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by Joshua William Brooks.
[Orrin
Rogers, 1841]
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ybw0AAAAMAAJ
CHAPTER II.
The chief object of all prophecy appears to be to prepare the Church for the advent of Messiah; the manifestation of whose salvation and kingdom and glory, together with the various circumstances immediately connected with these matters, are the most prominent features of the prophetic page. Unless, therefore, we have in the outset a right apprehension of them, it is most probable that we shall fail to adopt correct principles of interpreting the prophecies which concern them. In order, however, to arrive at a proper apprehension of these things, it will be useful just to glance at the history of man's apostacy.
By permitting man to fall at various periods into a state of disobedience and rebellion, and to experience the misery and darkness consequent on such a state, the Lord would apparently teach every order of intelligent beings,--the thrones and principalities and powers in heavenly places, as well as the whole human race,--that the strength of the creature, both moral and intellectual, is derived immediately from the Creator; and that the creature, therefore, cannot stand for one single moment upright, but through the power of Almighty God. No natural or local circumstances, however advantageous,--no external means of grace, however imposing,--no inward talents or endowments, however dazzling, will avail of themselves to keep the creature erect, if he trust to them: he must look up throughout to God; he must learn that he is sustained in all respects by Him; he must know that "in Him he lives, and moves, and has his being;" or he will certainly apostatize.
To say nothing of the condition of the angels who left their first estate and fell, how various have been the trials vouchsafed to man. He has been placed in a condition of nobility and innocence, and has fallen! He has witnessed the terrors of Mount Sinai and the glory of the Shecinah, and had the Lord speaking to him daily by his Spirit in his prophets, and has fallen! He has been now for nearly two thousand years under a dispensation, which was ushered in with the most striking spiritual gifts and endowments, and yet he has been continually apostatizing; insomuch that we cannot place our finger on one single spot on the globe, where we are assured Christianity was enjoyed during the first three centuries in its purity, without perceiving at the same time the most lamentable historical proof connected with it, that man has fallen: and the prophetical account of the close of this dispensation shows, that, with the exception of a very small remnant--an election upheld by grace--this fall will become universal and most signal! Man is further destined, in the dispensation which is approaching, to enjoy a combination of all the advantages hitherto experienced from the foundation of the world, together with an unparalleled degree of splendour, power, and prosperity; and we know that he is also destined in the end to fall! And then only will that great moral lesson be completed, which the Lord is thus practically, through every age, teaching to his creatures; that they may know throughout the eternity that remains, that God Is All In All.
Another great and important matter has however been gradually unfolding, parallel with the development of the apostacy of the creature; and that is the great plan of redemption through the Messiah, and of the ultimate restoration of man, and of the world from all the disastrous effects of the curse. If the earth has been filled ever since the fall with violence, and deceit, and misery, arising from the influence of those unrighteous principles which the darkened mind of man has supposed to conduct to personal happiness; the word of prophecy has held out to the expectation of those, who have been brought to understand the cause of their misery, not only a way of obtaining the pardon of their sin, but the prospect of a time when the creature shall be redeemed from the bondage of corruption, and from the vanity to which, through sin, he is subjected; when wars shall cease in all the earth; when Satan, the great deceiver of the nations, shall be restrained and ultimately destroyed; and a reign shall ensue of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. In this period, even those on whom death has passed, shall be restored to life in a spiritual and heavenly body, which no longer will be the seat of sin, but in every respect a handmaid to the Spirit; until which period the dead rest from their labours.
Various indistinct intimations of these things, prior to the giving of the Law, might be pointed to: as the promise to Eve that the Seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent's head, which avowedly has reference to the final destruction of the devil and his works; the prophecy of Enoch, which we know from St. Jude, (v. 18.) foretold "the coming of the Lord with myriads of his Saints;" the manner in which the faithful dead are spoken of, as being "gathered to their people," (doubtless to be reserved to stand in their lot at the end of days,) whilst the living were threatened, if rebellious, to be "cut off from their people." But instead of dwelling upon these and other similar intimations, it will be more satisfactory to pass at once to the terms of the Covenant made with Abraham, and amplified with Isaac and Jacob.
And here the reader is requested to bear in mind that the Covenant made with Abraham is what is called the "New Covenant" and the "Covenant of Promise:" for unless he be clear in this matter also, he will be unable to understand "the hope of his calling" in Christ Jesus, as set forth in the word of prophecy. It is the more needful to premise thus much, seeing that many, even pious Christians, have but a vague notion of the nature of the covenant of grace. They seem not to understand that there is any document in existence, other than the whole of the New Testament; in which they suppose it to be throughout diffused, intermingled with the narrative and moral precepts which also there abound: so that if any would obtain more definite ideas of it, they must, by a divine chemistry, decompose and separate the whole, and laboriously collect the scattered particles they want. But St. Paul puts the matter in a very clear and simple point of view, by informing us, that it is the covenant made with Abraham which we are now under: for this covenant (he argues) the law, that was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (Gal. iii. 17.) So that the instrument was in reality drawn up, and formally signed and sealed in the days of the great Father of the faithful; though, like other testaments, it was not published and fully acted upon, till after the death of the Testator. (Heb. ix. 15--17.) And thus it is evident that it is in relation to the period of its coming into force, not to the period of its being given, that it is called the New Covenant--being in reality an older Covenant than that given through Moses.
This covenant which, as before observed, was first made with Abraham, and afterwards confirmed and amplified with Isaac and Jacob, is to be found in the following places in the book of Genesis: viz. chapters xii. 1--3; xiii. 14--17; xv. 4--21; xvii. 4--16; xxii. 15--18; xxvi. 3, 4; xxviii. 13--15. There can be no reasonable doubt, since it is this covenant which St. Paul refers to, that it contains the substance of all those blessings afterwards enlarged upon by the prophets and apostles. The whole, however, appears reducible to three distinct heads, on each of which it will be necessary to offer a few observations.
1. The first is the promised seed. If we consult Galatians iii. 16, we must feel persuaded, that this has principally a reference to Christ, who is pre-eminently the Seed in which all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. (Gen. xxii. 18.) For though the promise appears primarily to relate to Isaac, yet is it afterwards renewed to Isaac himself, and subsequently to Jacob, in similar terms: "and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xxvi. 4; xxviii. 14.) and as it would be absurd, on the one hand, to suppose that the seed of Jacob could mean Isaac his father; so, on the other hand, in reference to Jacob's posterity, there appears to be none eminently the child of promise, excepting Christ.
But, beside this reference to Christ as the seed, the posterity of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are likewise spoken of in this covenant in a more general sense. First, they are expressly designated to Abraham, when God says, "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, and I will be their God. (Gen. xvii. 7, 8.) Secondly, it is implied in the promise, that God will multiply his seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sand upon the seashore, and as the dust of the earth, (Gen. xv. 5; xvii. 2, 4; xxii. 17; xxviii. 14; xxxv. 11:) which places evince that multitudes are contemplated, and not the one individual Christ. And, thirdly, it is evident in that the apostle declares: viz. that all who are mystically members of Christ are accounted as the seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. iii. 29.)
2. The second particular of this covenant is the inheritance promised. The locality of this inheritance is more immediately Palestine, in its fullest extent, "from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates." (Gen. xv. 18--21.) Now it is important to notice who are the parties who shall inherit this land, according to the full meaning of the terms of the grant. Many are wont to limit the promise to the posterity of Abraham, who were led into Canaan by Joshua. Such an interpretation, however, will not, for many reasons, answer to the terms of the covenant. The promise of the land is, in the first instance, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, personally and individually. To Abraham the Lord said, "I am the Lord, that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee--this land --to inherit it." (Gen. xv. 7.) "And I will give it unto thee, AND to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession." (Gen. xvii. and xiii. 14,15.) To Isaac the promise is similar: "Unto thee AND to thy seed I will give all these countries." (Gen. xxvi. 3.) And so to Jacob: "The land whereon thou liest--to thee will I give it--AND to thy seed." (Gen. xxviii. 13.) "The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, AND to thy seed after thee will I give the land." (Gen. xxxv. 12.) When the Lord afterwards appeared to Moses, he referred to the land as specially granted to all three of these fathers, together with their seed: "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty: but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them; and I have established my covenant with them,--to give them the land of Canaan,--the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers." (Exod. vi. 3, 4.) It is difficult to conceive language more explicit and precise, to signify that these patriarchs were severally themselves to inherit that land as possessors and not as pilgrims, than the passages which are here brought forward. Had Abraham received the promise in the first instance without any mention of his seed, and the promise had been referred to ever after as relating to his seed, without mention being again made of him, it might then more plausibly have been inferred, that the original grant never contemplated any other possessors; but the careful repetition to each of the patriarchs of his own name, together with his posterity--"to thee and to thy seed"--puts it beyond a reasonable question. No lawyer would ever think of interpreting such a title deed to their exclusion, otherwise than by arguing from the fact, that they had all died without ever having received the promise, and therefore the inheritance was not apparently designed for them. This, however, is made a ground of argument in scripture, that they are to inherit the land; only it is by means of a resurrection. For as Abraham was, we are assured, persuaded, that God would have raised up Isaac from the dead, and have restored him, had he actually sacrificed him on Mount Moriah, (Heb. xi. 17--19;) so it appears from the scriptures, that he and the other patriarchs looked forward to the day of Christ, as the period when these promises should ultimately be fulfilled, (John viii. 56; Heb. xi. 10, 11;) and with Daniel they enjoyed the assurance, that they should stand in their lot at the end of days.
The circumstance that they are spoken of as pilgrims and strangers, in respect to this very land, is of itself worthy of particular remark, considering that the land is nevertheless so expressly promised to them. When Isaac sends Jacob to Padan Aram he uses these words: "And God Almighty bless thee, &c., and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, that Thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham." This same Jacob afterwards declares himself before Pharaoh to be only a pilgrim: "The days of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage." (Gen. xlvii. 9.) The Lord, speaking of them to Moses, says (as we have seen) that he established his covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. (Exodus vi. 4.) Stephen notices that though God promised to give the land to Abraham for a possession, and to his seed after him, yet that he gave him none inheritance in it--no, not so much as to set his foot on. (Acts vii. 4, 5.) And how does St. Paul argue from all this? Why, "that these all died in Faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were Persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country." (Hebrews xi. 13, 14.) His words before Agrippa plainly evince his expectation to have been that this promise should be fulfilled to the patriarchs, by a resurrection: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come,--for which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" (Acts xxvii. 6-8.) Here the promise to the fathers, and the resurrection from the dead are both evidently in the mind of the Apostle, as connected together: and what was this promise to the fathers? There is no express mention to them of a resurrection; and though several things are included in the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; yet is there not one of them which requires a resurrection from the dead to fulfil it, excepting the promise of the land. It was this, therefore, which must have led Paul to couple the promise to the fathers with the resurrection from the dead.
There are not wanting plain and explicit references to the subject in the New Testament. To give an example or two, Zacharias prophesied at the circumcision of John the Baptist, that Jesus was raised up "to perform the mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham," &c. And that the performance of this mercy to them respects the resurrection is evident from Matt. viii. 11. "Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:" which kingdom will hereafter be shown to be the kingdom of Christ. It was this kingdom, concerning which the disciples asked him, after his resurrection, "Whether he would at that time restore it unto Israel," (Acts i. 6.) But it would be anticipating the subject of a future chapter, to enlarge upon this point here.
It may nevertheless be objected to this view, that the possession of Palestine, by the posterity of Israel, from the time of Joshua until the captivity, and again till their final dispersion, is a fulfilment of the promise. Now it is plain, if a correct view has been taken of the sentiments of St. Paul and others, that they did not consider this as a fulfilment of the original promise; but there are further considerations which require notice on this head. First, it must be observed that the inheritance of the land under Joshua is expressly promised to Abraham, in the first instance, as a token and pledge that he should inherit it,--for he asks: "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" That is, he requires a sign or token in the way of assurance; then the Lord directs him to take an heifer of three years old, a she goat, &c., and divide them; and after they are disposed in order, according to the form of entering into solemn covenant, a horror of great darkness comes on Abraham, and the Lord informs him that his seed should be a stranger in a land not theirs, and that afterwards God would judge that nation and bring them out with great substance; that in the meanwhile Abraham should go to his fathers in peace; but in the fourth generation his posterity should come hither again. And after this is seen the burning lamp, the symbol of the Lord's presence, passing between those pieces; and it is immediately added,--that in the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates," &c. (Genesis xv.) This is the frequent manner of God, (as will be shown more at large in the fourth chapter of this volume) to grant a sort of inchoate fulfilment or prelibation of a promise, as the token and pledge of a more complete one. Thus he promises to Sarah a child at a "set time appointed," (Gen. xvii. 21; xxi. 2,) as the pledge that in her seed all nations should be blessed: whilst yet we see that the chief burden of the promise is sustained and carried forward to a seed yet to come; in that the promise is afterwards renewed to Jacob, the son of that seed given as a pledge to Sarah, that in his seed should all nations be blessed. So that the birth of Isaac would be an event for believers afterward to look back upon, and encourage themselves from it in regard to the future. And in like manner the possession of Canaan under Joshua would serve in the way of retrospect for the faithful in after ages to strengthen themselves in the persuasion, that there remaineth still a rest for the people of God; even as the Lord subsequently holds out to them, by his Spirit in the Apostle. And as the great deliverance of the people from Egypt and their occupation of Canaan under Joshua, were but as an antepast of that greater deliverance and subsequent occupation which Israel shall hereafter experience; so, consistently with this appointment, it is intimated that the time would arrive when this former deliverance should no longer be reverted to, or come into mind, being forgotten or cast aside, like all other mere types and shadows. For the prophet twice declares: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of 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."
Now it is the general character of a merely inchoate fulfilment, that in some eminent particulars it falls short of the terms of the promise. For example, the land in the present instance is covenanted from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates; which the Israelites did at no time, under Joshua, possess. Nor did they ever at any other period possess it to this extent, unless indeed we except a short period under Solomon: though this does not answer to the terms of the grant, since the territory surrounding Judea was not held absolutely by displacing the Canaanitish or other heathen inhabitants, but by subjecting them to tribute. Again, it is promised--"To thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever: (Gen. xiii. 15.) And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession." (Gen. xv. 8.) Now it would be trifling with the verity of God, who declares that not one jot or tittle shall pass away of all that he hath spoken, to allege that a merely temporary, and limited, and constantly interrupted occupation of the land, like that of Israel from the time of Joshua to Titus Vespasian, could possibly be the accomplishment of the promise here made in its proper and complete sense. It must, therefore, have a respect to that future occupation, of which the prophet Amos says:-- "They shall no more be pulled up out of the land." (Chap. ix. 15.)
In discussing, however, this promise, as made to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it must again be borne in mind, that Christ is pre- eminently The seed. Consequently the promise of the inheritance must respect Him, as well as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the other children of the promise: for indeed "all the promises of God are in him yea, and in him Amen." We consequently find, that the land of Palestine is specially called "Immanuel's land," in connexion with the promise to Israel, that a virgin should conceive and bear a child to be called Immanuel. We shall, indeed, upon more close investigation, find a length and breadth in this part of the covenant, beyond what we have yet noticed. For the promise of Palestine, in the extent already pointed out, is after all, but as a splendid enclosure within a much more vast inheritance--a sanctum sanctorum, standing in relation to the whole world, like 'as Goshen did to the rest of Egypt. For the Apostle says, "that the promise to Abraham was, that he should be heir of the world," (Rom. iv. 13;) and this cannot, apparently, be gathered out of the original grant, excepting from the fact, that he should be the father of many nations, and that out of him should come that company of kings who should be rulers over all other nations; (Gen. xvii. 4; xxxv. 11;) just as it is interpreted by the Psalmist, that they should be "princes in all the earth." (Psalm xlv. 16.) In the repetition of these promises to Sarah, the reading of the Septuagint and Vulgate is remarkable. The English is--"And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her; (mark the word 'also' here, as showing that this is not the seed primarily intended,) yea, I will bless her, and she shall be [a mother] of nations; kings of people shall be of Her," (Gen. xvii. 6.) But the Septuagint understand the latter part of the verse as relating, not to Sarah, but to the Seed, VIZ. .... "And I will bless him, and he shall be for the nations (or Gentiles) and kings of nations (or Gentiles) shall be of him." Grounded, therefore, on this portion of the covenant was the expectation, in regard to Christ, that he should "rise to reign over the Gentiles," (Rom. xv. 12;) thus also expressed by the Psalmist--"Arise, O God, judge the earth; for thou shalt inherit all nations." Psalm lxxxii. 8.
3. The third particular of the covenant yet remains to be considered.
The great and only real source of happiness to the creature is the enjoyment of God himself. Without this, none can be truly blessed; and the more open and unclouded is the manifestation of the Deity to the spiritual man, the more abundant is the blessedness enjoyed. That the immediate enjoyment of God forms part of the happiness promised to Abraham and his seed, may therefore be inferred from the mere fact that God blesses him, and declares, that "in blessing he will bless him;" (Gen. xxii. 17;) for the possession of the world, and of a countless offspring, and the having a numerous company of kings proceed out of his loins, were, in itself, a vanity, unless the enjoyment of God accompany the gift.
But we are not left to deduce so important a conclusion from inference only. The Lord expressly declares, "fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy Exceeding Great Reward!" (Gen. xv. 1.) And again: "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee:--and I will be Their God," (Gen. xvii. 7, 8.) "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whithersoever thou goest," (Gen. xxviii. 15;) "and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." (Gen. xxii. 17.) In these promises is comprehended all spiritual blessings. Here is protection against enemies, in that God is "to be with" his people, and "to compass them about as with a shield;"-- here is the assurance of victory over all their enemies, "that they may serve without fear before him;"--here is their present and final bliss, in the enjoyment of God as their exceeding-- Exceeding great reward!
These things necessarily imply the personal sanctification of the people of God: for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" nor can God walk with any, or prove a reward to them, until there be in them a certain meetness of spirit, to enable them to delight in God. But these things may be more directly inferred from the express terms of the covenant. When Isaac prays, in the behalf of Jacob: "God give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed after thee, that thou mayest inherit the land," it is inferable that this blessing is needful, in its spiritual bearing, to enable any to be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light; and that, except they are thus blessed, they cannot inherit the land. (The same thing is implied in the apostolic command, "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother, (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth,'' or land, (Ephes. vi. 1,2.) The apostle here points out the connection between the obedience of faith and the possession of the land. That he refers to the promise to Abraham in the words, "that thou mayest live long on the earth," is evident, first, in that length of days was by no means enjoyed by the most holy of the primitive Christians, whether old or young; and, secondly, in that the Jews were immediately about to be ejected from that land.)
So it is to be inferred from the rite of circumcision then established. For we know, from other scriptures, that "circumcision is of the heart," (Rom. ii. 29;) and therefore that, in its original institution, it was not designed merely as a seal, but as a perpetual sign and admonition, that they should "circumcise the foreskin of the heart." (Deut. x. 16.) In this light it seems to be, that Abraham is assured, "that the uncircumcised shall be cut off from his people," (Gen. xvii. 14;) for as we do not find this sentence to have been fulfilled either by the magistrates, or by divine judgments, on Israel after the flesh, it must have had a reference to their being excluded or cut off from that general assembly of the saints and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven.
And this part of the covenant must likewise have a reference, as all the rest has, to the seed, "which is Christ." Does God covenant to be the God of Abraham and his seed?--so Jesus speaks of him expressly to his disciples as "My God and your God." (John xx. 17.) He it is whom the Lord specially covenants to be with, and to keep him in all his ways, lest at any time he dash his foot against a stone. (Psalm xci.) He it is who comes as the seed of the woman, to bruise the serpent's head, and "to speak with his enemies in the gate." And he it is, most pre-eminently, who proves a blessing to others, (Gen. xii. 2, 3,) and through whom the blessing flows to all families of the earth. Believers in general prove a blessing, as being the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, and in that out of their belly flow rivers of living water; but all that they have, which is gracious and profitable, they have received out of Christ's fulness; and the pardon of sin, and all direct spiritual aid, can only proceed to them through him.
Now that the view here taken of the covenant throughout is not strained; but that the Spirit of God did in subsequent ages explicate and set it forth to his church agreeably with this interpretation, will be evident by an appeal to the prophets; for they constantly couple the time of great deliverance and redemption with a return of Israel to Palestine, a regeneration of their hearts, a renewal of the earth, and the fact that the tabernacle of God shall be with men. For the present two or three quotations must suffice, which plainly and unequivocally treat of the New Covenant; which covenant it has been shewn, can be no other than this covenant of promise to Abraham.
Deut. xxx. 3--6, affords an instance that the possession of the land ultimately intended was to be accompanied by the circumcision of the heart, and therefore no occupation of the land hitherto enjoyed can be the one intended. "Then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."
Jeremiah, in chapters xxx. and xxxi., descants at length on the return of Israel to their land, their possessing it, and its great fertility at that time; and then at verses 31--34 declares, "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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
In the following chapter (xxxii.) the same is repeated with some circumstances of enlargement as to the spiritual blessings of "the everlasting covenant," which again can only be that made with Abraham. "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me."
Ezekiel shews the same in chap. xi. 17--20, "Therefore say thus: Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."
And again the same prophet, in chap. xxxvi. 24--28, has much to the same purport.--"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." After which follows a promise (v. 35,) that the land shall become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities become fenced, and inhabited.
That the preceding extracts refer to the Christian covenant is evident from the circumstance, that some of them are brought forward by the apostle when arguing that the covenant of works is superseded. See Heb. viii. and x. This covenant, therefore, is not to be arbitrarily divided or limited by us; we are not at liberty to select those only of its particulars, which may commend themselves to our minds; but it must be received in that circumstantial fulness in which we find it to be understood and dilated upon by the prophets.
At the same time, however, that the terms of the covenant are insisted on, I cannot but admit that there is a difficulty, in my apprehension, in clearly distinguishing in all cases between what relates to Israel after the flesh, who shall then be nationally restored; and what relates to the spiritual Israel, who will rise from the dead at that time. Most of the passages just now cited, relate evidently to Israel, after the flesh, who shall then be alive; because their hearts are only then to be regenerated: whereas the departed saints of the Israelitish nation, and all that election from among the Gentiles, "who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead," have had their hearts previously sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Some are of opinion that the saints will not be mingled at all with men, in the flesh in the resurrection; or, at least, that they will only be occasionally manifested to them, and therefore will not be continually dwelling on the earth. I know of no decided Scripture authority for the opinion; whilst yet, I confess that, judging by the reason of the thing, there appears some degree of plausibility in it. In the mean while it is evident, from the terms of the covenant we have reviewed, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are again to dwell in the renewed earth; and as they will be of the resurrection, there seems no just reason why the rest of those who sleep in Jesus should not dwell on it likewise. It is also evident from Gal. iii. 29. Rom. iv. 16. Ephes. ii. 11--22, and iii. 6, that the elect Gentiles are made partakers of the covenant of promise, without any distinction of nation, or any limitation as to its provisions. And it is further evident, from Psalm xxxvii. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34, and Matt. v. 5, that the meek shall inherit the earth,--a promise that seems especially to regard those, who in all times have, for the Lord's sake, been followers of peace. I conclude, therefore, that the resurrection saints will undoubtedly dwell on earth, and "have power over the nations;" (Rev. ii. 26.) though they will probably be nearer to God, and continually behold his glory, in a manner that will not be enjoyed to the same extent by men of flesh and blood. But these subordinate details must be left till the Lord's advent, when all difficulties and obscurities will be cleared up. Most of them arise from our little faith, and our inability, through inveterate prejudices, to apprehend in many instances what is plainly revealed.