THE JEWS IN GOD'S PLAN

H. Robert Williams

        In our recent discussion we pointed out that the prophecy of Daniel 2:44, relative to the establishment of the kingdom of God was referred to in the preaching of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seventy and the twelve when they announced, "the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand".  This is the same kingdom of which Jesus spoke in Mark 9:1 when he said, "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."  From Acts 2:2 we learned that the sprit of God came upon the day of Pentecost and brought with him the power that the Lord had promised, hence the kingdom of God came into being that day.  Folks were added to the church, or translated into the kingdom that day, and since that day Christ has been king of kings and Lord of Lords, reigning upon the throne of David, not in the literal city of Jerusalem but in the heavenly Jerusalem above and he must reign until he puts all things under his feet.  At his second coming he will receive his own and after the judgment will deliver the kingdom back to God the Father that God may be all in all.

       But someone writes, "I can hardly justify your contentions against pre millennial doctrine."  We have not been conscious of any special effort to contend against what is here called "premillennial doctrine", but since the system of teaching thus identified cannot be harmonized with scriptural pattern we are left no choice.  We shall now undertake a careful study of the matter in the light of the Divine Text, and shall accept or oppose as the scriptures require.

        The whole background of the controversy arises in the dim distant past when, according to the 12th chapter of Genesis the Lord had said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation, I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.  I will bless him that blesses thee and curse him that curses thee; and in thee and thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed."  We shall have occasion to return to this scripture but for the present we mention it only to show how Abraham, a friend of God, became the father of the Jewish nation.  Please bear in mind that God separated Abraham from his fellows, not because he loved him more than he did other people, not because he would favor the Jews to the exclusion of all others, but for the express purpose of providing an ancestry for the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is to the development of this program that we now give our attention.

        It is as if we were passing through a dark corridor with someone walking in advance and lighting a candle here and there to guide our steps until after awhile we walk out into the light of day.  The first taper we see lighted subsequent to the call of Abraham is found in the 49th chapter of Genesis and the 10th verse in which Moses said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."  The Israelites went down into Egypt and eventually were led forth by the hand of Moses, the law giver.  They traveled through the wilderness of sin and by and by came to the land of Canaan.  In the 18th chapter of  Deuteronomy at the 15th verse another light appears.  "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye harken."

        We next turn to the 9th chapter of Isaiah and verse 6, where a glowing prophecy attracts our attention.  "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.  Of  the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of  David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice form henceforth even forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 53 next described the work of this great prophet, his character, and his disposition.  Isaiah said, "Who hath believed our report?  and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:  yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

        Now be it remembered that during the time that God was preparing the ancestry of the Lord and arranging matters to suit his own purposes, the people often misbehaved and some restraining influence was necessary.  Accordingly, Galatians 3:19 explains that God placed them under law.  The ten commandment law, together with its ordinances, was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Concerning it Paul inquires, "Wherefore then serveth the law?  It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."  Notice that this law was to be binding only until the seed should come.  In other words, it was to be removed by the one who was to bestow the universal blessing.  Not one single detail was left to chance but everything was arranged with clockwork precision.  "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."  Gal. 4:4.  The Old Testament Jew was regarded as a child of God and the Gentiles were to be adopted into the family after the promised seed should appear.  He did not come a minute early nor a minute late.  When the fullness of time was come God sent forth his Son.  Dan. 2:44 had said that the time would be fulfilled in the days of the Roman emperors and sure enough he appeared at that time and did exactly what the prophets had foretold.

        Now up to this point we are pretty much in agreement but when we go further to say that Christ did exactly what the prophets had predicted, that he set up his kingdom, that it had its beginning in the city of Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after his resurrection, somebody objects, I can hardly justify your contention against premillennial doctrine.  The word premillennial is not in the Bible.  A little background study reveals that it comes form the Latin "millie", a thousand, plus "anujs", a year; hence a thousand years.  Then the prefix "pre", meaning before, we have the word literally meaning "before the thousand years".  The thousand years is supposed to be mentioned in Revelation 20, during which time holiness is to be triumphant and Christ is expected to reign upon the earth with headquarters in Jerusalem.  The word premillennial, therefore, anticipates the coming of Christ before the thousand year reign of peace and happiness.  Since the scriptures do not support such a contention we shall speak of the system not as fact but as theory.  We shall undertake a fuller definition in a subsequent broadcast.

        We have already introduced the story of the call of Abraham and have made some reference to God's purpose respecting the Jews.  The theory of premillennialism as usually outlined anticipates that at the time of the millennium the Jews will be converted as a nation and restored to their beloved homeland.  We say simply, yet kindly that the scriptures do not promise such developments.

        It shall be our purpose, therefore, at this time to examine the call of Abraham with respect to the different things promised.  Now God had said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy country and into a land that I will show thee."  That land which he received was the land of Canaan.  In the second place God said, "I will make of thee a great nation."  When Solomon was ready to succeed his father on the throne of the kingdom of Israel (I Kings 3:7-8) he described this great nation in his prayer.  he said, "And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father:  and I am but a little child:  I know not how to go out or come in.  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chose, a great people, that cannot be numbered not counted for multitude"  did Genesis 12 say a great nation?  Solomon said they could not be numbered, they are beyond count.  Furthermore, he said, "I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing."  In every country of the world and in all ages the name of Abraham has identified one of the greatest of all patriarchs, the father of the Jewish nation.  Truly his name is great.

        Now keep in mind always that the principal purpose for the call of Abraham was that the universal blessing might come through his seed.  Abraham evidently became a little anxious about the promises of God and he said in Genesis 15:2, "Lord God, what wilt thou give me,, seeing I go childless", and God took him out into the night and said, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:  and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be." And in the same passage verse 6, we read, "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.  And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it."  Abraham asked him how he could know that he should inherit it and God gave him a sign.  He further informed him that his seed should serve a strange nation, and I read, "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again:  for the iniquity of the ?Amorites  is not yet full.  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp...  In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."

        Now it is imagined by those who espouse the doctrine of premillennialism that God's promise to the Jews regarding the land of Palestine was never fulfilled.  Such a concept can result only from a failure to notice some very pertinent passages bearing on the matter.  In the first chapter of Joshua, God encouraged that young man to be strong and of good courage.  He said, "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.  I will not forsake thee."  In the 21st chapter of the book of Joshua and the 43rd verse, we read, "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land."  That seems to be rather conclusive; not a single half acre was left out.  Joshua said, "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it and dwelt therein."  Before Joshua died he made this fact a matter of record, "And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers:  and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand."  Please notice this remark, "There failed not ought."  Not one single thing of what God promised failed but all came to pass.  Let us then search this statement carefully.

        Now if God gave them the land as he promised them and not one thing failed, how can we still anticipate that the Jewish nation will yet inherit the land of Palestine?  There is simply no biblical promise or prophecy that will support it.  The reason for their failure to now occupy it is set forth in Joshua 23, beginning with verse 12, "And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and we know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.  Therefore, it shall come to pass that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.  When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other Gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you."

        Here is evidence that God kept his promise to give the land of Palestine to the ancient Jews, but the gift was not without condition.  he stated plainly that should they transgress this covenant they would forfeit their right to the land.  With the passing of time this threat was executed.  They were removed, permitted to return and then taken away forever with no scriptural promise that they will ever possess the land as at first.  Any claim that the present trend in Palestine constitutes such a restoration movement misses the point so far that it would be quite ludicrous but for the sad pages of history of which it reminds us.

        Now the Lord had said if ye serve other gods and bow down to idols ye shall perish quickly from off the good land.  Reading now from Jeremiah the 25th chapter, beginning with verse 9, we have this language:  "Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them."  Now this is a prediction of the Babylonian captivity.  We read on:  "...and make them an astonishment and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.  Moreover I will take from them the voice of Mirth, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years."  Now watch its development:  "And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the King of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all nations."

        Now here we have the prophecy regarding the captivity.  Turning to the last chapter of 2 Chron., we read, "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:  to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and then years."  In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, God appeared to him and bade him write a decree that the Jews should go back to the land of Palestine.  In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, God appeared to him and bade him write a decree that the Jews should go back to the land of Palestine.  In the first chapter of the book of Ezra we are informed that that is exactly what they did.  Now the question that naturally arises is, "Why do they not occupy the land now?"  Well, the 9th chapter of Hebrews will tell us very plainly.  The latter part of the 9th verse reads, "...because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord."

        Now for a consideration of the third major promise, the promise of universal blessing through the posterity of Abraham.  The 3rd chapter of Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia presents the argument.  I read from verse 1:  "Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you."  This is the very essence of the gospel.  This is that which predicated.  Verse 7 maintains, "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed."  Verse 13, says "Christ hath redeemed us from the  curse of the law, being made a curse for us."  There we have God's promise to bless all nations fulfilled in Christ.

        Now search as you may, there are no other reasons revealed as to why god separated the children of  Abraham. We conclude, therefore, that God's purpose has been served and three is no longer a reason to expect special favors to the Jewish race.  But as the Apostle to the Gentiles declared, God has concluded all under sin.  Since the gospel is God's power to save every one who believes it, to the Jews first and also to the Greek, the individual Jew is to be saved like the individual Gentile, by hearing the gospel, believing it, by becoming obedient to it and by living a faithful Christian life.

        The Lord willing, we shall take up our study here at our next session and hope that you will join us.