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CHRIST MADE KNOWN TO THE GENTILES
IT is scarcely to be conceived to what a degree prejudice will close both the eyes and ears of men against the plainest truths. Nothing could be plainer than the avowed purpose and determination of God to cast off the Jews in the event of their continued impenitence, and to admit the Gentiles to a participation of those privileges of which the Jews in the first instance had the exclusive enjoyment. Moses had declared it in the most direct terms; that “God would provoke the Jews to jealousy by those who were not a people, and by a foolish nation he would anger them:” the plain import of which was, that he would transfer his favours to the Gentiles, in case the Jews should continue to abuse them. But Isaiah, as my text expresses it, was very bold; affirming in a way of prophetical anticipation, that God was already found of the Gentiles, to whom his Gospel, so long slighted by the Jews, was now proclaimed [Note: See Isa_65:1-2.]. Yet strong as these assertions were, the Jews could not for a moment admit the idea, that the Gentiles should be admitted to a participation of their privileges. But St. Paul assures them, that so it had been determined many centuries before, and, in fact, that so it had been done.
In discoursing on the predictions here cited, we shall consider them,
I. As prophecies fulfilled—
In them we see,
1. God’s promise to the Gentiles—
[The Gentiles are here plainly designated. They “sought not God, nor asked after him” at all: they were altogether ignorant of God, and unconcerned about him. They did not regard the notices of him which were visible in all the works of his hands. They were contented to live without him in the world; and so far did they put him from them, that “he was not in all their thoughts.”
Yet to these was God now made known in the person of his Son: the glad tidings of salvation had been proclaimed to them; the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon them; and Christ, in all his fulness, and in all his glory, had been revealed in their hearts. God had now been found of them, not as a Creator merely, but as a Saviour; a Father, a Friend, a Portion, “an everlasting great Reward.” Though they had been in darkness and the shadow of death during all the time that God had made himself known to the Jews, yet at last “the light had risen upon them, and God’s glory was seen upon them.” “As soon as they heard him, they obeyed his call;” and within a few years from the publication of the Gospel to them, such multitudes became obedient to the faith, that they filled, as it were, every part of the Roman empire; so gloriously was the prediction fulfilled in the eyes of the whole world.]
2. His complaint of the Jews—
[For two thousand years had the Jews been the Lord’s peculiar people, the sole depositories of his revealed will, the only visible monuments of his saving grace. During all this time had God stretched out his hands to them with more than parental tenderness and affection, intreating them to accept his overtures of mercy, and urging them not to put away from them the blessings which he of his own sovereign love had prepared for them. He had assured them, that in and through their Messiah they should possess all the blessings both of grace and glory. He had spared no pains to draw them to himself. He had wrought such miracles for them as had never been wrought for any other people from the foundation of the world. He had loaded them with benefits without number, given them his statutes, his ordinances, his Sabbaths, and sent from time to time his prophets to instruct and warn them. In short, every thing that could be done for his vineyard, he had done in it.
But how had they requited all this unbounded love? Had they turned to him? had they loved, and served, and glorified him? No: from the beginning they had been “a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Hear how God complains of them by the Prophet Jeremiah [Note: Jer_35:13; Jer_35:15.] — — — But the most perfect contrast between his tenderness towards them and their obstinacy will be found in their treatment of Hezekiah’s messengers, when he sent them through the whole land to entreat and importune them to return to God [Note: 2Ch_30:6-9.] — — — (Mark the extreme tenderness with which God here “stretches out his hands to them.”) And how did they receive these gracious communications? “Hear, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!” they “laughed the messengers to scorn, and mocked them.” Thus did they also in the days of Christ and his Apostles; they were always “disobedient, always gainsaying” and opposing every thing that was said or done for their welfare; till at last, by their “contradictions and blasphemies,” they constrained the Apostle Paul to turn from them, and to execute without any further reserve the commission he had received to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles [Note: Act_13:44-47.] — — — With what a different spirit the Gentiles received these tidings was immediately made manifest: “they heard the Apostle with gladness, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many of them as were ordained to eternal life, believed [Note: Act_13:48.].”
Thus, in reference both to Jews and Gentiles, was this prophecy clearly and undeniably fulfilled.]
But it will be proper to view these prophecies,
II. As events yet daily accomplishing—
Verily God is yet found of those who sought him not—
[We speak not now of men’s conduct after they have received the grace of God; for no man who has been made partaker of God’s grace can possibly neglect to seek him. But the question is, Whence arose their good desires? were they of themselves, or of God? Let this be answered from our Liturgy: “O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed.” Yes, it is “God, who of his own good pleasure gives us both to will and to do;” or, as our article expresses it, “who worketh in us, that we may have a good will, and worketh with us when we have that good will.” And here we will appeal to every humble mind, to every one that has found the Saviour in truth; What was your state when God first stirred you up to seek him? Were you not careless and unconcerned, or, at least, resting in a mere form of godliness, without any experience of its power? Did you apprehend him, before he apprehended you? Did you love him, before he loved you? Did you choose him, before he chose you? A proud Pharisee may arrogate to himself the glory, and say, that he made himself to differ: but so will not any one who is really taught of God. The true Christian will say with Paul, “It was not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Wherever there is one really united to Christ by faith, and washed in his blood, and renewed by his Spirit, there is one who will say from his inmost soul, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”]
On the other hand, thousands who are sought by God with all imaginable tenderness, yet continue in a state of wilful and obstinate disobedience—
[This is the case with the generality of those who bear the name of Christ. God comes to them by his providence, his word, his Spirit, and seeks to turn them to himself: but they pull away the shoulder, and refuse to “hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.” For how many years has God been striving with some amongst us, who yet continue alienated from the life of God through the blindness and hardness of their hearts! Think, in what diversified ways he has dealt with us, in order that he might fulfil in us his good pleasure, and accomplish in us the rich purposes of his grace! From the first moment that reason began to expand and operate, he began also to work upon our consciences, and to draw us by the influences of his Spirit. Say, ye who are now in the vigour of youth, or grown to man’s estate, whether ye cannot call to remembrance many interpositions of the Deity, when he sought to stop you in your career of sin, and to bring you to repentance? And ye who are advanced in life, say, whether every year that has been added to your lives has not brought with it much additional ground for God’s indignation against you! Behold then, the conduct of the Jews is realized and renewed in us: and the Lord Jesus Christ has reason to repeat over us the complaint once poured forth over the disobedient Jews, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings! but ye would not.” Yes, at the day of judgment shall this be our condemnation, “I would; but ye would not.”]
There is yet a further point of view in which these prophecies may be considered; namely,
III. As truths illustrative of the whole economy of salvation—
The Gospel is altogether a dispensation of grace—
[This is its most distinguishing feature: it is a plan devised and ordained of God for the displaying of “the exceeding riches of his grace.” Every thing that God has bestowed upon fallen man in relation to it, has been unsought, and unsolicited. We may see the whole exemplified in our first parent Adam. When he fell, did he cry to God for mercy? Did he ask for a Saviour? Did he implore such measures of grace as might restore him to the Divine image? No: instead of “seeking after” God, or even asking of God whether there were any possibility of ever being restored to his favour, he fled from God, and hid himself; and, when called forth from his hiding-place, he cast the blame of his transgression on God himself. This shews us what every man by nature does, and would continue to do, if God, of his own grace and mercy, did not infuse into his mind a better disposition. Man in his fallen state is dead, “dead in trespasses and sins:” he is like the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision, till God breathes upon him, and bids him live. Nay, he would revert to that state again, if God did not uphold him every moment. In vain would be all his past experience of redeeming love, if Christ, in whom his life is hid, were not constantly to impart more grace to him, and grace sufficient for his multiplied necessities.
Brethren, it is to this state of conscious and willing dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ that we wish you to be brought: this is what the Apostle calls “living by faith on the Son of God.” This alone answers the end of the Gospel dispensation: this alone honours God, or can bring solid peace into the soul. We pray you to seek this “spirit of faith,” and to abound in it more and more — — — To the Lord Jesus Christ must you give glory from first to last: it was He who opened your heart, as he did Lydia’s of old, to attend to the concerns of your souls; and He, who was “the Author of your faith, must also be the Finisher.” Regard him in this view; and live upon him in this view; and give him glory in this view: and the more grateful your acknowledgments to him, the more abundant will be his communications to you, both in time and in eternity.]
But those who partake not of this grace have themselves only to blame—
[God “willeth not the death of any sinner, but rather that he come to repentance and live.” He even condescends for our encouragement, to declare this upon oath: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live.” And then he further confirms this by the kindest and most affectionate entreaties; “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Let no man think to excuse himself by saying, “If God give me not his grace, how can I help myself? For God offers his grace to every man freely: “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come to the waters; come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price!” Our blessed Lord gave a similar invitation; “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” In like manner, in the book of Revelation it is written, “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come: and whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.” What will ye say after such invitations as these? Will ye say, We cannot? If ye do, we will tell you, beforehand, our blessed Lord’s reply, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life.”
You are to “seek him: and then he will be found of you,” “Seek, and ye shall find,” is a rule to you, though it is not to God. He may dispense his blessings to whomsoever he will, and under whatever circumstances: but you must seek his blessings; and, if you seek them not, you must abide the consequences. What those consequences will be, ye may judge from the Jews. Has not God punished them at last?” Go to Shiloh, and see what he did to them there:” go to Jud æ a, and see how his anger has burned against them there: look at them in every quarter of the globe; and know, that, as he has scattered them, so will he fulfil his threatenings upon you: and when he shall say, “Bring hither those mine enemies, and slay then) before me,” ye will be silent, not having a word to say in arrest of judgment. Be prevailed on then to seek his face, yea, to seek him with your whole hearts. Take encouragement from the patience he has already exercised towards you, and “account his long-suffering to be salvation.” Be assured, that at this moment he waiteth to be gracious unto you; and that if you will only be content to “go on your way weeping, bearing precious seed, ye shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you,” even an everlasting harvest of felicity and glory.]