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THE FUTURE PROSPERITY OF ISRAEL
OF all the people upon the earth, the Jews have been, beyond comparison, the most highly honoured of their God. To no other nation did Jehovah ever manifest himself by such miraculous interpositions; nor was any other ever blessed with such rich and glorious communications. Even their present state, degraded as it is, evinces the peculiar interest which Jehovah takes in them: for, though scattered over the face of the whole earth, they still remain a separate people; and are reserved for higher honours, and more signal blessings, than their most favoured ancestors ever enjoyed. The various nations that, in successive ages, have oppressed them, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Grecian, Roman, have all sunk beneath the yoke which their respective conquerors have laid upon them, and have been mingled with their invaders in one common mass. Not so the Jews: they, though more cruelly oppressed than any, have still been kept distinct from the people amongst whom they have dwelt: and to this remarkable event the prophet refers, in the words following my text: “Hath God smitten him, as he smote those who smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?” No: “though God has made a full end of all other nations, he has not made a full end of them:” but he still has his eye upon them for good; and will, in due season, fulfil to them all his purposes of love and mercy: “He will yet cause them to take root, and blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
In these words we may see,
I. What the Jews are destined to become—
Their state, both political and moral, is at present as low as can well be conceived. Scattered as they are amongst all nations, they have never yet been affiliated with any, so as to be regarded on a par with other citizens, or to enjoy the rights belonging to all the other classes of the community. The possession of landed property has been, till of late, universally denied them; so that they could never “take root” in any place, or be established in any country under heaven.
Nor have they been less degraded in their moral and religious character. Being despised of all, they have not been accustomed to respect themselves, or to affect that high sense of honour which elevates the characters of other people. In their religious assemblies they have not even the semblance of piety; so carnal are they in their spirit, and so irreverent in their whole conduct. Not “a blossom or a bud” of true godliness is to be seen among them: and so far are they from “filling the world with fruit,” that they are altogether immersed in selfishness, and lost to every thing but worldly gain.
But far other things are reserved for them. The time is coming when they shall be established in knowledge, fertile in piety, and abundant in usefulness throughout the world—
1. They shall be established in the knowledge of the true Messiah—
[They shall yet, I doubt not, take root” in their own land. So plainly is their future restoration foretold, that, if I did not know that some pious persons entertain doubts respecting it, I should be ready to say, it is impossible for any one who believes the Scriptures to question it. But with this, the Society which advocates their cause has nothing to do. It is with their spiritual concerns alone that we are called to interest ourselves: and we are fully assured, that our labour, in this respect, shall not be in vain. They have hitherto been ever ready to run after false Messiahs. Indeed, they have never conceived aright respecting the character of the Messiah whom God has promised to them, nor of the nature of that kingdom which he will establish in the earth. But the time is coming, when the veil shall be taken from their hearts; and when they shall see, beyond a possibility of doubt, that Jesus is the Christ. They have in their own Scriptures that which will tend to their establishment far beyond any other people on earth: and we may well expect, that, when they shall be brought to the knowledge of Christ, they will “take root” in him with a firmness that shall never be shaken. They will see how the whole of their ceremonial law shadows him forth; and how the moral law also directs them to him. They will see that all the prophets, with one voice, point to him as the promised Messiah: and, from this weight of evidence, they will feel a conviction, which heathens can scarcely ever attain. Exceeding deep will be their insight into the truths of the Gospel, when God shall “reveal to them,” as he has promised, “the abundance of peace and truth [Note: Jer_33:6.]:” “The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord shall bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound [Note: Isa_30:26.].” When once “they shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn,” so clear will be their views, and so deep their convictions, that it will be as if they saw him face to face: as it is said, “They shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion [Note: Isa_52:8.].”]
2. They shall be fertile in the fruits of piety—
[As they are destined to “take root downward, so are they ordained also to bear fruit upward [Note: Isa_37:31.].” In that day shall be fulfilled that gracious declaration of Jehovah, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon: his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell us Lebanon [Note: Hos_14:4-6.].” Much, very much, is spoken in the Scriptures respecting the spiritual change that shall then be wrought in them: “God will give them a new heart, and a new spirit will he put within them; and he will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flush; and will cause them to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments and do them [Note: Eze_36:26-27.].” In truth, the whole figurative language of prophecy, though primarily applicable to their temporal prosperity, has a further and far more important reference to their spiritual state: “Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off [Note: Isa_55:13.].]
3. They shall be abundant in usefulness throughout the world—
[“They shall fill the face of the world with fruit.” Yes, verily, they are God’s appointed instruments for the conversion of the whole world. This is one end for which God, in his providence, has scattered them over the whole earth. He has sent them, unconscious and uncalled-for, even as the clouds of heaven, to pour out the blessings with which they are fraught, and to fertilize the desert places of the earth. The Prophet Micah speaks of them in these remarkable terms: “The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men [Note: Mic_5:7.].” It is thus that God has prepared the way for the conversion of the whole Gentile world. The Jews, in all the different countries of the earth, possess their own Scriptures, whereon Christianity is founded; and, being conversant with the languages of the people amongst whom they sojourn, they will be ready to proclaim the truth the very instant that the veil is removed from their own hearts. And that this is their destined office, we are sure; for God himself says respecting them, “They shall declare my glory among the Gentiles; and they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord [Note: Isa_66:19-20.].” They are the appointed reapers of the whole world. Precisely as, by the Jews, God, in the apostolic age, reaped the first-fruits of the Gentiles, so will he, in due season, gather in by them the whole harvest.]
Here then we may also see,
II. What we ought now to be—
We are God’s Israel, as much as ever they were; and heirs of all these blessings no less than they: for, “if we be Christ’s, then are we Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise [Note: Gal_3:29.].” Standing, then, in this relation to the Deity, can we doubt our obligation to serve and honour him? Surely it becomes all who “name the name of Christ,”
1. To take root in him—
[This is expressly told us by the Apostle Paul: “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving [Note: Col_2:6-7.].” We are, by our very profession, “plants of righteousness, of the Lord’s planting;” and it is on Christ Jesus that we stand. Into him we must shoot forth our roots: and from him must we derive all the sap and nourishment, whereby we are to live, and to bring forth fruit to his glory. Nothing is to move us from him, even for a moment: nor must we entertain a thought of finding support from any other than him. It is “in him that all fulness dwells;” and “out of his fulness must we receive” all our supplies of grace and strength. Our whole life must be one continued exercise of faith in him; and we must “cleave unto him with full purpose of heart.”]
2. To bring forth fruit to his glory—
[Christians must not be like the world around them, “barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord;” but abounding in the fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Would you form a perfect idea of this distinction, go and behold two trees, one laden with leaves only, the other covered with blossoms and buds which promise an abundant supply of fruit. No person, with these objects before him, doubts of their comparative value: no one doubts which of the two better answers the end of all the cultivation bestowed upon it, or which is the more acceptable to him on whose ground they stand. Know ye then, my Brethren, that this is the evidence which ye must give of a work of grace within you. You must, as David speaks, “be beautified with salvation:” the power of divine grace must display itself within you, by all those holy dispositions which were in Christ himself. Behold the Saviour in his whole deportment towards God and man; how meek and lowly; how patient and forbearing; how superior to earthly things, and intent on the work assigned him! “His path was like the sun” in its course: and “such should yours be, shining brighter and brighter unto the perfect day:” yea, so clearly and constantly should it shine, that all who behold you should confess that God is with you, and should glorify him for the grace conferred upon you. It is in this way that we are to approve ourselves trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, “in whom he shall be glorified.”]
3. To extend the knowledge of him throughout the world—
[“No one of us should live unto himself.” From the moment that we are engrafted into Christ, we should begin to bring forth fruit to his glory, and should labour to diffuse to the utmost possible extent the benefits we have received. Our domestic circle should occupy our first attention; and then the neighbourhood in which we live: and then we should go on further, to extend our efforts, till we have “filled the face of the whole world with fruit.” This should be the ambition of every child of God: and, if facilities are afforded us for combined exertion, we should gladly avail ourselves of them, in order that our labours may be more useful, and that we may effect by union what cannot be wrought by individual exertion. In particular, we should look upon the state of the Jewish and Heathen world. We should lament to see in what darkness both the one and the other are lying: and, like the holy apostles, we should endeavour to advance the Redeemer’s kingdom throughout the world. Like St. Paul, we should have great heaviness and continual sorrow in our hearts for those who are “perishing for lack of knowledge;” and, by all the means within our reach, we should labour, that “all the kingdoms of the world may become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ.”]
And now, let me further improve this subject,
1. In a way of reproof to ourselves—
[How little of this piety is to be seen amongst us! Men are “rooted” indeed; but it is in the world, and not in Christ. And there is, to a certain degree, a form of godliness amongst us; but its power is sadly wanting. Nor is there altogether a want of benevolence; but it is displayed rather to the bodies than the souls of men; or, at all events, is exercised only towards those around us, instead of being extended to the whole world. Perhaps we may contribute towards the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, and the sending of Missionaries to the Gentiles, and to the work that is carrying forward amongst the Jews: but, if we examine how far our hearts are interested in these things, we shall have reason to be ashamed before God, and to acknowledge that we are very far from having attained that holy zeal which should animate our souls. We say indeed, as our Lord has taught us, “Thy kingdom come:” but, as for our efforts for the establishment of it, they are as cold and partial as if the matter were of no importance. I pray you, Brethren, to lay this matter to heart. It is not in this way that our God ought to be served, and our Redeemer’s interests promoted. We should be full of zeal in this sacred cause, even of such “a zeal” as has a tendency to “consume us.” Our very life ought not to be dear to us, if that by any means we may advance the welfare of our fellow-creatures, and the glory of our God.]
2. In a way of encouragement, as it respects the Jews—
[We are apt to entertain desponding thoughts, as if it were impossible that the prophecies respecting that people should ever be accomplished. But is their state more desperate than it was in Egypt or in Babylon? Yet were the promised deliverances vouchsafed from thence. On the self-same day that had been foretold four hundred and thirty years before, were they brought out from Egypt; and precisely at the termination of the seventy years from Babylon. What reason, then, is there to doubt of God’s effectual interposition now? Has he forgotten his own word or promise? or, after so many centuries, “is his ear become heavy that he cannot hear, or is his arm shortened that he cannot save?” He has said, “I will cause” this: and be assured, that not all the power of men or devils shall prevent the execution of his purpose: nor shall one jot or tittle of his word ever fail.” “Has he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” In engaging, then, in this cause, you have this consolation; that, though you should not live to see the work accomplished, it shall take place at the appointed time. The dispersed of Judah shall be brought back to God; and that event shall “be as life from the dead, to the whole world.”]