Posted on 07/25/2008 3:37:23 AM PDT by John Leland 1789
THREE PROPHETIC PARALLELISMS CONCERNING ISRAEL.
By Rev. JAMES C.SMITH, of Dufftown
(At the Glasgow Conference, June, 1894.)
To understand the the Old Testament you must understand Israel; to understand the New Testament you must study the Church.
The great subject of the Bible is sin, and the great doctrine of the Bible is the putting away of sin by the grace of God. All other subjects fall under this great line of study.
If the Bible casts its teaching in any special form or mould more than another, it is in the form of parallelism, and this is one of the many things which gives the Bible its intense fascination, even as literature. The parallelisms of the Bible are splendid, and they break out and corruscate every where. Let us look for a moment at----
A PARALLELISM OF INSPIRED FORESIGHT.
In Deuteronomy 31:29 we read, "For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger, through the work of your hands." There you have a specific indication of the line of the great apostasy.
It is one of the most remarkable things, in this connection, to notice this wonderful prophecy of Moses. He distinctly affirms that after his death the people would apostatized, and go after other gods.
In Acts 20:28 you will find this wonderful parallelism. It is in Paul's address to the elders at Ephesus: "take heed therefore unto your selves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn you night and day with tears."
Thus tearfully did Paul warned the elders of Ephesus of the apostasy, just as Moses had warned the people of Israel. The parallel is one of the most remarkable in the Bible.
In the light of the great many things that are being said and done at this present moment, I would ask you to look into these things. We are asked, How could Moses have said these things in his time? I beg you to notice that he had handed to the Levites the written record of the revelations which he had received.
A great many people are saying today that Moses could not have written these things at that time; that these things must have been written later on. But was the address to the elders of the church at Ephesus written a hundred years after the death of St. Paul? There is a complete answer to these questions in the fact that Paul and Moses were equally inspired to see these things. If we recognize that, these difficulties vanish; all these things become perfectly clear to us.
There is a very remarkable thing, in connection with this thought, in the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy, where Moses gives not only the apostasy, but he goes far beyond the apostasy, unto the restoration of the people concerning whose apostasy he spoke.
Notice the early verses of Deuteronomy 30, and there you find the things which the great leader of Israel said about the restoration of the people. At the beginning of the chapter we read, "And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee. The blessing and the curse which I have set before the, and a thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whether the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul," etc.
In the third verse you have the great subject of the restoration-God's turned attitude towards the people of Israel, and the return of their captivity.
In the fourth verse is the gathering; in the fifth verse you have the third point, "the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and he will do the good, and multiplied the above thy fathers."
The fourth point is in the sixth verse, where we read that the Lord will do a thing He never did before, "He will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart." That is a point that has never yet come to pass with respect to Israel.
They [Israel] are circumcised in the flesh, but not in the heart. They are going to be when the Lord turns their captivity, and when they are brought unto their own land.
The fifth thing is in the seventh verse, "And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hated and persecuted thee."
The sixth thing is in the ninth verse. "The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land for good," etc..
The seventh thing is at the close of the ninth verse, "for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good as He rejoiced over thy fathers." There is the joy of the Lord.
First of all He changes His attitude. The time is coming for His people to be recalled; then their hearts will be circumcised, and the plentyfullness that characterized them before will characterize them again, and of the Lord will rejoice over them just as He did in the days of their espousal.
The whole mystery is found there in Deuteronomy. Some of us very greatly neglect this book, but what a loss it would have been if it had not been written. With all respect to the higher critics, I hold that Moses was the real author of this book. Here is another line----
A PARALLEL OF HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
in the history of Israel. The great typical facts of Israel's history are pretty much inside that period from Jacobs advent in Egypt to the time of David and Solomon----that is to say, to put the matter in very few words, from the time of the oppression in Egypt to the time of the unchallenged sovereignty of David and Solomon in the land of Israel.
All the great ideas, all the types, are inside that period. After that we have scarcely a type that all; after that there is nothing fresh, nothing but repetition and declinature. That period is filled by four great names which are typical.
Joseph took the people into Egypt, but he never took them out. Joseph died in Egypt, and he was embalmed; he never left the country until he was carried out of it. He took his father and all his seed, and nourished of them there, but he never took them out. The type ceases there with the idea of God's providential care over the people in the midst of the Gentiles,
Then comes Moses, and he carries the type still further. Joseph took them in, but Moses, the deliverer, took them out. He took them out and lead them right through the wilderness. Then we reach a further stage.
The type of Moses merges very gradually and beautifully into the type of Joshua, who took them in and gave them possession of the land.
Then in David and Solomon you have embodied the thought of the kingdom. The simple sequel in Solomon was the building of the temple, and the kingdom in peace.
After that you have nothing but repetition. I do not look upon the captivity in Babylon is anything new, for they had been in captivity before.
Now we apply all this to the Lord Jesus. I say the Children of Israel must pass through all this again in connection with the Messiah, the rejected One.
They are in the Joseph period today. They are scattered, they are among the Gentiles, as they were in Egypt. The Lord Jesus Christ has gone to glory, and He is carrying on his work among men, calling out his Church, and the Jewish people are being preserved by the very Jesus whom they rejected.
The Jews are not allowed to go out of existence. They are not allowed to become extinct. It is only within the last year or two (1892, 1893) that it has been discovered that in New York alone there are over 200,000 Jews.
Men's minds are being called to this people in many remarkable ways. They are in the furnace, and it is the time of their oppression over again. You cannot read the awful statements of their persecution in various parts of the world, especially in Russia, without realizing that the Jews are again in Egypt.
They are in the place where the plagues are to be poured out, and from which God will make a new Exodus, and where He will make their oppression to cease; the better Joseph is now in the glory.
THE BETTER MOSES that was rejected is the Moses who is coming back again soon, and by His power in glory He will bring this people into their own land, and call them His
As THE BETTER JOSHUA He will give them back their Jewish possessions, and finally, as THE BETTER DAVID AND SOLOMON He will set up and establish the millennial kingdom.
The Jews will travel that road again in connection with Jesus Christ, that they have gone already in the history of the world.
This is a study in historic parallelism that I commend to you. Notice how the Lord Jesus Christ is going to fulfill all these types in Israel.
Be very careful about the distinction between the literal interpretation of a thing and the spiritual application.
Be careful not to call the Church the Jews, or the Jews the Church. There were only two parties until the day of Pentecost, the Jew and the Gentile; but now there are three, the Church of God being the third, and it is being made up of both Jew and Gentile.
The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to fulfill all that He has promised in connection with Israel. Now in closing take----
A PARALLEL OF PROPHETIC VISION.
Turn to Ezekiel [chapter] 37. This chapter is divisible into three parts, because in it you have three great figures, telling us three great things about Israel. From [verses] 1 to 14 you have the figure of the bones. Israel has lost three things, and here it is indicated to her that they will be brought back to her. Israel has lost life----national life, spiritual life----and national life and spiritual life are going to be brought back to her.
LIFE.----that you have in the figure of the bones. The bones becoming a great army is a figure of Israel living again. By-and-by, when they get that life back again, they will be like the resuscitated bones.
NATIONAL LIFE.----from verses 15 to 22 you have the figure of the two sticks. What about the two sticks? They are joined into one stick, which is an indication that the division which came with Solomon's death is going to be healed again. First you have life, then unity. The breach in the nation is going to be healed after they are revived and they live again nationally.
SPIRITUAL LIFE.----from verse 23 to the end of the chapter you have the figure of the tabernacle in the midst. You have the figure of purity after the figure of unity. It shall be an everlasting covenant. You cannot have unity without life. The only unity that is of any use is the unity of life.
In this chapter you have the people worshiping around the tabernacle. You cannot have the perfection of worship until you get unity and life. When these are revived, and the breach healed between the two nations, they will come around the tabernacle, and of the pure offering will ascend to the Lord from Jerusalem. Let us remember that.
He will bring all this to pass, "for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." The whole earth shall be filled with His glory we may well add, in the words of Psalm 72, that God's glory having filled the earth, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, will be ended, for so far as the Jewish horizon extends there will be nothing else to add when the whole earth is filled with His glory.
Let us pray that this glorious day will soon come.
ping for after work
Trust you enjoy it.
[Baptist, Evangelical, Dispensational Caucus]
Is this AND or OR?
(baptist and evangelical and dispy) or (baptist or evangelical or dispy)? Who don't you want to hear from?
Wait! What about nonbaptist, evangelical dispys?
Or me, a nonBaptist, ConfessingEvangelical, nonDispy?
I posted for the bebefit of anyone, but it would most appeal to the dispensational folks.
I’m a Pan-theist.
It’ll all pan out in the end.
Welcome, of course.
Why thank you!
I may show after I tire of the Mormons elsewhere.
Most Baptists I meet around the States still are “modereately” dispensational — many don’t have a clue what they are anymore.
Most Baptists I meet around the States still are “modereately” dispensational — many don’t have a clue what they are anymore.
I would say for most it's the default position simply because they've never heard any other.
Read over the excerpt from Rev. Smith, hope to read it over more analytically later.
--the obviously pseudonymous "lee n. field", non-baptist, "classical" evangelical, non-dispensational.
“—the obviously pseudonymous “lee n. field”, non-baptist, “classical” evangelical, non-dispensational.”
Old Covenant cp. New Covenant.
One spiritual economy before Acts 2 cp. One as of Acts 2.
Law cp. grace.
OT sacrifices and offerings cp. Post Resurrection recognition of the once-for-ever nature of the Atonement of the Cross.
OT etceteras cp. NT etceteras.
Most interested in these articles would find themselves “dispensational to some “minor” degree.
The overwhelming majority of those who participated in the prophecy conferences of which THINGS TO COME (Journal) was the official organ (UK, 1894 to 1915) were not Baptists. Most would have repudiated any direct labeling. And it was in a day when “Evangelical” (most of the participants would have accepted that term in those years) on both sides of the Atlantic would have been more consistent with what we term as “fundamentalist” today.
The editors of THINGS TO COME (not to be confused with Dwight Pentecost's book bearing that title) were strong separatists, that is, from worldliness and modern trends. That monthly journal carried pages decrying the worldly methods of church growth in their day, which parallels our own day.
I would think that they were the “’classic’ evangelicals.”
Thanks.
Will try and wade through it later.
blessings,
Enjoy.
I would think that they were the “’classic’ evangelicals.”
"Evangelical" is a debased term in these dark days.
ping for later reading
I wish it were not so. I don't use the term for myself anymore because of the worldly connotations these days. I cannot abide the “emerging” church stuff.
But those who continue to use the term should not allow the politicians, the media, nor the ecumenicists to gutterize it any more without virile protest.
But those who continue to use the term should not allow the politicians, the media, nor the ecumenicists to gutterize it any more without virile protest.
Apropos of that, see "Are Reformed 'Evangelical' or 'Evangelicals'?"
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