David Baron

“ The future of Israel is one of those subjects concerning which the great God has deigned to speak; and however difficult or improbable to man that future may appear, it behoves us to believe and receive, and not to speculate or rebel. ”

“ To nothing so much, I believe, as to the habit of inaccurately interpreting the word 'Israel,' and the consequent application of promises to the Gentile churches, with which they have nothing to do. The least errors in theology always bear fruit. ”

“ And yet Christians who do not believe in a future possession by Israel of the whole land which God has promised them, really give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme; for if there be no future occupation of the land by Israel, the solemn word of God, on which His oath is staked, would fail of fulfilment. [11]
What though generations may pass, and instead of the fathers may be the children: "heaven and earth shall pass away," but God's oath and promise cannot fail. ”

“ What can we make of this, if there be no future Restoration of Israel to the promised land?
V. Leaving out for the moment the brief ordeal and baptism of suffering which awaits Israel immediately on their return to their land, with which we shall deal presently, the Restoration announced in this and other prophecies is to be followed by a National Conversion (Jer. xxx. 8-10) . Israel nationally is then to enter into the blessing of the New Covenant announced in this very prophecy; [12] which the election of individuals from all nations now enjoy, as it were, by anticipation. ”

“ The same is again emphatically proclaimed by the prophet Amos:
"I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God" (Amos ix. 14, 15) . ”

“ Another way of dealing with these prophecies of a Restoration is to make them refer to the gathering of the Jews into the Church. But this position also is untenable. The Jews will not be nationally gathered into the Church; for even in the New Testament we have the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, as nations, running parallel with, and continuing separate from, the Church throughout all the period of its history on earth; [5] and in Rom. xi. 25, the inspired apostle is commissioned to announce to the Gentile believers the fact that all Israel will not be saved ”

“ To what may we attribute the loose system of interpreting the language of the Psalms and prophets, and the extravagant expectations of the universal conversion of the world by the preaching of the gospel, which may be observed in many Christian writers? ”