OF THE JEWS’ REJECTION AND BLINDNESS.
James Dodson
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DISCOURSE III.
ROM. xi. 25. “That blindness in part is happened to Israel.”
In the two foregoing Discourses, we have taken a view of this mystery in its parts and properties, and of the Apostle’s desire to disseminate the knowledge of it among the Gentiles. We are now to consider the different branches of the mystery, in that order in which the Apostle, by the direction of the Spirit, arranges them. The words which have now been read to you contain the first of them: “That blindness in part is happened to Israel.” The people of whom the Apostle speaks, are called Israel. The posterity of Jacob, who, in wrestling with the angel, as a Prince had power with God, and with man, and prevailed. This name especially designates the nation of the Jews, whose ancestors remained in the land of Canaan, after the captivity of the ten tribes.—The text describes what has befallen them,—blindness is happened to Israel. They had fallen into a state of miserable blindness, before Christ’s incarnation. It remained on them, during the ministry of John the Baptist. It increased while Christ’s public ministry continued. At his crucifixion, it was most mournfully manifested. And it attained to its greatest degree of darkness, when they finally rejected the Gospel, the preaching of which by the Apostles, according to the merciful command of their Lord, began at Jerusalem.—This blindness, the Apostle says, is happened to them in part. In his day, their blindness was neither so total nor universal as it afterwards became. The Apostle seems to have used this soft expression, that he might not unnecessarily irritate the Jews, nor feed the vanity of the Gentiles.
In discoursing on this part of the subject, it is proposed,
I. To show how Israel’s low condition, from the time of their rejection, till the day of their deliverance, is represented to our view.
II. To describe the manner in which this blindness has happened to them.
III. To shew how this blindness has happened to them in part.
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In the first place, we are to shew how Israel’s low condition is represented to us, in the text and context.
1. The mournful condition of the Jews is compared to blindness. Those who are deprived of corporeal sight cannot behold the sun, nor can they by his light discern those external objects that are around them. Those who are deprived of spiritual vision cannot behold the Sun of Righteousness, who is the Light of the world of grace, nor can they understand by his light the things that are necessary to their salvation. As the former is a very great privation to those who are under it, the latter, belonging as it does to spiritual and eternal things, is an infinitely greater loss than the other. The Jews wilfully gave themselves over to the blindness of ignorance and prejudice, and, for that cause, they were given up to judicial blindness of mind. They were filled with the blindness of ignorance. They did not understand the predictions of their own scriptures, concerning the Person, the offices, the work and the salvation of the Messiah. At the coming of him in whom all these predictions were fulfilled, they could not see in him the accomplishment of any one of them. They were under the blindness of prejudice. They had all along believed that their Messiah would appear in the character of a great worldly conqueror, liberating them from the Roman yoke, and placing all nations in a state of subjection to them. Of a Divine and suffering Saviour, for washing away their sins in his blood, and fulfilling all their typical sacrifices by his atonement, they would not allow themselves to entertain the least conception. Under the destructive influence of this prejudice, they rejected him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write. They were filled with ignorance and prejudice relative to the calling of the Gentiles into the Christian Church. Although their own Scriptures had foretold this happy event, both in the clearest manner, and in a multitude of instances, they, like the elder brother in the parable, murmured at the return of the prodigal, were enraged at the reception of the Gentiles, and refused to go in. They were blinded by a wilful rejection of the light. They continued in their unbelief, notwithstanding of the holy life, the pure doctrine, and the innumerable miracles of the Lord Jesus, testifying abundantly to the Divinity of his Person, and to the truth of his mission from the Father. The death of Christ, the events
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which attended it, and his resurrection from the dead, proclaimed the same things. The supernatural qualifications of the Apostles for preaching to the people the blessed Gospel, the miracles which they wrought in Christ’s name, their wonderful success in converting both Jews and Gentiles, their boldness in the cause of the Gospel, and their patient suffering at the hand of their enemies, without any prospect of worldly advantage, all concurred to demonstrate that Jesus was the Christ, and that it was as vain, as it was criminal, to look for another. They were so blinded with hatred of Christ, of his Apostles, and the good tidings of great joy to all people, that Isaiah’s prediction was verified on them; “Their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts,” Acts xxviii. 27. Having voluntarily chosen this course, having rejected all the means for delivering them out of it, and having continued in it for a long time, “God gave them up to their own hearts’ lusts, and they wandered in their own counsels.”
2. The Jews’ low condition is compared to hardness. The word which is translated in the text blindness, is also translated hardness. “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” When this Greek noun is translated by one of these words, the other is sometimes marked on the margin. Since the idea of hardness is contained in the signification of the word, we are authorised to make use of it as another statement of the mournful condition of the Jews. They were not only in great blindness, but they were hardened in it. Their blindness was accompanied with obduracy. They hardened their necks, and refused to return. Preferring the darkness of their own blinded minds to the glorious light of the Gospel, they were hardened in their opposition to the truth, and confirmed in their infidelity. The galling disappointment of their worldly expectations, and the great success which attended the preaching of the Gospel, rendered them more obstinate in their unbelief, and made them exceedingly mad against those who preached or professed the name and doctrines of Christ. Every mean of conviction they resisted with the most determined aversion, and every argument they could devise for establishing their hearts in their opposition to Christ was earnestly improved, till they were completely hardened in their iniquity. Of this dreadful hardness, their treatment of Stephen is
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a clear confirmation. “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and gnashed on him with their teeth. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him,” Acts vii. 54, 57, 58. The same hardened malignity they discovered in their behaviour to Paul at his conversion, first at Damascus, and then at Jerusalem. Of the Jews in the former of these cities, it is said, “And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him—And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.” While he was at Jerusalem, it is said, “And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed with the Grecians; but they went about to slay him,” Acts ix. 23, 24, 29. In almost every city of the Gentiles, where Paul, Barnabas, and others, preached the Gospel, the Jews were active in stirring up the Gentiles to persecute them, and also assisted them in this abominable work. They sometimes manifested their hardened unbelief by contradicting their doctrine and blaspheming the Lord Jesus. A very high degree of hardness of heart belongs to the low condition into which the Jews have brought themselves.
3. The Jews’ mournful condition is compared to a fall. “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world,” verse 12; and again, verse 22, “Upon them which fell, severity.” In this representation of their state, three ideas are contained. The good from which they have fallen, the evil into which they fell, and the injury which they have sustained by their fall. They fell from the favour and enjoyment of God and their special relation to him; from their possession of the pleasant land, the inheritance of their fathers; from their national, political existence; and from the enjoyment of their church, constitution, and religious privileges. The evil into which they are fallen, is also very great. They have fallen under the displeasure of God and his grievous judgments, for their unbelief. They are fallen into a state of wandering among the nations, a state of suffering, of irreligion and profanity. Their table has become a trap, and a snare, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them. The injury which they have sustained by their fall is great indeed. They have been broken with a dreadful breach, and they have received an afflictive wound; and therefore, when the Lord shall deliver them, “He will bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound.”
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4. The Jews’ low condition is called a diminishing of them. “If the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles,” verse 12. The Greek word, which is here rendered diminishing, is only found in 1 Cor. vi. 7, where it is rendered by the word fault: “Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you.” In the Apostle’s using this word, we may suppose, that he had it in his view to express something immoral in their conduct, and something penal in their state. Their conduct had been immoral; they had committed a great fault. They had crucified the Lord of glory, persecuted his Apostles, and rejected the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. They had surrendered themselves, under the temptation of Satan, to the power of an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. In consequence of their fault, they suffered an irretrievable loss, and were greatly diminished. Of the peculiar privileges in which they gloried, they were completely deprived. Their number was greatly diminished, their wealth and other enjoyments were decayed, and their power was gone. The affecting words with which Jeremiah begins his Lamentations were applicable to their situation. “How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!” Lam. i. 1.
5. Their low condition is called a casting them away. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world,” verse 15. This representation imports some things in the object that is cast away, and some things in the agent who has cast them away. Men cast away objects that are of no value; so God did cast away the Jews, because, by their great transgressions, they had become utterly worthless before the Lord. Things are cast away because they cannot be applied to any useful purpose; so God did cast away his ancient people, because, by their hardened opposition to the scheme of human redemption, they had become entirely unfit to promote his glory. Some things are cast away because they are loathsome; so the holy Jehovah did cast away the Jews, because, by their unbelief, they had become the objects of his infinite detestation. Other things are also cast away, because they are pernicious and hurtful; God has also cast away the Jews, because they pleased him not, and were contrary to all men.—This account of their state implies also some things in the agent who casts them away. When men cast any thing away from them, they examine it, they pass sentence
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upon it, and they execute their purpose about it, by causing it to go away from them. This process passes through our minds, either more speedily or with greater deliberation, respecting an object that we cast away. In like manner, the God of Israel examined the cause of his ancient people. He found that they had set themselves, and had taken counsel against the Lord and his anointed. He passed on them a sentence of exclusion from his Church, and executed it, when, in his wrathful Providence, he cast them out of his sight.
6. It is called a breaking them off, as branches from an olive tree. “If some of the branches are broken off,” verse 17. “Well, because of unbelief they were broken off,” verse 20. That the Jews, by their rejection, were deprived of many blessings, and subjected to much misery, is evidently included in this representation of their state. The blessings which they lost may be illustrated from these words of the Apostle, verse 17. “Partaking of the root and fatness of the olive tree.” Whatever was included in this blessedness, the rebellious Jews lost by their unbelief. Christ is the olive tree: “I am the true vine.” When they were broken off from the olive tree, they lost union to the root, and all nourishment and support from it. Branches that are broken off from an olive tree lose vegetable life, verdure, blossoms, and fruitfulness. So when persons or churches are separated from Christ, they are deprived of spiritual life, beauty, and fruitfulness; of the strength and support of the root; and of all that beauty, fragrance, and fertility, which the fatness of the olive tree communicates to them who are in Christ. But this is not all; as they suffer many privations, so they are subjected to great misery. This is described in the words of Jesus, “If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned,” John xv. 6. Such is the condition of the unbelieving Jews. As they have lost the root and fatness of the olive tree, they are cast out as a branch, they are withered, they are gathered, they are cast into the fire, and they are burned. The Jews, in their state of unbelief, were cast out, rejected of God; they withered, lost all their temporal and spiritual prosperity; they were gathered, taken out from the Church of God, and bound in bundles; they were cast into the fire, separated unto the judgment and wrath of God; and they were burned, punished with destruction from the Almighty.
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7. Their low condition is represented also in these words, “God spared not the natural branches.” Of the Egyptians, in the time of the plagues, it is said, “He made a way to his anger, he spared not their soul from death,” Psalm lxxviii. 50. So, concerning the angels who fell, the same words are employed, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell.” God’s judgments on the antediluvians are represented in the same manner; “And spared not the old world—bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly,” 2 Peter ii. 4, 5. And what is above all comparison, God’s act towards his own Son, sustaining the character of our Mediator, is stated to us by the same phrase: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” Many times God had spared his ancient people under their great and aggravated provocations. He had exercised his long-suffering patience with that generation for the space of forty years after they had killed the Prince of Life. At length the season arrived when he would spare them no longer. They had spent those forty years of God’s long-suffering forbearance, in abusing their privileges, insulting his kindness, contemning his patience, and provoking his wrath, by rejecting his Gospel, persecuting his Church, and blaspheming the Messiah. He, therefore, spared them not; for, by means of the Roman armies, he brought on them the days of vengeance, that all things that were written might be fulfilled, and sent great distress into that land, and wrath upon that people.
8. Their miserable condition is represented as a state of unbelief, ungodliness, and sin. “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,” verse 32. “The Deliverer shall come out of Sion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” verse 26. “For this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins,” verse 27. These words show that the condition of the Jews, during the whole time of their rejection, must be a state of unbelief, ungodliness, and sin. Since this is their situation, their misery, while they continue in it, must be exceedingly great, “For he that believeth not shall be damned; and the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They had voluntarily chosen a course of unbelief in their own Scriptures which plainly foretold the coming of the Messiah, and in the Messiah himself in whom all those predictions were fulfilled. They had continued in their unbelief for a long time, had resisted all the means of conviction, and
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become worse and worse in their infidelity. God, therefore, suffered them to remain in the condition which they had chosen, and imprisoned them in a state of unbelief. In this situation they have lived in the most aggravated ungodliness. Casting off the true knowledge, the fear and service of God; despising, with the utmost contempt and indignation, the Christ of God, and doing despite unto the Spirit of grace, they have surrendered themselves to the power, and employed themselves in the practice of the most criminal ungodliness. Being in a state of unbelief and ungodliness, they have, in general, been chargeable with such practical immoralities, as will justify the application of the ancient complaint unto them: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward,” Isa. i. 4.
9. From the prediction of our Lord, the mournful state of the Jews may also be manifested. “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” Luke xxi. 24. How full, how plain, and how comprehensive is this prediction! Oh, how circumstantially has it been fulfilled! There are four particulars predicted: The dreadful slaughter of the Jews—The disgraceful captivity of those who survived—The Gentiles’ possession of the holy city and the holy land—And the time during which Judea should continue under their dominion. The slaughter of the Jews, as it was the first occurrence that happened, stands foremost in the prediction: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword.” Besides those who were slain in the country, when the Roman armies took and plundered the cities, and ravaged the land, a vast multitude were slain in Jerusalem, which at that time was crowded with the Jewish people. By the attacks of the Romans during the siege—by the bloody battles that were fought within the city among the Jews themselves—by the effects of famine, disease, and self-destruction within the city—and by the indiscriminate slaughter of them when the Romans took and burned the city and the temple, it is supposed that near a million of them perished. The prediction extends to the fate of those who survived this awful destruction: “And shall be led away captive into all nations.” The greater part of them were sold for slaves, and were carried into all
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nations, or into all the provinces of the Roman empire. Many of them were sent to the cities of that empire, and were exhibited as public spectacles on their theatres, to be devoured by wild beasts. The present state of their posterity, scattered still among all nations, is an astonishing verification of Christ’s prophecy.—The next part of the prediction relates to what should be the state of Jerusalem and Judea, after the slaughter, and the expulsion of the Jews from their inheritance: “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles.” It should remain under the dominion of some nation of the Gentiles, and should make a part of the territories under their rule. The Jews themselves should not regain the possession of it till the time appointed. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, supposing it to have happened about the seventieth year of the christian era, or about forty years after Christ’s death, the Gentile nations have possessed the sovereignty of that land for about one thousand seven hundred and fifty years. The Romans continued to tread it down about five hundred and fifty years. The Saracens who took it from them possessed it for nearly four hundred and forty years. One of the sultanies of the Turks, having conquered Judea from the Saracens, ruled over it twenty years. The Antichristian crusaders, who are called Gentiles, Rev. xi. 2, drove the Turks from the Holy Land, and kept possession of it one hundred and eight years. The Sultan of Egypt wrested it from the votaries of Antichrist, and trod it under his power about three hundred and thirty years. The Ottoman Turks took it from the Egyptians, and have ruled it most tyrannically for more than three hundred years. This nation of the Gentiles still continues to tread it under their feet. Oh, how circumstantially has our Lord’s prediction been hitherto fulfilled!—The last part of the prophecy fixes the time of the Gentiles’ possession of the holy city, and along with it, the Holy Land: “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” When the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision, or Babylon the great, in the visions of John, shall be destroyed; when the christian Gentiles shall no longer dwell exclusively in the tents of Shem; but the Jews shall also be admitted into the christian church: then upon Mount Sion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
With a few inferences from this melancholy part of the subject, we shall finish this Discourse.
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1. If we survey the dispensations of Providence with that people, since their dispersion; we will find that their general condition has corresponded with a state of Divine penal displeasure. Their grievous sufferings in that war which ended when Jerusalem was taken and burnt, and multitudes of the Jews destroyed, were to them only the beginning of sorrows. In different places they often suffered greatly by their frequent insurrections—by joining with the enemies of the Romans—by insulting christians, and christian worship—by wicked attempts to compel them to become christians—by popular abuse—by the rapacity of rulers in whose dominions they resided—by their false Messiahs—by their own divisions—by their treachery and dishonesty—by the Popish crusades—and the hardened persecution and cruelty which they endured in many European nations. Multitudes of Jews who survived the carnage and captivity by the Roman armies, were immediately scattered throughout the Roman provinces. They sometimes made insurrections against the rulers, and brought destruction on themselves. About fifty years after their dispersion, it is said, they rose in different provinces, and murdered multitudes of the subjects of Rome, both heathens and christians; and that the Roman armies took dreadful vengeance on them.—They were ever disposed to join with the enemies of the Roman power, and for this cause suffered many calamities. During the first century, they put themselves under the command of a robber, and, having been attacked by the Romans, it is said, that six hundred thousand Jews perished in that war. At different times, and in various places, they suffered greatly from this cause.—By insulting christians, and mocking at their worship, they incurred many calamities. In the fifth century this was so frequent and general, that the christians in the east were provoked to attack them, and to slay a great number of Jews. This profane behaviour has been a cause of misery to them, in former and in later times, both in Asia and Europe.—The absurd attempts of the Papists to force them to embrace their corrupted christianity, and to deliver them up to the infernal inquisition, have been to the Jews a source of horrid sufferings. Dreadful transactions of this sort have happened in the Popish countries of Europe, especially in the kingdom of Spain.—They also suffered much in many nations, by popular abuse and murder. Mobs have been raised against them, and, in many places, they have been murdered, male-
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and female, old and young; and their goods either seized or destroyed.—They have also suffered by the rapacity of the rulers in whose territories they have dwelt.—By exorbitant taxation and arbitrary demands, by threatenings and torture, by fines and imprisonment, their money has frequently been extorted from them, in many places.—They have endured much misery by false Messiahs. In almost every century, pretenders of this description appeared; and, in some instances, more than one appeared in different places at the same time. The Jews, ever disposed to follow those who made such pretensions, flocked to their standard, and always perished with their deceiver.—They were often reduced to misery by their own divisions and strife. The Jews were split into different parties, who heartily hated one another. Mutual broils and slaughter sometimes happened among them in the days of their dispersion, as well as at Jerusalem during their miserable siege.—By their own dishonesty and perjury they exposed themselves to many calamities. When their rulers by those means suffered at their hand, they punished and distressed them; and when their neighbours were the victims of this deceit and villany, they were provoked to treat them with personal contempt and abuse.—They suffered dreadfully by the Popish crusades. The Pope of Rome having succeeded in persuading the monarchs of Europe, that it was disgraceful to their religion, and dishonourable to themselves, to suffer the Holy Land to remain under the dominion of infidels; all Europe armed for the purpose of conquering and keeping in perpetual possession, the land of Judea, and the city of Jerusalem. These expeditions continued for a part of three centuries, and ended in the disappointment of the Pope, the disgrace of European potentates, and the destruction of their armies. In many countries of Europe, these armed bands, before they marched on this expedition, wreaked their vengeance on the Jews, by an unprovoked and indiscriminate slaughter of them. With the same injustice and cruelty, did the crusading armies treat those Jews whom they found, when they were marching to Canaan.—This people have also suffered by the persecutions which have been raised against them in the nations where they resided. During the dark ages, and under the uncontrolled reign of Antichrist, those persecutions have been peculiarly severe in Europe. At different times, the Jews have been murdered, banished and spoiled in France, Spain, Portugal and England; in
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some parts of Italy, in Austria, and in Germany. Since the Protestant reformation, they have been more kindly used in those countries where that reformation has been established. In other countries their condition has also been greatly meliorated. At the present day, the zeal of true christians has been awakened and exerted, for their conversion to Christianity.
2. These things should constrain us to take up a lamentation over the low condition of the Jewish nation. At the day of their destruction, Oh what calamities did they endure! When compared with these, the cruelties of Nebuchadnezzar, at their captivity, were small indeed. The duration of their captivity was as nothing when we compare it with the time of their present dispersion among all nations. The calamities which they endured in Babylon were inconceivably less than the frightful sufferings to which they were exposed, when their city was taken and burnt with fire, and when the people were carried out of the land, and completely separated from one another. During the long period of their dispersion, multitudes of their posterity have been exposed to the greatest injustice and contempt, and to the most cruel and barbarous persecution, in almost every European nation, while the idolatrous and sanguinary religion of Popery darkened the earth. This treatment may, in some degree, account for their continued opposition to Christianity. Having been ruled so tyrannically, and having been exposed to so much misery by those who professed that religion, would both exasperate them against their persecutors, and prejudice them at the Christian religion. In this view of their state, it is evident that part of the guilt of the Jews, in persisting in their unbelief, is imputable to those Antichristian monsters. That those whose ancestors were the peculiar people of God, who enjoyed the Divine institutions, to whom the oracles of God were committed, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came,—that they should be made the objects of such Divine vengeance, and that for so long a time, should fill our hearts with sympathetic feelings and deep concern. But while we mourn for their sufferings, let us also bewail their sin. In contemplating their sufferings, may we not say, Is there not a cause? Their misery has been great, but infinitely greater have been their crimes. If we review their sinful conduct either before their destruction, or since their dispersion, we will see a full vindication of Divine justice in every part of their
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calamitous punishment. But while we mourn for their sin and misery, let us not sorrow as them who have no hope; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. He who has executed his threatenings on them for their sin, in the sufferings to which they have been subjected; will also perform his promises to them, by making them a praise in the midst of the earth. Jer. xxxii. 42. “For thus saith the Lord, Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people; so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.” For their conversion, the time will come when the mercy of the Gentiles will be powerfully applied to them, and they shall obtain mercy. For their restoration, the season will arrive when the Lord will fulfil his word, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.” Isa. xlix. 22. Indifferency to the sin and punishment of Israel, marks the character of those who are unconcerned either for the Divine glory or for human happiness. Avoid, O christians, this ungodly disposition, and press upon your own hearts the consideration of the guilt and wretchedness of the Jews, in the assured hope that God will soon turn their captivity like streams in the south.
3. See also from what has been said, the evil nature of unbelief. From the conduct and situation of the Jews, we may be convinced that it is an evil thing and bitter, that we forsake the Lord our God. And how do we this? The Apostle informs us; “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,” Heb. iii. 12. Unbelief reigning in us, darkens our understandings, and hardens our hearts against God. By it we fall into much sin in this world, and into everlasting misery in the world to come. By unbelief, our convictions, and the other hopeful appearances about us, are diminished, till they entirely fade away. It is a principal cause of the Lord’s casting us away, and breaking us off from all connection with himself, with Christ, and with his Church. Continuing in it to the end, God will not spare us from everlasting punishment, but will give us up to the Destroyer. By unbelief, we dishonour God, reject Christ, despise the Gospel, and ruin our immortal souls. What greater dishonour can we do to the God of mercy and of truth, than by discrediting the record which he has given us of his Son,
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by neglecting to improve it for our salvation, and by making him a liar. Refusing to come to Christ that we may have life, we reject his person, his Spirit, and his righteousness. Neglecting the great salvation which the Gospel reveals, offers and brings near us, we voluntarily remain in our state of condemnation, refuse deliverance, and subject ourselves to everlasting punishment. When the Apostle says of the Jews, “Because of unbelief they were broken off,” our hearts should be filled with fear and concern. Living in a state of unbelief, we will not be spared by Him, who spared not the natural branches. O then, seek from God the gift of precious faith. O cry to him for the destruction of your unbelief. And while thus exercised, endeavour to renounce every refuge of lies, to embrace Jesus and his righteousness, to take hold of his covenant, and to devote yourselves to him and to his service, ever remembering that Christ’s words will be fulfilled: “He that believeth shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
4. From this subject we may be directed to contemplate the nature, the necessity, and the excellence of saving faith. When the Apostle said of the Jews, “Because of unbelief they were broken off,” he immediately adds, respecting the believing Gentiles, “And thou standest by faith,” verse 20. It is the work of faith to unite the believer to the true vine, Christ Jesus, or the good olive tree; to give him an interest in the Saviour’s righteousness, and to introduce him into a state of pardon and acceptance with God. Through saving faith in Christ, the believer partakes of the spiritual life and support conveyed to him from the root; shares of that nourishment and strength imparted to him from the fatness; and obtains that growth and fruitfulness communicated to him from both the root and fatness of this good olive tree. By the exercise of his faith, the believer continues and abides in Christ, who is represented both by the true vine, and the good olive tree. These exercises are necessary to prove the reality of his faith, and to promote his fruitfulness. The Apostle says again to Gentile believers; “But toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Betwixt those sayings of Paul, and the words of his Lord, when he spake on a similar topic, there is the most perfect agreement. “Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches:
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he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing,” John xv. 4, 5. It belongs, therefore, to the nature of faith, to be instrumental in receiving out of Christ’s fulness, and grace for grace. In that fulness which it hath pleased the Father to deposit in our Redeemer, there is an inexhaustible store of merit and satisfaction, of Spirit and grace, of Divine influences, and new-covenant blessings. In the exercise of their faith, believers come to Christ’s fulness, and embrace his merit and satisfaction for pardon and acceptance with God; receive his Spirit and grace for sanctification and growth in holiness; and obtain his influences and blessings for enriching and comforting their souls. Since these are the ends for which believers exercise their faith, the nature, necessity, and excellence of that grace must be easily discerned. “Thou standest by faith.” Through faith in Christ, believers have access to that grace wherein they stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. In the exercise of their faith, believers stand firm on the rock of ages, in the spiritual warfare, in the time of trouble, in the season of religious duty, and at the hour of death. How earnestly ought we to desire the implantation of faith, and how diligently should we exercise it; for without this precious grace, it is impossible to please God.
5. The things which have happened to the Jewish people, and among the nations, prove the Christian religion to be Divine. The miracles that were wrought, and the predictions that were fulfilled under the Mosaic economy, proved it to be of God. A multitude of incontestible miracles have been performed both by Christ and his Apostles, in confirmation of that religion which Jesus established among men; and many predictions have been uttered, both by him and them, for the same purpose. Many of these predictions have been most minutely accomplished. As the subject before us directs our attention to this part of the argument, to it we shall now confine ourselves. Besides our Lord’s prediction, which has already been considered, there are some others which relate to the same object. We find our Lord declaring to the Jews, “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,” Mat. xxi. 43. Hear also his words, when he was entering Jerusalem in humble triumph; “And when he was come near, he beheld the
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city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace; but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round about, and keep thee in on every side; and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation,” Luke xix. 41—44. All things that have happened to the Jews, since Christ spake these words, till the present time, above 1800 years, have been a most circumstantial accomplishment of his predictions. He who knows the end from the beginning, must, therefore, be the Author of the Christian religion. The predictions of Paul concerning the great apostacy under the Christian dispensation, 2 Thess. ii. 3—12. have received such a minute accomplishment, in the rise and prevalence of the Popish religion, in the abominable idolatries of her worship, in the immoralities of her members, in the blasphemies of her head, and in her persecution of Christ’s Church, that no person who, with judgment and candour, compares the prediction with the event, can doubt of the truth of that religion for the support of which those prophecies were promulgated. In addition to all these, the prophetic visions of John must also be mentioned. In the whole of these visions, we have a prophetic history of the things that the Apostle had seen, of the things that were, and of the things that should be thereafter. By the symbols of opening seven seals, the sounding of seven trumpets, and of pouring out seven vials, and several other detached visions, together with the vision of the 1000 years, and the little season, the grand transactions concerning the Church and her enemies, from the days of John till the day of judgment are systematically arranged, and perspicuously foretold. A careful consideration of these things must convince every person, that the Christian religion alone can discover to us that true grace of God in which every sinner must stand, in order to his obtaining eternal life.
6. This subject should remind us of the hurtfulness of erroneous prejudices against the scheme of salvation, and the truths of God. These were the ruin of the Jewish church and nation. Through ignorance of their own sacred writings, they had conceived, in their
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own blinded minds, a plan of the Divine procedure respecting the Messiah, and the ends of his coming, altogether opposite unto the scheme devised by infinite wisdom, and clearly revealed in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. To their own vain imaginations, on this most important subject, they tenaciously adhered, and, of course, they rejected the counsel of God against their own souls, despised and crucified the Lord Jesus, refused to believe the Gospel, and brought upon themselves swift destruction. Similar prejudices against any Divine truths of equal importance, will endanger or prevent the salvation of men who embrace them. Similar prejudices against Divine truths, which are not so fundamental to salvation, will hurt the comfort of believers, and tarnish the beauty of the Church. It is evident that prejudices of the former class exist among us, because of the diligence which some exercise in propagating a system of belief, which involves in it a denial of the Lord who bought us, and a doing despite unto the Spirit of grace. That doctrine which denies the divinity, the meritorious righteousness, and proper atonement of Christ; and the personality, divinity, and supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost, ranks among those errors which will drown men in destruction and perdition. That prejudices of the latter class abound in our day, is too evident from the mournful divisions which are found in the Church of God. How much are christians divided in their sentiments about some of the doctrines of the Scriptures, concerning the administration of some Divine ordinances, relative to the governors and the government of the Christian Church, and with respect to the censures of the house of God! Until the Jews, in their fulness, enter into the Christian Church, which will be more advantageous to the Gentile churches than their fall and diminishing, and until that people shall be received in, which will be like life from the dead, there is great reason to fear that these breaches among Gentile churches will not be completely healed.
7. On this subject, the nature of the Mosaic economy, the mournful condition of those who cleave to it in the days of the Gospel, and the only way of deliverance from that misery, claim our serious attention. These things may be understood from what is said concerning the vail of Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 23—35; and from the Apostle’s explanation of it, 2 Cor. iii. 12—18. When Moses descended from the mount, the skin of his face shined with such brightness, that
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Aaron, the Rulers of the congregation, and the Children of Israel, could hold no communication with him till he put a vail on his face. This vail symbolized the comparative obscurity of the former dispensation, which contained a shadow of good things to come; but the body is of Christ. The glorious mysteries belonging to the salvation of sinners by Divine grace reigning through Christ’s righteousness, were revealed by types, predictions, and promises, through which the Israelites could not clearly see, nor steadfastly look to the end, or the things signified by that system which was to be abolished. “Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed.” The ceremonial institutions, though they exhibited darkly the scheme of salvation, were a vail which concealed, from the ancient church, its glory and beauties. But when God was manifested in the flesh, and had finished his work in his death, and when the Gospel of our salvation in Christ was preached unto men, the mystery that was kept secret since the world began, was now manifested, and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. The substance having appeared, the shadows fled away. This external vail, which necessarily belonged to the Jewish dispensation, was done away in Christ. By his incarnation, obedience, sufferings, and death, the ancient types, predictions, and promises, were all fulfilled in him. The Mosaic economy was then abolished, and the Christian dispensation substituted in its place. When this blindness happened to Israel, they obstinately adhered to the ceremonial system, hated and opposed the evangelical dispensation, and crucified its glorious Founder. The Apostle mentions an internal vail in which their misery consisted: “But their minds were blinded—For even unto this day when Moses is read, the vail is upon their hearts,” verses 14, 15. This vail is the blindness that has happened to Israel. The Jews’ adherence to the darker dispensation which God had abrogated, and their abhorrence of the brighter economy which He had established, constituted their guilt and misery. Of the great body of that people we must say, that even unto our own day, this vail is upon their hearts. But shall this continue for ever? No; for the Apostle has said, “Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away,” verse 16. Four delightful truths are contained in these words:—The Jews shall yet return to the Lord. The
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Apostle would not have mentioned such a thing had he not known that God had determined to effect it.—The vail shall be removed from their hearts. The Lord, the Spirit, by means of the Gospel, will dispel their darkness, and diffuse light into their souls; and this vail shall be taken away.—This work will be performed on the Jews when they shall turn to the Lord. The removal of the vail will cause them to turn to the Lord, and their returning to the Lord will show that the vail is taken away.—All this will be done to that people, notwithstanding the high degree of their blindness, the number and strength of their prejudices, and the length of the time in which they have continued under their power. Let all Christians, then, present at the throne of grace the prayer of faith, for the accomplishment of that promise, which refers to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles, “And he will destroy in this mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” This will be done, whilst the Lord of Hosts, in this mountain of the Gospel Church, “Shall make unto all people,” at the millennial age, “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” Isa. xxv. 6, 7.
8. This subject may be improved as a solemn warning to us all. Let christians carefully guard against every thing that constituted the sin, and procured the punishment of the Jewish nation. Beware, O christians, of blindness of mind, and hardness of heart. Cry daily, “open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Study to maintain true spiritual tenderness of heart. Guard against the blinding and hardening influence of sin, of Satan’s temptations, and the world’s snares. Avoid falling by your iniquity, that the principles of holiness, in their exercise and fruits, may not be diminished in your souls. Turn not aside after the error of the wicked, lest ye fall from your own stedfastness, and seem to fail of the grace of God. Exercise a holy fear lest the Lord cast you away, and break you off. In the exercise of faith and love, abide in Christ, and cleave unto God with purpose of heart; so shall Christ, his Spirit and his word, abide in you, and He who is your God will never leave you, nor forsake you. Study to walk in the path of duty, and endeavour to keep yourselves from your iniquities, lest the Lord spare you not, but deliver you over to his fatherly corrections. By spiritual distress and outward troubles, he chastens his people for their sin, and, until his gracious ends are fulfilled on them, he will
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not spare them, no, not for their crying. Watch continually against unbelief, ungodliness, and sin. Strive to live a life of faith on the Son of God. Endeavour to live godly in Christ Jesus, by exercising yourselves unto godliness. Employ yourselves in guarding against all sin, that ye through the Spirit may mortify the deeds of the body, and live a life of holiness in the fear of God. Finally, let it be your concern to think on God’s threatened judgments. Their execution on the Jews overthrew their church and nation. To a destruction somewhat similar to this, shall every nation, which plots against the Lord and his Anointed, be exposed. The threatening predictions of God’s word assure us, that the glory of the latter day will be introduced by fearful calamities among the inhabitants of the earth. Prepare for these judgments. Search the Scriptures, that ye may be convinced of the necessity of them, for accomplishing the Divine purposes, for executing the Divine threatenings, for removing Christ’s enemies, and for preparing the Church—Jew and Gentile, for entering into her millennial rest.