John Wilson, 1877
FIFTY-FIRST. "Did not the Lord say
(Ezek. 20:32) that Israel should not be as the heathen to serve wood and stone?
How then can the Saxons be of Israel, since all their branches were heathen
when they came into the west?"
REPLY. - In "The Watchmen of
Ephraim" ii, 344-352, is a full exposition of Ezek. 20, where it is
shown that those to whom the Lord speaks in ver. 32 are the people generally
called Jews, but whom Ezekiel denominates "Israel," as distinguished
from "ALL ISRAEL," or "the WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL," spoken
of in the same chapter. See also 11:15; 37:16.
The Jews have been in the case
predicted. They have neither had the Voice of Prophecy among them, neither have
they been, like the heathen, serving idols of wood and stone. They have not
been, as they will be hereafter, seeking the Lord their God [ABCOG: in the way
God requires]; but neither have they been "for another man."
Hosea 3 describes the case of the children of Israel known as Jews, with whom
the name of Israel was left when it was taken from the other house, who are
spoken of throughout chap. 2., but are not once named as ISRAEL; they having
been utterly taken away, and made "LO-AMMI." [Not a people]
Their cases are contrasted by Hosea 1:6, 7,
&c. From the further predictions of this prophet (4:17; 8:11) it is evident
that Ephraim was for a long time to be left to idolatry and variety of sinful
worship. In conclusion, however, Hosea most distinctly shows that EPHRAIM was
to become Protestant [ABCOG: !? - "turn to God"]. Like the
Prodigal Son, he was at length to come to himself, and say, "What have
I to do any more with idols?" He was to submit himself to Divine
grace, saying, "I am like a green fir tree," [(Hos. 14:8)]
fair to appearance, but unworthy of his name "Ephraim" ("I
will bring forth fruits"); to which the Divine response is, "From
Me is thy FRUIT found." Not only was Ephraim to protest against
idolatry, but he was also to have true life-giving communion with the God of
Israel.
FIFTY-SECOND. "And after all, what
warranty does the Scripture give for considering the Ten Tribes as lost? The
Apostle JAMES write to the Ten Tribes scattered abroad."
REPLY. - In Deut. 28. we have described
principally the case of ISRAEL, reaching to ver. 48; and thereafter we are told
of the cruel siege and long Tribulation consequent upon the dispersion of JUDAH
under the Roman Eagle. Now with regard to ISRAEL it is said (ver. 36), "The
Lord shall bring thee unto a nation, which neither thou nor thy fathers have
known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone." All
must agree that this does not particularly apply to the Jews. The end of the
Ten Tribes was to be their being lost as Israel, described in ver. 48.
"Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send
against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all
things: and he shall pot a yoke of iron upon thy neck UNTIL HE HAVE DESTROYED
THEE." This surely declares that they should be lost as bearing the
name Of ISRAEL. The destruction of the Jews was not to be so absolute; but they
were to be left long under it, and "few in number" (ver.
45-62).
A people cast "out of sight"
of the Lord may surely be called "lost;" and this is said to
be the case of the whole seed of Ephraim (Jer. 7:15). A people dead and buried,
and their "bones scattered in the open valley, very many and very
dry," so that God only could know whether they could ever again come
to life; and so as that the prophet required to be told who they were, and what
was to become of them, were surely "lost." Now thus lost, as distinct
from Judah, were "the whole house of Israel," as described
in Ezek. 37. True, they were not to remain "lost." They were to be
raised up by the Word and Spirit of God, and made to "stand upon their
feet, an exceeding great army."
Was it not unto the "lost sheep of the
house of Israel" that the Good Shepherd sent His twelve apostles? Did He
not come to seek and to save that which was lost? Ezek. 34. Did He not give up
His life "that He might gather in one the 'children of God' that were
scattered abroad" (John 11:52), the people who had become Lo-ammi, but who
as children of the living God were to be gathered into one? (Hos. 1, 2; John
17:20). Are we to look for the descendants of the Twelve Tribes,
"scattered abroad," to whom the Apostle JAMES writes,
recognizing them as "having the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
among the unbelieving Jews? Have we any record of their conversion to Judaism?
If the descendants of these Primitive Christians are to be found anywhere, they
are, of course, to be looked for among the Christian nations, not among the
Jews. If they were of "outcast Israel," they had been
divorced in reference to the old covenant, and must not therefore be looked for
as under it (Jer. 3.).
It is rather out-of-the-way reasoning to say
that because the twelve tribes were Christians in the Apostolic age, therefore
they are to be looked for as having wandered away to Judaism and become an
unnoticed fragment of the Jewish remnant, remaining under the curse of a broken
law [ABCOG: of having broken the law, Deut. 28], from which thousands of years
ago the greater part were divorced and sent away. True, the Jews were retained
under the old covenant; but some distinction should certainly be made between "JUDAH
and the children of Israel his companions," and "EPHRAIM and
the tribes of Israel his fellows" (Ezek. 37:16-19).
FIFTY-THIRD. How can Hos. 3:4 apply to
the English? [ABCOG: "The children of Israel shall abide many days without
a king.."]
REPLY. - The case there predicted is not
that of Israel when seeking the Lord; therefore it cannot apply to the
English when they have become a Christian people, and are professedly subject
to Christ. It is not said that after they become seekers of the Lord
they will be left in the condition described of being left for "many
days" without a king, and without a prince. It is not that appointed to
her who had been made desolate, and to whom the Lord was to be able to say, as
in Isa. 54:7, 8, -
"For a small moment have I forsaken
thee;
But with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid My face from thee
for a moment:
But with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee,
Saith the Lord thy Redeemer."
In Hos. 1-3, as in Isa. 54. and Jer. 3., two
women are spoken of and are contrasted with each other. These two represent
ISRAEL and JUDAH. From the former even the very name was to be taken; and they
were to be lost among the Gentiles. This is the people represented by Gomer and
her children in Hos. 1.; it is also the nameless people whose case is more
particularly described in chap. 2. While this woman was yet in the wilderness,
the Lord was to espouse her to Himself, according to the New and Everlasting
Covenant after which she was to "sing as in the days her youth."
[(Hos. 2:15)]
In [Hos.] chap. 3., quite another woman is
spoken of. Upon Ephraim and his companions God "had not mercy, but
utterly took them away." They were entirely "lost"
as Israel until found in Christ. But that portion of the children of Israel
generally called Jews, and with whom the name of "Israel" was left
when taken from the people to whom it more especially belonged, were to be left
in long and lingering suspense, in contrast with the other house, whose
alienation was to be more complete for the time, but of far shorter
continuance, "for a small moment," after which she was to be
made to forget the shame of her youth, and to remember the reproach of her
widowhood no more (Isa. 54:4; Jer. 3:12-16).
FIFTY-FOURTH. "Israel will he
converted at the second coming of Christ, after they have been gathered again
in wicked unbelief into their own land and city."
REPLY. - [ABCOG: Wilson does not address the
substance of the question, but, after discussing side-issues, concludes:] The
passage evidently refers to both another people and another time, rather than
to ALL ISRAEL in the future.
FIFTY-FIFTH. "Before the Second
Advent of our Lord, Israel will receive and worship a false Messiah, whom
Christ will consume with the brightness of His coming" (Zech. 11:16, 17;
Ezek. 21:25, 27).
REPLY. - These verses do not appear to point
to anything more remarkable than to a well beneficed clergy, who have accepted
office for the sake of emolument; such, for example, as the high priests of the
Jews previous to the destruction of Jerusalem.
So also with Ezek. 21:25-27. We have to
remember that Ezekiel calls Judah "Israel," and the house of Israel,
or the Ten Tribes, "ALL ISRAEL." This passage refers to the king of
Judah. The time had come when the sum of the iniquity of Judah's kings was
complete; so that the Lord would bear no more with them, until He should come
whose right it is to reign. Him the Father hath acknowledged, and He shall
actually be King of Israel.
Rev. 13. is also referred to, where indeed
Antichrist is described. The Beast and the False Prophet are both here; but we
have no evidence that the Jews will worship either of them after their
Restoration. These seem rather to be usurpers who intrude upon Israel while
they are out of the land, and who also seek to infest and molest them upon
their return.
FIFTY-SIXTH. "Antichrist is yet to
be sent as a scourge from God to Israel, as foretold, Isa. 10:5, 6."
REPLY. - But from ver. 5 we may clearly see
that the prophecy concerns the Assyrian's commission against Israel at
the time of their deportation from the land, and also against Judah for their
chastisement. ISRAEL were given up to him, but he was withheld from doing what
be would with the Jews; and his proud boasting was to end in his own confusion,
when the work was done for which he had been raised up. His boasting as
recorded in ver. 8-10, refers to what the Assyrian had already done, not to
what Antichrist is yet to accomplish. He had taken Samaria, the capital of
Israel, and expected to do the same with Jerusalem (ver. 11). But the Lord had
determined otherwise (ver. 24-26). It was because Messiah was to come of Judah,
and because of the Anointing that the Assyrian was prevented from destroying
Judah (ver. 27).
FIFTY-SEVENTH. " It is after the Second
Advent of Christ that the spared of Israel will be made a blessing to the
nations" (Mic. 5:7).
REPLY. - It may be true that "Israel
after the flesh" is so to be used after the Second Advent; but certainly
this passage does not prove it. The context shows that describes the case of
Israel when the Land is lying desolate (ver, 10-15), not as it shall be during
Messiah's peaceful reign, when the cities will have been rebuilt and the land
restored to fruitfulness and beauty. It describes the case of Israel when cast
out among the Gentiles, and not yet in possession of their own land. They were
to be used for both mercy and judgment while it was "lying desolate
without them" (ver. 7, 8). Of them were to be the messengers of the
Gospel, and also the people successful in war. While yet among the Gentiles,
like our people, they were to have the power of ministering the blessings of
peace to the nations; but equally also of inflicting the horrors of siege and
of the battle-field.
Notwithstanding all this power among the
Gentiles, as here described, their own peculiar inheritance was to be lying
waste.
Isa. 66:19, is also referred to in proof of
this; but how can it be said, "I will set a SIGN among them,"
when the Lord Himself is personally present? Is He to be so much in a corner
that "a sign" is all that can be said to have been given? Are there
still to be "Isles afar off, which have not heard His fame, neither
have seen His glory," to whom "couriers " are to be sent after
He has come "with the voice of the archangel and the trump of
God," [(1 Thess. 4:16)] as the "lightning shining under the
whole heaven"? [(Luke 17:24)].
What places are specified? Tarshish is the
first; and Javan, or Greece, which is the last, supplied the language in which
the New Testament was written, in which the glory of God in His redeeming love
is declared to all the world from "the isles of Tarshish."
Can those who have for generations possessed the Septuagint or Greek
translation of the Old Testament be said never to have heard the fame of
Jehovah? As to Tarshish, was not the great apostle of the Gentiles a citizen of
one ["Tarsus"], and in design the apostle of another?
["Greeks"] And if we take in also "the isles of
Tarshish" - "the isles afar off" - we come to our
own part of the world. Spain was Tarshish, and the British Isles were "the
isles of Tarshish," the very quarter to which Saul of Tarsus intended to
proceed in preaching the Gospel. If anywhere, certainly in these "isles
afar off" the fame of Jehovah has been heard, and the glorious Gospel
of the grace of God has been made manifest.
As certainly as the message came forth in
this direction at the beginning will that Restoration also take place which is
referred to in ver. 20: "And they shall bring all your brethren for an
offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon mules, and upon swift
(conveyances) to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of
Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD."
Those who thus assist in restoring the Jews will at length be recognized as
their brethren. Of that people which the Jews supposed had been cast off as
unclean, the Lord says, ver. 21, "I will also take of them for Priests
and for Levites." The first messengers of the Gospel were of those
who escaped from that evil generation which perished in the destruction of
Jerusalem. The last and great preaching of the Gospel is to be by their
brethren of the outcast house of Israel.
Most undoubtedly Isa. 43:5-7, refers to "a
gathering of Israel." But when? Whence? In what condition? Let us
look at the passage:
"Fear not:
For I am with thee:
I will bring thy seed from the East,
And gather thee from the West;
I will say to the North, Give up;
And to the South, Keep not back:
Bring my sons from far,
And my daughters from the ends of the earth;
Every one that is called by My Name."
There is no evidence that this gathering
together is in preparation for our Lord's Second Coming. "Fear not:
for I am with thee," implies that danger from the enemy is
threatened. But at the Second Advent, Satan is to be bound, and to have no
power to threaten danger.
The people addressed are in the same
positions as are occupied by ourselves. Our seed is in the East; and we are in
the West. In the North many of our race are enthralled; and in the South there
are hindrances to a centralization in the Land of our fathers. Our sons have
gone afar; and our colonies are to be found in all "the ends of the
earth."
Then as to the character and condition
of the people referred to. They are a people "called by My name"
- the Lord's - Christians. They are a converted people - "new
created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10).
That there may be no mistake about the
matter, this is repeated once and again most expressively:-
"I have created him for My glory,
I have formed him,
Yea, I have made him."
All this cannot be said except of a
Believing People who have espoused the Lord to be their God according to the
Gospel.
There is no evidence whatever to prove that
at the Lord's Second Advent ISRAEL are to be found as a people who have not put
on the profession of Christianity. [ABCOG: But will Jesus find faith on the
Earth?] Unto them the Gospel has been more especially sent (Ezek. 34.; Matt.
15:24), and by them it has been universally proclaimed. It is in their case
that the Lord will magnify His grace and truth in the land, and most
conspicuously the outcasts of Israel will be the heirs of His glory (Rev. 21.).
FIFTY-EIGHTH. "Since the [first]
coming of Christ the promises to Israel are in abeyance, but are to be
fulfilled hereafter in the conversion of the Jews, and their restoration to
their own land."
REPLY. - It is a gratuitous assumption to
say that "Christ came" not "to confirm the promises made
unto the fathers" (Rom. 15:8), but to postpone their
fulfillment for 1800 years; that He came to interrupt the fulfillment
of God's Covenant mercy during nearly the whole of the New Testament
dispensation, to the people unto whom it was promised in their successive
"generations." Did not God appoint that [out] of Abraham should
proceed a multitudinous seed, through whom all the nations of the earth were to
be blessed in Christ, the One Seed? How can this be if the people through whom
God is now blessing the nations by His grace, and who are hereafter to
constitute the main body of the royal priesthood in glory, are almost
exclusively Gentiles, and not descended from the fathers unto whose children
this honor was appointed, and which, be it remembered, came of the free grace
of God, according to the everlasting covenant with Abraham?
FIFTY-NINTH. "But the Christian
Church is non-Israelitish.
You make it chiefly to consist of 'the
twelve tribes scattered abroad.'"
REPLY. - The "Gentiles" were to
inherit the blessing of Abraham through faith. The firstborn of Israel were to
be known by all nations of the earth being blessed through their
instrumentality.
EPHRAIM, the firstborn of Israel, was cast
out and lost among the Gentiles, in the quarter whence our Anglo-Saxon
forefathers came. Since the knowledge of Christ was brought unto us, and since
we professed to place our confidence in Him alone, eschewing idolatry, and
since we took the New Testament as our guide, we have been given the blessing
of Abraham, and the power of ministering blessing to all nations.
The promises were to be sure to "that
[portion of the seed] also which is of the faith of Abraham, which he
had being yet uncircumcised" (Rom. 4:16). And this, as distinct from
the case of Judah, was to be what should happen to "outcast Israel,"
who were given a bill of divorce in regard to the old covenant, and sent away
(Jer. 3:8).
We English have been favored as outcast
Israel was to be when divorced from the ceremonial law [ABCOG: so we are no
longer under the penalties we have accrued from breaking the "Old
Covenant"], and when we had nothing to trust in but "the Lord our
Righteousness." [ABCOG: so that we can enter into the "new
Covenant"] We are to ascribe our privileges to the free grace of God
according to the Gospel, and not to our own wisdom or strength; and to Him from
whom we have received we are to devote all that we have and are in the
accomplishment of the work which He hath given us to do.
God has been teaching us faithfulness by His
own most truthful fulfillment of ancient promise. He has been going forward
from "the days of old" to recover us from our lost estate;
accumulating His gifts and storing up His wealth for us in all "the ends
of the earth," to bestow it upon us when we were in any measure prepared
to make use of it for the purpose designed, - that of inviting all men into the
enjoyment of His goodness and a meetness for His glory - that of showing forth
His mercy unto all, as He hath showered it upon us.
Even as to temporal things, "He
hath not dealt so with any nation." As for "His
judgments" in comparison they "have not known them"
(Psa. 89:30; 147:20). But this knowledge He is freely presenting unto us, and
hath given us the glorious privilege of opening up the wonderful works of God
in all languages, unto all the families of mankind in all parts of the earth.
Possession of the blessing was to be
known by its being communicated to others. Christ was to be known as glorified, and His disciples as being blessed
in Him by His sending through them "rivers of living water"
(Isa. 58:11); and by this blessing being upon them the children of promise were
to be recognized. Unlike the Jews, they were to be lost as to name and legal
rites when cast out among the Gentiles. But at length, by the Blessing, their
seed were to be "known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among
the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed
which, the Lord hath blessed" (Isa. 61:9).
SIXTIETH. "What Profit shall this
Birthright do to me?"
REPLY. - Esau asked the same question, and
sold his Birthright because he "despised" it.
1. It is good to feel that we are what we
are, not by the appointment of man, but by the grace of God. That we did not
come into the world and fill the place we now occupy by chance; but that the
infinitely wise and Almighty God foresaw and provided for our existence, that
He prevented [went before] us with the blessings of His goodness, and prepared
for us the marvelous means we possess of opening up the treasures of knowledge
which have been hid from ages and generations.
2. It is a great thing to feel that God
knoweth us altogether; that He hath made use of His omniscience to provide for
us so many and such great means both of receiving and communicating good, and
this not for the enjoyment of merely transient pleasure, but as a preparation
for never-ending happiness in higher states of being.
3. It is a great thing to feel that God is our
God from everlasting to everlasting; not from yesterday merely, but from
eternity, and throughout all the changes of time. He foresaw what was to be,
foretold it, and it came, to pass as at this day; and we are witnesses that God
is true, both in the execution of threatened judgment and in the bestowment of
promised mercy. We feel that there is no safety but as being in the safe
keeping of the Almighty God, and that there is no wisdom but as being wise to
do good.
4. God opens to us His bosom of love, and
invites us to enter into His gracious and glorious designs, that we may
"be made partakers of the divine nature, and escape the corruption which
is in the world through lust;" that we may no longer succumb to mere
secular influences which enslave and debase the soul, but "seek for glory,
and honor, and immortality," and obtain eternal life. What has he to fear,
who knows that he is in the eternal purpose of God where he is, that he may
make the best of his circumstances, and even draw freely upon the infinite
resources of the Godhead for power to uphold in the right, manfully to oppose
the wrong?
5. By the Word of Promise revealing the
purpose of God and our portion therein, light is thrown upon the proceedings of
God in creation, providence, and redemption; and we are given God's working in
the past as full security for our enjoyment of the glorious future.
6. God, in the most kindly manner, by His
promises teaches us also prudence and moderation. We learn to use things
present in the light of things to come. The evils of penury and depression are
lessened by looking forward to and preparing for the time of enlargement. We
learn to prize present restraint as an opportunity for concentrating our
attention more exclusively upon the lessons most necessary for us to learn,
that we may hereafter exercise ourselves as we ought in the duties of our high
calling.
How great the longsuffering of God! How
patient has He been with us! Even when we were yet a great way off, how ready
to receive us! (Luke 15.) Over what rebelliousness and back-sliding He hath
passed! What long desolation and great Tribulation have been passed through! He
gave His Word, and He hath performed it. He hath ever been teaching us, that we
may confidently look forward to the full accomplishment of what He hath said,
and by the example of our Great Teacher may be taught patience and perseverance
in dealing with others, that we may do them good in their latter end. How God
has borne with our ignorance and perversity! Let us at length learn to be
perfect in this, even as our Father who is in heaven is perfect.
7. It is a great thing to feel that all is
of God, and that unto Him all thanksgiving is due. Such engagements lead to
solemnity of thought and unity of purpose.
8. He who is accustomed to view everything
in relation to the Word and Working of God is likely to rise superior to the
motives of ordinary men, and at the same time into some assimilation to Him
whose "tender mercy is over all His works." [(James 5:11?]]
9. It is a great thing to feel that we are
brethren, and that by our love one to another we may manifest to all that we
are the disciples of Jesus. Let us learn to love each other after the example
of Him who hath loved us unto the death. It will not lessen our bond of
brotherhood to know that we are of those "children of God who were
scattered abroad " and lost among the Gentiles, that we might be found in
Him "who came to seek and to save that which was lost," and so the
better fulfil our destiny in being for blessing to the lost of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. We know that whatever otherwise may be our
origin, we are of the family of God and are fellow heirs with Christ Jesus, and
are appointed to enjoy with Him the same eternal blessedness in the home of our
heavenly Father.
10. It is a glorious privilege to know that
we are appointed of God to be for "blessing," unto all men; to fill
up the purpose of God with regard to Abraham His friend:- That his posterity
should be for blessing, to all the nations of the earth. And doubtless THE
RIGHT USE OF THE WORD OF PROMISE, so wondrously confirmed age after age by the
workings of Providence, is OUR BEING HARMONIZED INTO ONE GRAND INSTRUMENT, UNDER
THE EYE OF OMNISCIENCE AND IN THE HAND OF THE ALMIGHTY, FOR BLESSING UNTO ALL
AROUND US.
Here ends our present consideration of
"Anglo-Israel Difficulties." It will interest some to know that the
last answer was written with pencil, in the dead of night, on what seemed to be
the death-bed of the lamented author, the calm repose and full satisfaction of
which have comforted many others in similar circumstances. Five and twenty
years before he had written, "We are sowing in tears, but also in joy.
There is joy in the actual sowing of the seed, and there is great joy to find
how all opposition, however cunningly or confidently put forward, when brought
face to face with the Truth and investigated, serves only to confirm it. It is
astonishing on what feeble grounds it has been kept at a distance."
To that shiftiest of all subterfuges,
"HAVE ANY GREAT MEN EMBRACED THIS VIEW OF YOURS?" his invariable
reply was "That would be no substitute for your individual, careful
and impartial examination of it, for it must stand by its self-evidence and
abundance of proof of all kinds when these are honestly and thoroughly
investigated."
THE END.
from Sixty
Anglo-Israel Difficulties Answered. Chiefly from the Correspondence of the
late John Wilson, compiled by his daughter. London: S. W. Partridge and
Co., 9, Paternoster Row. 1877
John Wilson, 1877. Sixty Anglo-Israel
Difficulties Answered