Israel of God

“ But the most valuable heritage of Israel was that continually growing deposit of religious truth which had been the life-blood of its master spirits. From generation to generation the noblest men in the nation, those most sensitive to the touch of the Divine, had been casting soundings into the great deep of the hidden purposes of God. ”

“ And now, as it disperses, we come in full view of our old point again:—that what did attest Jesus Christ, was his restoration of the intuition. Jesus Christ found Israel all astray, with an endless talk about God, the law, righteousness, the kingdom, everlasting life, and no real hold upon any one of them. Israel's old, sure proof of being in the right way, his test which anybody could at once apply,—the sanction of joy and peace,—was plainly wanting. 'O Eternal, blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee,' [1] was a corner-stone of Israel's religion. ”

“ Be it known to you all that are here present, and it shall be made known to all the people of Israel, wherever they are dispersed, in spite of all your endeavours to stifle and suppress the notice of it: as the Lord God of gods knows, so Israel shall know, all Israel shall know, that wonders are wrought in the name of Jesus, not by repeating it as a charm, but believing in it as a divine revelation of grace and good-will to men. ”

“ I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. ”

“ I have come, not to reveal the Father to the children of Israel, but rather to bring this knowledge of God and the revelation of his love and mercy to the individual believer as a genuine personal experience. The prophets have all taught you that Yahweh cares for his people, that God loves Israel. But I have: come among you to proclaim a greater truth, one which many of the later prophets also grasped, that God loves you—every one of you—as individuals. All these generations have you had a national or racial religion ”

“ As Iahvah's bride, as a people chosen to be His own, Israel had every reason to expect a bright and glorious career. Why was this expectation falsified by events? But one answer was possible, in view of the immutable righteousness, the eternal faithfulness of God. The ruin of Israel was Israel's own doing. It is a truth which applies to all nations, and to all individuals capable of moral agency, in all periods and places of their existence. Let no man lay his failure in this world or in the world to come at the door of the Almighty. ”

“ He is the strength of Israel, as a people; for he is a God in covenant with them, who will powerfully protect, support, and deliver them, who fights their battles and makes them do valiantly and victoriously. He is the strength of every Israelite; by his grace we are enabled to go through all our services, sufferings, and conflicts; and to him, as our strength, we must pray, and we must sing praise to him as the God of all the wrestling seed of Jacob, with whom we have a spiritual communion. ”

“ But the conception of Israel that God is at work in history means that the God of Israel gives to these other gods or conceptions of God, each its own time and place of emergence and decay. The God who is revealed to us in the Old Testament is Himself the Being who appoints that the Indian or the Roman or the Greek should reach these particular convictions; and in these partial apprehensions of the Divine, before the full revelation came, the faith of Israel is determinative and regulative for all the other faiths ”

“ You can see, says Jesus to his followers, you can see the leading religionists of the Jewish nation, with the current notions about righteousness, God's will, and the meaning of prophecy, you can see them saying and not doing, full of fierce temper, pride, and sensuality;—this shows they can be but blind guides for you. The saviour of Israel is he who makes Israel use his conscience simply and sincerely, who makes him change and sweeten his temper, conquer and annul his sensuality. Such a saviour will make unhappy Israel happy again. ”

“ What nobler distinction could have been conferred upon any race of men than that they should have been thus chosen, as Israel actually was chosen, not merely in the aspirations of prophets, but as a matter of fact in the divinely-directed evolution of human history, to become the heralds of a higher truth, the hierophants of spiritual knowledge, the universally recognised interpreters of God? ”

“ And it does; and conduct is the main part of human life. And hence, therefore, the extraordinary reality and power of Israel's God and of Israel's religion. And the more we strictly limit ourselves, in attempting to give a scientific account of God, to Israel's authentic intuition of him, and say that he is 'the Eternal Power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness,' the more real and profound will Israel's words about God become to us, for we can then verify his words as we use them. ”

“ Ver. 24.| that He might evidence the wealth of His glory, the resources of His inmost Character, poured upon vessels of pity, which He prepared in advance for glory, by the processes of justifying and hallowing grace—whom in fact (καὶ) He called, effectually, in their conversion, even us, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? For while the lineal Israel, with its privilege and its apparent failure, is here first in view, there lies behind it the phenomenon of "the Israel of God," the heaven-born heirs of the Fathers, a race not of blood but of the Spirit. ”

“ The world is in the heart of Israel as of every other nation. The carnal attracts, and malignant cries overbear the divine still voice; the air of Canaan breathes in every page, and we need to recollect that we are viewing the turbulent upper-waters of the nation and the faith. But the working of God is plain; the divine thoughts we believed Israel to have in trust for the world are truly with it from the first, though darkened by altars of Baal and of Ashtoreth. The Word and Covenant of Jehovah are vital facts of the supernatural which surrounds that poor struggling erring Hebrew flock. ”

“ Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.
14:3. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.
14:4. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee. ”

“ When Israel was led away captive into a strange land, When they fell away from the Lord who redeemed them, They were cast away from the inheritance, which the Lord had given them. Among every nation were the dispersed of Israel according to the word of God, That Thou mightest be justified, O God, in Thy righteousness by reason of our transgressions: For Thou art a just judge over all the peoples of the earth. For from Thy knowledge none that doeth unjustly is hidden, And the righteous deeds of Thy pious ones are before Thee, O Lord ”

“ Now, she said, "Mine eyes have seen it; and, behold, the one-half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me." 2 Chronicles 9.
After the days of Solomon, Israel was ruled by many kings. Some of them were good, and their rule brought the blessing of God to their people. But many were wicked men who led Israel into sin and idolatry. Then the Lord could not protect them, and their enemies would afflict them.
The history of Israel is a sorrowful story. God wanted to bless them and make them the light of the world. ”

“ And there is a certain analogy in this respect between Israel and the Church, or rather between Israel in their present condition as " prisoners of hope," and those who, in and through Christ, have already set their hope upon God. We are not in outward or bodily dispersion and banish ment, as Israel is ; nor, praise be to God, are we in bondage to sin or Satan. In Christ we have even now " redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace " ”

“ The God of Israel is he that gives strength and power unto his people, which the gods of the nations, that were vanity and a lie, could not give to their worshippers; how should they help them, when they could not help themselves? All Israel's strength against their enemies came from God ”

“ Israel had thus, from the outset of its history, been associated and identified with Iahvah; however ill the true nature of the tie has been understood, however unworthily the relation has been conceived by the popular mind, however little the obligations involved in the call of their fathers have been recognised and appreciated. God must be true, though man be false. There is no weakness, no caprice, no [Pg 307] vacillation in God. In bygone "times of trouble" the "Hope of Israel" had saved Israel over and over again; it was a truth admitted by all—even by the prophet's enemies. ”

“ What is the meaning and purpose of Israel's existence, what is the position he occupies in the life of the nations, what is his destiny in the larger kingdom of the spiritual life of humanity? The prophets of old, as well as the best and noblest minds of the people, conceived this mission to be at all times a divine one. Israel is to be a people of God, that is, his mission is to historically body forth those religious ideas which constitute mankind's true dignity and wealth ”

“ Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me, 10 there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.
80:11. For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
80:12. But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me.
80:13. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions. ”

“ When they heard that God fought thus for Israel, they could not but say, There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, and Happy art thou, O Israel! It begat in the neighbours a reverence of God and a cautious fear of doing any injury to his people. ”

“ But earlier than any other people which has affected the higher races of mankind, Israel conceived of God as a moral power with a will and purpose which embraced mankind. Further, in the belief which appears in their earliest records, that through them the nations were to be blessed, and that in the future One was coming who would in Himself bring about the realisation of Israel's destiny, they were provided with a philosophy of history, with a conception which was fitted to draw into organic connection with itself all the various fortunes of Israel and of the nations. ”

“ Give me leave, at such a juncture of time, to speak to your Highnesse, in a style and manner fitting to us Jewes and our condition. It is a thing most certaine, that the great God of Israel, Creator of Heaven and Earth, doth give and take away Dominions and Empires, according to his owne pleasure; exalting some, and overthrowing others: who, seeing he hath the hearts of Kings in his hand, he easily moves them whithersoever himselfe pleaseth, to put in execution his Divine Commands. ”

“ A long line of Hebrew prophets, called and inspired by the spirit of God, revealed God's Name and will and attributes in different ways and in different portions to generation after generation of His chosen people. It was the special privilege of Israel to receive the oracles of God. Christ Jesus, Whose coming the prophets foretold, took over the revelation of God that each had given, corrected it where it had been misapprehended, endorsed it, set it in order, and completed it. In the fulness of the knowledge of God that had been given them Israel stood unique among the nations. ”

“ And when once Israel learns to know God in the face of Jesus Christ, and has unveiled to them His absolute truth and righteousness, as well as His infinite love, " they shall fear toward Jehovah and His good- ness in the latter days." ”

“ As far as Israel is concerned, "a remnant according to the election of grace" will be called out to call Jesus "blessed" now; while all Israel shall be saved by and by, when the Redeemer comes out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. [7] And, as regards the Gentiles, God has visited them in this dispensation by the preaching of the gospel, "to take out of them a people for His Name"; while "all the Gentiles" are left over to the time when the same Jesus who was taken up into heaven shall so, and in like manner, come back from heaven. ”

“ And He will deliver us, if not by removing the burden, by sending an angel from heaven to strengthen us to endure it, so that we shall be able all the more to glorify Him. But, though there is this general principle in this passage applicable to the saints of God in all ages, it has primary and special significance in relation to Israel at the climax of their national history, and is in strict harmony with all the rest of this sublime prophecy which deals with the great events of the time of the end. ”