OF THE SALVATION OF ALL ISRAEL.
James Dodson
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DISCOURSE VII.
Rom. xi. 26. “And so all Israel shall be saved.”
God’s sovereign purposes concerning the Jews and the Gentiles, fixed in his wisdom from eternity, and accomplished by his power at their appointed seasons, are declared with admirable precision in the three chapters to which our attention has been directed. The grand substance of all that the Apostle had said of them, as they are fulfilled under the Christian dispensation, is systematically compressed, in the three verses which are chiefly under our consideration. The principal object, in those verses, is to unfold God’s merciful designs towards his ancient people. To characterize the period when those purposes shall be fulfilled to the Jews, the good tidings of great joy, concerning the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, are incidentally introduced. When God declares his gracious intention to some, he unfolds, at the same time, his merciful designs to others, making the same revelation a joyful message to both. Accordingly, in a prediction which can receive its complete fulfilment only at this blessed era, the Father says to the Son, “It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Judah, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth,” Isa. xlix. 6. He declares that darkness shall be removed from the Jews, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. But this is not the whole of that blessedness which God, at this singular era, will bestow on the Jews; and, therefore, it is added in our text, “And so all Israel shall be saved.” When their darkness shall be dispelled, they shall enter into the light of God’s salvation.
In this short, but most comprehensive prediction, we have—the parties who are concerned in it; Israel, all Israel, the whole posterity of Jacob—The blessing which is secured to them, it is salvation;
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deliverance from all evil, and the enjoyment of all good—And the connexion between the last clause of the foregoing verse and the words of our text; “Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.” When the Gentiles’ fulness shall be come in, the salvation of all Israel will be perfected.
In discoursing from this subject it is proposed,
I. To describe the party whose salvation is here predicted.
II. To explain the Apostle’s words, in this chapter, by which the way of their obtaining this salvation is represented.
III. To mention some of the blessings in which their salvation will consist.
I. We are now to describe the parties whose salvation is here predicted.
1. They are denominated Israel, and in the latter part of the verse they are called Jacob. On the third Patriarch, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham, both these names were bestowed. He received the name of Jacob at his birth. Being favoured with a visit from the Divine Angel at Peniel, when he was in great trouble, he wrestled with him in prayer, and had power with God and with man and prevailed; and therefore he was called Israel, Gen. xxxii. 28. The grant of this new name to him was afterwards renewed at Bethel, “And God said unto him thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he called his name Israel,” chap. xxxv. 10. The whole of Jacob’s posterity belonged to the Church. It was not so with all the posterity of either of the Patriarchs from whom he was descended. Jacob’s twelve sons were the patriarchal fathers of the twelve tribes of God; for they were called by their names. But the names of the father of the twelve Patriarchs were given to the whole of the chosen seed; and they were called Israel and Jacob. The Apostle bestows these names on them to show, that the people of whom he spake were the posterity of those whom God had redeemed from the land of Egypt, who were called by the name of Jacob, and surnamed by the name of Israel. By these names they are also distinguished from the rest of the nations, whom the Apostle denominates the Gentiles. As the blessings which are reserved for the Gentiles, at the latter day, are clearly foretold, “their fulness shall come in;” so the
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felicity which is prepared for the Jews at that time, is most satisfactorily predicted; for all Israel shall then be saved. In his holy and over-ruling providence, God has preserved the Jews as a distinct people, when they have been dispersed among the nations, for nearly 1800 years; so that, at this day, they are as distinguishable from the Gentile nations as their fathers were, when they dwelt alone in the land of Canaan, and were not reckoned among the nations. For very important purposes, the infinitely wise God, who does nothing in vain, must have preserved this people, in these extraordinary circumstances, and for such a length of time. And what can this be, but that all the inhabitants of the earth, and the Jews themselves, may behold and adore the mercy, the faithfulness, and power of God in bestowing this salvation on them, when he shall turn back their present captivity like streams in the south.
2. The people whose salvation is foretold in our text are called all Israel. They are not only Israel, but they are all Israel. The whole of the people of the seed of Israel, who shall be alive on the earth at the time when this prophecy will be fulfilled, must partake of this salvation; “And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book,” Dan. xii. 1. All Israel, of every age, sex, or condition: “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child, together, a great company shall return thither,” Jer. xxxi. 8. If they returned from Babylon in this manner, they will much more be gathered in the same way, when all Israel shall be saved. They shall then be gathered out of all nations, from north, south, east, and west. All Israel comprehend the people of the Jews, the posterity of Judah and Benjamin, whose forefathers inhabited the land of Canaan, in the days of Christ and his Apostles. All Israel must also signify the people of the ten tribes. In the promise of the restoration, at the latter day, they are also included. There is a most remarkable prediction, mixed up with many promises both to Israel and Judah, concerning their union and restoration to their own land, in Ezek. xxxvii. 15—28. The whole passage is most worthy of our consideration. I shall only mention verse 19, “Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with
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the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.” There is another prophecy no less plain and satisfactory in Isa. xi. 10—16. I shall quote only verse 12, “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Since the days of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, when the twelve tribes were divided into two kingdoms, there has never been such a restoration and union of that people as these predictions foretell; their fulfilment, therefore, is yet to be accomplished. There are also, in those predictions, several particulars which fix their accomplishment, for the period of the Gospel dispensation. The prediction of Isaiah is to be fulfilled when the Root of Jesse shall stand for an ensign of the people, when the Gentiles shall seek to it, and when his rest shall be glorious; this can happen only in the days of the Gospel. When the prediction of Ezekiel will be accomplished, David, the Lord’s servant, shall be King over them, and their Prince for ever; and the Lord will set up his sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. The former of these will be accomplished, when both Judah and Israel will submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is David’s son and David’s Lord; and the latter will be fulfilled, when the Lord shall establish the Christian religion among the whole posterity of Jacob. Since none of these glorious things have taken place since the days of Christ, the fulfilment of them is reserved for the concluding period of the evangelical dispensation. The awful threatening denounced against that people, Amos viii. 14, must not be considered as militating against the accomplishment of the promises relative to their recovery and conversion. “They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.” The object of these threatenings, without doubt, is the kingdom of the ten tribes. The threatening, “they shall fall,” has been accomplished on them in their miserable captivity, from which they have never returned. But the threatening contained in these words, “And shall never rise up again,” must not be understood to signify their total destruction. The meaning may be, and consistently with the promises of good to them in the latter day, we think the meaning of these words must be, That they shall not rise up again to exist in the same condition in which they were prior to their captivity. At that time they were both an idolatrous nation
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and an independent kingdom in hostile separation from that of Judah; but when they shall be delivered, they will be purged from their idolatry, and incorporated as a nation with the kingdom of Judah. From these predictions we conclude, that, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in, the house of Israel, wherever they may be, and the house of Judah, scattered as they are, shall be reconciled, and shall be made partakers of the Gospel salvation.
II. I am now to consider some of the Apostle’s expressions, by which he, in this Chapter, represents the manner of their obtaining this salvation.
When the first branch of this mystery was under our consideration, the Apostle’s representations of the low condition of the Jews, when blindness in part happened to them, were explained; and now we shall illustrate the Apostle’s words, by which the Jews’ entry into this salvation is exhibited to the Church.
1. The Apostle represents the salvation of all Israel by their fulness. “Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness,” verse 12. It is a most delightful truth which these words reveal, that if the Gentiles were enriched by the fall and diminishing of the Jews, their riches will be unspeakably increased, when the Jews shall enjoy their fulness. But this is not the object for which we have now referred to this verse. This is the matter now to be considered; that as the Jews have fallen, and have been diminished, so they shall enjoy a fulness. This fulness which is secured to all Israel, may include a fulness of the privileges of the Gospel. A fulness of external privileges, when they shall enjoy the word and ordinances of Christ; and a fulness of internal privileges, when they shall be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But even this is not the full import of this prediction concerning the Jews. The fulness which is reserved for them, signifies a fulness of numbers. This fulness is contrasted with their diminishing. If the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness. By their adherence to the abolished system, and their rejection of the Christian economy, when the dispensation was changed at the death of Christ, the number of Jewish members in the Church of God was greatly diminished. When the Christian Church was established
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among the Gentiles, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem, the number of Jewish believers in that church was so much diminished, that in a short time there were very few of that people found in her communion. Since the Jews, as members of the Church, were diminished in their numbers; their fulness, which is contrasted with it, must have a reference to their numbers. By their fulness, therefore, we must understand, the entering of Israel into the Christian Church, until the whole of that people are brought to the faith, the obedience, and the profession of the Gospel. At that time, but not before it, the promise in the text will be realized; “and so all Israel shall be saved.” The prediction in verse 12, concerning the Jews, is of the same meaning with the prophecy in verse 25, relative to the Gentiles, “Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in;” and, therefore, it must signify the coming in of the fulness of the Jews. Our text indeed puts it beyond a doubt; “And so all Israel shall be saved.” The Apostle, then, represents the salvation of all Israel by the coming in of their fulness to the fellowship of Christ and his Church, in all the ordinances and blessings of the Gospel.
2. The salvation of all Israel is represented by the receiving of them. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead,” verse 15. This description of their salvation is introduced for the same purpose as that of their fulness; to shew the advantages which the Gentiles shall enjoy by the conversion of the Jews. It will be to them like life from the dead. It cannot be otherwise; for at that time their own fulness will be come in. But the end for which this verse is now called up to your consideration, is to unfold the description which it gives of the Jews’ entry into the Christian Church; it is called “the receiving of them.” As there has been a dismal time, at which they have been cast away: so there shall come a joyful season, when they shall be received. This is a most gratifying account of the salvation of all Israel. The words import, that God the Father will call and gather them, that God the Son, our Saviour, will invite and draw them, and that God the Holy Ghost, will quicken and guide them into this grace, wherein true believers stand. The Father will gather, the Son will draw, and the Holy Spirit will guide all Israel into their resting place. With infinite delight, will the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, welcome and receive them. God in Christ by his Holy Spirit, will receive his ancient people into his favour and friendship, receive them under the covert of Christ’s blood and righteousness, receive them into the care and influence of the Lord the Spirit, receive them into his own spiritual family, receive them into the bond of the covenant of grace, receive them into his Church, receive them into communion with himself, receive them under the protection of his special Providence, and will at last receive them into glory. At that happy time, the parable of the prodigal son shall be fulfilled on them, as it has been already verified on the Gentiles. Then they shall arise and come to their Father, and when they are yet afar off, their Father shall see them and have compassion, and run, and fall on their neck, and kiss them. He will then say, “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; for this my Son was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found.”—The holy angels will receive them. They shall, with a joyful song, hail their entrance into the Christian Church. Since there is joy in heaven, among the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth; what joy and praise will be found among the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, when all the seed of Israel, from every part of the earth, shall press into the kingdom of God. The joy of angels will be greatly increased, because at that day they shall, in a very extensive degree, enjoy that felicity which these words of the Apostle reveal; “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers, in heavenly places, might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.” Besides, the holy angels, as ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, will cheerfully receive them under their care, that they may perform to them, according to the will of God, those acts of love, assistance, and defence, which they are appointed to fulfil to those who are the called, according to the Divine purpose.—With great cordiality and affection, will the Christian Church receive their Jewish brethren. All her members, with pleasure and delight, will give the Jews the right hand of fellowship, and welcome them into the communion of saints. Though nothing gave the Jews, when they were entering into their blindness, greater offence, than the admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God; yet nothing will give the enlightened Gentiles
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greater joy, than the Jews’ entrance into the Messiah’s kingdom. By all those who have any friendly concern with these glorious transactions, the Jews will be most cheerfully received into the Gospel sanctuary.
3. By the metaphor of ingrafting them again into their own olive tree, the salvation of all Israel is also represented. “But if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree,” verse 24. By cutting them off from their own olive tree, because of their unbelief, their rejection and blindness were set before us; and by ingrafting them again into this good olive, the salvation of all Israel is plainly described. The living and life-giving stock is ready, the scions will be prepared, and God, the great Husbandman, will perform that operation by which the Jews will be graffed again into their own olive; “For God is able to graff them in again,” verse 23. They have lived long in connexion with a wild olive tree. While they have remained in this condition, “Their vine has been the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes have been grapes of gall, and their clusters have been bitter.” By their rejection of Christ, by their adherence to the antiquated system of Judaism, by their receiving the ungodly traditions and absurd fables of the elders, and by their doctrinal errors and gross immoralities, the Jewish people reduced themselves to a situation equally degrading and miserable, as that in which the Gentiles were found, when the Apostles first preached the Gospel among them, and as that in which many of these nations, even at this present time, are still ingulfed. From this condition, God will deliver them, when all Israel shall be saved. The work which God will accomplish, for ingrafting Israel into their own olive tree, will be substantially the same with that operation which he performed on the Gentiles, when he called them out of darkness into his marvellous light. It will also be the same in its nature and effects, in its causes and means, with that gracious and powerful work, by which he will bring in the fulness of the Gentiles. This metaphor represents the entire separation of the Jews from their delusions, and their vital union to Christ, and to Christianity. As a scion which is cut off from its natural stock, and is ingrafted in one that is new, is en-
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tirely separated from the former, and is vitally joined to the latter; so will it be with the Jews, when God shall graff them in again. God the Father, who is the Husbandman, through the mediation of his Son, and by the influences of the Spirit of life, will powerfully apply his word, and bless his ordinances, to his ancient people, for convincing them of the evil and error of their ways, for bringing them to the faith of Christ, for causing them to submit to the ordinances of the Gospel, and for persuading and enabling them to make an enlightened and sincere profession of true Christianity. Changed in this manner, they shall partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; verse 17. They shall be strengthened, supported, and upheld by the root; and nourished and made fruitful by the fatness of the olive tree. Separated from Christ, the Jews have long been cast forth as a branch, and are withered: but, after they are ingrafted into him, they will be fruitful, and he will purge them that they may bring forth more fruit. Since the beginning of their blindness, Oh how barren and unfruitful has Israel been! But when they shall be joined to the Lord, and planted again in his house, they shall flourish in the courts of their God, and shall have their fruit unto holiness, and their end everlasting life.
4. The salvation of all Israel is likewise represented by their obtaining mercy. “Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all,” verses 31, 32. Divine mercy may be considered both with respect to the merciful God, and the miserable sinner. It is God’s gift, and the sinner’s portion. The God of mercy will exercise his mercy unto them, and they shall obtain mercy. He will have all the glory of his mercy, and they shall enjoy the blessings of mercy. In the salvation of all Israel, as well as in the vocation of the Gentiles at first, and in bringing in their fulness at the latter day, God’s mercy shall be built up for ever, and his faithfulness, in fulfilling his own word, shall be established in the very heavens. The condition of Israel, at that time, will be very forlorn and wretched, for they shall obtain mercy. It is mercy that miserable sinners need, and mercy they shall obtain. Most extensively will God exercise his mercy to Israel, for he will have mercy upon all. The exercise of his mercy unto them will be of equal extent with the exercise of his justice upon them. As he has for their sin concluded
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them all in unbelief, so he will have mercy upon all, and mercy will rejoice over judgment. This Divine mercy will be extended to them through Christ’s mediation. For grace shall reign to them through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. As the Apostle Paul, notwithstanding his blasphemy, persecution, and injuriousness, obtained mercy; so all Israel, guilty and defiled as they are, shall also obtain mercy. In their converted state, they shall meditate with delight, on the cause for which the Apostle obtained mercy, as he himself expresses it; “Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them,” of the Jews at the day of their conversion, “which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting,” 1 Tim. i. 16. Filled with such delightful thoughts, they will join in those humble adorations which follow in the next verse; “Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”
5. The Apostle represents the salvation of all Israel by their obtaining precious faith. This may be proved from the 20th and 23d verses. In verse 20th, the Apostle says, “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith.” The Apostle assures us, that as the Jews were broken off, so they shall be graffed in again, that the Gentiles who were graffed into the good olive obtained this privilege by faith in Christ. When the Jews shall be ingrafted into their own olive tree, they must also receive this blessedness by the exercise of faith in him who hath said, “I am the true vine.” As unbelief was the cause of their excision from the good olive, so faith must be the mean of their renewed ingrafting into it. There is infinite demerit in their unbelief to procure their rejection; but their faith possesses no merit to purchase their salvation; for Jesus having been made perfect, has become the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him. Their faith is necessary to give them an interest in the person and righteousness of Christ, through whom alone salvation can come to Israel. As the Gentiles who are now ingrafted into the good olive, stand by faith in the enjoyment of this privilege; so the Jews, when they are ingrafted into their own olive tree, must stand by faith in the possession of the same blessing. In verse 23d, the Apostle says, “And they, also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in; For God is able to
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graff them in again.” During the whole time of Israel’s abode in unbelief, they must continue in a state of blindness and rejection; but when the time of their abode in unbelief shall come to an end, they shall be graffed into their own olive. Our text assures us that all Israel shall be saved, and the 24th verse declares that they shall be graffed into their own olive tree. Their unbelief, therefore, must be destroyed, and the faith of God’s elect must be planted in them, in order that their state of separation from Christ may be ended, and that they, being united to Christ, may be saved in him with an everlasting salvation. To their precious souls, the Spirit of faith will apply the Gospel, which is the word of faith, enlightening them in the knowledge of Christ who is the object of faith, and will implant in them the grace of faith; enabling them, for their everlasting salvation, to embrace the person, to improve the offices, and to rely on the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him they shall believe in God, who raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that their faith and hope may be in God.
6. The salvation of Israel is represented by the turning away of their ungodliness from them, and by the removal of their sins. Although those blessings belong to our general subject, and must afterwards be more particularly considered; yet it seems necessary, in taking a view of the Apostle’s description of the way in which all Israel shall be saved, to introduce them for the illustration of it. When the Lord shall bring in the fulness of the Jews, when they shall meet with a most cordial reception, when they shall be ingrafted on their own stock, when they shall obtain mercy, and when they shall possess that faith which is the gift of God, their ungodliness shall be taken away, and their sin shall be removed. These blessings are not more precious in themselves than they are necessary to us. Without them none can enter into a state of salvation. They are blessings which no creature can confer on another, nor can any person procure them for himself. The removal of Jacob’s ungodliness is the work of his glorious Deliverer, and the taking away of his sin is the doing of Israel’s covenant God. When Christ, who was the Divine Angel that spake to Moses in the Mount Sinai, shall see the present affliction of his ancient people, and shall come down to deliver them, he will remove their ungodliness from them; “For there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” When God the Father shall remember his covenant, in behalf of his
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ancient people, he will take away their sins; “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” While they continue in a state of unbelief, they are under the power of their ungodliness, and the guilt of their sins; but when they shall be turned to the Lord, they shall be delivered from their ungodliness, and saved from their sins.
On the last branch of this subject we will not enter now, but conclude this Discourse with some inferences.
1. To the seed of Jacob, this promised salvation will be most extensively applied. Since their fulness shall be brought to enjoy it, since the forlorn posterity of the ten tribes, and the scattered descendants of Judah and Benjamin shall partake of it; or, as our text expresses it, since all Israel shall be saved, Oh! what a numerous company will, at that time, repent and believe the Gospel. The mere preservation of Israel, while dispersed among the nations, is but a part of God’s wondrous works among that people. The manner in which they have been preserved, not as a small remnant, but as a numerous body, is also very marvellous. The number of the Jews on the earth, at this time, is probably greater than it was at any former period when they were numbered, even in the prosperous reign of David. If we add to them the Gentile converts when their fulness shall come in, we may see the propriety and truth of John’s account of the worshippers of God and the Lamb at the latter day; “A great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.”
2. This subject may convince us of the cordial reception which sinners shall receive when God puts it into their hearts to return to himself. When God shall graciously receive all Israel, returning, under Divine influence, to seek the Lord their God, and David their King, He will do nothing more than what he has been doing all along among the Gentiles, and what he will still perform to every sinner who comes to him for salvation. The Parable of the Prodigal Son, in all its parts, shall be verified on every one of them. They shall be received of the Father, for he is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” The exalted Redeemer shall graciously receive them; for he hath said, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” They shall be received by the Holy Ghost; for the Comforter will come, and convince them
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of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. They shall be received by the holy Angels and the glorified saints. For there shall be joy in heaven among the Angels of God, and of course also among the redeemed above, over one sinner that repenteth. The Church below will also receive them into their fellowship, and will glorify God in them. What gracious encouragement, then, does the Lord give to every sinner, hearing the Gospel, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be saved. How speedily therefore should sinners comply with the Divine call, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” How aggravated must be the unbelief, and how dreadful the condemnation of those who will not come unto Jesus that they may have life! And how great must be the felicity and how strong the consolation of those who have fled for refuge to lay hold on Christ, the hope set before them! O sinners! come, come to the Saviour, for he will receive you! Let not a conviction of guilt, unworthiness, or inability, either discourage or prevent you from coming to Jesus. The Jews, when God shall by his grace call them effectually into the fellowship of Christ, will be guilty, unworthy, and unable of themselves; but they will come and shall be received. So shall it be with you. That ye may be delivered from your guilt, made worthy through his worthiness, and quickened together with him, or strengthened by his grace, you are invited to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and then ye shall be enabled to walk in him.
3. A special ingraftment into Christ, and a participation of the blessings which he communicates to them who are in him, shall be graciously bestowed on those who embrace the Saviour. Those privileges are promised to the Jews at their conversion, and they are bestowed on sinners who truly believe in Christ. This most appropriate representation of the believer’s connexion with Christ, and of his blessedness in him, is illustrated from verse 16 to the 24th verse of this chapter. The most significant metaphor, which is employed to exhibit both of them, is the root or stock of an olive tree, and the branches which are in it. As the branches are ingrafted into the stock, so believers are vitally united unto Christ; and as the ingrafted branches partake of the root and fatness of the tree, so believers enjoy spiritual support and nourishment from Christ the Lord. The same peculiarly instructive metaphor is chosen by Christ himself to represent the same things, in John xv.
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1—8. He speaks of himself as the true vine, and of all christians as branches in him. Some of them are in him only by profession, and are unfruitful. This applies to all the unconverted members of the Church. Others are savingly united to him, and are fruitful. This is a description of true believers. In the day of their conversion, they are cut off from the wild olive tree, and from the vine of Sodom, and are ingrafted into Christ, the true vine and the good olive tree. This blessed change is accomplished by an act of God the Father imputing Christ’s righteousness unto them, and justifying them on account of it; and by an operation of the Holy Spirit on them, renewing them in the spirit of their minds, and imparting to them the principles of spiritual life, with the washing of regeneration. Then the person is enabled to embrace Christ, to believe in him, and to unite himself to Jesus by faith in him. In that moment when the sinner is justified, he is also regenerated; and, in that moment, he is enabled to believe in Christ unto the salvation of his soul. Let it be our desire to part with all things that we may win Christ, and be found in him.
4. What need have we of Divine mercy and precious faith! Divine mercy is the original fountain from which our salvation flows, and faith is the mean of receiving it. Both are promised to the Jews, and they shall obtain both; that they may be saved. Both the mercy of God and the grace of faith are also necessary to every one of us, that we may not perish, but have everlasting life. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us; even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. For by grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Eph. ii. 4, 5, 8. Mercy is revealed and offered to us, and faith is promised. Improving this revelation, and pleading this promise, let us say, “But we trust in the mercy of the Lord for ever. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.”
5. To be fruitful in all things, for the glory of God, the Great Husbandman, and for the honour of Christ, the true vine, and the good olive tree, is our indispensable duty. Habitual spiritual-mindedness, a regular performance of the secret and private duties of religion, employing our tongues in speaking of the things which the Divine word reveals, acting under the fear of God in all our intercourse with men, a religious attendance on the public ordi-
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nances of God, and the exercise of public zeal for the prosperity of Christ’s kingdom on the earth, are necessary parts of this fruitfulness. Of the grace of God in our hearts, of the operations of the Spirit on our souls, and of the abiding of Christ’s words in us, this fruitfulness is such a necessary effect, that without it, we can have no evidence of our interest in Christ, of the goodness of our state, or of the rectitude of our ways. The Divine command, the love of God to his people, Christ’s dying for them, the inhabitation and influence of the Spirit on them, the great and precious promises in which they are mercifully interested, and the spiritual and everlasting blessings to which they are graciously entitled, are the powerful motives by which they should be induced to study fruitfulness in every good word and work. The certainty of the growth of believers by their union to Christ, the abundant grace which is in his fulness for them, the Spirit’s work in communicating it to them, the promises of the believer’s fruitfulness, and the great ends which it is calculated to promote, are precious encouragements to the saints to bring forth fruit unto God. Convinced of the misery of barren professors, whom Christ will take away, and of the blessedness of those who are fruitful, whom Christ will purge, that they may bring forth more fruit; let us abide in Christ by faith and love, and improve his word that it may abide in us, so shall his own declaration be fulfilled in us, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”
6. From this subject we may see, who they are that can exercise a proper concern for the salvation of Israel. Those only who are partakers of those spiritual blessings which, at the conversion of the Jews, will be bestowed on that people. If we are destitute of the principles of spiritual life, we can never possess a religious desire of their salvation. Without these principles, we may profess this concern, we may do many things which evidence an outward desire of their salvation, others may believe that we are really concerned in a spiritual manner about this desirable object, and we ourselves may imagine that this is our attainment; but, in the sight of a holy God, who knows the heart, we will be found wanting. An experience of conversion in our own souls, and the enjoyment of those religious exercises which follow it, are necessary to enable us truly to desire the salvation of others. We never can wish another to possess an object with which we are entirely unacquainted. A
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general knowledge of the Scriptures, the enjoyment of Gospel ordinances, and an outward profession of Christianity, constitute the whole of that object which unconverted professors of religion can really desire for the people of the Jews. These indeed are very valuable privileges; but, in their nature, they are not saving. Men may enjoy them all, and yet they may perish for ever. They are only the means by which we obtain the salvation of our souls. To desire and to endeavour that the Jews, and the darkened nations of the Gentiles also, may enjoy them, is very laudable; but more is necessary. We ought to be concerned that they may be blessed with the end as well as the means. We cannot religiously desire spiritual and everlasting salvation for them, unless we ourselves have become sharers of it. God’s salvation, in the revelation and offer of it, is not far off from any of us; and that righteousness which procures it is brought near to us all. Oh, then, Gospel hearers, endeavour to comply with the merciful call, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Remember his holy command, and his glorious encouragement given to us for obeying it; “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” The God of salvation has promised to bestow it upon you. The Purchaser of this salvation is prepared to convey its blessings unto you. The Applier of this salvation is ready to work in you, by his word, that which is well-pleasing in his sight. Consider the greatness of this salvation, your unspeakable need of it, and the gracious manner in which it is bestowed on you. Think on the misery of those who neglect the great salvation, and the blessedness of those who obtain it. Meditate on the warrant you have from God to lay hold on this eternal redemption. Pray earnestly that God may bring you into a state of salvation. And endeavour, by believing in him, to embrace the great Saviour, and to take hold of God, who is reconciled to you in him, as the God of your salvation. In this way, you will understand experimentally the blessedness that is prepared for the Jews, and will obtain a real spiritual concern that they may enjoy it, as it is expressed in the text; “And so all Israel shall be saved.”