THE NEW HEART.
AUG. 6.-EZEK.
36:25-36. “A new heart also will I give you.”
EZEKIEL wrote the
words of our lesson in Babylon. They are not to be esteemed as merely the
exhortations of a preacher, altho they do partake of this quality: they are
more than this-a prophecy by the Lord respecting his future favors toward
Israel. The context preceding reviews Israel’s situation-the people in a
foreign land, and their own Land of Promise a desolate wilderness because of
their sinful neglect of their great King Jehovah, and of their covenant
promises as his adopted people. While the Prophet’s words declare a future
recovery, not only as possible, but as sure to be accomplished, they
nevertheless indicate certain changed conditions as necessary to such a
recovery: it would not only be necessary for them to abandon idolatry, but they
must obtain a new heart, a new mind, a new disposition, favorable to God and
righteousness, ere such an abandonment of idolatry and sin would be permanent.
The Prophet does not here declare the time at which this new heart would be
given to the people. He merely points out to them the necessity for such a new
heart and the blessings of the Lord that would result from such a harmony with
him; and tells them, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel, to do it for them.”-Vs. 37.
As a matter of fact, this new condition of heart was not attained by Israel
on their release by Cyrus from the captivity in Babylon. Altho only a limited
number, who had a respect for God and who trusted in the promises made to the
fathers, had sufficient interest in the Holy Land to avail themselves of the
proclamation made by Cyrus and to return to Palestine, and altho we might say
that by means of this captivity the Lord had sifted out of Israel the
idolatrous and unfaithful majority, we still cannot say that those who returned
with Ezra and Nehemiah enjoyed the new heart condition which the Lord
stipulated through the Prophet was essential to a full reception of his favor.
While, so far as we know, gross forms of idolatry never prevailed in Israel
after the return from captivity in Babylon, we nevertheless know that the more
refined forms of idolatry continually existed amongst them, as amongst other
civilized nations who do not bow to wood and stone, gold and silver-an idolatry
of wealth, an idolatry of self, an idolatry of Judaism, prevailed amongst them,
and they never attained the condition specified in this lesson. They did not
get the new heart and right spirit; they did not get rid of the stony heart;
they did not walk in the Lord’s statutes and judgments, nor do them; they did
not dwell in the land, but were cast out of it because of the stony character
of their hearts, in the rejection and crucifixion of Messiah; and they who were
called God’s people were cast off, and are not called his people now; and they
have not been prospered, but have been in fiery trials in the midst of their
enemies, scattered amongst all nations from then until the present time. Nor
have they yet loathed themselves, their iniquities and their abominations, nor
been ashamed and confounded; nor is the desolate land tilled, and as the garden
of Eden. Quite the contrary of all this is the truth.
What shall we say, then? Was Ezekiel a false Prophet, or has God failed of
accomplishing his good purposes toward Israel because of the weakness of their
flesh and the hardness of their hearts? God forbid! On the contrary, we are to
understand that the prophecy of this lesson belongs to a future time-to the
Millennial Day; and that whatever signs there are at the present time of the
return of divine favor toward fleshly Israel and toward the Land of Promise are
evidences that the time for the fulfilment of this prophecy is near at hand.
In corroboration of this position we cite Romans 11:25-32. Here the Apostle
Paul shows that Israel after the flesh, not having zealously inquired for the
new heart and the right spirit, not having sought it of the Lord, was
unprepared in heart to receive Messiah, and instead with wicked hands crucified
him. The Apostle shows us that, as a result, only a remnant was gathered out
of Israel to be of the “bride” class, and that the nation as a whole stumbled
into blindness, darkness, for a time determined of the Father-until the
election to the “bride” class should be completed from among the Gentiles.
Then, the Apostle assures us, Israel’s blindness shall be turned away; they
shall all be saved from that blindness. “For this is my covenant unto them,
when I shall take away their sins.”
It is this covenant of the Lord to Israel to take away their sins and to
give them new hearts and right dispositions that is referred to in our lesson,
and we look for the fulfilment with longing anticipation-realizing, as the
Apostle points out, that Israel’s recovery from blindness will mean nothing
less than life from the dead; for if that nation, after crucifying Messiah, and
being blind to the fulfilment of the prophecies made to their fathers, shall finally
be awakened to see the Lord, and look upon him whom they have pierced, and
shall have the spirit of prayer and of supplication poured upon them by the
Lord’s providential dealing, it will be a miracle similar to the causing of a
dead person to live. And if God’s mercy will thus be extended toward those who
sinned most egregiously, and who crucified his Son, it will mean also the
extending of divine mercy to all the families of the earth, according to the
statement of the various promises.
More than this, the fulfilment of God’s promise mentioned by the Apostle,
“So all Israel shall be saved [recovered from blindness]” will not mean merely
a figurative awakening of the dead: it will mean also a literal
awakening of the dead; because many of “all Israel,” millions of them, have
gone down into actual death, and before they could be made the recipients of
the favors of this promise, they must be awakened from the sleep of death. And
likewise also the promises to the remainder of mankind are similarly brought
before the eye of faith by such faithfulness toward Israel; for instance, the
promise that all the families of the earth shall be blessed through the Seed of
Abraham must include not only those who will be living at the time of Messiah’s
second advent and the establishment of his Millennial Kingdom, but must include
also all that are in the graves, “who shall hear the voice of the Son of Man
and come forth” to a trial for life, secured by the great ransom sacrifice.
The sprinkling of clean water would seem to signify the application of the
truth: and this perhaps had some fulfilment in those who returned from the
Babylonian captivity-it was the truth, the influence of the promises made to
the fathers, that affected the hearts of those who were disposed to return-in
all only a remnant of fifty-five thousand out of seven millions. The influence
of these promises served to separate them from their previous filthiness of
idolatry. Had they earnestly gone forward seeking to realize the lengths and
breadths of the divine will, they might have been ready in due time, at the
first advent of our Lord, to have received the new heart; but they did not do
so, hence that feature of the promise (not failing on account of their failure)
carries forward more than eighteen hundred years, and becomes applicable at the
second advent. Meantime a new nation, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a
peculiar people, is sought and found by the Lord to be the spiritual Seed of
Abraham and to obtain the greatest blessings-the heavenly.-Rom. 9:30-33;
11:26-32.
But we will look down into the future and see what the fulfilment of this
prophecy will mean to fleshly Israel, to whom it was made, and to whom it still
pertains, because, as the Apostle declares, the gifts and callings of God are
things of which he does not repent.
We are not to understand that the removal of the stony heart and the giving
of the new heart of flesh will be an instantaneous work or a miraculous work.
The Apostle explains the method by which the Lord will do this great thing for
Israel, saying, “The deliverer shall come out of Zion [the Church of this
Gospel age] and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant
with them [Jacob, fleshly Israel].” God has appointed a day for thus blessing
Israel and ultimately blessing all the families of the earth-it is a
thousand-year day, the Millennial day, but in it Israel’s opportunity will come
first. Israel is probably as much, and probably no more, affected with the
stony heart condition than other nations. A hard or stony heart represents a
selfish condition of mind and sentiment. This hardening process is a result of
the fall, and through heredity and practice affects all of Adam’s posterity.
The stony heart condition is one of self-will as opposed to divine will; of
self-gratification as opposed to righteousness; a love of self which hinders
the love of God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength, and a love of the
neighbor as oneself. The stony heart condition means “me,” “my,” “mine,”
“right if I can, wrong if I must.”
The breaking up of this stony heart condition, other Scriptures show us,
will be accomplished to a considerable degree by the trouble (political,
ecclesiastical, financial and social) which will come upon the whole world in
the “day of wrath,” which is just before us; and this is particularly
emphasized in the Scriptures as also being “the day of Jacob’s trouble,- but he
shall be saved out of it.” (Jer. 30:7.) All men will come to appreciate better
than they now do or ever have done in the past that the law of selfishness
under which the whole world has been operating for this long time is an unjust
law, and one which must ultimately work injury to all. Indeed, the great time
of trouble will itself be the grand display of the ultimate tendencies of
selfishness with all the brakes and restraints removed. It will speedily work
the utter wreck of the highest development of human civilization. Apparently,
natural Israel will be the first amongst the nations who will pass through this
experience to learn the lesson, and to begin to seek after the new heart,
renewed in righteousness and true submission to divine instruction.
The breaking of the stony hearts will come through the afflictions of the
“day of wrath,” but the transformation of those hearts into hearts of flesh
will be more gradual. It will be accomplished by instructions in
righteousness; for the glorified Church, with Christ its Head, will be the
great Prophet or Teacher of mankind, and fleshly Israel (their past experiences
in many respects serving as a preparation) will speedily become associates in
the reformation work. Indeed, all mankind then coming into harmony with the
Kingdom will be counted as Israelites-children of the true Israel of
God-Christ. All such will be counted as “children of Abraham,” who as a type of
God is the “father of the faithful” with one Seed (the heavenly, Christ and the
Church) as the stars of heaven, and another (faithful fleshly Israelites from
all peoples, kindreds and tongues) as the sand by the sea-shore.-Gen. 22:17.
The promise of “hearts of flesh” or restored human perfection shows out
strongly in contrast with the Lord’s provision for the Church of this Gospel
age, which is not to receive human perfection, desirable as that will be, but
instead are to become every whit new creatures in Christ Jesus: begotten of the
spirit through the Word of truth, they will be in the resurrection born of the
spirit to perfect spiritual conditions. The Lord’s provision for the world of
mankind, described as “hearts of flesh,” conveys the thought of restitution,
the image and likeness of God, to tender, gentle, sympathetic human or
earthly conditions, very good, very acceptable to the Creator. Adam’s
disobedience resulted in the hardening of his heart in sin and selfishness,
during the centuries of his degradation, outcast from divine favor as an alien,
stranger, foreigner and enemy of God.
God’s proposition to give them “a heart of flesh” signifies, therefore, the
bringing of fleshly Israel back to the original condition proper to perfect
manhood; and the method by which this softening and restitution of the heart
sentiments shall be accomplished will involve a new will, a new mind,
a new disposition, called in the text “a new spirit.” This must really
come first, before the new heart condition can be attained, and the new spirit,
the new disposition, will be induced by the new view of matters which will then
be clearly set before Israel and the world.
The difficulty at the present time is that Satan, the god of this world,
deceives mankind into viewing evil things as desirable, and good things as
undesirable: he puts light for darkness, darkness for light; and as the
Scriptures declare, the whole world is at present blinded and deceived by him.
(2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:3.) When in due time the Lord’s Anointed shall take the
Kingdom authority, purchased with his own precious blood, it will be for the
very purpose of scattering the darkness with which “the prince of darkness” has
blinded mankind. And not only is the new King designated the true Light, but
his Kingdom also is styled the Kingdom of sunshine, when it is declared, “The
Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his beams.”-Mal. 4:2.
It should not be necessary to offer argument, either from facts or
Scripture, to show that this Sun of Righteousness did not arise at the first
advent, nor during “the dark ages,” and that even at the second coming of the
King there will be a night-time, and he will come “as a thief in the night” for
his bride. (1 Thes. 5:2.) Nor should it be necessary to prove that throughout
the entire Gospel age the world has walked in darkness, while the Lord’s people
have only walked in the light by reason of having his Word as a lamp to their
feet, a lantern to their footsteps. (Psa. 119:105.) The promise held out
before the Church, and before fleshly Israel, and before the world, is-“The
morning cometh;” and the additional assurance is given to the Church, Zion,
that “The Lord shall help her early in the morning.” (Isa. 21:12; Psa.
46:5.) Her deliverance shall come first, and then she “shall shine forth as
the sun in the Kingdom of the Father.” (Matt. 13:43.) Then will come the
blessing upon fleshly Israel and the message to her, “Arise, shine, for thy
light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!” and ultimately
this light of the New Jerusalem, reflected from the earthly Jerusalem, shall
enlighten all the families of the earth, with the light of the knowledge of
God, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The promise that the Lord would put his spirit within them, and cause them
to walk in his statutes and keep his decrees and do them, is in full accord
with the foregoing. This does not refer to Spiritual Israel, altho Spiritual
Israel has a somewhat similar experience in advance, as we shall shortly show.
This putting of the Lord’s spirit, the spirit of righteousness, the spirit of
truth, the spirit of love, upon fleshly Israel (and similarly upon all the
families of the earth), is abundantly stated in the Scriptures to be distinctly
separate from the pouring out of the Pentecostal blessing upon the Church, the
“little flock,” the bride of Christ, during this age, and before the Sun of
Righteousness arises, of which Sun of Righteousness these shall form a part.
For instance, note the prophecy by Joel (2:28,29) that this promise of the
holy spirit is of two parts. One outpouring of God’s spirit upon his servants
and handmaidens (“new creatures in Christ”) has already had its fulfilment
throughout this Gospel age: the other promise, that God would pour out his
spirit upon all flesh, still awaits fulfilment, and will be accomplished after
the overcoming Church has been glorified and the blessing of all the families
of the earth has begun. The matter is covered slightly from the attention of
the ordinary reader by reason of the outpouring upon the Church being mentioned
last.
This same outpouring of the holy spirit upon fleshly Israel is referred to
by the Prophet Zechariah, and directly applied to the end of this age. In
connection with telling how the Lord would at his second advent make himself
known to Israel, and that they should look upon him whom they pierced, and
mourn for him, the explicit statement is, “I will pour upon the house of David
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of
supplication.”- Zech. 12:10.
The spirit of the Lord, the holy spirit, is the spirit of the truth, and
when the truth shall be made known to Israel and mankind, with that truth will
go its spirit, its influence, its power to correct the heart and life, and to
bring it into accord with God. For then, in the light of the truth, many will
see God’s character and plan in Christ as “the desire of all nations,” and the
great King himself as the one “altogether lovely.” And the positive declaration
is that all who will not hear (obey) that great Teacher-Prophet, Priest and
King-shall be cut off from amongst his people in the Second Death.-Acts 3:23.
In connection with these transformations of heart and will, will come the
blessing which the Lord promised upon the earth. It shall yield its increase;
the wilderness shall blossom as the rose, and the whole earth shall become a
Paradise of God. The beginning of these blessings will be with Israel, and
thus all the Gentiles shall have not only the lessons of the Scriptures for
their instruction in righteousness, but also the illustration of divine
providence operating on behalf of those who are influenced by the truth and its
spirit. Thus will be fulfilled the declaration, “This land that was desolate is
become like the garden of Eden.”- Ezek. 36:35.
While the Scriptures keep distinctly separate the nation of fleshly Israel
and the new nation, Spiritual Israel, nevertheless, under divine providence,
fleshly Israel was in many respects made a lesson, a type, an illustration, for
Spiritual Israel; so that the Apostle could declare that many of the things
done for fleshly Israel were shadows of better things coming afterward
for Spiritual Israel. Yet these are shadows only to those who discern them,
and are profitable only to those who avail themselves of them.-Heb. 8:5.
The Scriptures point out to us that the new heart condition is essential
also to Spiritual Israel; that all who would be in harmony with the Lord must
first get free from idols, and be separated to the Lord God; and that then they
must inquire of the Lord that he may do for them the good things of his promise-working
in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure. As the death of Christ was
the turning point of fleshly Israel (Dives), and led them into blindness and
trouble, so also it was the turning point or beginning of favor to Spiritual
Israel (Lazarus carried to Abraham’s bosom) -the poor, the humble,
acknowledging themselves to be sinners, were freely cleansed through the merits
of Christ’s sacrifice and made acceptable as the children of Abraham. This
class, from the day of Pentecost to the present, have presented themselves in
turn, fully and unreservedly to the Lord; to have his will, his spirit, renewed
in them, and such have indeed received a newness of spirit, a newness of
heart. But the new heart is not with them a heart of flesh, for they are
begotten unto the high calling, to be children and heirs of God, joined in
heirship with Jesus Christ their Lord-to partake of the divine nature, which
already is reckoned as being begun in them through the begetting by the spirit
of adoption. It is for these to remember that in order to develop in the
spirit they must walk in the spirit, in the Lord’s footsteps, observing to the
best of their ability the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus;-that thus
they may be transformed by the renewing of their minds (wills) and be enabled
to prove the good, the perfect, the acceptable will of God; and thus faithfully
doing, to be ultimately received of him into all the exceeding glories promised
to the new creatures in Christ, and to be joint-heirs with him in the great
work of blessing Israel and the world through the Millennial Kingdom.-Rom.
12:2; 8:17.
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THE VISION OF DRY BONES.
AUG. 13.-EZEK.
37:1-14. “I will put my spirit within you.”-Ezek. 36:27.
T
HE SCRIPTURE of
this lesson is frequently more or less of a confusion to the Lord’s people,
even after they have learned with considerable clearness what the Apostle Paul
so positively declares-that the body sown in corruption, planted in death, is
not the body which shall be in the resurrection; that the bones, sinews and
flesh which go to corruption have nothing whatever to do with the resurrection
body, which the Lord will provide. In examining this subject heretofore we
have seen that the Apostle’s statement is not only backed by his inspiration, but
also that it is reasonable, logical: that one atom of matter is no more
valuable or necessary than another in the great work of restitution which shall
be accomplished in the world’s resurrection. We have seen that the human body
in corruption becomes food for plant life, producing apples, acorns, etc.,
which in turn become food for man and the lower animals, so that the atoms of
matter composing a human body are continually changing, and in centuries would
pass through many changes. We have seen, too, that this process of change
progresses while we still live, so that science declares that a complete change
in the human organism is effected every seven years. The atoms of matter which
compose a man’s body at the moment of his death are no more precious, valuable
or necessary to the future body than were the atoms sloughed off through the
natural channels during previous years. The important thing, the thing which
God has promised shall have a resurrection, is the being, the soul:
that in the resurrection God will give it a body as pleaseth him-to each kind
of seed his own kind of body-to the natural man a natural, human body, through
restitution; to the new creature in Christ a new spiritual body, according to
divine promise.
The passage of Scripture under consideration was addressed by the Lord
through the Prophet to fleshly Israel, then in captivity in Babylon. The dry
bones represented the Israelites themselves. As a people they had lost heart,
lost hope, and said, “Our strength is dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut
off from our parts”-from all tribal and national union. If they looked at
their present condition, they were strangers in a strange land, foreigners,
without opportunity for patriotic feelings; if they looked backward, and remembered
divine intervention on their behalf, their deliverance from Egypt, their favor
as a nation under David and Solomon, etc., they could think of these only as
bygones, lost blessings and opportunities; if they looked forward, they could
see no possible hope of their ever again becoming a nation; and as for all the
great expectations which they had once entertained respecting their nation, as
God’s favored people, and the heir of the promises made to Abraham, that they
should rule and bless all the families of the earth- these hopes were dead,
they were gone, they could have nothing of this kind in the future. The
condition of Israel, scattered throughout Babylonia, was indeed well
illustrated by the dry bones of the vision.
The hand (power) of the Lord was upon Ezekiel, causing him to see this
vision-he was not literally transported to any literal valley of dry bones. In
the vision he was caused to pass amongst the dry bones, that he might get a
full view of the situation, as they lay strewn all over the valley, very dry.
Then the Lord’s explanation comes, that these dry bones are, or represent, the
whole house of Israel. They did not represent merely the two tribes which went
last into captivity, nor merely the ten tribes which went earlier, but the whole
house of Israel, the twelve tribes. They were no longer to be considered as
two distinct nations, as they had considered themselves for the preceding four
hundred years. They were to understand that in divine providence they were
henceforth a reunited nation, and the reunion is pictured in this same chapter
(vss. 15-22) by the miraculous uniting of two sticks into one in the hand of
the Prophet.
And it was so: from the time Cyrus gave his decree that all the children of
Israel should go free, and might return, if they chose, to their own land, the
division into two nations was no longer recognized. The people that returned,
tho chiefly of the tribe of Judah, represented all of the various tribes who
had faith in the Lord’s promises, and desired to return to Palestine. The name,
Israel, was applied to the returned and restored people, not only for the more
than five centuries preceding our Lord’s first advent, but also they were so
recognized by our Lord in all of his ministry, and by the apostles in all of
their writings, which constitute the New Testament. There are no ten lost
tribes which some well-meaning but deluded people continually refer to, and
seem to rest their hopes in, as instead of the hope set before us in the
Gospel.
The Lord propounds the question, Is it possible that any vitality could ever
come into these dry bones? -Is there hope for the scattered people of Israel
who not only in heart but in voice said, We are scattered, and no longer a
homogeneous people, we are mixed and blended with our captors, who are heathen,
in business, social and marriage relationships-there is no hope of a restored
nation of Israel?
The Prophet, with quick confidence in the Almighty, refers the question back
to God, as suggesting that any hope there could possibly be of a reorganization
of Israel must come from God-could be looked for from no other quarter.
The Lord directed Ezekiel to prophesy, that is, to declare the divine
message, and the divine message was a foretelling of the things which would,
under divine providence, come to pass. The message to be declared was that God
had the power and would exercise it, by which these who were dead, and dried as
respected their national hopes, would be gradually revived, would gradually
become one homogeneous people, a nation in their own land. It would not be
done suddenly, but gradually, and that through attention to the divine message,
which the Prophet was delivering. First the dried and hopeless ones would come
together, then they would begin to unite one to the other, and gradually assume
a national existence, and finally would be infused with the spirit of the Lord,
as the breath or energy of national life, begotten of faith in the promises,
and would stand again a nation.
The people’s hopes, which were thus dead, were represented by the Lord as
buried in the various provinces of Babylonia, and hence this figure is combined
with the figure of the dry bones, and the Lord sends the message, “Behold, O my
people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves and
bring you into the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” As a
further part of this symbolic picture the Prophet is in vision shown the
process by which the dry bones would be gathered, reorganized and revivified.
He says there was “a noise and a shaking.” The Revised Version,
apparently with propriety, renders this, “thunder and an earthquake.” Following
this demonstration the bones came together.
Undoubtedly one thing which contributed to Israel’s despair was the
mightiness of the empire which had taken them captive. Babylonia at that time
was the most gigantic empire ever known amongst men. Her overthrow seemed
impossible, and escape from her power not to be thought of. The thunder and
great earthquake of the figure doubtless represented the commotions incident to
the fall of Babylon and the transfer of the empire to the Medes and Persians.
As a result of this the hopes of Israel in the divine promises began to revive,
and shortly they were delivered.
While recognizing this primary fulfilment of the prophecy, we are not to
forget the secondary fulfilment on a much larger scale, which is in progress at
the present time. The withered hopes of Israel, scattered throughout the
provinces of Babylonia, cut off from their parts, from one another, from tribal
union and from national cohesion, was only a foreshadowing of the more general
scattering of that nation among all the nations of the civilized world (mystic
Babylon) during this Gospel age. With the vast majority all hopes of the
fulfilment of the Abrahamic promise had died, had withered away, and had no
more vitality than a dry bone. But now, in the end of this Gospel age, the due
time has come for these dry bones, scattered all over mystic Babylon, to be
gathered part to part, rehabilitated and revivified with hope in the promises
made to the fathers. The great noise is the “seventh trumpet,” which has begun
to sound; the earthquake is the coming great revolution in which mystic Babylon
will fall before the great Prince whom Cyrus in a measure prefigured.
Meantime, as we look at the dry bones of Israel, we perceive that they already
are in movement, that they are already drawing near one to another, and
organizing as “Zionists,” with a view to national reorganization and a return
to the land of promise. Probably the hopes of the Israelites began to revive
as soon as they learned that the army of Cyrus had begun the conquest of
Babylon, and so now the hopes of Israel are reviving as they witness the march
of events, and realize that a great day of trouble is coming upon the nations
of Christendom. Their hopes will more and more go out toward Palestine and
national reorganization, as the troubles of the day of wrath draw near.
A lesson might also be drawn from this Scripture for Spiritual Israelites.
We are to remember that Spiritual Israel also was permitted to go down into
Babylon-to be swallowed up of worldliness, as represented in our Lord’s parable
of the wheat-field, choked by the “tares.” The field has really become a
tare-field, altho nominally called a wheat-field, because the promises are to
the “wheat.” For centuries the “Gospel of the Kingdom,” which our Lord
declared was the good seed which he sowed (Matt. 13:37-42), has been lost sight
of, and Kingdom hopes have lost their vitality, and the many promises of the
Scriptures, relating to the Kingdom of God, joint-heirship with Christ and a
future blessing of the world, have become dead hopes, dead promises; and so far
as these promises are concerned Spiritual Israel has been cut off from its
parts and mixed with the Babylonians, and has become interested in the hopes of
Babylon rather than in the kingdom of God, in which all the original hopes and
promises centered and flourished.
But now, in the end of this age, the time has come for God to call his
people out of Babylon, and the voice of a greater than Cyrus is heard by those
who have ears to hear, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!... Come out of
her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not
of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:2-4.) In connection with this message there is a
commotion amongst the dry bones, amongst those who are Israelites indeed, whose
hopes in the Kingdom had perished, and the Kingdom hopes are revived and the
promises of God as related thereto are becoming more distinct. Nevertheless,
we are not to expect that the “tare” class, the Babylonians, are represented in
the movement of the dry bones, but merely the truly consecrated Israelites
indeed. The Babylonians would be interested on the other side of the
question-interested in perpetuating the greatness of Babylon, and in continuing
the bondage of the true Israelites.
Nor do the Kingdom hopes relate merely to the living. The organization of
the Lord’s faithful will not only include the gathering of the living, but also
the gathering of all the members of the body of Christ, for “the dead in Christ
shall rise first, and [then] we which are alive and remain shall be caught away
together with them, to a meeting of the Lord in the air”-in spiritual power.
So many as are able to do so should apply to themselves this feature of this
lesson and exert themselves to be of those who shall now shortly be organized
as the “Body of Christ,” “the Seed of Abraham,” the Kingdom of God, to bless
the world.