Israel's Future
Table of Contents
Israel's Future: No. 1
It is proposed in these short papers to examine what the scriptures teach as to the future history of the children of Israel. And we would approach this subject with the firm conviction that whatever God has spoken must come to pass. God said to Abram, " I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:2-4.) Though this unconditional promise has not been fulfilled in its full extent, yet it is obvious it must be, as it is absolutely God's engagement with Abram.
After this, God gives an express promise as to the land of Canaan. He said to Abram, " Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever," &c. (Gen. 13:14-17.) This promise of God to Abram is repeated: " I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land" (Chap. xv. 7.) "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Gen. 17:8.)
Then, further, after the offering up of Isaac, we have both the oath and promise of God: " That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore: and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 22:16, 17.)
Truly this is that promise of God which was confirmed in Christ four hundred and thirty years after the law. Head carefully Gal. 3:1618. Now then, if we Gentiles, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world; if we, in the rich mercy of God, have been made to share the great consolation of the oath and promise of God, confirmed in Christ; is it not a strange thing to turn round after this, and deny the promise to the natural seed of Abraham?
Certainly it is of the utmost moment that we believe not only the promise and oath of God, in contrast with the covenant of works as given at Sinai: but more, the promise is fulfilled, or confirmed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the true Isaac. The law cannot disannul what has been confirmed in Christ. But then, are not both of these two things equally sure by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Our inheritance, our eternal salvation depends solely on the oath and promise of God, not on our engagement, as Israel, at Sinai. And also the future kingdom and blessing of Israel, as the nation to whom the promise is thus confirmed by the same resurrection of Christ, the Seed, from the dead.
Let it be granted that for the present Israel is set aside, and also that Abraham has never yet enjoyed the promised inheritance of the land—no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession. (See Acts 7:5.) Is it possible that the Gentile professing church has concluded for centuries that God never intends to keep His word and promise to Abraham? The Spirit of God, foreseeing this, spake by the apostle: " For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." (Rom. 11)
There are these two thoughts or purposes of God in scripture. The church for the heavens, and Israel for the earth. Let us not forget that during this unmeasured period of grace, God is, by the Holy Ghost, gathering out the joint-heirs of Christ, the one body, destined to be the heavenly bride of the Lamb. But then let us not, in vain conceit, suppose that God has forgotten His promise of the land to Abraham and his seed.
In being guided by scripture on this subject, no doubt we shall have to give up a vast amount of modern error, if we believe what God teaches in His word. Take that grave error of a general resurrection at the coming of Christ at the end of the world, as tradition says. Of course, if that were true, then Abraham would not be raised until the end of the world, and therefore the promise of God to him never could be fulfilled. It is clear he never has had so much as a foot of it yet. But did not God tell him he should have it? And how distinctly this is repeated to Isaac and Jacob! God said to Isaac, " Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries.... And will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations be blessed." (Gen. 20 vi. 3,4.) The same promise is repeated to Jacob. (Chap, 28:13.) Oh, tell us, Is God a man that He should lie? Again, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.יי (Deut. 32:8.) Yes, as to this earth, Israel is the center of God's thoughts.
Is not the history of the Old Testament, from the call of Abram, for the most part, the history of that people? Was not David their inspired psalmist? Is it not of their Messiah he speaks and sings, reigning in mount Zion? He speaks, indeed, of His sufferings and death, but it is for that nation. The church is never his theme; it was not then revealed.
The hatred and rejection of men is foretold: " Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." Then the heathen will be given unto Him, and the uttermost parts of the earth for possession. And mark, this not in the way of grace, or during this time of grace, but for judgment. " Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." (Psalm 2) The least attention to these statements in the Psalm and the prophets, will prove the gross-ness of the error of applying them to the gospel or the church. You notice the above is in direct contrast with the present work of unbounded grace. And when the death of Messiah is foretold in the Psalms, whilst we have been brought into much higher blessing through that death, yet the direct application of blessing from that death is not in the Psalm to the church of God now, but to the future kingdom of God on earth. " All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations." (Psalm 22)
Now read the psalm of Messiah's reign (72). Is not every verse in contrast with this present state of confusion and rejection of Christ? During these times of the Gentiles Messiah is cut off, and has nothing; but then God will give Him His judgment—He will judge the people, He will break in pieces the oppressor. In His days shall the righteous flourish: now they are slandered, hated, persecuted, and sometimes killed. Now Satan rules over the darkness of this world, then Christ shall have dominion from the river unto the ends of the earth. As a rule now all kings and nations reject Him, then all shall serve Him. Is it not sad to pervert the psalms which describe the future glory of the kingdom promised to Israel on earth, as though they described the church?
And now we come to the prophets. Did they prophesy concerning the church, or the future kingdom and glory of Israel? The Spirit of God anticipates and answers the question. There is the greatest care to show that the future time of blessing to Israel, and to all nations, will not be brought about by the gospel, but by judgment. " Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness: and the destruction of the transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." (Isa. 1:27, 28.)
"The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning (not the church, but) Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it," &c. (Chap. 2:1-4.) Has this been fulfilled, or can it be during the times of the Gentiles; during which Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles, and the Jews scattered among all nations? Modern traditions make of none effect the word of God. God gives a prophecy concerning Jerusalem. Tradition says, No, it is concerning the church. Now read Isa. 9:6, 7. The child has been born unto them; but is the government yet upon His shoulder? Does He yet sit on the throne of David?
It is remarkable how the church was hidden. Think of these words—" For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,', and, between that word and the next, eighteen hundred years at least have taken place; for the remaining words have not yet been fulfilled: " And the government shall be upon his shoulder," &c. Has that great mystery, the incarnation of the Son of God, taken place? and shall not He also sit on the throne of David? Yes, and " of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." The same thing may be observed in chapter 11. The Spirit of the Lord did rest upon the holy Jesus, the Messiah. Verses 1-3 have been fulfilled, but 4 to 12 have not. Between 3 and 4 the period of the church has taken place, but not a word concerning it in the chapter. Not a line, from verse 4 to 12, has yet been fulfilled. "But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." How very important to see the order of the word of God. First, there is the Spirit of the Lord on Messiah; then, the present interval being omitted, His judgment of the wicked (one); then, the blessing of His kingdom on earth, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. He stands as the ensign of the people: " To it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious." Then the Lord Himself gathers the remnant of His people, the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth. Do not you see, then, how God will thus fulfill His promise to Abraham, though blindness in part has happened unto Israel during this gospel interval?
There is the same order everywhere: we will, however, turn to one instance where the Lord Jesus marked the present interval in prophecy. In Isa. 61., the first verse describes His living ministry in incarnation, a The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," &c. If you turn to Luke 4:17, you will find the book of the prophet Esaias was delivered to Him in the synagogue. He read these words, until He came to the sentence, " to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," and, at that point, "He closed the book, and gave it to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Now turn back to Isa. 61. In this (ver. 2) the first clause only was then fulfilled, Jesus announcing the acceptable year of the Lord to Judah. Then, before the next sentence, He has been rejected, and has nothing; Israel as a nation is cut off for more than eighteen hundred years, at the close of which unnoticed period of the church, the day of vengeance comes—the time of the great tribulation. Then read the description of the kingdom on earth. Surely it is the violation of all sense and scripture to apply this to the church. "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." Can there be a question that this is in the land of Israel, as promised to Abraham? " Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them." Thus we have the same order -the living ministry of Messiah, then the book is shut, and an interval before the day of vengeance: then follows the kingdom of Messiah on earth. What a description of the kingdom is chapter 60! Oh, what brightness and glory shall burst upon that nation at the coming of the Lord! But more in our next paper.
Israel's Future: No. 2
How strange that we have not more clearly understood the words of God in the prophets. He cannot forget or break His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places: and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. (Isa. 2:3.) Thus, when we believe God means just what He says, every chapter and every verse beams with light.
That will be a wonderful moment when His earthly people shall see the wounds in His hands, and discover, to their utter amazement, that He whom they rejected is indeed their Messiah. They will say, " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Bat 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." (Isa. 53:4.) Yea, the whole chapter describes the astonishment of Israel, when they see their once crucified Jesus—Savior-Messiah. And this shall be " When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion." (Chap. 59:20.) What a day for Israel will that be; and what a day it is to a sin-burdened soul, when the enemy comes in like a flood, and our sins seem as if they would overwhelm the soul in everlasting despair. To us by faith the Spirit reveals the amazing fact, that He who made the heavens and the earth has been bruised for our iniquities, and raised again for our justification; and this gives peace and rest to our souls by faith. To Israel it will be by sight; they will see the One who bare their sins, the Redeemer come to Zion. What a discovery that will be! You may see what a spirit of grace and supplication God will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. (See Zech. 12:10.) Do we believe this? The Jews will not believe it, may be, until the very moment they see Him. But is not this as true as that He was crucified for that nation?
If we understand the heavenly calling and hope of the church of God, we shall see that these Old Testament promises must refer to Israel, as they plainly say, and not to the church; and also that they must be yet future. " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." The following verses also prove this is literal Israel; for the Lord shall bring them " out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land." (Jer. 23:5-8.)
Surely the future reign of Messiah is as certain as His past death, though Jerusalem shall, as foretold by the Lord, be trodden under foot, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. " Therefore fear thou not, Ο my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, Ο Israel: for 10, 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. 30:10.) Yea, the Holy Spirit has been pleased to give chapter after chapter of promises to Israel of unconditional, sovereign blessing. Their very obedience flowed from the sovereign will of God, just as the first covenant was the test of their obedience, and therefore became proof of their guilt.
" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.....
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more." (Jer. 31:31-34.) " Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them.... and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and one way," &c. (Chap, 31:37-42.) Thus their future blessing and obedience depends on the faithfulness of God. Precious thought! He can never fail. What marvelous grace, after centuries of unbelief and rejection of Messiah! Do notice the repeated assurances of Jehovah. "I will." "And I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel, to return.... And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities," &c. (Chap, 33:7-11.) " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.....In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely." (Chap, 30:14-17.) The Lord? then, enters into the most solemn engagements to fulfill all these promises to Israel. Yet modern tradition—really unbelief -denies it all.
Now read Eze. 36:22-36. How entirely, in every particular, is Israel's future restoration and blessing of God! Almost every sentence expresses the unconditional purpose and assurance of God. "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.....A new heart also will I give you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh..... And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" &c, &c.
What a revelation of God! What absolute security and assurance of Israel's future blessing; with a new nature, born of God, cleansed by God, and the Holy Spirit given unto them. What a contrast is all this with man under law!
In chapter 37 all seems to be lost, and the nation is described under the figure of a valley full of dry bones. But when God shall put His Holy Spirit in them, they shall live. Just as God now quickens a sinner dead in trespasses and sins, and he lives; so then will God quicken Israel nationally. The explanation of this vision of dry bones is this: " 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: 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." And repeated assurances are given to the end of the chapter. Does it not become us to believe every word that God hath spoken thus by His prophets? If we allow Satan to suggest that God will not faithfully fulfill every word to Israel, how, then, can we be sure of our eternal redemption? Does it not rest solely on what God hath spoken? Often we find this very effect of unbelief—those who deny the certainty of God's promises to Israel, seldom, if ever, enjoy the certainty of their own eternal redemption. We assure you, beloved reader, the word of God becomes another book when we implicitly believe it, because it is God speaking to us. We shall find a very striking subject revealed to us in Eze. 38-39; the coming up and the destruction of the last great enemy of Israel. There can be no question, also, that this enemy brings up the nations now covered by the Russian empire, and indicates others where that empire is spreading. It is also to be remarked that when this prophecy was given, and for many centuries after, there was no empire covering these countries. It has been pointed out by Hebrew scholars that the ancient translation of the Septuagint is correct. a Son of man, set thy face against Gog, and the land of Magog, Rhos, prince of Mesock and Thobel," &c. Thus Rhos, or Russia, in modern language, the prince of Moscow and Tobolsk, with Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, and all the northern nations under that empire, will come against Israel. They come like a storm, a cloud to cover the land. These vast armies, such as the world probably never saw gathered together before, shall fall, and be destroyed by mutual slaughter on the mountains of Israel. God says, " I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood: and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hail-stones, fire and brimstone." The implements of war will serve seven years for fuel, and seven months will it take Israel to bury the dead. For a full description of the destruction and burial of the vast host, we should have to quote both these entire chapters. Thus the Eastern Question will never be ended until God has gathered Israel from all nations, and destroyed the power of their great enemy—Russia- on the mountains of the land of Israel. All this, however, must not be confounded with the great tribulation during the days foretold of this time of the end, the short period when the terrible Roman empire is restored, as described in the books of Daniel and the Revelation.
There is no thought, in a single text of scripture, that Israel as a nation will be blest and restored by the belief of the gospel. We shall find, in our next paper, that the glorious kingdom of God on earth will be assuredly introduced by terrible judgments. God will save them, not because they have believed, but when altogether shut up in unbelief, in the riches of His grace He will save them as objects of mercy alone. (Rom. 11:32.) " Ο the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God."
Is it not even so to you, beloved reader, if saved? Has not God taken you up as an object of mercy, even when you were in ignorance and unbelief? Has He not given you the higher—yea, the highest glory, in pure, unspeakable grace? Oh, think of the glory of that Holy One at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. Does He not say, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory"? Nay, even more, He says, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17) Beloved fellow-believer, is not this unspeakable grace?
Israel's Future: No. 3
We will now look at a few scriptures which tell us how God will restore the kingdom, dominion^ and glory to Israel by judgment, and not by the preaching of the gospel. We shall also find all this closely connected with the personal coming of Jesus, the Messiah, Son of God. However He has been, and still is, rejected, Jehovah says^ "'Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Then mark what He saith to the only-begotten One: God says to His Son, " Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." This has certainly not taken place yet. The dark places of the earth are still the habitations of cruelty. God, in sovereign mercy, is taking out the church, but this does not alter the fact that Satan is still the god of this world, and the nations are not yet the inheritance of Christ. How, then, does God tell Christ that He shall take possession? Let us hear: " Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." (Psalm 2:6-9.)
We shall find this manner of taking possession referred to repeatedly in scripture. The restoration of Israel is very distinctly stated in Isa. 11 This is often misquoted, or misapplied, as though the world was to be converted. " They shall not Kurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." How does Messiah introduce, or bring about, this kingdom blessing? "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he »lay the wicked." Then follows the description of the blessedness of the kingdom on earth, when the Lord shall gather Israel from the four corners of the earth. It would be impossible to describe more distinctly how the kingdom will be set up, Not a thought of the world being converted, but smitten in judgment. And do not suppose Christendom will escape this judgment of the iron rod.
Paul says to the young converts at Thessalonica, " Remember ye not that, when I was with you, I told you these things?.... For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." (1 Thess. 2:5-8.)
How strange that men should dream of the world's conversion by the gospel with such distinct teaching as this! To say nothing of Pagan nations, here we are distinctly taught beforehand what we know has been going on for eighteen centuries. What is the history of the so-called church but the history of the mystery of iniquity? And how fast is it ripening in readiness to accept the wicked one, the Antichrist! Who would have though fifty years ago, that professing Christians would now deliberately choose a blaspheming atheist to be their representative? All this daring wickedness shows how near is the coming judgment of this world. We are not writing of things which may, or may not, be, but of things that must be, and must shortly come to pass.
It is quite true that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, but is it not equally tee that it must be first smitten in judgment? Jim quite true that the Lord Jesus shall come to set up His kingdom in person, "King of kings, Am Lord of lords/' but when He comes, "out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Rev. 19:11-16.)
After the history of Christendom in Rev. 2; 3, then we have the judgments that will be poured upon the earth—seals of judgment, trumpets of woe, and bowls of wrath. All these will surely come to pass, when the church of God is gone to be with the Lord. It is impossible to shut the eye to the fact that these things are preparing, just held in check until the church is complete, and forever with the Lord. What elements of destruction are really waiting the dread and awful disruption like an earthquake! (Rev. 6:12.) Men feel that society cannot hold together much longer. What perplexity! What deep and increasing distress! In the midst of plenty, yet all classes hastening to ruin. Are we really near the end of this period of abounding grace? Is judgment at the door, and yet men deceiving and being deceived? Is it not a cruel deception to be telling the nations that they will all be converted, and a spiritual millennium come to pass, when the nations are surely about to be judged? We have seen in the Psalms, when the time comes, that the King shall be set upon the holy hill of Zion, and the heathen given unto Him, it will be for judgment, as with a rod of iron. We have seen in Isaiah the same judgment smites the earth before Messiah's kingdom is set up. We have seen in Revelation the same judgment when He comes to reign. We only need to compare these scriptures with the whole testimony of the prophets, and the teaching of Christ, and we shall find the whole word of God in every part in perfect harmony. We will now point out a few scriptures which show that these judgments introduce Israel's future blessing and glory.
In Isa. 61 the day of vengeance precedes the comfort and blessing of Israel, and the rebuilding of all their waste cities. Jerusalem shall then be " a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." No more to be forsaken or desolate. (Chap, 62.)
As has often been noticed, the exact order in these prophecies is very striking. In chapter 61, first, the living ministry of the Lord Jesus, as pointed out by Himself in Luke 4 Then, when He closes the book the parenthesis of the present period of grace is omitted. (Ver. 2.) Then the day of vengeance, introducing the kingdom and glory of Israel, to the end of chapter 62. In chapter 65 we have the most blessed description of Israel's future. "Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." &c.
Do we believe these words of God? Read the full description of Israel's millennial glory, to the end of the chapter. It may be said, Certainly we must believe what God says; but may not all this be brought about by the Jews being converted, through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God? If such should be our reader's thoughts, we would ask, Have you never noticed that the Spirit of God has explained most fully how all this will be brought about? "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Now, is this grace, or judgment? Surely it is the public interference of the Lord in judgment. He says, " I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory." Then, after these judgments, we learn how those Jews who escape will be sent as missionaries to the nations. " And they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles." Then all Israel are gathered from all nations " to my holy mountain, Jerusalem." Then, from that time, during the days of the kingdom of God on earth, "shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." (Chap. 66:15-24.) What light these words throw on Israel's future, and how that future will be brought about.
In Eze. 36:23-38 is a wondrous prophecy of God's unchangeable purpose to bless Israel. Mark, every verse is a statement what God will do for them. God will take them from among the heathen, gather them out of all nations, bring them to their own land, sprinkle clean water upon them, put a new spirit within them. They shall dwell in the land. The fruit of the tree and the increase of the field shall be multiplied. They shall then repent, and be converted—shall dwell in the desolate cities, rebuilt. Palestine shall become like the garden of Eden. Surely no Christian can suppose that God will not perform His word to the very letter. Read to the end of chapter 37. " My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."
But is this brought about by the gospel? Far otherwise. Chapters 38, 39 bring before us, as we have seen, the full particulars of the overthrow, in terrible judgment, of the modern vast empire of Russia, in connection with the final establishment of the kingdom of Israel. Surely the hesitancy of Christians to believe what God hath spoken helps the skeptic to reject the truth of God altogether. "Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog: Rhos, prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him," Ac. (See Septuagint translation.) Thus has God more than two thousand years ago, foretold the final solution of the Eastern Question. The vast empire of Rhos, which covers the countries under the influence and power of Russia, prince of Moscow and Tobolsk; Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them. The immense multitude shall come up against the mountains of Israel. They shall come like a storm, and be like a cloud to cover the land. The powers of the West shall be aroused by this terrible and wicked invasion of Palestine after the return of Israel. " Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" Then God is against Rhos, and destroys this vast northern multitude. The implements of war will serve Israel for fuel. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land, as we saw in our last paper. Thus will God be glorified in judgment on the wicked, when He has mercy on the whole house of Israel. Then shall they dwell safely in their land, and none shall make them afraid. What an end of human politics! This was foretold long before there was any empire of Rhos, or Russia. Is it not evident that, instead of the world being converted when God sets up His kingdom on earth, these vast multitudes of Russia must have sunk into downright infidelity and defiance of God?
Here we must close, for the present. If our readers are interested in these stupendous events so near at hand, they only need study in a reverent spirit, in dependence on the Holy Ghost, the scriptures pointed out. God will surely gather His people Israel to their own land. It is impossible for Him to break His word. Indeed the promises to them occupy a large portion of the Old Testament prophets, as well as having a distinct place in the teaching of the Lord, the Epistle to the Romans, and the Book of Revelation.
Blessed as will be the place of Israel on earth, yet, let our hearts be bowed in worship and thanksgiving because our calling and glory are heavenly, even as He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. If they will be as a nation separated to God from all peoples on the earth, how ought we even now to be separated to Him, not of this world, even as He is not of this world. Thus may He sanctify us by His truth; His word is truth.