The matter that comes before us in our readings this morning (Jer. 23., Rom. 10., 11.), alike from the prophet and the epistle of Paul to the Romans, is restoration in righteousness after long desolation and judgment because of iniquity. And the exhortation that comes to us so emphatically in this epistle of Paul upon that theme is: “Let us therefore fear.” “Be not highminded,” as he says, “but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”
That in brief is the substance of the exhortation, and whatever we may have to say to one another can be but an expansion of that central idea. In the 25th and 26th verses of this chapter from the Romans (11.), Paul says: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that 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 Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
Can we say that we are “not ignorant of this mystery”? Yes, in the mercy of God, we can, because the truth that Paul preached has been unearthed in the latter days, and declared to us; and we have received it, and “the hope of Israel” has become our hope. We have learned to recognise ourselves as a latter-day remnant of this “fulness of the Gentiles” that is being brought in; and we look for the coming out of Zion of the Deliverer, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
For purposes of verification, we turn to the place where it is thus written, for the apostle appeals to the writings of the prophets. This was written in Isa. 59., and when we look back upon it we see the connection, also we see an interesting variation in the words that challenges us in verse 20 of Isa. 59.: “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” How comes the variation? When we study the history of the book, we come to understand that the apostles mostly quoted from the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the scriptures that was made nearly 300 years before Christ. Thus in the good providence of God, the Holy Oracles became an open book for the Greek-speaking world, against the time when the gospel of the Kingdom in the name of Jesus Christ was proclaimed abroad, beginning from Jerusalem.
Not that Greek translation was always correct. As a matter of fact it is not so; but the apostles under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, used it when it was sufficiently near to the right translation of the Hebrew scriptures to answer their purposes; and when it was not so, they used words of their own with reference to the scriptures. The consideration relieves us of a superficial difficulty. But we turn to this quotation, not for the sake of these reflections particularly, but rather for the larger idea of the connection in which this coming of the Redeemer to Zion is mentioned.
We see that it is just as Jeremiah says, just as Paul says; there was overspreading iniquity, there was no help for the situation but that God Himself should intervene. “Truth faileth, he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no judgment, and he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.” The same thing is said of the Lord Jesus himself: “He marvelled because of their unbelief.” “Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him.” That is the Lord Jesus; “the arm of the Lord brought salvation,” first to himself individually, and hereafter he will bring it unto all Israel. We know the meaning of that term, a name bestowed upon Jacob when he successfully wrestled with the angel for his blessing until the day dawned. The Lord Jesus will bring salvation to “all Israel,” and make those all “princes of God” who have wrestled for the divine blessing all through the night until the day dawn.
“He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. . . . When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion”; that is the connection. Then the next chapter (60.) is: “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” So here we see the same picture, restoration in righteousness and glory and life eternal after long prevailing desolation because of iniquity, and the exhortation to us is: “Be not high-minded, but fear.”
We turn then, under the inspiration of these thoughts, to the chapter in the prophets that we have read together, and it is at the outset—“Woe to the pastors that destroy the sheep of his pasture.” God says He is against these pastors, He will punish them; but in verse 3, “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.”
We hear Paul speaking of a “remnant,” do we not? “The election hath obtained it, the rest were blinded.” What matter that the remnant was in times past, in all ages, very small? What matter that it has taken 6,000 years to provide a sufficient rulership for the earth in the millennium that is to come? God has plenty of time, as Dr. Thomas used to say; flesh and blood is nothing. You do not trouble over the mass of rock in the quarry when the stones for the palace are squared and set. That is how the matter lies: the remnant is what is precious; we are called to be among the remnant that is to be saved. If we survive, it will be because we have taken heed to this word to which the elect take heed, concerning which the rest erred so grievously. God’s remedy for the situation is the pastors that He will provide,—“I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more.” Central over these is the Good Shepherd of God’s appointment, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we bring to mind this day, who said himself that he was that Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the flock. He said emphatically that he had other sheep beside those of the natural Israelitish fold: “Them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.”
And so it comes to pass in these latter days, and in this far-off island of the sea there is found a people gathered together around these same oracles, and the memorials of that Shepherd of Israel whom God hath raised up. “The days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Now the Lord God of Israel has raised unto David that righteous Branch, that King of His promise, but he has not yet reigned and prospered, and executed judgment and justice in the earth. Many there are who say in effect that he never will; the truth has taught us differently. We are quite sure that just as he was crucified in Jerusalem now nearly 1,900 years ago, so will he reign there, and just as these words of the prophets relating to the past have been so literally fulfilled, so will the rest of them.
That is the hope that brings us together this morning,—“In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” Gentiles have learned to call him by that name already —what do we profess when we are baptised into Christ, but that we set to our seal that God is true, and that thus the Lord Jesus is “The Lord our righteousness”?
In the words that follow, we come across a great historical witness to the truth of God’s word in the prophets. The deliverance from Egypt had been a mighty memorial in the nation: God by the prophets had always appealed to Israel to remember how He brought them forth out of Egypt. We had it a while ago in Judges, where God said by the angel: “I brought you forth out of Egypt, and gave you the land, why have you not exterminated these people?” Now by Jeremiah He says: “The days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, The Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country” (23:8).
Now when Jeremiah spoke, they were not in the north country, they were about to be deported to the east country, that is, Babylon. Jeremiah witnessed the scene, of course, and Israel were carried away to Babylon. But in the north country they were not, and far less in “all the countries.” This is not the only place in which this is said in the same prophet, it is emphasised more than once in chap. 16., verses 14 and 15, —
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”
So here in this prophet, twice repeated, is a challenge, and in this chapter that we are reading to-day it says: “In the latter days ye shall consider it.” We are in the latter days; we do consider it. In that land of the north, the Russian Empire, the great bulk of Israel is gathered together in circumstances of great tribulation, in the throes of the great “earthquake” of war and revolution. But there is in their midst, as you all know, this mighty movement for the restoration—ZIONISM—which, in the developments of the past few years, has almost turned our faith to sight. They do not believe, however, that the Redeemer shall come to Zion, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. There is perhaps some sort of Messianic belief among the Jews, but not connected with Jesus of Nazareth, far from it. He is still “abhorred of the nation,” as Isaiah said he would be. He will yet convince them of his identity; but for the present they are there in the north country, and in all countries where God has driven them, and even the remnant that is returning to the Holy Land is going back in unbelief.
Then the prophet lapses into a terrible lamentation. From verse 9 and onwards it is like a dirge for Israel; their iniquities had procured this visitation from God to them. Because of all this God said:— “The whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth with fury; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. . . . Ye shall consider it perfectly.” We look back upon Israel and see what it was. First of all, there was this overthrow by the Babylonian, concerning which God said by this same prophet that there were those of that same captivity who went for good, though it was affliction; but some went wholly for evil; the two classes were represented by good figs and rotten figs. So the situation was thus: the remnant were acceptable to God, though afflicted; the great bulk were rubbish to be cast away.
We have it in history: Daniel is a great example of the accepted ones of the captivity, a man greatly beloved; he read in the books, and studied these prophecies of Jeremiah, confessed his sins and the sins of the people, and prayed for the return of favour to Zion, according to God’s promise. What answer did he have? The angel revealed to him times to come. In connection with that we notice in the end of this chapter that God said He would utterly forget them: “I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.” We might be tempted to “consider” that last verse in a wrong way, and say, as many have said, that God has done with the Jews: the “everlasting reproach” is on them, the word has gone forth through Christ to the nations; Israel has no future. Well, they cannot say that now, because of the signs of the times in Israel, but it has been said, and this verse might be quoted in justification.
What shall we say to it? That the words “everlasting” and “perpetual” do not at all define God’s purpose concerning the reproach and shame on Israel. It says elsewhere: “I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame, and though I make a full end of all nations, yet will I not make a full end of thee.”
What is the explanation of it? That these English words do not represent the meaning of the original words. The original word is Olahm, which simply means “age,” ageabiding reproach, shame for ages. You see it at once. The “times of the Gentiles” are times of reproach for Israel, when everything Israelitish is down, and everything Gentile up, but they are terminable. Daniel saw that. What did he see concerning the great Babylonian tree, representing the dominions of men? “Seven times passed” over it, which reduced to years is 2,520. Is that to be reckoned from the first of Nebuchadnezzar? From B.C. 606 to A.D. 1914 is 2,520 years, and the opening of the Great World War was really the signal of the close of “the times of the Gentiles” and the opening of the last phase of the Restoration Movement in Israel. We do not lay stress on a particular year. There have been premature expectations. The only thing was to remove the date a little further. Now the outcome of all studies and speculations is this, that about the middle of the 20th century the longest stretch of the times of desolation must run out, and that means the Redeemer must come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and shall come as the prophet said, “to them that turn from transgression in Jacob.”
Both versions are beautifully true. He will come, dear brethren and sisters. How shall we receive him? Will it be found that we have “turned from transgression,” and faithfully held to the Word in obedience? That is the object of the Word, in gathering together to hear it, to be among “the remnant” that shall survive. Anything short of this is a failure; let us recognise it, and if we are borne down with a sense of our own shortcomings, and the great antagonism of the world in which we move, then let us remember the mercy of God, and that He will help those who truly turn to Him, and that the apostle has said He will not suffer us to be tried and tempted above what we are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it.
Have we not many times found it true? Surely many present can say “yes” to that. Therefore let us trust God, and turn to Him in truth, and honour the Word more and more faithfully as we draw near to the great climax of its ultimate fulfilment on earth. How the truth enables us to enter into the remonstrance against the dreams and chaff of the prophets. There are modern prophets whose visions are merely dreams and chaff. Look at all history that has happened in harmony with this word; look at the present situation developed in harmony with the Word. Yes, it is the Word that has “begotten” us, and will keep us, and give us the inheritance.
Therefore it comes to this commonplace exhortation once more, the daily readings,— let us not neglect them. They are very easily eclipsed, are they not? Do not we know it? But here is the truth, the scriptures are “able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” Anything we can say is very secondrate after the apostle speaking by the Spirit of God; but Paul, when he has argued this matter out upon the restoration, says: “I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . and be not conformed to this age, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
CC Walker, 1921 The Christadelphian Page 350–354.
