"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH
MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE
1851
JUDAH AND ISRAEL
in the flesh, will also escape that destruction, will believe on the
Lord, and turn to him, after he shall come.
To obtain a
correct understanding of this important subject, it will be necessary, in
the first place, to determine who are recognized in the gracious promises, and sure prophecies, as Israel and Judah,
or Jews and Israelites. In speaking on this subject, Paul
says:
"They are not all Israel which are of Israel.
Neither because they are the seed (the natural descendants) of Abraham,
are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Rom. ix. 6,
7.
Isaac and Ishmael were both children of Abraham; yet
Ishmael, in the purpose or economy of grace, is not counted a child of
Abraham; "but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." So, in reference to all
the descendants of Abraham through Isaac, though they nominally are
Israel, or Jews; yet, in God's gracious designs or promises, they are not
recognized as such any more than all who are nominally Christians will be
acknowledged such by Christ, at his coming. They are not all Christians,
that are of, or belong to, Christendom, neither are all Israel, who are
of, or belong to, the Jewish nation. Then who are Israel? Let Paul
answer.
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly: neither
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and
not in the letter: whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. ii. 28,
29. This testimony shows conclusively who are Jews, or the true Israel.
Outward forms and distinctions, exclusively, did not constitute the
descendants of Abraham Jews, Israel, or children of Abraham, according to
the gracious promises made to him. To become such, they must not only
fulfill the letter, but "the righteousness of the law." (Verse 26.)
So Paul reasoned, and so all the promises and threatenings run, through
the Old and New Testaments. We will name a few.
"Say ye to
the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat
the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked: it shall be ill with him;
for the reward of his hands shall be given him." Isa. iii. 10,
11.
This is spoken of the Jewish nation: and by consulting
the 65th chapter, it will be seen that the same distinction between the
"righteous" and the "wicked" is observed to the close of the
book.
Amos ix. 8-10. "Behold the eyes of the Lord God are
upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the
earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith
the Lord. For lo, I will
command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as
corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the
earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, the
evil shall not overtake nor prevent us."
"All the
sinners of my people shall die by the sword." Such fearful
threatenings as these, forever cut off from the promises of God, the
sinners of Israel. Well might Paul say, "They are not all Israel, that are
of Israel." He settles the question beyond successful
contradiction.
"But unto them that are contentious, and do
not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish upon EVERY SOUL OF MAN, that doeth EVIL, of the
JEW first, and also of the GENTILE. But glory, honor and peace to EVERY
MAN that worketh GOOD, to the JEW first, and also the GENTILE: for there
is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law,
shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the
law, shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of
the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be
justified." Rom. ii. 8-13. And then in verse 28th, Paul
adds---"He is not a Jew which is one outwardly."
It
should be remembered, that JUSTIFYING FAITH, and TRUE GODLINESS, ever have
been, and will be, in the Age to come, prominent characteristics of a true
Israelite.
It was by faith, that Abraham, the father
of all the faithful, or heir of the world, was justified.
For
the lack of faith, Christ calls certain Jews, the children of the devil;
and John, a generation of vipers: they had not faith, therefore
were not recognized as children of Abraham. And Paul
says:
"For ye are all children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus. * * * And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 26, 29.
This is
equally true of Jewish and Gentile believers: by faith they both
become children of Abraham. A believing Jew, however, is a natural branch
of the tame olive tree, or family of Abraham, while a believing Gentile is
grafted into that tree, contrary to nature.
Unbelief was the
grand cause of the great mass of the natural Jews, or branches, being
broken off; and the same cause has broken off the boasting
un-natural Gentile church, or branches. And faith is the
only way either can be grafted in again, either in this, or the Age
to come.
During the existence of the law of Moses, an
observance of its rites and ceremonies, was necessary for natural Jews,
and Gentile proselytes, to constitute them true children of Abraham; but
since that law has been abrogated, those rites and ceremonies have been no
longer binding on any one: "circumcision is nothing" now, in this
respect. The Gospel now must be believed and obeyed,
by Jews and Gentiles, to entitle them to the blessings of
Abraham.
Under the Gospel, there is no difference
between a Jewish and a Gentile Christian. They are one in Christ. The
middle wall of partition is broken down between them, never to be rebuilt.
They are branches in the same olive tree; and whether in the grave or
living, when the Lord shall come, they will, without respect to nation, be
made immortal, and gathered in his kingdom, to reign with him on the
earth. Rev. v. 10.
According to this view of the subject,
there is no more hope for the unbelieving, ungodly Jew, than for
the Gentile of the same character: indignation and wrath are
equally threatened against both. We know not that a blessing is promised
in the Bible, to either, while sustaining this character. But there are
many plain PROPHECIES which seem clearly to predict that the character of some
will become so changed, at or soon after the coming of the Lord, as
to entitle them to certain blessings promised in his
word.
That change will be effected on the principles of
faith and obedience, the same on which men have ever
been made holy.
A remnant of Judah and of Israel, in the
flesh, will believe in the Lord Jesus, repent of their sins, and be
planted in the land of Palestine; not however to take part with the
immortal saints in administering the government of the world, but to
cultivate and beautify the land of Judea, and be subjects of the kingdom;
while the left of the Gentiles will till other portions of the globe,
bring their wealth and glory to Jerusalem, from the four quarters of the
earth, which will be full of the knowledge and glory of the
Lord.
Speaking on this subject Ezekiel (xxxvi. 37) says: "I
will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel." That is,
they will not have clear water sprinkled upon them, a new heart given
them, and be settled in their land, without inquiring of, or asking the
Lord to do it for them. Some cause must move them thus to inquire
of the Lord. What will it be? Zechariah gives the answer in the 12th and
13th chapters of his prophecy. He tells us that the Lord "will pour upon
the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and supplications, and they shall look on him whom they have
pierced; shall mourn for him;" shall "call on the name" of the Lord,
who will hear them, and own them as his people.
Hence, by
beholding Christ, they will believe and repent; or as Paul and
Isaiah say, "The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from
transgression in Jacob; for this is the covenant that I will make
with them, when I shall take away their sins." Isa. lix. 20: Rom. xi. 26,
27.
That this covenant, which shall be made when the Redeemer
shall come to Zion, will be made with a remnant of Judah and Israel in the
flesh, will escape the destruction of that day, is evident from what Paul
says of it in the eighth chapter of Hebrews. It is a quotation from Jer.
xxxi. 31-34, and reads:
"Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, when 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not saith the Lord.
"For this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I
will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I
will be unto them a God, and they shall be to me a
people.
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and
every man his brother, saying, know the Lord; for all shall know me, from
the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more."
1. This covenant is to be made with "the house of Israel and
Judah," because it plainly says so: and God will fulfill his word.
It cannot refer to the Christian church; for it is nowhere in the
Scriptures called "the house of Israel and of Judah." And we challenge the
Christian world to prove the contrary.
2. Literal Judah and
Israel are identified in this covenant; because it is said, their
"fathers" came up out of "Egypt." Christians have no "fathers," in that
sense, much less, that came out of Egypt. This specification, therefore,
cannot refer to them; consequently, it does to Judah and Israel.
3. Literal Judah and Israel must be meant in this provision; because
two covenants are named: one, which the fathers "brake," and the
new covenant. This is not true of the Christian church; for God has never
made two covenants with them and their fathers. Judah and Israel,
therefore, must be meant.
4. It must be literal Israel;
because the law is to be put into their hearts: whereas it is already in
the hearts of Christians.
5. It must be literal Judah and
Israel; because God promises in the covenant, "I will be their God,
and they shall be my people." They are not his people now.
This cannot be true of Christians, or the true children of faith and
holiness: for God is now their God, and they are now his
people.
6. Literal Judah and Israel must be the objects of this provision of
the covenant; because, when it shall be fulfilled, they will know the
Lord, and not teach his knowledge to each other any more. Christians do
teach this knowledge to their neighbors, and each other, agreeably to the
oft repeated requirements of the Gospel; hence they are not the ones with
whom the new covenant was to be made. But Judah and Israel
are.
7. This specification of the covenant promises to
forgive the "iniquity," and to "remember no more" the sins of "Judah and
of Israel." The true children of God are not sinners. The provision,
therefore, was not made for them: consequently it must belong to Judah and
Israel.
The subsequent part of Jer. xxxi. shows most
conclusively that this covenant will have its fulfillment, to Judah and
Israel, in the Age to come; for it is said of them that "they shall not
cease from being a nation before me [the Lord] forever;" that the city of
Jerusalem shall be "built to the Lord;" that "the whole valley of the dead
bodies * * * shall be holiness" to him; and that this city "shall not be
plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever."
If literal
Judah and Israel are not meant, but are mystically to be understood, or
mean the Christian church, why did not Paul so interpret them. Echo
answers, Why.
Ezekiel has spoken in harmony with Jeremiah and
Paul, on this everlasting covenant, and like them he makes full and
positive provision for the house of Judah and the house of Israel. They
are assured of being made "one nation," not to be "divided into two
kingdoms any more at all"---of dwelling in the land which God gave to
Jacob---of having an "everlasting
covenant" of peace made with them; of David being their Prince
forever; and of the tabernacle and sanctuary being in their midst forever
more. Read with care chap. xxxvii. 15-28; eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and
many corresponding prophecies; and we think you will admit, that a remnant
of the literal descendants of Abraham, with the "left" of the Gentiles,
will not be cut off when the Lord shall come; but will believe on him ~~
will be settled in their own land, under the peaceful government of
Christ. They will not be changed to a state of immortality then; for this
inestimable blessing, or great reward, is obtained by "patient
continuance in well doing." They must be put on a state of trial to
develop character, before being made immortal. Being honest, in their
blindness, when the Redeemer comes, that blindness will be removed; they
will acknowledge him to be their King; hence, he will graciously spare
them, and place them on trial for immortality and eternal
life.
We are aware that this view of the subject, probation
after the Advent, seems to the casual reader, to be opposed by a certain
class of texts that speak of the destruction of "them who know not God,
and obey not the Gospel of Christ," at his coming. But this difficulty is
removed, and the Scriptures made to harmonize, when we admit that there
are exceptions to all general rules. And certainly the Bible makes
a clear exception in this case, as we have already shown, viz.: that all
but the saints will be destroyed at or near the coming of the Lord, with
the exception of a "remnant" of Judah and of Israel, and the
"left" of the Gentiles, or those who "escape" that
destruction.
God has seen fit to make this exception, and his
wise and immutable purpose will stand. Such an exception seems
indispensably necessary, that his original design in creating the world
may not be finally frustrated. He "formed the world to be inhabited,"
(Isa. xlv. 18.) Should he destroy it and all mortal beings, now, that
purpose could not be carried out. But should he continue it, as we believe
he will, a thousand years after Eden is restored, his wise purpose, in
creating the world, could be perfected and
glorified.
Finally, during this day of glory, of which all
the holy prophets have spoken, there will be . . .