by John Thomas

“ It is perfectly ridiculous to talk about the kingdom having come, and of the apostles being on their thrones. To affirm this proves that the professor is totally ignorant of the gospel. A pretty sitting upon thrones it was, when they were all arraigned at the bar, condenmed, imprisoned, and scourged, for preaching the gospel of the kingdom in the name of Jesus! What havoc the apostasy has made with the truth! ”

“ DURING the one hundred and fifty-four years that elapsed between the death of Joseph and the returning of the Israelites from Egypt, they multiplied so much as to excite the apprehensions of the Egyptians. "Behold", said Pharaoh, "the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land." ”

“ When Ezekiel's passover is observed at Jerusalem, Christ will be there, the apostles also, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, and many from the four winds of heaven, -- all of them the first-born redeemed from the earth, saved by the sprinkled blood of the true paschal Lamb of God, and who shall find themselves in Canaan as inheritors of its attributes; celebrating their own redemption, and the overthrow of all their enemies by the Lord Jesus at his revelation in flaming fire, attended by the angels of his power. ”

“ This covenant of the throne and kingdom was David's desire and salvation, because it promised him a resurrection to eternal life, in the assurance that his house, kingdom, and throne, with God's son and his son, one person, sitting upon it, should be established in his presence for ever. "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, saying, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. ”

“ God's rest in Canaan -- by which is not meant that all his saints will be living there, though all that abide there will be a righteous people: the things which belong to Canaan will overspread the world; and where there are nations to be governed, there will there be saints to rule -- but this rest, I say, is the great theme of the gospel, whether preached by Moses, by Jesus, or by the apostles. The rest and the kingdom are but different terms, though substantially the same. They will both be of Canaan, and are both the subject of the promise made of God to Abraham and his seed for ever. ”

“ All who deny the restoration of Israel in effect say, "They have rebelled successfully against God and His Christ". But this cannot be. God will restore them "for His name's sake". He will plant them in Canaan; settle them in the land according to their old estates and place Jesus upon David's throne in triumph: for He has sworn that "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11) . The great rebellion will then be suppressed; God will have recovered His rights; His kingdom will be re-established ”

“ Did not God tell Abraham, that He had constituted him a father of many nations? Then these nations are in effect his sons; for a father implies sons. But of this family of nation-sons, which of them is the first-born son? The testimony before us declares that Israel is. The nation of Israel then is the heir, and nearest to the throne in the empire of the world. But it is now, and will be for a few more years, as it was in the days of Pharaoh. Israel, God's first-born, is scattered, oppressed, and destroyed, by the tyrants of the nations, and a subject of reproach among the people. ”

“ If the rebellion triumph the king is dethroned; but if the rights of the throne prevail, the rebel nation has no alternative but to submit to whatever terms the conqueror may prescribe.
This is precisely the state of things between God and Israel. The tribes have rebelled against Him. He has anointed Jesus of Nazareth to be King of the Jews. But they say, No good thing ever came out of Nazareth, and they will not have him for their king. They have no other king, they say, but Caesar; hence they crucified Jesus, and have served Caesar ever since. ”

“ David must be alive when they are accomplished. Christ, his divine son, has been manifested and glorified, and God has recognized him as His Son; but in no other particular has the covenant been fulfilled: for he has inherited neither the land of Canaan, nor the kingdom and throne of David once upon it. ”

“ Twelve principal men, one for each tribe, were sent from the wilderness in Paran to view the land of Canaan, and to bring back a report to the people. After an absence of forty days they returned. They said the land was all that could be desired, and flowing, indeed, with milk and honey; but as to being able to take possession of the country, that was impossible; for the inhabitants were gigantic and strong, living in well-fortified cities, and could not be overcome by Israel, who were but as grasshoppers when compared to them. ”

“ He was succeeded by Archelaus, who was deposed by the Romans, and Judea reduced into the form of a province under a procurator; thus verifying, as is supposed, that the sceptre should depart from Judah when Shiloh came: and so it came to be when God called His Son Jesus out of Egypt. From that time to this, there has been no kingdom, or throne of Israel, in Canaan. The Hebrew commonwealth was broken up by the Romans about thirty years or so after the crucifixion; and it has been, and will be, no more, until the Lord Jesus come, who is the King of the Jews, and whose sole right it is to reign. ”

“ This was a startling declaration for a fugitive from Egyptian vengeance, and a Midianitish shepherd, to make to a whole people. "I am 'called and sent' of Him, who is the God of the living, and hath appeared unto me, to inform you that He hath come down to deliver you by my hand from your grievous bondage in this country of the Nile." ”

“ But Caleb and Joshua, who believed on God, testified to the contrary; and encouraged the people to go up at once, and possess it; for they were well able to overcome it. "The land", said they, "which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land ”

“ In the context of this passage the apostle had been speaking of Moses and Christ, the former, as a faithful servant in another's house; and the latter as a son over his house: whose house the believers in the things spoken of the land are, "if they hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end". He then introduces the case of the fourth generation as a warning of the fatal consequences of letting go the hope of the promise. ”

“ Neither can we unless we also believe what they rejected; for the same gospel that was preached to them, was preached by the apostles to the forty-second generation, but cannot be said to be preached to us of this century. ”

“ And upon that day shall (Messiah) the Prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin-offering" (Ezek. 45:21,22) . This was spoken by the prophet to Israel of the fourteenth generation, concerning the observance of the passover by Israel of the generation contemporary with the "restoration of the kingdom again to Israel", when it should be constituted under the Prince. Moses' law said all about the observance of the passover before the Prince appeared ”