among them declaring himself to be king of the Jews, but they rejected Him. "He came to his own and his own received him not." It was in crucifying their Messiah that Israel "filled up the measure of their fathers" and finished the national iniquity which was to be the cause of the captivity and scattering foretold by Moses. While these truths are generally admitted, we deem it necessary to emphasize them here by way of fixing the time of this final captivity in relation to the subsequent and final gathering. A gathering that would restore Israel from this scattering at the hands of the Romans must necessarily be yet future. Does Moses, who so clearly foretold the scattering, also foretell a gathering which reached beyond the scattering? If so, the future restoration is established beyond a doubt, and not only so, but since the prophecy has been proven true--literally true-- by history in relation to the scattering, if he foretells a subsequent gathering it must have a literal fulfillment. After foretelling the scattering of Israel, Moses declares,
Deut. 30: 1-6--And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind, among all nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Verse 8, 9--And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments, which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord again will rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers.
Some try to evade this by saying that the restoration is hypothetical--"If thou wilt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God" (verse 10). But Moses also says, "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart" (verse 6). It is therefore a certainty; and so he declares, and thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord" (verse 8).
Here then is a restoration which must find its fulfillment after the final scattering at the hands of the Romans, and that this will be a real and literal gathering will be shown fully presently. Meanwhile we submit the following testimonies:
II Sam. 7: 10, 24--Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God.
I Chron. 17: 9, 10--Also I will obtain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning, and since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I will tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house.
Isa. 30:20, 21--And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Chap. 60:15--Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Verse 21--Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
Chap. 66: 22--For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
Ezek. 20:33-44--As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
BEYOND COMPARISON WITH OTHER NATIONS
There is no nation in the history of mankind that has had such a bearing on the world at large as the Jewish nation. There is no nation that can trace its history and pedigree back to the remotest antiquity as the Jewish nation can. In this and in many other ways it has been a wonderful people, so much so that their history and present status in the world are unaccountable when compared with other nations. During the long history of this people they have enjoyed peace and prosperity comparatively for only a very short time. About three-fourths of their history has been one of trouble, exile and persecution. The great Gentile nations, Babylon, Greece and Rome in the zenith of their power and glory were famous so long as they maintained their power and prestige in the world, but as soon as the tide turned, down they went. Their downfall to them meant their obliteration, as nations, from the earth. Where is Assyria? Where is proud Babylon? Where is the much boasted greatness of classic Greece? What has become of the mighty empire of Rome? What has defeat done for these nations? They are gone. Their identity has been lost and their subjects and citizens have been absorbed among the multitudes of the past and present divided world. Not so, however, with Israel. It might be said that Israel's fame and greatness are not so much in their past prosperity and power as it is in their persecution, exile and trouble in all parts of the world. Where other nations have sunk out of sight, by the hardships of human history, Israel has thriven upon persecution and trouble of all kinds imposed upon them in the worst ways imaginable. Every nation has raised its hand to smite Israel, and endeavored to crush it into the earth; but in spite of all this the people are here to-day. They are in every land and in every clime. They are in every city, in every street, marked out distinctly from every other people, hated and despised and yet they are the victors in every conflict in which they engage, except in the conflict for national existence and power as a kingdom. By analogy of human history this is impossible to account for. It is unique in the history of human affairs. Upon the principle of the laws of nations it is without comparison. And here we might say that there is nothing in the world that is a more powerful proof of the divinity of the Bible than Israel's history and present existence. The Bible is a book of miracles. Israel is a nation of miracles. Its history is a standing miracle before an astonished world. Its survival of all the persecutions and oppressions which have been heaped upon it is a greater miracle still. No great statesman or philosopher will ever attempt to account for Israel’s history and present existence by ordinary natural laws anymore than it is possible to account for the Bible by such laws. Divinity is written upon every page of Israel's Book; and it is also written upon every page of Israel’s history, whether we consider it in the Bible or out of the Bible. Indeed they cannot be separated. What has been the history of the Bible has been the history of the nation, and we might add that, to some extent, it has been the history of Israel’s King, the man of the Bible, the essence of the Bible, the subject of it from Alpha to Omega, the beginning and end--Christ. The nation has suffered at the hands of every nation, and every attempt possible has been put forth to destroy it, yet it has been providentially preserved. The Bible, the nation's book, has suffered in the same way, and yet here it is to-day, a burning and shining light in a dark and benighted world. The nation's king, the book's subject and the nation's future Deliverer suffered at the hands of Israel, and the only great nation that existed at the time He was here, and in this sense all the world, as it were, was in array against Him, and endeavored to destroy Him and rid the world of His presence. When from a natural standpoint, it seemed that they had succeeded was when Divine success was most certain. While these things have been characteristic of the history of the nation, the Book and the Man, the wide world against the three, the miraculous character of their history assures us of the certainty of miraculous events in relation to their future. Israel is yet to arise and prosper as a nation, and their book is yet to be vindicated to the ends of the earth, to an extent that not even its professed friends have ever dreamed of. The man who suffered at the hands of the Gentile and Jewish powers has for a time disappeared from the earth behind a frowning Providence, but He is yet to succeed to an extent that the world little dreams of at present. The purpose of God, therefore, in relation to the world's redemption is centered in Israel, in Israel's book and in Israel's king. Just as sure as Israel exists, so sure is there a wonderful future for the nation; just as sure as the book has survived the hostility of a dark and cruel history, so sure will it be vindicated before the eyes of a subdued and astonished world ; just as sure as the nation's king has suffered at the hands of cruel and hateful rulers so sure will He yet "fill the earth with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." These things cannot be separated. They are the Divine fiat, and no human opposition can defeat the purpose of Him, who holds the world in His hands. Keep the God of the universe out of sight, and Israel's history cannot be accounted for. Recognize Him not, and the Bible's existence and survival become a greater mystery and a greater miracle than it is now. Ignore the Great Creator's existence and interposition in human affairs, and He who was crucified to save a lost world was, in His history, in His character, in His death, to say nothing of His resurrection to life again, an unaccountable mystery. Keep God in view, the God of heaven and earth, as the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then all is clear as the noonday sun. Israel's birth as a nation, its preservation, and the wonderful good effects of obedience to its laws, then can be accounted for. The preservation of the nation throughout an experience that no other nation has ever been able to endure and survive, can then be understood. The miraculous works that Christ, the king of the nation, did are then clear and intelligible.
But what is the history of Christ compared with His future? What is the history of the Bible compared with its future? What is the history of the nation compared with what awaits it? The Gentile world persuaded itself that Israel had for ever forfeited all rights to Divine favor and that it was to be destroyed never to exist again as a nation. Through the dark ages that have intervened between the crucifixion of Israel's King on Cavalry, the destruction of their city, Jerusalem, and the present time the idea of Israel's future existence has been laughed to scorn by professed believers in the Bible. But even apart from prophecy, for the religious world pays little regard to prophecy, as it bears literally upon the nation of Israel; I say apart from such prophecy, force of circumstances has compelled many people to admit that a great mistake has been made in relation to Israel; that there is something unaccountable about this people from the fact that now as we near the end of Gentile times they are becoming more and more remarkable and powerful in the world, and raising problems that puzzle the wisest statesmen and the most profound philosophers. Here is what Prof. Gratz says in relation to this wonderful survival of the fittest: "Can a nation be born in a day? or can a nation be born again? * * * Yet in one nation a new birth appears--a resurrection out of a state of death and apparent corruption--and that in a race which is long past the vigor of youth, whose history numbers thousands of years. Such a miracle deserves the closest attention of every man who does not overlook all wonderful phenomena. Mendelssohn had said at the beginning of this period, ‘My nation is kept at such a distance from all culture, that one might well doubt the possibility of any improvement.’ And yet she arose with such marvelous quickness out of her abasement, as if she had heard a prophet calling unto her, Arise! arise! Shake off the dust! Loose the bonds of thy chains, O captive daughter of Zion!"
PREDICTION AND FULFILLMENT
It is well known that the Jews hold the purse-strings of the world to-day, and they can by their financial and executive powers sway the mightiest empires upon the face of the earth; they can dictate terms to the strongest monarchs that tyrannize over the masses. Prof. Christliebs bears testimony thus, In Modern Doubt and Christian Belief: "We would point (them) to the people of Israel as a perennial, living historical miracle. The continued existence of this nation up to the present day, the preservation of its national peculiarities throughout thousands of years, in spite of all dispersion and oppression, remains so unparalleled a phenomenon, that without the special providential preparation of God, and His constant interference and protection, it would be impossible for us to explain it. For where else is there a people over which such judgments have passed, and yet not ended in destruction?"
This miracle must be admitted by the force of facts, for all this is true in spite of every kind of opposition. The wealth of the Jews has been proverbial in the phrase, "rich as a Jew," but the most remarkable thing is the great power and influence they wield over nations by means of their wealth. The money of the Rothschilds is used to help the great nations of Europe, and thus to command power behind the press and the throne. The British and Foreign Evangelical Review, October, 1881, says, "During the ten years, 1853-64, the Rothschilds furnished in loans, $200,000,000 to England, $50,000,000 to Austria, $10, 000,000 to Prussia, $130,000,000 to France, $50,000,000 to Russia, $12,000,000 to Brazil, in all, $482,000,000, besides many millions to smaller States."
How is it to be accounted for that a people without a king or prince, all that pertains to their national and ecclesiastical life gone and yet they maintain a marked identity throughout the world? Universally the history of the nations has shown that when their kings have been dethroned and their lands become the spoils of enemies they have disappeared from the face of the earth. Why is it that the same fate has not befallen Israel?--left without a king, without a prince, without a capital, even its ritualistic laws abolished, scattered everywhere without a home, why did they not cease to exist? the only answer is the Scriptural answer, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (Hosea 3: 4). Here is the reason why they should abide; where other nations under such circumstances have not been able to abide. How could it be otherwise when God has said,
Jer. 31: 36-37--If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
Jer. 33: 17-26--For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night and if I have not appointed the ordinance of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
Now we may ask, What is this jealous preservation of Israel for? Does it not suggest that God has a purpose in the future of this people, a future greater and grander than the past? There must be some reason, and a Divine reason. The prophet Isaiah in speaking of Israel says, "Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning, hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. * * * In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts the mount Zion" (Isa. 18: 2, 7). In Lesser's translation of these verses we have "a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning and forward." There is therefore a future, and this future is the reason, the only reason, for the past and the present.
Who can mistake, or who can deny the future of Israel as foretold in the following testimonies:
Isa. 11:11,12--And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa. 43:5-7--Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west: I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him.
Jer. 3:18--In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer. 12:15--And it shalt come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
Jer. 16:14,15--Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
Jer. 29: 14--And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Jer.30: 3--For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
Verse 10--Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer. 32: 37--Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
Jer. 33: 7--And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
Jer. 46: 27, 28--But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Ezek. 11:15-19--Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession. Therefore say, saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries, where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.
Ezek. 37: 21--And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.
Zech. 8:7,8--Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness.
Zech. 10 : 6--And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
Verse 10--I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
TWO POPULAR MISTAKES
Is it not astonishing that there should be an attempt made by professed friends of the Bible to evade the force of such plain testimonies as these? There are two ways by which it is sought to get rid of these testimonies. One is to claim that they all found their fulfillment in the restoration from Babylon; the second is that they are to be understood in a spiritual sense and applied to the Church. The first one is an inexcusable presumption; the second is really ludicrous and exhibits a folly that were it not for the solemnity of the question, would provoke a smile. In the restoration from Babylonish captivity only two tribes were concerned and the ten tribes have remained in exile ever since they were taken by the king of Assyria. They became then and still are the "lost ten tribes." Even supposing that we should grant the foolish claim of Anglo-Israelites that the Anglo-Saxons are the lost ten tribes, still the prophecies would remain unfulfilled, for the Anglo-Saxons have never enjoyed the blessings of these prophecies. The restoration from Babylon being temporary and confined to two tribes, and the ten tribes never having been restored to the land of their fathers as these predictions declare they will be, it follows, as a matter of course, that there must be a future restoration of the twelve tribes. It will have been noticed that frequently in these passages given, Judah and Israel are referred to; for instance, Isa. 11: 12--"And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth"; Jer. 3: 18--"In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north," etc.; Jer. 30: 3--"For, lo, the days will come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah, saith the Lord;" 33: 7--"And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return;" 46: 27--"But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from afar." Here we have the whole house of Israel provided for. How in the face of these declarations can any man dare say that such prophecies found fulfillment in the restoration from Babylon? God has pledged Himself that this restoration shall take place. It has not taken place in the past. What shall we do? Shall we hand the Bible over to the infidel and admit that God has promised what He has not and never will perform? This is what must be done if we submit to popular theories. But what is the duty of every fearless honest-minded person in the case? Is it not to vindicate God and His word above all things and let "God be true, though all men be liars." There is no alternative. The man who has the courage of his convictions will cry aloud and spare not against apostate Christendom in vindication of the veracity of God and the truthfulness of the Bible.
The famous prophecy of Ezek. 37 is so clear upon this subject that it would seem impossible for any one to mistake it. There is a vision of a valley of dry bones and the question is asked, "Can these bones live?" Then there is a "shaking among the bones, bone coming to his bone"; there is flesh upon the bones and then they are covered with skin; and breath is breathed into them and they live and stand upon their feet and know that God is the Lord. What is this a vision of? What does it represent? The answer is given. "Then he said unto me, son of man, These bones are the whole house of Israel" (verse 11). Not part of the house, as in the case of the restoration from Babylon, which restoration, as we have seen, was only a temporary affair; but it is the whole house of Israel, the twelve tribes, the house of Jacob, the descendants of his twelve sons. The prophet is then commanded to take two sticks in his hands, the two sticks representing ancient books or parchments rolled on sticks. Then it is said, "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand" (verses 16, 17). Label one stick, Israel, the ten tribes, and label the other, Judah, the two tribes, in recognition of the fact that the house of Israel is divided, one faction of which is called Israel, and the other Judah. Here is a fact of history that the world knows of, and now when these two sticks become one in thine hand, let this be known to the coming world, that these divided factions shall be united and become one.
If there were nothing more said, this would be sufficient to show that divided Israel is yet to be united, that Israel and Judah are to become one, but we are not left to conjecture. It was anticipated that it would be asked, "Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?" And the answer is given, yes, it is given, preceded by a "Thus saith the Lord God." Here it is, who can mistake it?--"Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and will bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (verses 19-22). Surely this settles the matter, and no comment can make it clearer.
Now a few words on the claim that all the prophecies in relation to Israel's restoration in the Old Testament were written previous to the Babylonish captivity, and for that reason had their fulfillment in that deliverance. The wording of the prophesies prevents any such conclusion, and were we to admit of their application to the restoration from Babylon, we would still be met with the undeniable fact that Scripture words frequently have a double application, the lesser being involved in the greater, and therefore the fulfillment of the lesser does not disannul the fulfillment of the greater. As we have seen in the covenants of promise, the possession of the land under Moses did not disannul the Abrahamic promise, which reached down to a future everlasting inheritance under Christ. While it was involved in the same promise, it was only a parenthesis, as it were, thrown in for the time being, explanatory and to emphasize the great book of the covenant which is yet to be realized in its fullness. As history repeats itself, and prophecy is history in advance, prophecy also must necessarily repeat itself. Many instances of this kind will readily be recalled by those familiar with the Scriptures. But all the prophecies were not written previous to the Babylonish captivity. According to good authority, the prophecy of Zechariah was written afterwards, and this prophecy declares a restoration future from his time in words that far over-reach anything history records, He says:
Zech. 1: 16, 17--Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
Zech. 2:10-13--Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
Zech. 8: 2-4--Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called, A city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
Verses 7, 8--Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
Verses 13-15--And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; as I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
Verse 23--Thus saith the Lord of hosts; in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.
Zech. 9: 10, 11--And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As for thee also, by the blood, of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Read also chapters 12: 10-14; 13: 7-8.
TWO GREAT DELIVERANCES
Since in the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, only a small part of the house of Israel was concerned, that event is very seldom considered in speaking of Israel’s deliverance. The future restoration, involving the twelve tribes is compared with their deliverance from Egypt which also included the twelve. These two deliverances being spoken of, the one compared with the other, it follows that since only one of them has taken place, the other remains to be fulfilled. One is spoken of as the "second time," the first of course, being implied. The first we know to be a fact, the second we know has not become a fact. And yet the prophet Isaiah says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11: 11-13).
NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECIES
Some so-called scholars will compass land and sea to try to prove that all the prophecies were written before the Babylonish captivity in order to make out their case. We might for the sake of argument even grant that they were, and ignore the fact that they provide for the restoration of the whole house of Israel. Indeed we might close the Old Testament and take the New and there would be sufficient evidence to show that there is a future restoration for the twelve tribes of Israel. Take for instance angelic testimony in promising to Mary the birth of Christ, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1: 32, 33). What is the house of Jacob composed of? Is it not of the twelve tribes of Israel? How can Christ reign over the house of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, unless He gather them and restore them to the land of their fathers? This was the very thing that Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began; that we would be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life" (verses 67-75). To raise up an "horn of salvation" means the raising up of a King to bring national salvation. When Peter asked the question, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? The answer is, "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19: 27-28). How can they judge (rule) the twelve tribes of Israel unless the twelve tribes of Israel are restored? The past fulfillment theories impeach Moses as a prophet. It is necessary to say to them as the Saviour said to the Scribes and Pharisees, "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me." They persist in making the word of God spoken through Moses of none effect by their tradition. What did he as a prophet say? "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken" (Deut. 18: 15). The prophet to be raised up is Christ. When John appeared, they asked him, "Art thou that Prophet?" And John’s answer was, that he was not that prophet, but he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. "That prophet" that Moses said would be raised up to Israel was raised up. Moses prophesied the truth, and He was like him in that He was refused by Israel; they asked Him as they did Moses of old, "Who made thee a ruler over us?" "He came to his own and his own received him not." Before Moses delivered Israel he had to forsake them for a time, and leave them till the bondage and tyranny of Egypt became so heavy that they would cry out for deliverance, and be willing to go under the direction of their leader and deliverer into the promised land.
AN APPARENT CONTRADICTION
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet * * * like unto me," He came to Israel, and they would not have Him. "Away with him! crucify him!" they cried out, and the Father snatched Him from them and said to Him, "Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." So far, Moses has truly spoken, his words have come to pass; but he does not stop here. He put himself upon record about thirty-three hundred years ago, that not only would this prophet be raised up to Israel but that they should hear him in all things. It was not that God would only raise up a prophet to a spiritual Israel, but to the very Israel whom Moses addressed. He was to be raised up from among them, "unto them," and that nation unto whom He was to be raised up, were to hear Him in all things. Ah! says the infidel, there you are again with your contradictory Bible. One of the most famous of your prophets said that the prophet that would be raised up to Israel would be heard of them in all things. According to your Scriptures they refused to hear Him, and they crucified Him; and according to popular theology that nation is never to hear Him in all things, and you are face to face with an unfulfilled prophecy, and the God of the Bible stands impeached. Scoffingly he cries out, Away with your contradictory, fabulous, foolish Bible. What shall we say to the scoffing skeptic and profane infidel? What shall we say? If we hold to popular theology, it will forbid us saying that Christ will come again and restore Israel, and that then they will hear Him. Popular teachers will frown upon us and tell us that this is not strictly according to "orthodoxy." They are more tenacious of so-called orthodoxy than they are concerned about the harmony of the Bible and the veracity of God. Under the influence of such teachers we cannot answer the infidel. He will tie us hand and foot; he will look us straight and sternly in the face and say, You cannot deny that Moses said Israel should hear that prophet in all things. You cannot deny that it is said in the same book that they did not hear him; you cannot deny that they have not yet heard Him. What are you going to do about it? The answer is easy, and the weapon of truth, the sword of the Spirit, is powerful if we are permitted to use it unhampered and free from the bondage of a corrupt theology. To the representatives of that nation who did crucify the Messiah, the inspired apostle says, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet will be destroyed from among the people" (Acts 3: 19-23). Here we have the key to the solution of the problem. The nation had filled up the measure of their fathers; the cup of their iniquity in crucifying their Messiah was full. But their national repentance is yet to take place, and their sins are to be blotted out; times of refreshing are to come. "He shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began," when He shall "appear the second time without sin unto salvation." But in their impatience they sought a king who would bring immediate deliverance without complying with the means leading up to that great end. This was their national mistake resulting in their national crime. They refused the Prince of life, and desired a murderer to be granted unto them. All this had been prophesied in the Divine plan of the ages, and everything will come out right and in harmony with the wonderful plan. For the present, there is a pierced Messiah, and a scattered captive nation, with its cities in ruins and its land in desolation, but when the "times of refreshing shall come" and God "shall send Jesus Christ," that which Moses truly spake shall come to pass, and they shall hear Him in all things. Gathered from every land, where for long and dreary ages they have been held captive, "with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out," they shall yet be delivered.
BROUGHT INTO THE BOND OF THE COVENANT
"I will," says Jehovah, "bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 20: 34-38). This will bring them to their senses, as the prodigal son "came to himself." This prodigal son, who once was "called out of Egypt," will again come home crying, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee." Then will be "poured upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born" (Zech. 12: 10). "And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in thy hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." Israel will then realize that the prophet like unto Moses has come. They will hear Him in all things, and He will prove to be their great deliverer, the one king that shall be king over all; and they shall never be divided into two nations any more at all.
THE TWO ISRAELS
The Apostle Paul deals with the question of spiritual and literal Israel, and it is by confounding the one with the other that popular teachers confine Israel’s restoration to the Spiritual seed, ignoring the national and literal restoration of the twelve tribes. An easy way to settle the question of the literality of the Israelitish restoration is to ask, Of what nation did Moses and the prophets speak when they said it should be scattered? This was not spiritual Israel, but literal, national Israel. This was the nation that was to be scattered; and to this very same nation, and of this very same nation, the gathering is foretold. "Like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build and to plant saith the Lord" (Jer. 31: 28, 29). But let us examine closely the argument of the Apostle Paul, first in Romans 9: 1-3--"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." These are not spiritual Israel. There was no reason why he should wish to be accursed from Christ (or, perhaps he meant accursed as Christ was accursed) for spiritual Israel; they needed not such concern, but their kinsmen, according to the flesh, did. These are the Israelites "to whom pertain the national adoption, to whom and through whom the covenants were spoken, the law and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came." But what the apostle is here showing is that the promise of everlasting inheritance of the kingdom, or what we might call the royalty or rulership of the kingdom is not to be theirs because they were Jews according to the flesh. Hence their restoration would be a national restoration, when they again will be multiplied in the land. But the "Israel of God" or Israel according to the Spirit, are the seed to whom the promise of the inheritance of the kingdom or rulership was made. Isaac being the representative of faith, it is said, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." In Rom. 11 he discriminates more clearly between the two Israels, verse 7--"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Here are two Israels---one that hath not obtained and that is blinded, and the other that hath obtained and that is not blinded. In other words, one that has accepted Christ as the hope of Israel, and the other that through blindness hath rejected Him. Now in speaking of the Israel that did not obtain it, they were blinded, which was the reason they crucified Christ, he says, "For I would not, brethren, that ye shall be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom. 11: 25). This blindness had happened in part to literal, national Israel, and the part in which they were blind was that they did not see that Christ was to be a sacrifice first, ascend to the Father and return before He could become their great deliverer and king. The blindness in part, then, which happened to them is only "until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." "And so shall all Israel be saved, as it is written, there shall come to Zion, a deliverer that shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Jacob here stands for the whole house of Israel. When the fullness of the Gentiles is come in, this Deliverer shall come, and remove the nation’s sin, as we have seen in the prophecy of Zechariah, and bring Israel into the bond of the covenant. Their salvation as a nation will be their restoration and re-establishment in the land of their fathers, when He that was born in Bethlehem shall "rule His people Israel," and He who was crucified, because He said He was the king of the Jews, will be the King of the Jews in deed and in truth. They shall then be made "one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (Ezek. 37: 22).
THE PREJUDICE AGAINST JEWS WITHOUT REASON, SIFTED AND FITTED FOR GOD’S PURPOSE
The objection which many offer to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, and to their being thus favored of God, is that they are, as they are seen mingling among the Gentiles of the present times, dishonest and tricky in their commercial dealings. Why, they ask, should God favor such men as we see on our streets-- these hated Jews? The fact that they are hated is only another proof of the truth of prophecy in relation to them. But the objection raised against their being favored because of what some of them appear to be is without foundation. From a mere natural standpoint it would be difficult to say why they should ever have been favored. What appears objectionable in the characters of some with whom we come in contact in commercial life existed, perhaps, to a greater extent when they were in Egypt, and the same objection could be raised to the favor shown them in their deliverance from Egypt and in their subsequent history. The Scriptures show that they were a very stiff-necked, stubborn and faithless people, and the question might well have been asked, judging from what they were when their deliverance commenced, Why should these people be gathered and taken into a favored land; for by comparison there were others, possibly, that seemed more deserving of such favor. The objection is removed, however, when we remember that the stubborn and faithless ones, who gave Moses and Aaron so much trouble, did not enter into the land. Being depraved and fleshly in their minds, they were unfit for the purpose which God had in view in their national deliverance and planting in the land of Canaan. In all these things the glory of God is the end and object and no room is left for the glory of men. Commencing, then, with a people depraved, stubborn and faithless, fit only that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, out of them God developed a people suitable for his purpose, leaving the purged-out ones strewn along the crooked and rugged pathway of the wilderness. After a thorough sifting, the survivors were fitted for the possession of the land of promise.
So it is to be in the future great deliverance, and in this the objection raised against the hateful Jew, as he is regarded, who is seen so cunning in the commercial world, will be removed. Clearly is this explained by the prophet Ezekiel, who says that it is with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out that God will first deal with Israel in their deliverance. As Moses led them through the wilderness of Sinai, so will they be led into "the wilderness of the people, and there he will plead with them face to face" (Ezek. 20: 35). And he adds, "I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me." These, he says, "I will bring forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel" (verse 38). In the sifting process, these rebels, faithless, stubborn and stiff-necked, will be left, as it were, in the wilderness of the people, where their carcasses will fall under the fury of Jehovah then poured out. When the purging process has been sufficiently carried out, and the rod of correction and chastisement has been effectually used, the survivors will be fitted, because they will be humbled and instructed and brought to their senses; and these will all become the subjects of the restored kingdom of Israel under Christ, as their fathers did under Joshua, the typical national saviour. We may, therefore, say that God is no respector of persons, as persons. It was not because He respected Abraham as a person above all others that He selected him, but it was because Abraham was possessed of certain characteristics that would be responsive to the Divine purpose, though he may first have to be tried and tested severely, and gradually elevated to that standard and status of faith which should be accounted to him for righteousness. So with Abraham’s descendants, God will "sift them as wheat," blowing away the chaff, and will gradually elevate the survivors till fitted as the nucleus of the subjects of the coming kingdom, to be planted in the land of God’s appointment, never to be moved, and where the children of wickedness shall no more afflict them. "I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my own name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen wither ye went" (Ezek. 36: 22). To honor God’s holy name and to maintain the truth of His revealed purpose, Israel’s restoration must take place, and when it does take place, God will be justified and sanctified in the eyes of all the world. No one will be able to ask, Why are these men favored? because those who will enter the land will be of a different character from their brethren whom we now see throughout the various parts of the world. They will have hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone. They will be elevated in the scale of intellectuality and morality, and therefore in the highest sense be fitted for the great purpose that God has designed to work out in and through their great deliverance under their own Messiah.