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THE FUTURE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS
AMONGST the numberless manifestations of God’s mercy in the Scriptures, we cannot but be particularly struck with this, that scarcely ever do we find any awful denunciation of God’s wrath against his offending people, but there is some gracious promise annexed to it, as an encouragement to them to repent. In the whole preceding part of the chapter before us, God declared his determination to give up Jerusalem into the hands of the Chaldeans. Yet behold, at that very time does God open to his people the most consolatory prospects of an ultimate restoration to their own land, and of numberless attendant blessings to be poured out upon them.
In considering the passage which we have just read, I shall have occasion to shew you,
I. What blessings God has in reserve for his chosen people—
These correspond exactly with the state in which they were at the time when the promise was made. They had grievously departed from God; and, on account of their iniquities, they were doomed to be cast off, and to be sent into captivity in Babylon. But, as God had graciously determined to temper judgment with mercy, he here promises to them,
1. A restoration to their own land—
[A restoration from Babylon is doubtless the point here primarily intended: and that was vouchsafed to them at the expiration of seventy years, according to the predictions of the prophet respecting it. But the terms in which this is declared almost necessarily lead our minds to a restoration yet future; because it was from Babylon alone that the first deliverance was vouchsafed, whereas the promise relates to a deliverance “out of all countries, whither they have been driven:” and it speaks of their being caused to “dwell safely;” whereas they experienced but little of peace and safety after their first restoration: they were grievously harassed, from time to time, by the kings of Syria and Egypt, and their other neighbours, till at last they were subdued, and utterly destroyed, by the Romans: but at their restoration from their present dispersion, they will enjoy a state of peace and prosperity far beyond all that they ever experienced in the most favoured periods of their history: Jerusalem, instead of being defended, as formerly, against enemies, by ramparts of man’s construction, “will be inhabited as a town without walls; because the Lord will be a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of her [Note: Zec_2:4-5.].” This is repeatedly and distinctly promised: “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall nut be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby [Note: Isa_33:20-21.]:” that is, she shall be alike inaccessible to enemies of every description, by reason of the effectual protection afforded her by Jehovah. And in this happy state shall they continue, “planting vineyards, and drinking of the wine thereof; and making gardens, and eating of the fruit of them; and being so securely planted in their land, as never again to be pulled up, and rooted out of it [Note: Amo_9:14-15.].”]
2. A renewed acknowledgment of their relation to him—
[During their captivity in Babylon, and still more in their present dispersion, they are like a repudiated wife, whom her husband will no more acknowledge. To apprise them of God’s determination to put them away, the Prophet Hosea was instructed to “call his son Lo-ammi;” for, says God, “ye are not my people, and I will not be your God [Note: Hos_1:8-9; Hos_2:1-2.].” Their connexion with Jehovah being thus dissolved, their enemies have been able to oppress them, and indeed have grievously oppressed them in every nation where they have been scattered. But the time is coming, when God will again shew himself in their behalf, and renew to them all the wonderful interpositions which he vouchsafed to them in former days. At least ten times is this promise in our text repeated to them by the prophets, that “they shall again be God’s people, and he their God;” or, as it is very emphatically said, “a God unto them [Note: Heb_8:10.].” Nor can any language more fully depict the blessings contained in this promise, than that of the Prophet Isaiah: “Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory, Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended [Note: Isa_60:15-16; Isa_60:19-20.].”]
3. A spirit of piety poured out upon them—
[“One heart and one way” have distinguished the Lord’s people in all ages of the world: nor can either the heart or the way be more justly described, than in those comprehensive words, “The fear of God.” This disposition belongs not to us by nature, nor is this conduct found in any natural man: it is the gift of God, who “by his Spirit convinces us of sin,” and reveals a Saviour to us, and inclines us to devote ourselves unreservedly to his service. There are many points, of subordinate moment, in which the children of God may differ: but in these things they all agree: “as face answereth to face in a glass, so in these respects doth the heart of man to man.” All, without exception, feel themselves to be guilty and undone sinners; all cleave unto the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope; and all walk before God, in a way of holy, tender, and affectionate obedience. And this marks their character to the latest hour of their lives. They would no more divest themselves of the fear of God, than of love, or joy, or confidence, or any other gracious affection whatsoever. And this holy state of mind will eminently distinguish the Jews in the latter day. It will be given to them “for their own good, and for the good of their children after them:” for, in truth, this kind of piety; whilst it invariably exalts the person in whom it is found, will always display itself in a diligent attention to the rising generation. At present, the children of the Jews are neglected in a very extraordinary degree: but it will not be so in that day: for, like Abraham of old, the parents will “command their children, and their households after them, to fear the Lord;” and the whole nation, for many successive generations, will be “an holy people unto the Lord.”
Here it will be proper to observe, that this diffusion of piety will not precede, but follow, their restoration to their own land: at least, so, I think, the Prophet Ezekiel has plainly intimated; saying, “When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the Lord: neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God [Note: Eze_39:25-29.].” But in that day, I hesitate not to say, they, even the whole nation, will be eminently holy; since “then God will sprinkle clean water upon them, and they shall be clean: from all their filthiness, and from all their idols, will he cleanse them: a new heart also will he give unto them, and a new spirit will he put within them: he will even put his Holy Spirit within them, and will cause them to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments, and do them: and they shall dwell in the land which ho gave to their fathers; and they shall be his people, and he will be their God [Note: Eze_36:24-28 and Jer_24:6-7.].”]
As we speak with confidence respecting their final possession of these blessings, it will be proper to shew,
II. What security they have for the enjoyment of them—
In the behalf of this desolate and outcast people are pledged,
1. The veracity of God—
[God will make a covenant with them; not like the covenant which he made with them in former days, wherein the possession of his blessings was suspended upon their fidelity to God, and which, being violated by them, was utterly dissolved; but he will make one, which, in consequence of God’s undertaking every thing for them, as well as for himself, shall never be broken, but shall endure for ever. This may well be called a Covenant of Grace; for in it God gives all, and man receives all: God engages, not only that ho will not depart from his people to do them good, but that he will put his “fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from him.” And here I would particularly call your attention to the way in which he undertakes to keep them: it is not through the medium of a bold, presumptuous unhallowed confidence, such as you see in many professors of religion, and such as betrays itself in rash, unscriptural assertions: it is by “putting his fear into their hearts,” and causing them to “walk humbly before him,” and to “work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.” I would that this matter were better understood in the Christian world; and that they who profess to believe with Abraham, would, with Abraham, “fall upon their face before God,” and walk before him with a perfect heart [Note: Gen_17:1-3.].
That such a covenant shall be made with them in that day, is fully declared in the chapter preceding our text: “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 it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people [Note: Jer_31:31-33. with Heb_8:8-10.].” The interest also which “their children” shall have in this covenant is further declared: “They shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 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 [Note: Eze_37:25-28.].”]
2. The power of God—
[At their first espousal to God, “he rejoiced over them to do them good:” and since his rejection of them for their unfaithfulness, “he has rejoiced over them to bring them to nought [Note: Deu_28:63.].” But at the period we are now speaking of, he will again “rejoice over them to do them good;” as says the Prophet Zephaniah, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing [Note: Zep_3:17.].” It appears, at present, as if the obstacles to the accomplishment of all these promises were absolutely insurmountable: but “if God will work, who shall let it?” He says, “I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.” Shall it then fail of its accomplishment in due season? “Is there any thing too hard for the Lord?” Has he scattered them according to his word, and preserved them a separate people, notwithstanding their dispersion; and shall he not gather them again, and “bring upon them all the good that he has promised them?” If all the obstacles that men or devils can ever raise against it were united in one common mass, I would say to them, “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain [Note: Zec_4:7.].”]
Learn, then, from hence,
1. What we, if we are the Lord’s people, may expect for ourselves—
[It is not to the Jews, as Jews, that the spiritual promises are made; but with them as believing in the Messiah, and as submitting to the government of David their prince. If this, then, be our character, they are made to us; and we, substituting the heavenly for the earthly Canaan, may take to ourselves all these great and precious promises, expecting assuredly that God will thus exert himself for us, till he has put us into the full possession of all the blessedness of heaven. If we have been brought from our wanderings “to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem [Note: Heb_12:22.],” then are we interested in this covenant, and God will confer upon us its choicest blessings; regarding us as “his peculiar treasure,” and exerting for us his Almighty power, “to keep us from falling, that in due season we may be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy [Note: 1Pe_1:5. Jude, ver. 24.].” Learn, my beloved Brethren, to realize these glorious expectations, and to enjoy in your own persons what you anticipate in behalf of your Jewish brethren.
Fix your eyes steadily on that good land in which God has assuredly determined to plant you; and contemplate him as engaging, “with his whole heart, and with his whole soul,” to effect his gracious purpose. I say, view this whole work of grace in its commencement, its progress, its consummation; and, if your conscience bears witness that he has “given you a heart and a way to fear him,” then rely on him to preserve you from ever departing from him, and to complete for you in heaven what he has begun on earth: for “faithful is He that hath called you, who also will do it [Note: 1Th_5:24.].”]
2. What encouragement we have to labour for our Jewish brethren—
[The object which we have in view is, not their restoration to their own land (that, I conceive, we may well leave in the hands of Providence, without presuming to interfere with it), but their conversion to Christ, and the everlasting salvation of their souls. Compare their present state of degradation and ruin with those periods of their history when God vouchsafed to them the manifestations of his love and favour; and say whether we should not wish to restore them to their former happiness and honour? Yet I conceive that the blessedness that awaits them will as far exceed all that their forefathers ever enjoyed, as that of their forefathers surpassed any thing that was experienced by the heathens around them. Indeed we are told, that “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the lay that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound [Note: Isa_30:26.].” “Come, then, to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against all the enemies of our God” and of his Christ. Had you to attempt the work of their conversion without Divine assistance, I readily grant that you might well be discouraged: but when you see what God has promised them, and to what an extent his veracity and power are pledged to effect it, methinks you should all be animated with a holy ambition to become God’s honoured instruments for their welfare. The indifference which has been shewn in relation to this work for seventeen hundred years may well fill us with astonishment: and even yet the Christian world is not alive to it as they ought to be. A very small measure of zeal in this great cause is regarded as extravagance, But shall Almighty God engage in it “with his whole heart and with his whole soul,” and shall we be lukewarm? — — — Arise, I say, to your duty. Your God is already gone out before you: there is already “a stir among the dry tones;” and the time is fast approaching, when we may hope to see them “arise a great army.” Let zeal for God and love for man have their perfect work among you. Be likeminded with God himself, and in every possible way “rejoice over them to do them good” — — — so shall the time be hastened forward, and “the kingdoms of the whole world, both of Jews and Gentiles, become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.”]