The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-08-13
PEOPLES PULPIT.
ISRAEL'S HOPE

lol\NLL ~ j MI - J?
Text Comfort We, comfort ye my !
people. saith your God Speak We I;
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry I'M
to her that her appointed time is ac- !
compGshed; that her iniquity is par !;
doned; for she hath received of the !
Lords hand double for all her sin" /:
Isaiah xl |, y. !;
now nearly four thousand years. The
so-called Hope of Israel" which has
held that nation together&s a peculiar
people in the world, is built upon the
Scriptural fact that God made a spe-
cial Covenant with Abraham, saying,
''In thy Seed shall all the families Of
the earth be blessed This promise
God made oath to, and hence the Is
raelites felt it to be immovably Sc
cure. For century after century they
held to that promise, believing them
selves to be Abraham's promised seed.
and looking forward with anticipation
to the time when God would eXalt
them as a nation and make them the
rulers of the world, to establish his
laws of righteousness in all the earth,
and thus to bless mankind.
In due time, when Israel realized
that her hope for attaining this high
position was glimmering one be-
cause of her national vicisSitudes, God
explained still further feature of his
plan, namely, that it would not be
executed by the nation of Israel alone,
but that he would send them the Mes
siah. the Mighty Emmanuel, whose do
minion would be from sea to sea and
from the river to the ends of the
earth, and that Israel would. however,
constitute his special nation, which
he would use in connection with the
blessing of the other nations. This
is still the hope Of Israel. although
it has become faded and dim by rea-
son Of the disappointment of the long
centuries which have interviewed since
their rejection of Jesus.
They Received Him Not.
The Jewish rulers saw nothing in the
Redeemer but fraud They considered
Jesus an Imposter, brilliant in some re-
spects, but a deceiver of the people.
They feared his ultimately raising an
insurrectiOn, which would bring
against their little nation the strong
power Of the Roman Empire and take
from them the few liberties and priv
ileges still enjoyed as a people. The
High Priest expressed the prevalent
Sentiment.-"It is better that one man
should die than that our whole nation
should perish" John XII. 49-5U. His
words. however, were true in sense
which he did not understand; for only
by the death of Jesus could salvation
ever have come to the Jewish nation
or to the world. The Lamb Of God
must die, 1.-The just for the unjust" to
make reconciliation for iniquity. The
penalty Of Adams sin must be met,
before its death sentence could be
lifted.
AS st. Paul points out, nothing hap
pened in our Lords experiences not
foreknown to the Father. IsraePs re-
lection of Messiah, and the consequent
rejection of Israel by him. were all
foretold through the prophets Let no
one suppose that Israel's rejection was
a finality; let no one understand that
Israel fell; but merely that Israel
stumbled; for. as st. Paul points out,
the gifts and callings Of God are
things he will not repent of-will not
70 vi al
was cast off merely for time, merely
until Spiritual Israel would be gath
cred. When that great work shall
have been accomplished. Divine favor
will return to natural Israel-forgive-
ness Of their sins. the opening Of their
blinded eyes, their restoration to Di-
vine favor as people. and the full
filment through them of the promised
blessing of all nations.
1.-THE Hidden Mystery"
The thing which the Israelites did
not understand. and which. alas. COM
paratively few Christians compre-
bend. is distinctly pointed out by st.
Paul as the Mystery hidden from past
ages and dispensations, ond now made
known unto the saints Gphesians iii,
$50. The Mystery is this: That Messiah
would not be one Individual merely,
but a composite Messiah Of many
members. Messiah will be spiritual,
not earthly, and hence the heavenly
promises would be his-"an Inherit
ance incorruptible, indebted, that
fadeth not away. reserved in heaven
in the heavenly condition. This
will still leave the many gracious
promises of God of an earthly kind
for natural Israel. But the fulfilment
of those earthly promises is deferred
until first the Spiritual Messiah. the
Spiritual Seed of Abraham. Spiritual
Israel, shall have been developed. per-
fected, glorifed. Then the blessing of
God proceeding through Spiritual Is
rael, the Messiah, under the headship
of Jesus glorified, will extend to natu-
raj Israel, and in turn pass through
natural Israel, during the Millennial
Age. to all the families of the earth.
No wonder the Jews. to whom only
earthly promises had ever been given,
were surprised and perpleXed by the
teachings Of Jesus respecting his King
dom. They were expecting one which