There are several special portions of the grand course of prophecy comprised in chapters 40 to 61 of Isaiah, which though we cannot quote them, we must at least point attention to in a glance, however brief, at the dawning light of prophecy.
The marvelous tenderness, and the preserving and sovereign grace, by which Israel shall yet be converted and won back to Jehovah—hardened, degraded, cold, and insensate as the Jew has notoriously become, during so many dreary ages of dispersion and unbelief- are features of this vast course of prophetic dealing, which must not be overlooked. How does Jehovah, in these chapters, seek to gain the ear, to soften the heart, to comfort the spirit, to win the confidence of this despised and down-trodden people! Let chapters 40, 44, 45, 48, 49, 54, and 55, be read with this thought in view. The burthen is this-
“For a small moment have I forsaken thee;
But with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee;
Saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me:
For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
So have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
But my kindness shall not depart from thee;
Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
Saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”
Well, Gentile reader, this Jehovah of the Jew will have mercy upon the Gentile also. In the full light of subsequent revelations, there is hope, yea, full assurance, both of faith, hope, and understanding, even for the Gentile dog that approaches Jehovah in the way of his own provision.
See how that way is set forth even in this prophecy of Isaiah. There is more than merely dawning light thereon, afforded in the well-known 53rd chapter. There is the full, clear, express declaration of vicarious expiation. It is the first formal revelation of the wondrous fact, that a certain one from amongst the sons of men—a sinless man—should be the victim of atonement between Jehovah and his people. Who this sinless one should be is not revealed; but the fact that such an one should suffer is announced with the utmost definiteness. Would that we might quote the chapter as a whole! But who knows it not? Who that has ever known the sinfulness of sin has not turned hopefully and with comfort to this wondrous prophecy!
Grounded on this announcement of atonement and justification, by the sufferings of one for all, we have in chapter 55, an invitation full of evangelical light and grace. There are living waters, wine and milk, offered without money and without price. The future day of judgment is not the sole topic which is connected with the introduction of the better age. It is, alas! very solemnly prominent; but grace, and penitence, and conversion are all to be vouchsafed. An “everlasting covenant” is to be made with Jehovah's people, “even the sure mercies of David.” The terms of that covenant are, “Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live.” There is more than the mere dawn of prophetic light here also.
We have already before us, indeed, almost every element of prophetic light, concerning the Messiah in his future earthly relationship heavenly things remained a mystery still; but very full revelation is afforded in the remaining prophetic books of the Old Testament as to the earthly things of the future kingdom.
JEREMIAH presents formally the making of a new covenant with the house of Judah and Israel, in connection with full and solemn announcements of most of the grand events already seen in previous scriptures See for example chapters 30 and 31.
EZEKIEL sets forth the departure of the glory from its earthly habitation, and then its future return; showing the actings of a grand confederacy, of eastern nations chiefly, against the land and nations of Israel, at the period when the people shall have returned and settled in the land. This confederacy is quite distinct from that western one, which, under Antichrist, shall be leagued with Jerusalem, and for a time deceive the Jews. This one, of Gog and Magog, will transpire somewhat later than that of Antichrist Composed of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and apparently of the remaining of the nations, which are outside the beast and Antichrist, it assaults the land, after a season of quiet repose in the land has been enjoyed by God's people. It seems to be a Russian aggression that is here predicted. It is judged of God, and then all the earth is quiet, and all commotions at an end. As to the glory, see Ezek. 11:23,23And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. (Ezekiel 11:23) and 43:1 to 7; and respecting the confederacy, see chapters 37 to 39.
DANIEL reveals the great facts of the times of the Gentiles. Four empires should successively rule over and oppress the rebellious nation of the Jews. Yet but one grand idea is seen throughout the course of all these empires. It is man's unity of power, having its rise from Babylon, in opposition to God's unity, which must have its seat at Jerusalem. Thus all Gentile unity, whether secular or ecclestical, is Babylon. And Babylon literal and secular, and Babylon mystical and ecclesiastical, will perish beneath the manifestation of Messiah's power, in the future day. The stone shall grind to powder the image; not convert it. The judgment shall sit, and the beast, with its sovereign horn, shall be cast into the lake of fire. The heavens shall rule. The kingdom, the reign, of heaven shall be set up. See Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12.
In HOSEA, is the Scripture apparently referred to by the Lord, in the words which were so startling to the disciples: “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him.” Thus in chapter 5:15, we have the emphatic declaration, “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense: in their affliction they will seek me early.” How exactly was this fulfilled, after the Lord had uttered the solemn resolution: “Your house is left unto you desolate, for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
JOEL presents, amidst much else that is important, the “great and terrible day of the Lord.” It shall transpire “in those days, and in that time, when Jehovah shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.” Mark this well. Then shall be the treading of the winepress and then also the harvest. This helps to a right decision as to the same event in Matt. 13; as also that in Rev. 14. The harvest is not the end of the globe, but merely of the peculiar era which is concluded by it. See Joel 3.
ZEPHANIAH furnishes a complete reply to any question respecting the kind of circumstances which shall be introductory of the reign of the Messiah. Mark the word “then” in its connection, in the following passage:
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, Until the day that I rise up to the prey;
For my determination is to gather the nations, —that I may assemble the kingdoms, To pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger; For all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
For THEN will I turn to the people a pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the Lord, —to serve him with one consent.”
There is no ambiguity here as to the how the latter day shall be introduced. It shall be “then” —in connection with the terrible crisis predicted: “THEN will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.”
ZECHARIAH, in the use of the type of Joshua, son of Josedek, the high priest, seems to set forth one far greater than he.
“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is The BRANCH;
And he shall grow up out of his place,-and he shall build the temple of the Lord:
Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; —and he shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule upon his throne; —and he shall be a priest upon his throne:
And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
How distinct and beautiful the truths enunciated here. This potentate shall be a priest also, “a priest upon his throne.” “And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” The KING shall be enabled to enter into a counsel of peace, even with the way-ward Jew, through the medium of his own priesthood. To exercise mercy, there must be priesthood. Yet the potentate might have reigned without showing mercy; and so consequently without any mediation. Mediatorship was not essential to the sovereignty of the Son of man. In order to the exercise of grace, it was necessary; but not in order to the exercise of righteous sovereignty. Whence, then, the notion of a “mediatorial reign?” There is mediatorial priesthood, and there is gracious sovereignty as the result. But the two, though united in one person, are distinct thoughts pertaining to offices perfectly distinct in nature. The one may exist, nay does exist, without the other. The priesthood is exercised now, not the sovereignty. The king indeed is born, and his title to the throne committed to his hands; but he has not ascended his throne as yet; not “taken to himself” the actual exercise of the royal power. “Mediatorial reign,” then, is simply confusion. There is no mediatorial reign. There is mediatorial priesthood, and there is to be delegated sovereignty; sovereignty committed by God to the hands of the Son of man, even a millennial sway. But a “mediatorial reign,” we repeat it, is simply nonsense. A gracious reign will result from mediation, but there is all the difference of cause and effect between them.
In this prophetic book we have, also, one of the most solemn pictures of the great day of Jehovah's interference.
“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, And thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;
And the city shall be taken, —and the houses rifled, and the women ravished;
And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, And fight against those nations—as when he fought in the day of battle.
And his feet shall stand in that day Upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof. Toward the east and toward the west—and there shall be a very great valley;
And half of the mountain shall remove towards the north—and half of it toward the south:
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains;
For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: Yea, shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah:
And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”
We give this as a specimen, once for all, of the grand crisis which must transpire around Jerusalem. In how many Scriptures is not this “gathering of nations” predicted! It is, too, when the captivity of the Jews shall terminate; not at its commencement. It is no past crisis that is here described. It is certainly future. And it is when “the Lord God shall come, and all the saints with him.” We know, by subsequent revelations, that there will be a coming of Jehovah manifested in the flesh. Is not the coming here spoken of that same personal coming? This prophecy does not reveal the mode of the coming which is predicted. We could not from this Scripture only, determine it. But surely, in the light of subsequent predictions, we may be assured that it is none other than the second personal return of the Lord Jesus that is here foretold.
MALACHI, too, furnishes testimony to the great events of the future; we can furnish one brief quotation only:
“For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven;
And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, That it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear my name Shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet In the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
Such is the tenor of the predictions of the Old Testament. The introduction, by a crisis of mingled mercy and judgment, of the universal reign of a king appointed by Jehovah, is the grand feature of them all. But there is a mystery yet behind. This king is to have a heavenly bride, as well as earthly subjects. This the Old Testament does not reveal. For this wondrous thought we must proceed to the New. The Church-the body of the saints of the present interval, between the departure and the return of the Lord Jesus—was not the subject of Old Testament predictions. The saints of that past dispensation shall sit down in the heavenly places of the future kingdom in the presence of the king as his friends, the “friends” of the bridegroom, and they shall rejoice to see him take his bride; but they shall not be of the bride. The saints of the future period shall be reigned over by the king, but they shall not reign with him, as the bride shall. There are spheres of glory; there are gradations in the kingdom. The “heavenly things” were subsequent revelation. Earthly things shall be the portion of Israel, and the nations. Heavenly things, as well as royalty over earthly things, are the portion of the bridegroom, of the bride, and of their “friends.” “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.”
The day succeeds the dawn. The dawning light brightens into noon-day splendor. We direct attention onwards to that “completion” of the word of God which was vouchsafed to the apostles, especially to Paul. And we conclude these very hasty sketches of a few leading features only, of God's progressive revelation, in the words of that highly favored apostle—— “Whereby, when you read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ; which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see, what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might Leviticus known, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God.” Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.