Dispersion not rejection.
It is very comforting to pass from so gloomy a chapter as the twenty-eighth to such a paragraph as this. In this thirtieth chapter, the onlook and outlook of Moses are much more extended than before. So distantly is his eye cast now, that he actually looks to the further side of the gloomy scene he had so recently sketched, and sees in the horizon a belt of glory bounding his view (Deuteronomy 30:9). So that, although the present darkness and distress into which the scattered nation is plunged are the exact fulfillment of the Word of God, yet that same Word declares this to be a transition, and not a final state of things. "God hath not cast away his people." Concerning them there is a twofold promise:
Both are certain. Both will be fulfilled. The first, in their conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. The second, in whatever sense the Holy Ghost used the words, but what that sense is, is not so clear. There had been a promise made to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). The Law did not annul that (Galatians 3:17, Galatians 3:18). Now, if we turn to the promise to Abraham, we find (Genesis 12:1-8) there are three parts in it:
Now, when Paul expounds this Abrahamic promise, he shows:
—it was made to him, "foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith." But since the promise swells out to the full gospel, since the expression "Abraham's seed" includes all who are Christ's,—may not, yea, must not, the land-promise also swell out into something proportionately larger and grander? Such is the question.
Further. The same apostle not indistinctly teaches that, within the lines of his own exposition, there is mercy in store for Israel. What are these lines of exposition?
1. That Jew and Greek are one in Christ Jesus.
2. That the Jewish rites and ceremonies are forever abolished.
3. That the commonwealth of Israel now is made up of men of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
In the application of these principles, the following steps of thought, taken in order, will enable us to summarize Scripture teaching thereon:—
I. There is a condition laid down in Deuteronomy 30:2.
II. The Lord Jesus has come, laden with blessings for Jew and Gentile (Romans 11:26).
III. As the Gentile obtained mercy through Jewish preaching, so the Jew is to obtain mercy through the instrumentality of the Gentile (Romans 11:30, Romans 11:31).
IV. The Lord Jesus Christ declares (Luke 21:24) that Jerusalem shall be trodden clown of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
V. The apostle declares (Romans 11:25) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
VI. A time is foreseen when Israel shall "turn to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Corinthians 3:16). They will yet see Jesus as their Messiah.
VII. The prophets also speak of their conversion to God (Ezekiel 36:21-32).
VIII. Then, too, will such predictions as Ezekiel 36:24, Ezekiel 36:28, Ezekiel 36:34, Ezekiel 36:35, etc; be fulfilled, but whether in the literal or in the larger sense indicated above, we leave for the providence of God to show.
IX. The same Book which predicts all this tells us also of the means and agencies by which it shall be brought about. There will be providential movements (Ezekiel 21:27). But the supreme agency will be the power of the Holy Ghost (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Zechariah 13:1-9:10. For the means to be used by us, see Ezekiel 36:37).
X. The reason or ground of all will be the sovereign good-pleasure of God (Ezekiel 36:32; cf. Isaiah 43:25).
XI. When Israel is thus restored, it will be like "life from the dead" (Romans 11:15). When the long-lost nation is thus regathered, when it returns with weeping and supplication to the Savior, and, saved by him, sings the songs of Zion, then will it become by its evangelistic zeal what it now is by its sacred literature—a priesthood for the world!
XII. Concerning all this, the fulfillment of past prophecy is a prophecy of future fulfillment!
IN CONCLUSION.
1. Let us ever hold the Hebrew race in high honor. "Salvation is of the Jews."
2. Let us bear them on our hearts in prayer.
3. Let us watch the movements of God's providence.
4. Let us heed the cautionary words in Romans 11:18-21.