Isaiah 42, 43, 49.
I will now take another character of prophecy referred to—the servant; showing that Israel is taken up as the servant, and replaced by Christ, who will deliver the remnant as again servants of Jehovah, who had long, as we have seen, hidden His face. Isa. 43 says, “My servant whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. A bruised reed shall be not break,” etc. This we know is formally applied to Christ in the Gospels. In verse 19, and more distinctly and definitely in chap. 43:1-10, the servant is Israel. In chap. 49 this is again declared in express terms, “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Then says one, If that be so, I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for naught and in vain; and then goes on, “And now, saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall he my strength. His judgment was with Jehovah, and His work with His God. Then comes the answer, “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, and to be my salvation to the end of the earth.” Yet afterward Israel is brought back, and Zion is remembered and glorified, and kings her nursing fathers.
Now here I have Israel a servant apparently a total failure, because they are not gathered by a person who appears on the scene to do it, yet declares His work owned. Then the Gentiles brought in (a passage which Paul uses for his ministry); and then, after all, Israel restored and blessed. Now I am not saying [for the moment] whether this is a false prophecy, or a true one; but it is there—was there—as a prophecy before the time, is not yet all accomplished certainly, but speaks of Israel as a servant supplanted by another who fails in gathering Israel, and turns to the Gentiles, and looks on to the end then even for Israel. It is (true or false!) Messianic, predicts one who seems to fail—outwardly does as to Israel, and then turns to the Gentiles. It is used by Paul in Luke’s account in the Acts, and by himself in 2 Corinthians; the former to authorize his turning to the Gentiles, the latter to the gospel time (2 Cor. 6:2). Every one can judge whether Christianity, or the ribaldry of the Neologists and the idealism of Baron Bunsen most justly meet the statements in it. At any rate they are there. A man may reject prophecy, or say it is not fulfilled; but he who says there is not avowed prophecy, and prophecy of Israel’s future glory (and glory through a glorious deliverer, commonly called Messiah), is not an honest man, or is in willful blindness.
And remark, I insist on the truth of what they make an objection of, namely, that there is the connection with present circumstances in Israel; that God had foretold a deliverance by the Seed of the woman; and then, when the world had fallen into idolatry, which no one can deny, chose out a people to preserve the knowledge of the one true God, Jehovah, and made them the center of His earthly government: as it is said, “When the Most High [His universal name of dominion over the earth and all powers] divided to the nations their inheritance; when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For Jehovah’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deut. 32:8, 9). This did not set aside the promise made before, though for a time He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. But the promises as to the earth centered in Israel as a people. When the fullness of time was come, the promised Deliverer came and presented Himself to Israel as a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God. Israel is not gathered. He is a stone of stumbling. Then the promises center, as we have seen, in Christ. Israel has voluntarily forfeited them, and ceases for a time, save by the hiding of God’s face from them, to be the center of His earthly government, and remain, as we know, without their own religion, and without a false one (Hos. 3:4, 5).
Meanwhile believers are called to follow a rejected Lord, take up their cross, and have their treasure in heaven. Though not a sparrow falls without our Father, and all is under God’s hand, yet it is not the time of God’s direct government in respect of an earthly people. In due time God declares He will take up the Jews and Israel again; and while the saints who have suffered will have a heavenly portion, the earth will be governed in peace. But this will be introduced by a time of evil, tribulation, and judgment.
Now the prophecies all declare this, and we must not confound the government of the earth (and the promises made to the Jews and connected with it) with our heavenly hopes. God does not prophesy of heaven, but of events on the earth. These prophecies, while the Jews were connected with the present government of God, were addressed to them, to warn and encourage them then; but God, knowing what they were, went on to the end, to the infallible accomplishment of His purpose, knowing that what rested on man’s responsibility must fail. Hence prophecies do apply largely at the time, only they go often on to the end; and are all a part of this large general scheme—are not “of private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20), and not only as to Messiah, but as to Jews and Gentiles, all whose history and circumstances at the close of the world’s history are much more fully gone into than the circumstances of the day. Christ’s humiliation is spoken of, His rejection, as we have seen; but the prophecy, as it speaks of the government of the world, once He is gone on high, passes over to His future re-appearing in the world’s government; for this was the subject of prophecy. Hence Christ and the apostles leave out often the last part of a prophecy—it belongs to the end of the present order of the world—and stop at its first coming or its effects. Thus Christ says, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” but does not add, “the day of vengeance of our God”: this is to come. So Paul, quoting Psa. 68, says, “He hath received gifts for men,” but does not add, “Yea, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” This will be true when Israel is restored in the latter day...
The notion of the application of the words in Hosea, “I have called my son out of Egypt” to Christ, is ridiculed by rationalists. Now, I affirm distinctly that it is according to the tenor of scripture testimony and perfectly rightly applied. It is a great leading truth. If you look at Isa. 49, you will see Messiah distinctly presented as taking the place of Israel. I think we have spoken, when on the pseudo-Isaiah of infidels, of the elect servant of Israel—Christ the elect Servant, and the remnant the elect servant of the last days. But this chapter 49 is more definite. Israel is first presented as Jehovah’s witness in the earth, as the polished shaft in His quiver. “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said,” says Messiah, “I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for naught and in vain.” And so it was with Christ on earth. “But now, saith Jehovah, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, and to be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
That is, Israel is presented as the servant of Jehovah; but when Christ comes, if it were so, His labor was in vain, and then Christ, though to restore the remnant in due time, is Himself God’s Servant, and light goes forth to the Gentiles.... Christ takes the place of Israel under the law, Israel after the flesh. This He does all through [the Gospel of] John, though in a higher way, as revealed Son of God. Hence in John 15, He proclaims Himself as the true Vine. Israel was the well-known vine, and; as remarked before, Messiah was to be the best branch, the topmost bough. But Israel is set aside. The true vine, as the true servant, is Christ. Israel was Jehovah’s son, His firstborn; but Christ was the Son, the true firstborn of every creature. Hence, as rejected by Israel, He begins Israel’s whole history afresh, and, as not deriving His position from the people, He is called out of Egypt to begin their history according to God.
J. N. D.