THE PARALLEL
DISPENSATIONS
The Jewish Age a Type of the Gospel Age—Remarkable
Parallelism or Correspondency
Between the Two Dispensations—Yet They are Distinct—Superiority of the
Christian Epoch, the Antitype—Fleshly and
Spiritual Israel Contrasted—Prominent Parallels Examined—Time Parallels Specially Noticed—Period of Fleshly
Israel’s Favor—Time of
Their Cutting Off from Favor—The Period of Disfavor Shown from
Prophecy to be Equal to the Period of Favor—Apostolic Testimony
that Their Period of Disfavor is the Period for the High Calling of
Spiritual Israel—The Length of the Gospel Age thus Shown
Indirectly but
Clearly—Harmony of the Bible Chronology, Jubilee
Testimony, Gentile Times, and Other Prophecies with the Lessons of These Parallels Unanswerable, Conclusive and
Satisfying.
In previous chapters the fact has been referred to, that
God’s dealings with the nation of Israel were of a typical character;
yet few have any adequate conception of how fully this was the case.
It has doubtless been observed by many that the apostles,
particularly Paul, in instructing the Christian Church, frequently refer
to some striking features of type and antitype in the Jewish and Christian
dispensations. But a closer attention to the Apostle’s teachings will
show that he does not only make use of a few illustrations drawn from the
Jewish economy, but that in his close reasonings he calls up the whole
Jewish system as divinely instituted (ignoring entirely the “traditions
of the elders,” which were no part of that system), and shows that in
all its features it was typical of the then dawning Christian
dispensation, mapping out most clearly the course of the Christian Church
in the Gospel age, as well as pointing out its glorious work in the
Millennial age. B_page 202
Many presume that the Jewish and Christian ages are really one, and
that God has been selecting the Christian Church from the very beginning
of human existence. This is a
serious mistake, which beclouds and hinders the correct and clear
apprehension of many truths. Jesus
was the head and forerunner of the Christian Church, which is his body
(Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:24); consequently none preceded him as members of the
Church. Had any preceded him,
he could not properly be styled the forerunner. The
“high calling” to become joint-sacrificers, and finally joint-heirs
with him, was not made known in other ages. (Eph. 3:2,5,6)
Good men who lived and died prior to the actual payment of our
ransom by the precious blood knew nothing of this “high calling.”
And since the gifts and callings of God are unmerited favors, no
injustice is done to those of other ages, in not offering them the same
favor. The call and favor to
those of past ages, as they will also be to those of the coming age, were
to earthly honors, and earthly glory, and everlasting life as earthly
(human) beings; while the call and favor of the Gospel age are to heavenly
honors and glory, to a change of nature from human to divine, and to power, honor and
dominion in heaven and in earth, as joint-heirs and co-workers with
Christ. And since the Church
thus called out, separated from the world, and developed during this age,
is in the age to come to be the agent of Jehovah in the full execution of
his great plan of the ages—a plan which compasses the interests not only
of humanity, but of all creatures in heaven and in earth—wonderful have
been the preparations made in the ages past for their training and
instruction. And no less wonderful has been the care with which these,
called to be heirs of divine glory, have during this age been trained,
disciplined, guided and protected through the long, difficult, narrow way,
first opened up by B_page 203 their Lord and Forerunner, in whose footprints they
are directed to tread—as he set the example. 1 Pet. 2:21
Our Lord spent the three and a half years of his ministry in
gathering out from Israel, and in training and instructing, the few
disciples who should form the nucleus of the Christian Church.
When about to leave them alone in the world he gave them the
promise of the holy Spirit, which, during the entire age, should guide the
Church into all truth, and show them things to come, and bring freshly to
remembrance what he had taught—which promise began to be verified at
Pentecost. It is also written
that the angels are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to
these heirs of this great salvation (Heb. 1:14), and that our Lord’s
special care is over them, even to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:20) All
the writings of the apostles are addressed to the Church, and not to the
world, as many seem to think; and they are full of special instructions,
encouragements and exhortations, needful only to the saints who during
this age are walking in the narrow way.
And our Lord’s revelation, which God gave him after he had passed
into glory, he sent and signified [sign-ified—told in signs, symbols, etc.] to his Church,
through his servant John. (Rev. 1:1)
We are also told that the prophecies given aforetime by holy men of
old were given, not for themselves, nor for others of their day and age,
but exclusively for the instruction of the Christian Church. 1 Pet.
1:12
In this chapter we purpose to show that the whole Jewish nation,
during that entire age, was unwittingly engaged, under God’s direction,
in furnishing for our instruction a typical view of the entire plan of
salvation in all its workings, even as we have just seen its Jubilees
pointing out the final consummation of the plan in the blessing of all the
families of the earth. It is
by our drawing upon this storehouse B_page 204
of truth, so abundantly and specially provided for
the Church, that the Spirit of God feeds us and leads us gradually into a
more and more nearly complete understanding of his plan, as rapidly as
that knowledge becomes needful to us.
And from this great storehouse God is now supplying much of the
special light and food needful to us in this “harvest” time at the
consummation of the age. Since such has been God’s care and abundant
provision for the Christian Church above all other people of past and
future ages, how important in his estimation must that knowledge be to us,
and how eagerly should we avail ourselves of it.
While we will not in this chapter or volume enter into a detailed examination of
the typical features of God’s dealings with Israel, as set forth in the
Tabernacle, and Temple, and ordinances and sacrifices, etc., we do now
invite close attention to some of the marked and prominent outlines of correspondency
between the Jewish and Christian dispensations as type and antitype; for
all that the Christian Church actually experiences and accomplishes, the
Jewish Church prefigured. And
many of these features of correspondency are parallel not only in
character, but also in their relative time of occurrence. Even
in their national history, and in the history of many particular
individuals of that nation, we find correspondencies marked by the
Scriptures. Some of these, Christian thinkers have long noticed, and
others have been entirely overlooked.
Here a beautiful and fruitful field of thought and study opens
before us.
Paul designates the Jewish Church “Israel after the flesh,” and
the Christian Church “The
Israel of God.” (1 Cor. 10:18; Gal. 6:16)
We may therefore properly designate them Fleshly Israel and
Spiritual Israel. The higher
plane of the spiritual house is also pointed out by the Apostle when he
describes Fleshly Israel as a house [family] of servants,
and B_page 205
Spiritual Israel as a house of sons. (Heb. 3:5,6; Rom.
8:14) The fleshly house was the honored servants of the spiritual house in
various ways, but chiefly in that they unconsciously, under God’s
arrangement, furnished pantomime illustrations of spiritual things, which,
if studied and heeded, greatly bless and enlighten the house of
sons.
In both cases there have been a Nominal Israel and a Real Israel,
in God’s estimation, though to men they have appeared as one; the
nominal and the real not being clearly distinguishable until the end or
harvest time of their respective ages, when the truth then due and brought
to light accomplishes the separation, and makes manifest which are of the
real and which of the merely nominal Israel.
Of the fleshly house Paul said, “They are not all Israel which
are [nominally] of Israel” (Rom. 9:6); and our Lord recognized the same
fact when of Nathaniel he said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile,” and also when in the time of
harvest he separated the real from the nominal, and called the former
valuable wheat, and the latter mere chaff—though, comparatively, the
wheat was only a handful, and the chaff included nearly all of that
nation. In a similar
proportion, and under a similar figure, the nominal and the real members
of Spiritual Israel of the Gospel age are pointed out; and their
separation, too, is in the time of harvest—in the end of the Gospel age.
Then only the wheat—a comparatively small number, a “little
flock”—will be separated from the masses of nominal Spiritual Israel,
while the great majority, being tares and not real wheat, will be rejected
as unworthy of the chief favor to which they were called, and will not be
counted among the Lord’s jewels. Rom. 9:27; 11:5; Luke 12:32; Matt.
3:12; 13:24-40
The head of the fleshly house was Jacob, surnamed Israel (a
prince); and through his twelve
sons he founded the house which bore his name, the House of Jacob, the
House of Israel.
B_page 206
So with the Spiritual House: its founder, Christ,
established it through the twelve
apostles; and this house also bears the name of its founder—The Church
of Christ. In point of time, God called Fleshly Israel first; but in
point of favor, and in time of realization, Spiritual Israel comes first.
Thus the first becomes last, and the last first. (Luke 13:30) The
Scriptures clearly mark these two houses of Israel as being the fleshly
seed of Abraham and the spiritual seed of Jehovah—the Heavenly Father
whom Abraham typified.
Some are blinded to important truths by the supposition that the
expression, “both the houses of Israel,” refers to the two divisions
of Fleshly Israel, after the split in the days of Solomon’s son,
Rehoboam. Such need only be
reminded that after the captivity in Babylon, upon their restoration to
Palestine, all Israelites of all the tribes then captives in all the
universal domain of Medo-Persia, including the land of Syria or Babylonia,
were given liberty to return to their own land if they chose. (Ezra 1:1-4)
Many of the faithful Israelites of all
the tribes, who had respect to the promises of God associated with the
holy land and the holy city, returned to the various cities of Palestine.
The tribe of Judah, the principal tribe, in which was vested the
kingly office, and in whose territory Jerusalem, the chief city, was
located, naturally took a leading part in its rebuilding; but after that
return from Babylon, Israel was no more a divided nation, but dwelt
together as at first, as one people, and were known by the one original
name, Israel. See Neh.
11:1,20; Ezra 2:70.
This is further emphasized in the New Testament.
The Lord and the apostles speak of Fleshly Israel as one.
Paul says that Israel sought, but that
only a “remnant” was found worthy. (Rom. 10:1-3; 9:27; 11:5-12,20-25;
Acts 26:7) Our Lord said that he was “sent to [all] the lost sheep of
the [one] house of Israel”; yet when he would not permit his disciples
to go outside of Palestine to seek them (Matt. 10:5,6; 15:24),
B_page 207
it is evident that those living in Palestine
represented all Israel. Peter,
too, speaks of fleshly Israel as one house; and addressing the people at
Jerusalem he said, “Let all the house of Israel know,” etc. James also speaks of the twelve tribes as one people. (Acts
2:36; Jas. 1:1) Many of all
the tribes dwelt in Palestine, and many of all the tribes dwelt in
surrounding nations. Thus
Paul met and preached to Israelites in nearly every city which he visited
in Asia Minor and Italy, but they were always recognized as one nation,
spiritual Israel being the only other Israel.
God has made special covenants or promises to both these houses of
Israel. The promises to the
fleshly house were all earthly,
while those to the spiritual house are all heavenly. Though the promises to the fleshly house were (and still are)
grand and precious, the promises to the spiritual house are characterized
as “better promises,” and “exceeding
great and precious promises.” (Heb. 8:6; 2 Pet. 1:4)
To the fleshly house it was said, “If ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me
above all people; for all the earth is mine.
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”
And though all Israel answered and said, “All that the Lord hath spoken
we will do” (Exod. 19:5-8), and then failed to keep their covenant, yet
the faithful among them, who earnestly endeavored in their weakness to
keep it, will in the Millennial age be “princes in all the earth,”
members of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God.
See Vol. I, chapter xiv.
To the spiritual house, on the contrary, it is said, “Ye are
built up a spiritual
house, a holy priesthood, to offer up sacrifices* acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ....Ye are a chosen B_page 208
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; which in time past
were not a people, but are now THE PEOPLE OF GOD.” 1 Pet. 2:5,9,10
—————
*The
word spiritual
before sacrifices in this text (verse 5) is omitted in
the oldest Greek manuscript—the Sinaitic.
The correctness of this omission is
evident when we reflect that not spiritual things are sacrificed,
but earthly or human
privileges, rights, etc.
Fleshly Israel had by God’s appointment a Tabernacle made with
hands, which was typical both in itself and in all its services. (Heb.
9:1,2,9,10) But Spiritual
Israel has “the true
[the antitypical] Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” (Heb.
8:2) For the services of the
typical Tabernacle a typical priesthood was ordained, of which Aaron was
the head, which offered typical sacrifices for the sins of the typical
people, and accomplished a typical cleansing or justification each year.
The antitypical Tabernacle has its priesthood, which offers up
better sacrifices (Heb. 9:23), which actually and forever cancel the sins
of the whole world. And of
this priesthood our Lord Jesus is the head priest—the High Priest of our
profession [or order]—the Church which is his body being the
under-priests. The entire
nominal church is not this priesthood—but the true Church, the faithful
in Christ Jesus, who follow the footsteps of our great High Priest in
sacrifice.
Another marked feature of this correspondency as type and antitype,
noted in the Scriptures, is that both the houses of Israel (fleshly and
spiritual) were carried away captives into Babylon.
This will be more clearly seen when in a succeeding chapter we come
to view “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots.” (Rev. 17:5,6)
We merely notice here the correspondence.
Fleshly Israel was taken captive into literal Babylon, which was
built upon the literal river Euphrates, while in the Gospel age mystic or
figurative Babylon, which carried away captive Spiritual Israel, is
portrayed as sitting upon the mystic Euphrates.
In the type, the golden vessels of the Temple were carried
B_page 209
away and profaned by literal Babylon: in the
antitype, the precious, divine (golden) truths, pertaining to the service
of the true Temple, the Church (1 Cor. 3:16,17; Rev. 3:12), were far
removed from their proper places, perverted and misapplied by mystic
Babylon. Literal Babylon
being built upon the river Euphrates, which materially contributed to its
wealth and resources, its overthrow was accomplished by the turning aside
of those waters. So mystic
Babylon sits upon, is supported by, many waters (peoples, nations), and
its fall is predicted, through the turning aside of its supporters and
sustainers, the people. Rev. 16:12
TIME PARALLELS
Measuring
Shadow
and Substance—Type and Antitype
We now come to the consideration of that most wonderful feature of
this typical correspondency, viz., the time element, which in every
instance sustains and corroborates the dates indicated by the Jubilees,
the Chronology, and the foretold close of Gentile Times.
And it is for this purpose particularly that this subject is here
introduced—that the force of this wonderful parallelism may increase and
confirm the faith of God’s children in the time element of his plan, as
it was evidently intended to do. Heb. 9:9,23; 10:1
Of all the prophecies and time-proofs there is none more striking
and convincing than this one. The
lesson it teaches is startling because of its very simplicity, and carries
conviction to the hearts of the humble.
Not only were Fleshly Israel and its ceremonies typical, but the
Jewish age was typical of the
Gospel age. They are of
exactly the same length, and correspond to each other; so that, seeing and
B_page 210
appreciating the Jewish age, its length, and the
peculiarities of its harvest or close, we may know the exact length of the
Gospel age, its antitype, and may understand what to look for, and when,
in the harvest of the Gospel age. But let us now proceed to show this; for
though we might take it for granted on general principles, and say that as
the various features of the Jewish system correspond to those of the
Gospel age, so too the time
should correspond, yet God has not left us thus to infer this, but has
clearly though indirectly told us so.
Paul tells us that God has cast off the fleshly house from favor,
during the time of the selection of the spiritual house; and that when the
spiritual house has been selected, then God’s favor will return to the
fleshly house. He says: “I
would not, brethren [brethren of the Church, or spiritual Israel], that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel [natural, or
fleshly] until
the fulness of the Gentiles*
be come in. As it is written:
There shall come out of Zion the [promised] Deliverer [the Christ—our
Lord, the head, and the remnants or faithful few, of both the nominal
houses of Israel, which shall compose his body, the Church] and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob. And
so all Israel shall be saved (for this is my covenant unto
B_page 211
them) when
I shall take away their sins.
As concerning the gospel [the high calling of this age], they are
enemies [cast off] for your sakes [that you may have the preference and
inherit the choicest, the spiritual parts of the promises]; but as
touching the election [by which they were chosen to receive special
earthly favors from God, promised to their father Abraham and his natural
seed], they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes; for the gifts and
calling of God are not things to be repented of.”
What God has promised is sure of fulfilment.
Knowing the end from the beginning, Jehovah never made a covenant
which he would need or wish to break.
—————
*None
should confound this “Fulness of [or, from out of] the Gentiles”
with the “Times of the Gentiles,” mentioned heretofore.
The “Times of the
Gentiles,” as has been shown, is the period of time during which the
Gentiles are permitted to rule the world; while the “Fulness of
the Gentiles” refers to the
full
number to be selected out from among the Gentiles,
to complete the Gospel Church—who, with the “remnant”
selected from among the
Israelites (which would include the apostles), shall constitute
the Church of Christ, the Holy Nation, the Royal Priesthood, the
Kingdom of God, to whom the
kingdom and dominion of earth shall be committed.
In this prophecy the Apostle gives an intimation of the length of
the Gospel age, by showing that it began with the casting off of Fleshly
Israel, and that it will end with their restoration to favor.
Placing the statements of Paul and Peter (Rom. 11:27 and Acts
3:19-21) together, we learn that the time for the return of favor to
Israel will be in the beginning of the Times of Restitution, at the second
advent of our Lord. Paul says
the return of favor to that people will be when God shall take
away their sins, which Peter says he will do in the times of
refreshing or restitution which shall come when our Lord comes the second
time, when the heavens no longer retain him.
The date of our Lord’s second advent, and the dawn of the Times
of Restitution, we have already shown to be A.D. 1874.
We should expect, therefore, to see some marks of God’s returning
favor to Fleshly Israel shortly after A.D. 1874, as one of the first
features of restitution work. And,
surely enough, we do see favor beginning to return to them. And every
fresh evidence of the removal of Israel’s blindness, and of divine favor
toward them, is, when measured by the Apostle’s words, a fresh proof
that the Gospel age is closing and that the “little flock” is about
complete. But we
B_page 212
have further proof which furnishes us with the exact
date when favor should begin to return to Israel.
Thus far we have merely seen that the measure of Fleshly Israel’s
cast
off condition is the measure of the time of special favor to others, for the calling of other people
(Gentiles) to be joint-heirs with Christ, which call ends in the beginning of the
Times of Restitution; but not (other prophecies show) at the very beginning of
it.
But pause a moment—let there be no misunderstanding on this
point: When the call
to the high privilege of becoming members of the Church, the bride and
joint-heir of Christ, ceases, it by no means signifies that all of those
already called are sure to be counted worthy, and therefore to be chosen;
for “Many are called, but few are chosen,”
because only a few of the called ones comply with the conditions of the
call. Nor does it imply that those not thereafter called to that
“high calling” will be offered no other favors.
The fact is, that when this “high calling” ceases, it is
because the great Designer of the plan of the ages has almost completed that
part of his plan intended to be accomplished in the Gospel
age—viz.: the selection of the Gospel Church, the bride of Christ.
All men were not called to that high honor.
We are specially informed that God’s design was to select for
this purpose only a limited number, a “little flock,” as compared with
the mass of mankind. After
enough have been called and the time for calling ends and it is no longer
proper to extend this
call to others, it will still be possible for those already called, who
have accepted the call, to make their calling and election sure, by
faithfulness to their covenant of entire consecration to God, even unto
death; and it will still be possible for these to fail of so doing.
This call, which must end when enough have been invited from which
to complete the favored “little flock,” the body of Christ, is far
from being the limit of God’s love and favor
B_page 213
and calling. Its
end will merely close the heavenly or “high calling.”
For where this call ends, where this door of opportunity and favor
closes, another door begins to swing open—the door of opportunity to
enter the highway of holiness, and to go up thereon—not to the divine
nature, to which the Gospel Church was called, but to everlasting life and
perfection as human beings. See
Vol. I, chapters x and xi.
But now for the exact date of the return of favor to Israel, which marks the
exact end of the heavenly call—from
which date Israel will begin gradually to see, and to have increasing
evidences of returning divine favor, and from which date also God’s call
to heavenly honors will cease, and only these already called will be
privileged to win that prize by faithfulness to the close of life:
Fleshly Israel, like Spiritual Israel, was called of God to be his
peculiar people, a peculiar treasure unto him above all other people (the
one an earthly treasure, and a type of the other, which is a heavenly
treasure). Separated from the
world, they were the recipients of special favor from God for eighteen
hundred and forty-five (1845) years.
This period began with the beginning of their national life, at the death of Jacob, the last of the
patriarchs, when they were first recognized as a nation, and called “The
Twelve Tribes of Israel,” a national name.
See Gen. 49:28; 46:3; Deut. 26:5. These eighteen hundred and
forty-five years of national life and favor ended with their rejection of
Messiah—A.D. 33—when, five days before his crucifixion, he presented
himself to them as their king, and, not being received, declared, “Your
house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23:38) This, the end of
their favor, was the point of their fall, which continued for thirty-seven
(37) years, and ended A.D. 70 in the total destruction of their national
polity, as well as of their city, temple, etc.
It should be noted, however, B_page 214
that God continued his favor to individuals of that
nation, after the nation, as a nation, had been cut off; for the gospel
call was confined
to individuals of that nation for three and a half years after Pentecost,
after the death of Christ—not reaching Cornelius, the first Gentile so
favored (Acts 10), until that time. This
was the full end of the seventy weeks of favor promised through Daniel, as
it had been written, “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week.” That seventieth week
of years began at our Lord’s baptism; his cross, as predicted, marked
its middle; and favor was confined to Fleshly Israel until its
close.
During their long period (1845 years) of national favor, during
which other nations were ignored, Israel had chastisements and blessings
combined. But even their
chastisements for sins were evidences and elements of God’s favor and
fatherly care over them. He
sent trouble upon them, and frequently allowed them to be carried away
into captivity, when they forgot and disobeyed him; yet when they repented
and cried unto the Lord he always heard and delivered them.
The entire history of that people, as recorded in Exodus, Joshua,
Judges, Chronicles and Samuel, attests the fact that God did not long hide
his face from them, and that his ear was ever open unto their repentant
cry—down to the day their house was left desolate.
Even on that day, God was forgiving them more than ever, and had
sent them the long-promised Messiah, the Deliverer, in the person of our
Lord, his Son. The unfitness
of that nation longer to be his special treasure, or in any measure to
represent God’s Kingdom on earth, was manifested in their rejection of
the holy, harmless, undefiled one, and their desire of a murderer in his
stead.
Thus, because of their unfitness, the day of their greatest favor
became the day of their rejection and fall from favor.
B_page 215
And the great favor of becoming joint-inheritors with
Messiah, which Israel, except the faithful “remnant” (Isa. 1:9;
10:22,23; Rom. 9:28,29; 11:5), thus missed by their blindness and hardness
of heart, was offered to believing Gentiles: not to Gentile nations, but
to justified believers of every nation—though the favor was at first,
for three and a half years, confined exclusively to believers of the
nation of Israel. Blinded as
a people by national prejudices, the great prize which they were offered
first, but of which they were unworthy, goes to a holy nation, a peculiar
people, composed of a worthy “remnant” of their nation, with others
called out from Gentile nations, whom in their arrogant pride they once
despised as “dogs.” And God’s promised favor will not return to them as a
people, to remove their blindness, and to lead them as a first-fruits of
the nations into earthly blessings, until the full number of the “peculiar people” have been
called from the Gentiles—until the fulness of the Gentiles be come into this higher
favor.
Thus, as Paul declared (Rom. 11:7), Fleshly Israel did not obtain
that for which they sought, viz., the chief favor. Supposing the chief
favor to be the earthly blessings, and in their pride of heart claiming
that chief blessing as their natural birthright, and as further merited by
their works, they blindly stumbled over and rejected it as a favor
through Christ. As David had
foretold, their table—so bountifully spread with the rich promises and
blessings offered them through
Christ—became “a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and
a recompense unto them,” because of their hardness of heart. (Rom.
11:9,10; Psa. 69:22-28) Christ,
who came to redeem and who would have exalted them to a position of glory
beyond their ability to desire or imagine, was to their pride “a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense.” Rom. 9:32,33; Isa. 8:14
B_page 216
Yet the blindness of Israel was only a “blindness in part,” and
not a total loss of sight; for the testimony of the Law, the prophets and
the apostles was open to all, whether Jew or Gentile; and during the
Gospel age any Jew who would resolutely brush away the films of prejudice
and pride, and humbly and thankfully accept the favor of God with his
Gentile brother, might do so. Yet
few have ever been able to do so; and no favor
will be granted, and no special
effort to convince them as a nation of the truth, or to overcome their
prejudices, will be exerted, until the fulness of the Gentiles has come
in; or, in other words, until Spiritual Israel is complete.
Since their rejection of Messiah—since their house was left
desolate—Israel has had no marks of God’s favor.
Even Jews themselves must admit that their tears and groans and
prayers have gone unanswered; and, as foretold by their prophets, they
have been “a by-word and a hissing” unto all nations.
Though formerly God heard their prayers, and marked their tears,
and returned them to their own land, and continually favored them, since
then he heeds them not and shows them no favor. Since
they said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children,” theirs has
been one continuous chastisement: they have been scattered and persecuted
among all nations, as foretold. These
are the facts as all may read them on the pages of history. Now let us turn to the prophets and see how particularly
these facts were foretold, and what the same prophets have to say
concerning their future.
Through the prophet Jeremiah (chapter xvi), after telling Israel
how they had forsaken him, the Lord says: “Therefore will I cast you out
of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers;
and there shall ye serve other Gods [rulers] day and night, where I will
not show you favor.” (Verses
9-13) These days came when
they rejected B_page 217
Messiah. How
literally this threat has been fulfilled all may judge, and they
themselves must admit. This
prophecy cannot refer to any of their previous captivities to surrounding
nations—Syria, Babylon, etc. Such
an inference is guarded against in the expression, “Into a land which ye
know not, neither ye nor your fathers.”
Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees—Babylonia—and Jacob from
Syria. (Deut. 26:5) Israel’s dispersion among all nations since the
close of their 1845 years of favor, and no other of their captivities,
fits this pointed expression—a land which ye and your fathers have
not known. So then this,
together with the no
favor, positively marks this prophecy as relating to Israel’s
present dispersion among all nations.
But though he cast them off from all favor for a while, God will
not leave them cast off forever, but says—Jer. 16:13-15: “Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth,
that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The
Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the
north [Russia, where nearly one half of the Hebrew race resides], and from
all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into
their land that I gave unto their fathers.”
We might multiply quotations from the prophets and apostles
concerning the final return of God’s favor to Jacob, or Israel after the
flesh, after the selection of the full number for “the body of Christ”
from the Gentiles, but the student can do so by the use of a Concordance
or a Reference Bible. Among the very pointed references to this favor to
be restored to Israel, in the New Testament, is that by James, Acts
15:14-16, and by Paul, Rom. 11:26. But
first, they must drink the very last dregs of their chastisement; and thus
it is expressed in this remarkable prophecy (verse 18); “And first
[before the favor will come] I will recompense
B_page 218
their iniquity and their sin double.”
The Hebrew word here rendered “double” is mishneh,
and signifies a second portion, a repetition.
Thus understood, the Prophet’s declaration is, that from the time
of their being cast off from all favor until the time of their return to
favor would be a repetition, or duplication
in time, of their previous history, during which time they had
enjoyed divine favor.
As shown in the accompanying diagram, the period of their favor,
from the commencement of their national existence at the death of Jacob,
down to the end of that favor at the death of Christ, A.D. 33, was
eighteen hundred and forty-five (1845) years; and there their “double”
(mishneh)—the repetition
or duplication of the same length of time, eighteen hundred and forty-five
(1845) years, without favor—began.
Eighteen hundred and forty-five years since A.D. 33 shows A.D. 1878
to be the end of their period of disfavor.
A.D. 33 plus 1845 = A.D. 1878.
All these prophetic points in the past are clearly marked, and we
should expect some evidence of God’s returning favor to Fleshly Israel
(“Jacob”) in or about A.D. 1878.
This we do find, in the fact that the Jew is now permitted
privileges in Palestine denied him for centuries past.
And it was in that very year—1878 A.D., when their “double” was full, and God’s favor was due to return to that
people—that the “Berlin Congress of Nations” was held, in which Lord
Beaconsfield (a Jew), then Prime Minister of England, was the central
figure and took the leading part. There
England assumed a general protectorate over the Asiatic provinces of
Turkey, among which is Palestine; and the Turkish government amended its
laws relating to aliens, which greatly ameliorated the condition of the
Jews then residing in Palestine, as well as partially opened the door for
others to locate there, with the privilege of holding real estate.
Previously, the Jew was but “a dog,” to be cuffed, kicked and
abused by his Mohammedan ruler, and was denied the most ordinary
privileges of existence, in the land sacred to him with memories of the
past, and with promises touching the future.
At the same time that the door to Palestine thus opened before
them, a fierce persecution arose in Roumania and Germany, and specially in
Russia, where it still continues—increasingly.
By one regulation after another they have been despoiled of rights
and privileges by these governments, as well as mobbed by their neighbors,
until they are being compelled to leave in large numbers.
But this persecution is doubtless a favor also, as it will tend,
and has already tended, to cause them to look toward Jerusalem and the
covenants, and to remind them that they are heirs of certain rich earthly
promises.
But we must remember that the year A.D. 1878 was but the turning
point of returning favor to Fleshly Israel.
We have already learned, from our study of “The Times of the
Gentiles,” that Jerusalem and its people will continue to be trodden
down—controlled and oppressed by the Gentiles—“until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” and hence,
though favor was due and began in A.D. 1878, the Jew will not be received
back into full
favor until after 1915. Thus
their rise again to favor will be gradual, as was their fall from it.
It is remarkable, too, that these two periods of their falling and
rising are of exactly the same length—the falling was gradual, with
increasing momentum, for thirty-seven
years, from A.D. 33, where their national favor ceased, to A.D. 70, where
their national existence ended, the land was desolated and Jerusalem
totally destroyed. History
thus marks the beginning and ending of their fall, while prophecy marks
both ends of their rising—1878 and 1915—showing an exact parallel of
thirty-seven years. This is a B_page 222
further part of their mishneh (“double”)
mentioned by the prophet.
Though the turning points of the Jewish and Gospel ages are thus
clearly marked at A.D. 33 and A.D. 1878 respectively, by Israel’s
rejection and returning favor, yet the work of each of these ages laps
over upon the age succeeding it. Thus the turning point of the Jewish age
being reached, their age thereafter was lapped
upon by the opening Gospel age, just as their returning favor, which is
one of the opening features of the Millennial age, laps over upon the
close or harvest of the Gospel age. For
thirty-seven years (from A.D. 33, the end of their national favor, to A.D.
70, their complete overthrow) Israel, except the faithful remnant, was
falling, and the believing Gentiles were rising—the Jewish age was
ending and the Gospel age was beginning; and for thirty-seven years (from
A.D. 1878 to A.D. 1915) the Gospel age is ending, and woes are preparing
and coming upon so-called Christendom, except the faithful remnant, while
the restitution work for Israel and all people is preparing.
That is to say, the dates A.D. 33 and A.D. 1878 mark when the work
of the respective new ages began, though the work of harvesting the
preceding age, and destroying the refuse, was allowed to continue
thirty-seven years into the new, in both cases.
Thus the lap of the dispensations, as well as the end-marks of
each, is clearly defined.
A double work belongs to each of these lapping periods: the pulling
down of the old and the establishment of the new arrangement or
dispensation. And as the
Jewish age and people were but the types or shadows, we must expect the
results here to be much more extensive than there; and so we shall find
them. This twofold work is
shown in the statement of the prophet Isaiah—“For (1) the day of
vengeance is in my heart, and (2) the year of my redeemed is come.” Isa.
63:4 B_page 223
Nor is it a cunningly devised correspondency, arranged to suit the
facts; for many of these parallels, and other truths, were seen from
prophecy, and were preached as here presented, several years prior to A.D.
1878—that year being announced as the time of returning favor to Israel,
before it came, and before any event marked it so.
The author of this volume published these conclusions drawn from
Scripture, in pamphlet form, in the spring of A.D. 1877.
The testimony could scarcely be stronger, and yet be kept secret
until the present due
time for knowledge to be increased, and for the wise [in truly
heavenly teaching] to understand. The exact year of Israel’s
rejection—yes, even the very day—we know; that they were to have a mishneh
or double, the Prophet explicitly declares; that this parallel period is
eighteen hundred and forty-five years long, and that it ended A.D. 1878,
we have shown clearly, we think; and that it was marked by favor is an
indisputable fact. And bear in mind, too, that it is since the end of
their “double” that Prof. Delitzsch has published his Hebrew
translation of the New Testament, which is already in the hands of
thousands of Hebrews and awakening much interest. And further, remember
that the greatest Christian movement among the Hebrews since the days of
the apostles, headed by Rabinowitsch and others, is now in progress in
Russia. And it had its start
about as long a time after A.D. 1878, where Israel’s “double”
ended, as the time of the awakening among the Gentiles was after
Israel’s rejection in A.D. 33.
Now call to mind the Apostle’s words which show clearly that they
were cast off from divine favor, and from EARTHLY COVENANTS, STILL THEIRS,
until
the fulness or complete number from the Gentiles has come in—until the end
of the Gospel call—and
then you will see that 1878 is a marked date, of deep interest to
Spiritual Israel—no less important than to Fleshly Israel.
B_page 224
However, as none but our Lord Jesus knew the import of the end of
the Law age and the beginning of the Gospel age (even the apostles knew
only in part and saw dimly until after Pentecost), so we can now expect
only the body of Christ, anointed with the same spirit, to see clearly the
ending of the Gospel age and its weighty import.
The poor Jews and many professed Christians do not even yet know of
the great dispensational change which occurred at the first advent—the
ending of the Jewish age and the opening of the Gospel age.
And likewise now, few know, or will come to know, until outward
evidences prove it to their natural sight, that we are now in the end or
“harvest” of the Gospel age, and that A.D. 1878 marked so important a
point as it did. Nor was it intended that others than the faithful few should
see and know, and not be in darkness with the world—“To you it is given to
know,” said our Lord.
But some perhaps may say, Though Jeremiah was truly a prophet of
the Lord, whose testimony as to the “mishneh”
or duplication of Israel’s experiences should be respected, we should
consider the evidence still stronger if another prophet had mentioned the
same thing. To such we reply that the statement of one reliable prophet
is good and sufficient ground for faith, and that many of the notable
proofs at the first advent were foretold by only a single prophet;
nevertheless, God, who is rich in mercy and very pitiful, considered our
weakness of faith, and has answered the prayer of our hearts in advance,
providing more than the one testimony.
Turn now to Zechariah’s prophecy (9:9-12).
In prophetic vision he walks beside Jesus as he rides into
Jerusalem—A.D. 33—five days before his crucifixion (John 12:1-12), and
to the people the Prophet cries, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee!
He is just, and having salvation:
B_page 225
lowly, and riding upon an ass.”
Mark the clear fulfilment of these words—Matt. 21:4-9,43; John
12:12-15; Luke 19:40-42. Every item was fulfilled, even to the shouting. When the
people shouted Hosanna! the Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke them, but he
refused, saying, “If these should hold their peace, the stones would
immediately cry out.” Why? Because it had been prophesied that there would be a shout,
and every item of prophecy must be fulfilled. Let this particularity of
detail in prophetic fulfilment give us confidence in the further
statements of this and other prophets.
After briefly noting the evil consequences to follow a rejection of
their king (Zech. 9:10), the Prophet, speaking for Jehovah, addresses them
thus (verse 12): “Turn you to the stronghold [Christ], ye prisoners of
hope: even today do I declare
that I will render DOUBLE unto thee.”
The word double, here, is the same word used by Jeremiah—“mishneh”—a
repetition, or another equal portion.
Israel had for years been under the Roman yoke, but they were
“prisoners of hope,” hoping for a coming king who would deliver them
and exalt them to the promised dominion of earth. Now their king, their
strong tower, had come, but so meek and lowly that they in their pride of
heart could not recognize him as such a deliverer.
And much more they were Sin’s prisoners, and this Deliverer
purposed this greater release also. Our
Lord had been with them three and a half years, fulfilling the Scriptures
in their midst, and now came the last and final test—would they receive
him, the Lord’s Anointed, as their king?
The foreknowledge of God, that they would reject Messiah, is shown
by the Prophet’s words—“Even today do I declare that I will render
double unto thee.”
This prophecy not only leaves no doubt about there being a
double—a duplication of chastisement added to Israel’s
B_page 226
experience because of their rejection of
Messiah—but it also marks the exact day when it began, and makes the conclusions drawn from
Jeremiah’s prophecy, and fixed by our Lord’s words, “Your house is
left unto you desolate,” doubly strong, exact and clear.
Call to mind our Lord’s words at this time and in this
connection—“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not. Behold! your
house is left unto you desolate; for I say unto you, Ye shall not
see me henceforth till ye shall say [from the heart], Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matt. 23:37-39)
Also we read that on the last day of their test, “when he was
come near [riding on the ass], he beheld the city and wept over it,
saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace! But now [henceforth] they are hid from thine eyes.” (Luke
19:41,42) Thank God, now that
their “double” is complete, we can see that their blindness is
beginning to be turned away. And
this gives joy to the saints on their own account, too, for they realize
that the glorification of the Body of Christ draweth nigh.
But our loving Father, who evidently wished to settle and to
establish our hearts beyond doubt, upon the small point which decides and
proves so much, has sent us word concerning Israel’s “double”
by another of his most honored servants—the Prophet Isaiah.
This prophet takes his standpoint down at this end, at the time
when the “double” (mishneh)
has been fulfilled—A.D. 1878; and, addressing us who now live, he gives
us God’s message, saying: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her appointed time is accomplished, that her
B_page 227
iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the
Lord’s hand DOUBLE*
for all her sins.” Isa. 40:1,2. See
marginal reading.
—————
*The
Hebrew word here translated “double” is kephel,
which signifies double,
in the sense of a thing having been folded in the middle.
The student of prophecy should notice that the prophets vary their
standpoints of utterance, sometimes speaking of future things as future,
and sometimes assuming a position future and speaking from that assumed
standpoint; as, for instance, Isaiah, speaking of our Lord’s birth,
assumes to stand by the manger where the babe Jesus lay, when he says,
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder,” etc. (Isa. 9:6)
The Book of Psalms cannot be read intelligently unless this
principle be recognized. No
better illustration of this principle of different prophetic standpoints
can be given than the three prophecies relating to Israel’s “double”
already noticed. Jeremiah foretold that the days would
come when God would scatter them among all nations, and that, when
they have received “DOUBLE,” he would gather them again by a more
mighty display of power on their behalf than when they came out of
Egyptian bondage. Zechariah
speaks as though living at the time of Christ’s offering himself to
Israel as their king, and tells us that there, in that very day, their “double” began to count.
Isaiah stands beside us in A.D. 1878, and calls our attention to
the fact that God had a fixed or appointed time for
favoring Israel already arranged, and that this fixed time was after a double,
or counterpart, of their previous favor; and he tells us that we should
now give to Israel this comforting message that her double is complete—her
appointed time accomplished. It
would be difficult indeed to decide which of these three prophecies is
strongest or most important. They
are each important, and B_page 228
each would be strong alone; but combined they are a
three-fold cord of wonderful strength to the humble, studious, trustful
children of God.
The force of these prophetic utterances is increased when we
remember that these prophets not only lived and wrote hundreds of years
apart, but that they wrote things entirely contrary to Jewish expectation. Surely faithless and slow
of heart to believe all that
God has spoken by the prophets are those who cannot see in this clear and
harmonious testimony the finger and dealings of God.
If any should object, that the Berlin Congress and its actions were
not a sufficiently marked beginning of God’s returning favor to Israel,
we reply that it was a far more marked return of favor than was our
Lord’s action upon riding into Jerusalem a mark of disfavor.
Neither, at the time of its occurrence, was recognized as a
fulfilment of prophecy. And
today there are thousands more who know of the fulfilment of the double
than up to Pentecost knew that the double began
back there. Thus we see that
the child that Simeon said was set for the fall
and rising again of many in
Israel (Luke 2:34) proved the fall
or stone of stumbling to Fleshly Israel as a nation; and we have seen how,
as the Head and Captain of Spiritual Israel, he is to be the Deliverer, to
raise up again the fleshly house, and to restore all things after their
“appointed time,” their “double,” is complete; and now we see the
double complete and favor to Israel beginning.
As we note these fulfilments of our Father’s Word, our hearts may
well sing,
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is
laid for your faith in his excellent Word.”
While thus noting Israel’s fall from favor and their consequent
loss, and the cause of all this, let us not forget that in this also they
foreshadowed nominal Spiritual Israel,
B_page 229
and that the same prophets have foretold the
stumbling and fall of both
the houses of Israel—“He shall be for a stone of stumbling and for a
rock of offense to both the houses of
Israel.” Isa. 8:14
Just as truly as there was a casting off and fall of nominal
Fleshly Israel, as we have seen, there is also to be a casting off and
fall of nominal Spiritual Israel, the nominal Gospel Church, and for
similar reasons. The casting
off and fall of the one are just as vividly portrayed in the Scriptures as
those of the other. And just
as surely, also, as a remnant of Fleshly Israel was saved from the
blindness and fall through meekness and faith, even so also a similar
remnant of nominal Spiritual Israel shall be saved from the blindness and
fall of the nominal mass in the “harvest” or close of this age.
Thus the last members of the true Church, the body of Christ, are
to be separated from the nominal church—to be joined to the Head,
glorified. These (the remnant
selected from Fleshly Israel at its fall, and the faithful few of the
Gospel age, including the living remnant at its close) alone constitute
the true “Israel of God.” These
are the Elect—justified by faith in Christ’s redemptive work, called
to joint-sacrifice and joint-heirship with Christ, chosen through belief
of the truth and sanctification by the spirit of truth, and faithful even
unto death. With the
completion of the selection of this company, in the harvest of this age,
quite a commotion may be expected among the wheat and tares; for many
divine favors, specially granted because of the faithful few, will be withdrawn from the nominal mass, when the
little flock, for whose development they were granted, has been
completed.
We should expect that the order here would be, as in the typical
Jewish harvest, a separating work, fulfilling the words of the Prophet,
“Gather my
saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me
by sacrifice.” B_page 230
(Psa. 50:5) And
as A.D. 33 marked the giving over of the nominal Jewish house, as a
system, to disfavor, disruption and overthrow, so the corresponding date,
A.D. 1878, marked the beginning of the disfavor, disruption and overthrow
of the nominal
Spiritual Israel, of which we shall have more to say in succeeding
chapters.
Mathematical Demonstration
Assuming that the foregoing evidence is conclusive and
satisfactory, we now proceed to demonstrate chronologically: First, that
the Jewish age, from the death of Jacob to where their house was left
desolate when their double or second part
began to count, was eighteen hundred and forty-five (1845) years long; and
second, that the double ended in A.D. 1878, and favor was due to begin
there—proving thus the close of the Gospel age favors.
The second point really requires no demonstration; for it being a
fact that our Lord died in A.D. 33, it becomes an easy matter to add
eighteen hundred and forty-five years to A.D. 33, and find the year A.D.
1878 to be the year in which favor to Israel was due to begin, provided we
can prove our first proposition, that the period of Israel’s waiting for
the fulfilment of God’s promises under his favor was a period of eighteen hundred and forty-five
years.
The length of this period is fully set forth in the chapter on
Chronology except one item, namely, the period from the death of Jacob to
the coming out of Egypt. This
period was rather peculiarly hidden, or covered, until recently; until it
was noticed the length of the Jewish age was not known; and without it the
double of it could not have been measured, even if the prophecies
regarding the double had been noticed and understood.
The Chronology runs smoothly until Jacob’s death, but from that
date until the coming out of Egypt, there is no full record.
Various B_page 231
snatches here and there are given, but no connected
thread by which we could surely know.
It was for this reason that at this point in the table of
Chronology we were compelled to look to the New Testament.
There we received aid from the inspired Apostle, who gave us the
connecting link. We thus
learned that it was a period of four hundred and thirty (430) years from
the Covenant, at the death of Terah, Abraham’s father, to Israel’s
exodus from Egypt.
We find the hidden period between the death of Jacob and Israel’s
coming out of Egypt, exactly, by first calculating the period from the
death of Terah to the death of Jacob, and then deducting that number of
years from the four hundred and thirty years, the period from Terah’s
death to the exodus from Egypt. Thus:
Abraham was seventy-five (75) years old when the Covenant was made
with him, at the death of Terah (Gen. 12:4), and Isaac was born
twenty-five (25) years after. (Gen. 21:5)
Hence—
| From
the Covenant to the birth of Isaac |
25
years |
| From
Isaac’s to Jacob’s birth (Gen. 25:26) |
60
years |
| From
Jacob’s birth to his death (Gen. 47:28) |
147 years |
| Total
years from the Abrahamic Covenant to
Jacob’s death |
232 years |
| From
the Covenant to the day Israel left Egypt (Exod.
12:41), at the Passover |
430 years |
| From
this deduct the period from the
Covenant
to Jacob’s death |
232 years |
| The
period from Jacob’s death to the Exodus,
therefore,
was |
198 years |
Thus all difficulty relative to the length of Israel’s national
existence is cleared away. The
hidden period from Jacob’s death to the Exodus was no doubt purposely
concealed, until due to be seen. To
this we now add the periods presented in the Chronological Table, as
follows:
| Period
from Jacob’s death to the Exodus |
198
years |
| Israel
in the wilderness |
40
years |
| To
the division of Canaan |
6 years |
| Period
of the Judges |
450
years |
| Period
of the Kings |
513
years |
| Period
of the Desolation |
70
years |
| From
the first year of Cyrus to A.D. 1 |
536
years |
| Total years from Jacob’s death to our Anno Domini |
1813
years |
| From
A.D. 1 to the crucifixion, at the Passover
in the Spring of A.D. 33—full years,
Jewish ecclesiastical time* |
32
years |
| Total
period of Israel’s waiting for the kingdom, under divine favor and recognition |
1845 years |
—————
*The
Jewish ecclesiastical year dated from the Spring; and the Passover
occurred on the 15th day of the first month of each new
(ecclesiastical) year.
To find the measure of their double,
when favor was due and began toward them, and when therefore it began to
depart from the nominal
Spiritual Israel, we count eighteen hundred and forty-five (1845) years
from the Spring of A.D. 33, and obtain the date of the Passover, A.D.
1878. Their rising again from A.D. 1878 to
A.D. 1915 (the closing of Gentile Times), under the favor of the King whom
they rejected, and whom by that time they will recognize, corresponds in
length with their thirty-seven years of falling, from the day their house
was left desolate,
A.D. 33, until their utter overthrow as a people, A.D. 70.
We have already examined many striking parallels between the Jewish
age shadow, or type, and the Gospel age substance, or antitype, and here
we have just proved another: The length of the two ages corresponds exactly—the Gospel
Church being called during Israel’s “mishneh”
or double of B_page 233
disfavor. And
while other correspondencies are striking, especially so are the closing
features of the two ages—their “harvests,” their reapers, their work
and the time devoted, all serve to give us clear outlines of the closing
work to be accomplished in the harvest which is the end of this age.
Notice carefully the correspondencies of these two harvests, as we shall
briefly recapitulate:
Review of Harvest Parallels
The Jewish age ended with a “harvest,” our Lord and the
apostles doing the work of reaping fruit, the seed of which had been sown
by Moses and the prophets. “Lift
up your eyes (said Jesus), and look on the fields, for they are white
already to harvest.” “I send you forth to reap that whereon ye have bestowed no
labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.” (John
4:35-38) The end of the
Gospel age is also called a harvest—“The harvest is the end of the
world” (age). “In the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather
first the tares and bind them in bundles,... but gather the wheat into my
barn.” Matt. 13:39,30
John foretold the work and effect of the Jewish harvest, saying
(Matt. 3:12), “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge
his floor, and gather his wheat [Israelites indeed] into the garner [the
Christian Church]; but he will burn up the chaff [the refuse of the
nation] with unquenchable fire”—(a trouble which consumed them
nationally). Here was the baptism of the holy Spirit and of fire—the
holy Spirit coming upon the “Israelites indeed” at Pentecost, and the
fire of trouble upon all others, during the thirty-seven years following
their rejection. (Matt. 3:11) In
that trouble Israel as a nation was destroyed, but not as individuals. The Revelator
tells of the harvesting of this age with the sharp sickle of truth,
because the time to reap is come, and shows a double work, part of which
relates to the B_page 234
vine of the earth, as distinguished from the true
vine of the Father’s planting, Christ Jesus and his members or branches.
(John 15:1-6) The harvest of
this age is said to be of wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-30,36-39): that of
the Jewish age was called one of wheat and chaff.
And as the chaff predominated largely there, the analogy and
parallelism so marked in every other feature implies that the tares will
be much more abundant than the wheat in this harvest.
The Jewish harvest, in all a period of forty years, began with our
Lord’s ministry and ended with nominal Israel’s rejection and
overthrow, and the destruction of their city, accomplished by the Romans,
A.D. 70. And the harvest of this age began with the presence of our
Lord at the beginning of Earth’s Great Jubilee, in 1874, as shown in
chapter vi, and ends with the overthrow of Gentile power—A.D. 1914,
likewise a period of forty years—another of the wonderful parallels of
the two ages.
While the Jewish harvest began with our Lord’s ministry, and
God’s favor departed from their nominal system three and a half years
later, and was followed by thirty-seven years of trouble upon that system,
yet special favor continued to individuals of that nation, and the call to
the high position of joint-heirship with Christ was given to them
exclusively for three and a half years after our Lord’s rejection by
them and of them—thus verifying the promise to Daniel (Dan. 9:27), that
favor would be shown to his people to the full end of the seventieth week,
in the midst of which Messiah was cut off.
This promise was fulfilled to all the true wheat, while the system which held that wheat was condemned and cast off in the
midst of the week. The
harvesting of the wheat of the Jewish age lasted for several years,
beginning with our Lord’s ministry, though all the special
B_page 235
favor ceased three and a half years after the death
of Christ. The trouble (fire) upon that nation began to kindle early, but
did not reach its terrible fury until the wheat of that nation had been
about all garnered.
Similar periods are marked in the harvest of this age now closing,
corresponding to the features of that harvest.
The fall of A.D. 1874, where the Jubilee cycles point out that our
Lord was due to be present, corresponds to the time of his baptism and
anointing by the holy Spirit when he became Messiah the Prince (Dan.
9:25), and began his work of reaping the Jewish harvest.
The Spring of A.D. 1878 (three and a half years after) corresponds
to the date at which our Lord assumed the office of King, rode on the ass,
cleansed the temple of its money-changers, and wept over and gave up to
desolation that nominal church or kingdom; and it marks the date when the
nominal church systems were “spewed out” (Rev. 3:16), and from which
time (A.D. 1878) they are not the mouthpieces of God, nor in any degree
recognized by him. And the
three and a half years following the Spring of A.D. 1878, which ended
October, A.D. 1881, correspond to the three and a half years of continued
favor to individual Jews in the last half of their seventieth week of
favor. As in the type that
date—three and a half years after the death of Christ—marked the end
of all special favor to the Jew and the beginning of favor to the
Gentiles, so we recognize A.D. 1881 as marking the close of the special
favor to Gentiles—the close of the “high calling,” or invitation to
the blessings peculiar to this age—to become joint-heirs with Christ and
partakers of the divine nature. And,
as we have seen, this marks a great movement among the Jewish people
toward Christianity, known as the “Kishenev Movement.”
And now trouble is impending over nominal Christendom, but the
storm is stayed until the wheat is garnered, until God’s messengers seal
his servants B_page 236
in their foreheads (intellects) with the truth. Rev.
7:3
The features of this harvest corresponding to those of the Jewish
harvest have been very marked also as regards the preaching done. In the first three and a half years of the Jewish harvest,
the Lord and the disciples had for their special text time, and the fact of
Messiah’s presence. Their
proclamation was, “The time is fulfilled,” the Deliverer has come.
(Mark 1:15; Matt. 10:7) So it
was in this harvest also: up to A.D. 1878 the time prophecies and the fact
of the Lord’s presence, substantially as here presented, though less
clearly, was our message. Since
then the work has widened, and the view of other truths has become
brighter and clearer; but the same facts and scriptures, teaching the same
time
and presence, stand
unchallenged and incontrovertible. As the favor which was continued to
individual Israelites, after their house nominal was cut off from favor,
was not intended to convert and reform their nominal
church system, nor granted
in hope of changing their chaff into wheat, but was intended merely to
separate and garner every grain of ripe wheat, so in this harvest the
object of the continued and abounding favor (of the light of truth) of the
present is not designed to convert whole sects or to work national
reforms, but on the contrary to separate completely the wheat class from
the tare class. They have
grown together side by side for centuries, and a pure, all-wheat sect has been unknown; but now in the harvest
the separation must come, and the strain will be terrible.
It will mean, in many instances, the uprooting of earthly
friendships and the sundering of many tender ties; and the truth
will do the separating. The
Lord’s prediction as to the “harvest” at the first advent will be
true again in the present harvest. (See
Matt. 10:35-38; Luke 12:51-53.) As
there the truth set the father against the son, the daughter against the
mother, and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, so
B_page 237
again, a man’s foes shall oftenest be they of his
own household. This cannot be avoided.
They who love peace more than the truth will be tested, and they
who love truth supremely will be accepted and approved as the
“overcomers”—just as in the Jewish “harvest.”
In the Jewish “harvest” the messengers chosen and sent forth as
heralds of the King and of the Kingdom at hand were humble, untitled men,
and those who opposed the message were the Chief Priests, Scribes,
Pharisees and Doctors of Divinity; and as we should expect we find it
here: the blindest are the leaders of the blind, who, like their Jewish
types, “Know not the time of their
visitation.” Luke 19:44
The presence
was one of the main points of testing there, and the cross was the other.
John the Baptizer cried to them, “There standeth one among you whom ye know not.”
Yet only the Israelites indeed were able to realize the fact of
Messiah’s presence; and of these many stumbled over the cross; for
though willing to accept Messiah as a Deliverer, their pride made them
unwilling to receive him as Redeemer, also. So
here, likewise, the presence of Christ, the “harvest” in progress, and the
rejection of the nominal mass of professors, stumble many; and the great
Deliverer, for whose coming and kingdom many have prayed (as did the
Jews), they are unready to acknowledge.
Again it is true, “There standeth one among you whom ye know
not.” And again the cross of Christ becomes a
test and a stone of stumbling or trial as none could have expected; and
many, many are now falling over it, saying, We will accept Christ as our Deliverer,
but reject him as our Redeemer or Ransomer.
Surely all who will consider the matter carefully must acknowledge
that the evidence that our Lord is now present (a spirit being, and hence
invisible) is greater and clearer than the evidence which the Jew had of
his presence in the flesh at the first advent.
And not only are the prophetic evidences
B_page 238
of the Lord’s presence now more full, complete and
numerous, but the signs of the times everywhere about us, showing the
harvest work in progress, are much more apparent and convincing, to those
whose eyes are anointed (Rev. 3:18), than were the circumstances of the
first advent, when our Lord Jesus, with a handful of followers, through
much opposition and under many unfavorable conditions, announced, “The time is FULFILLED; repent
and believe the good tidings”—Messiah has come, the Messenger of the
great Jehovah, to fulfil to you all the promises made to the fathers.
What wonder that only the humble minded ones could accept of the
humble Nazarene as the great Deliverer, or of the humble, untitled men
with him as part of his chosen cabinet—as those who were to be princes
under him. Only the few could see in the one who rode on the ass and wept
over Jerusalem the great King of whom Zechariah had prophesied that Zion
would receive him as King with shoutings of joy.
At his first advent he humbled himself, taking the form and nature
of man (Heb. 2:9,14), thereby to accomplish our redemption by giving
himself as our ransom price. He
is now highly exalted, and dieth no more; and at his second advent,
clothed with all power (Phil. 2:9), he will exalt his “body,” and then
bestow
upon the world the blessing of restitution which he purchased
for them at his first advent with his own precious blood.
Remember, he is no longer flesh, but a spirit being, and will
shortly change, and glorify as his members and joint-heirs, all his
faithful followers.
To the Jewish house Jesus presented himself in three
characters—as Bridegroom (John 3:29), Reaper (John 4:35,38) and King
(Matt. 21:5,9,4). To the
Christian house he presents himself in the same three characters. (2 Cor.
11:2; Rev. 14:14,15; 17:14) To
the Jewish house he came as B_page 239
Bridegroom and Reaper in the beginning of their
harvest (the beginning of his ministry); and just before his crucifixion
he presented himself as their King, exercising kingly authority in
pronouncing judgment against them, in leaving their house desolate, and in
the typical act of cleansing their temple. (Luke 19:41-46; Mark 11:15-17)
Just so it has been in this harvest: Our Lord’s presence as
Bridegroom and Reaper was recognized during the first three and a half
years, from A.D. 1874 to A.D. 1878. Since
that time it has been emphatically manifest that the time had come in A.D.
1878 when kingly judgment should begin at the house of God.
It is here that Rev. 14:14-20 applies, and our Lord is brought to
view as the Reaper crowned. The year A.D. 1878, being the parallel of his assuming power
and authority in the type, clearly marks
the time for the actual assuming of power as King of kings, by our
present, spiritual, invisible Lord—the time of his taking to himself his
great power to reign, which in the prophecy is closely associated with the
resurrection of his faithful, and the beginning of the trouble and wrath
upon the nations. (Rev. 11:17,18) Here,
as in the type, judgment begins with the nominal church, in condemning to
destruction the nominal systems
(not the people), outwardly representing the true Church—“the body.”
Here also is the cleansing of the true temple, the true Church, the
body of Christ—the consecrated class. (1 Cor. 3:16; Rev. 3:12)
This consecrated or temple
class in the nominal church stands related to the nominal church, as a
whole, as the literal temple stood related to the holy city Jerusalem, as
a whole. After the city was
given up the temple was cleansed: so now the temple class must be cleansed: every
selfish, carnal thought and all worldliness must be cast out, that the
temple may be clean, the dwelling place of God’s holy Spirit—the
temple of the living God. B_page 240
The special work since A.D. 1878 has been the proclamation of the
King’s command, “Come out of her [Babylon], my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev.
18:4) “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no
unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye [the royal Priesthood]
clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Isa. 52:11
Another marked point of similarity accompanying the first and
second advents is the prevailing sense of the need of a deliverer, and a
widespread impression among the nations that deliverance must in some way
soon come—the ideas of some even approximating the truth of the matter.
But in each case only a few are able to recognize the Deliverer and enlist
under his banner in the service of the truth. In the Jewish harvest, there
was a going forth of many to meet the Lord when all men “were in
expectation” of him (Luke 3:15), at the time of his birth, thirty years
before his anointing as Messiah at the beginning of his ministry; and so
there was a corresponding expectation and movement on the part of many
(afterward called Adventists) led mainly by a Baptist brother named
William Miller, in this country, and by Mr. Wolff and others in Europe and
Asia. This culminated in the
year A.D. 1844, just thirty years before A.D. 1874, when Christ the
Bridegroom and Reaper actually came, as shown by the Jubilee’s teaching. In this we find another striking time-parallel between these
ages; for those thirty years corresponded exactly to the thirty years from
the birth of the babe Jesus unto Messiah the Anointed—baptized, and
introduced as Bridegroom and Reaper, at the age of thirty. Matt. 3:11;
John 3:29
In both cases there was a disappointment and a tarrying-time of
thirty years, during which all slumbered, and only a few in each case
awakened at the proper
time to a realization of Messiah’s presence.
The great nominal mass in both
B_page 241
houses fail to recognize the visitation, because
overcharged and lukewarm, neglecting the command to take heed and watch.
Thus will be fulfilled the prediction by the Prophet—“He shall
be for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both
the houses of Israel.” (Isa. 8:14)
The fleshly house stumbled because they had made void the law of
God through giving attention to traditions (Mark 7:9,13), and so had not a
proper conception of the manner and object of the first advent.
For that reason they were unprepared to receive him in the way he
did come, and so stumbled over him and his work of sacrifice.
The mass of nominal spiritual Israel are now stumbling over the
same rock, and for the same reason. They
are blinded by the traditions of men and sectarian prejudices which hinder
a proper enlightenment by the Word of God; consequently they have not a
proper conception of the manner or object of the Lord’s second advent.
And here also the cross of Christ, the doctrine of the ransom, is becoming
a test to all. It is worthy
of careful notice, too, that neither house would stumble or fall over a
rock not present. The Rock is
now present, and nominal systems are stumbling, falling and being broken
to pieces; while now, as at the first advent, the “Israelites indeed”
are individually recognizing and accepting the Rock, and by climbing upon
this truth are being lifted spiritually far above the stumbling, rejecting
masses.
Those who have the eyes of their understanding enlightened do not
stumble; but as they climb upon the Rock, from its higher standpoint they
see much more clearly both the past and the future of the divine
plan—some things not possible to utter, relative to the coming glory of
the Church and the gala-day of earth.
They who put their trust in the Lord shall never be
confounded.
The full force of this parallelism is not obtained unless it is
noticed that the Jubilee cycles and the Gentile Times
B_page 242
mark the periods which correspond so exactly with
these in the Jewish parallels. It
is not an imagination that the Jewish and Christian ages are type and
antitype—the apostles and prophets testify to their correspondency.
Nor do we rely merely on the parallels in proof of the harvest work
of the Christian dispensation now in progress: this harvest, as already
shown, is otherwise marked—both its beginning and its close.
The Jubilee cycles prove that our Lord Jesus was due to be present
and begin the restitution work in the fall of 1874 A.D. and the
parallelism above referred to shows that date (1874) to correspond exactly
with the anointing of Jesus as the Messiah, at the beginning of the Jewish
“harvest,” at the first advent. The
“Gentile Times” prove that the present governments must all be
overturned about the close of A.D. 1915; and the parallelism above shows
that this period corresponds exactly with the year A.D. 70, which
witnessed the completion of the downfall of the Jewish polity. A reasonable question, then, in view of all this, is, Are
these time-correspondencies mere accidents, or are they of the same divine
ordering which we have seen arranged the other affairs of the fleshly
house as shadows of the realities of this dispensation?
No, they are not accidental: undoubtedly the same all-wise One who
taught us through the Chronology that six thousand years from Adam’s
creation ended with A.D. 1872, and that the seventh thousand, the
Millennial age, began there; who through the Jubilee cycles taught us that
the Lord would be present and the Times of Restitution begin in the fall
of 1874; and who through the Times of the Gentiles showed us that we must
not expect these things to be done in haste, but by seemingly natural
means covering a period of forty years, has in these Parallel
Dispensations B_page 243
marked by Israel’s “double” given us evidence
which not only itself teaches clearly the Lord’s presence, the harvest
and the restitution (beginning with favor to fleshly Israel), but at the
same time furnishes a proof of the correctness of the other prophetic evidences and of
the Chronology. For be it distinctly noticed that if the Chronology, or
any of these time-periods, be changed but one year, the beauty and force
of this parallelism are destroyed. For
instance, if the Chronology be altered but one year, more or less—if we
add one year, say to the period of the Kings or the Judges, or if we make
it one year less—it would spoil the parallelism.
If we should add one year it would make the first of Israel’s
periods 1846 years long, and the double or other half of it would thus be
thrown one
year later, while, on the contrary, by such a change of the
Chronology the Jubilee cycles would be thrown one year earlier, i.e., A.D.
1873; and it would make the 6000 years end in A.D. 1871, while the Gentile
Times would not be affected by it at all. All can see that the harmony or
parallelism would thus be utterly destroyed.
Or, if one year should be deducted from the chronological reckoning
the confusion would be just as great, the changes to the several periods
being in an opposite direction. Thus
these various time prophecies corroborate each other, while the
parallelism of the two dispensations clinches their testimony.
It will be noticed by those at all familiar with the calculations
usually made by “Second Adventists” and others, relative to the
prophetic periods, etc., that this method of dealing with these subjects
is very different from theirs. They usually attempt to make all prophecies
end at some one date.
Their erroneous expectations lead them to this. They expect that a
few moments will witness the entire program which will really occupy a
thousand years—the Lord’s coming, the resurrection, and the judgment
of the world. B_page 244
And their expectation concerning those few moments is
that they close by the burning up of the world. To appreciate and accept the prophecies which point out
various dates for various steps in God’s great plan, they would need
first to understand the “Plan of the Ages” and the true manner of the
Lord’s second advent. But
the great majority are too much blinded by their theories and prejudices
to do this. Their attempts to
apply prophecy to their false expectations often lead to twisting,
stretching or whittling, according to the necessities of the case, in the
endeavor to get all the prophecies to terminate at some one date.
These friends should awake to their error in this direction; for
one after another their expectations have failed, while we and they know
that some of the prophecies they have used cannot be stretched into the
future, but are in the past, and are now abandoned by them.
They are fulfilled, but differently from what they expected, and
they know it not.
On the contrary, the prophecies here presented, and those yet to be
considered, are unstrained, and without twisting or whittling. We simply present them as we find them in God’s Word; and,
having correct expectations from God’s great “Plan of the Ages,” it
is easy for those seeing it clearly to note how the various prophetic
chains fit to it and measure it. They
mark it, some at one important point and some at another; and to such as
see this much, this parallelism of the Jewish and Christian dispensations
shows and proves beyond reasonable doubt the correctness of all the
others.
The statement of the time-periods of God’s plan, furnished in the
prophecies, is very similar to an architect’s specifications; and the
parallels of the Jewish dispensation resemble his outline drawings.
Suppose we had an architect’s specifications for a house, without
any drawings, and were to sit down and make a drawing from the
specifications, B_page 245
and afterward should receive from the architect his
outline drawings of the prospective building—if a comparison of it with
our own sketch, made from the specifications, showed all the angles and
measures exactly alike, we should be doubly assured as to our correct
understanding of the specifications.
So here, the drawing, the type or shadow of the Gospel age
furnished us in the Jewish age, and the correspondence of prophecies and
events with those foreshadowings, give us as strong assurance of the
correctness of our conclusions as could be asked, while we still “walk
by faith and not by sight.”
Other prophetic testimonies yet to be examined will also be found
in perfect accord with these parallels.
One of them, the Days of Daniel, points out a great blessing upon
the consecrated who would be living in A.D. 1875 and onward—a blessing
surely being fulfilled in the grand unfolding of the truths of God’s
Word since that time. To him
be the praise who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light!
Remember that the forty years’ Jewish harvest ended October, A.D. 69, and was
followed by the complete overthrow of that nation; and that likewise the
forty years of the Gospel age harvest will end October, 1914, and that
likewise the overthrow of “Christendom,” so-called, must be expected
to immediately follow. “In
one hour” judgment shall come upon her. Rev. 18:10,17,19
The reader’s attention is directed to the Table of
Correspondencies following, which will well repay careful study.
•
