J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 21, 1910

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Two Thrones—No. 7

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

THOSE who claim that a great work is to be accomplished for the Jews in a future age have a wrong conception of the statements of the Scriptures concerning Israel. We inquire, Who are Israel? Paul said: “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Rom. 9:6, 7. Again: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Gal. 3:16. In the same connection he says, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. So we see that all who believe in Christ, whether manifesting their faith through types and shadows, or in reality coming to the Crucified, are counted as Israel.

From the beginning it was God’s plan that all obeying him through faith in the coming Saviour, should be counted as Israel. This is so stated in the book of Deuteronomy: “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” Deut. 32:8. That scripture tells us of God’s plan concerning Israel in the beginning. John in vision saw how it would be in the final consummation of the plan, in the salvation of God’s people. They are to be gathered into the New Jerusalem, the capital of Christ’s eternal kingdom. To enter that glorious city they must pass through one of its twelve gates, and on each gate is the name of one of the tribes of Israel. Rev. 21:12. Even the work among the gentiles, which is done in the gospel age, is represented as a grafting into the tree of Israel. See Rom. 11:17-24.

Those pleading for a special work for the Jews in a future age, quote certain promises made to Israel, saying, “These promises have never been fulfilled; therefore they must be fulfilled in the age to come.” One of these is found in the words of the prophet Amos: “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in days of old.” Amos 9:11. By reference to Peter’s testimony, in the council of Jerusalem, we see that this text has reference to the work of Christ in this dispensation; and that it especially comprehended the spread of the gospel among the gentiles. See Acts 15:13-17.

The promises made to Israel are of three classes, as follows:—

1. Promises made when they were in captivity, relating to their return. Of this class we note one in Jeremiah: “And in those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” Jer. 50:4, 5. In Ezra 3:12, 13 we find a fulfilment of this promise in these words: “But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.” The making of the covenant, after their return, is thus recorded in Nehemiah: “And because of all this [a remembrance of their sins that led to their captivity] we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.”

2. Promises of what would be done for Israel on certain conditions. As they failed to comply with the conditions laid down, the promises could not be fulfilled. An illustration of promises of this character is found in the prophecy of Ezekiel, respecting the dividing of the land in strips across Canaan from east to west; also concerning the appointment of services in the priesthood, and the plan of a city. All this was to be given to them on condition, as shown by the prophet. According to the testimony of Malachi, they failed greatly in carrying out the conditions, even offering torn and diseased beasts in sacrifice to the Lord.

We see clearly that this arrangement mentioned in Ezekiel can not apply in the future. The offering of the blood of beasts is not the gospel way of showing faith in Christ, and could only apply in a system which was a shadow of good things to come. One advocating this Age-to-come theory said to me, respecting this text, “These offerings are probably shadows pointing backward.” I replied that “shadows are never on the sun side of the tree.”

3. The third class of promises to Israel are those that relate to the final gathering of the Lord’s people, the true Israel, into his everlasting kingdom.

That there is to be no future restoration of the natural descendants of Abraham into a kingdom, is made positive by the words of Jeremiah, when the Lord instructed him to go before the priests with a potter’s earthen vessel, and tell them of the destruction that was to come upon that people and their city: “Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that can not be made whole again.” Jer. 19:10, 11.

The plea is made: “This work for the Jews is for the ten lost tribes.” To this we reply that there were no tribes lost. When the time came for returning to their own land, the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes was published throughout the one hundred twenty provinces of Medo-Persia, and any one who was so minded had an opportunity to return to Jerusalem. We have no intimation that after the return of the Jews to their own land at this time any of the tribes were lacking. If ten of the tribes were lost, how could Paul, speaking of the hope of the promise of a resurrection, say, “Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come”? Acts 26:7. There is no truth in the claim that ten of the tribes were lost after the captivity. The apostle Paul did not speak of the salvation of the Jewish people as a national matter, but as an individual work. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief,” he said, “shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.” Rom. 11:23.

Lodi, Cal.