The Hope of Israel, or, The Restoration of the Jews, Part of the Divine Scheme and an Element of the Gospel, continued

It is sometimes objected that Palestine is too small to hold all the Jews. The objection, however, proceeds on the erroneous supposition that previous generations of Israel, according to the flesh, will be resurrected for restoration. We have no reason to suppose that there will be such a resurrection. The resurrection that occurs at the manifestation of Christ the restorer, is limited to classes that cannot be brought within the national category--one too high and one too low, to be comprised in the restoration of mortal Jews, namely (I), those who rise to everlasting life, and to reign with Christ over both Jews and Gentiles; and (2), those who rise to be condemned in shame to punishment and second death (Dan. 12v 2; Jno. 5v 29). The promised restoration is restricted to the generation contemporaneous with the advent of the Messiah; and perhaps, even they, as we have seen, will only be gathered to perish in the wilderness like their forefathers in the days of the first exodus.

There is no injustice done to previous generations, for we must remember that the Jews are God's people, only in a national sense. They are His nation, whom He has chosen out of all other people on the face of the earth. He has not selected them with a view to special benefit individually. In respect of the salvation to be conferred through Christ, they are on equal footing with the Gentiles; yet nationally, their relationship to God is very special, as will be made manifest in the future age. Now from the testimony advanced, we learn:--

1. That the Jews are God's chosen nation.

2. That they are the repository of God's promises.

3. That they are dispersed at present as a punishment for their iniquities.

4. That they are to be restored from their dispersion,. and reinstated as a people in their own land.

5. That all the enemies of Israel are to be destroyed, and

6. That the remnant of the nations are to become subject to the restored kingdom of Israel, and to repair periodically to Jerusalem to do homage to the King of all the earth, and to learn his ways.

This is a summary of the things constituting " the hope of Israel, " for which Paul was bound with chains: and who can fail to perceive that they are also the bases of the believer's hope, as set forth in previous lectures? The hope of the believer is the coming of Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom of God, involving the restoration of Israel. The hope of the Jew is the coming of Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom of God. Hence their hopes are identical, though their relation to it is, at first, slightly different. The apostolic gospel is truly " the hope of Israel. " That gospel was, in reality, a proclamation of a coming re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel under the " greater than Solomon, " and an invitation to all to become partakers of Israel's glory, on certain specified conditions. No one, therefore, can Scripturally understand the kingdom of God, which is the gospel hope, who is ignorant of the prophetic teaching concerning the restoration of the Jews, for that restoration is a most essential element of its establishment. Were it omitted, no kingdom of God, such as is revealed, could be set up in the future age.

Yet a certain class of well-meaning persons oppose the doctrine zealously. Taking their stand upon certain statements in the New Testament, they maintain, with great tenacity, that the restoration of the Jews is impossible. Now, we may accept it as a first principle, that any New Testament deduction which is diametrically opposed to the plain statements of the prophets, is erroneous, for the writers of the New Testament said " none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come " (Acts 26v 22), and appealed to them as their authorities. There can be no contradiction in writings dictated by one and the same eternal Spirit; and, in fact, there is none. The New Testament arguments against the restoration of Israel, are all based on misconceptions of the statements on which they are founded. One of these is Rom. 9v 6, 7:--

" They are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of promise are counted for the seed. "

Now, this statement is in strict agreement with the prophets, without in any way diminishing the force of their teaching in reference to the speciality of the Jews as a nation, and their future natural restoration. It is absolutely true that all of Israel are not Israel--that thousands of the seed of Abraham are not CHILDREN--and that' the divine principle is to count " the children of the promise " for the seed; and this is exemplified individually and nationally. In the case of the Jews, requirements such as circumcision, sacrifice, reverence for the name of God, and numberless other things specified in the law, were laid down as conditions of citizenship in the nation, and transgression was visited with expulsion. The penalty attached to almost every statute was, " That soul shall be CUT OFF from his people. " Transgressors, therefore, though of Israel, were not Israel, even under the law. A whole generation of such non-Israelites perished in the wilderness; but this did not nullify the national election of the seed of Abraham (through Israel). It only showed that fleshly descent from Abraham did not of itself constitute accepted Israeliteship--that it required Abraham's faith as well as Abraham's blood.

Individually, as well, in reference to the heirship of the kingdom, " the children of the promise are counted for the seed. " No fleshly son of Abraham has a natural title to the honour, glory, and immortality of the kingdom, covenanted. These are reserved for a class developed on the principle of believing the promises. In this respect, " the flesh profiteth nothing " ; and even in respect of mortal citizenship, it profiteth nothing, for, as we have seen, that privilege is not to be granted on mere fleshly title. " I will bring you into the bond of the covenant, and I will purge out from among you the rebels.. " This is the prophetic declaration. Thousands of Jews will be gathered from the countries who will never enter the land. Yet this will not destroy their national relationship. Being Jews, whom God has specially chosen as a nation, with a view to the development of His ultimate purpose, they will every one be gathered in the preliminary restoration. This is the declaration of Moses, who says:--

" 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 " (Deut. 30v 4).

Isaiah gives similar testimony; he says:--

" 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 " (chap. 11v 12). " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt; and ye shall be gathered ONE BY ONE, O ye children of Israel " (chap. 27v 12).

Thus there will be an indiscriminate national restoration, without any reference to moral condition, just as in the case of the tribes when delivered from Egypt by the hand of Moses; because the nation, as a whole, is God's by sovereign election, and cannot alienate themselves from that relation, though they may be rebellious, and render themselves obnoxious to His destroying judgments. Yet, having been thus indiscriminately gathered, they are not' at once settled in the land, but, like their forefathers, in the day that they came out of the land of Egypt (see testimony already quoted from Ezekiel xx), are subject to an expurgating process in the wilderness, from which none who are morally unfit for the privilege of citizenship under the Messiah, shall escape.

" I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. "

Thus, even in the future national restoration of the Jews, the mere children of the flesh are not counted for the seed, but those of faith who shall be developed by the probation in the wilderness. It must then be obvious that it is a very short-sighted construction of Paul's words, indeed, which world use them to destroy the doctrine of Jewish national restoration. It is a construction to which he himself would strenuously object, were he now alive; for he has left his mind on the subject on record. Speaking of his " kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites " (Rom. 9v 3), he says:--

" Blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the fulness 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; as touching the election, THEY ARE BELOVED FOR THE FATHER'S SAKE; for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance If the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more THEIR FULNESS? If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, WHAT SHALL THE RECEIVING OF THEM BE, but life from the dead? " (Rom. 11v 25, 26, 28, 12, 15).

Here Paul contemplates an approaching Jewish " fulness, " " a receiving again, " a national change, " when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, " and warns the Gentiles in view of this not to boast against the Jews in the wisdom of their own conceit (verse 25). This lets us into Paul's views on the subject of the restoration of the Jews. The prophets and Moses as we have seen, foretell the glorious restoration and national restitution of the veritable nation that has suffered the vengeance of the Almighty for nearly twenty centuries. How then could Paul, who spake none other things than they (Acts 26v 22), inculcate principles entirely subversive of their teaching? It is only partial knowledge or positive ignorance that leads men to erect a system of doctrine on the New Testament that contradicts the plainest testimonies of the " holy men of God, " who " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. "

There are other objections frequently urged of an equally baseless nature, but the limited space at disposal prevents the notice of them. Enough has been said to show that the restoration of Israel is one of the main features of the divine purpose to be developed in the future--that the kingdom of God cannot be established without its accomplishment, and that, in fact, it is an element in the grand event on which the world's salvation depends. " Salvation is of the Jews, " nationally and individually. It is important then to understand this element of the truth of God, that by our enlightenment, we may be enabled to put off our Gentilism, and become related to a higher polity--even the commonwealth of Israel--in which, being " Abraham's seed, " we shall be " HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE. "