GOD'S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL.
By J. B. Cosens
"HE hath remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant; saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance." Ps. 105:8-11. "For Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee forever; and Thou, Lord, art become their God." 2 Sam. 7:24. "Thus saith the Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name; if these ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever." Jer. 31:35, 36. We have here an everlasting covenant and an everlasting nation. The everlasting covenant is with Israel. The name Israel (the prince that prevails with God) was given to Jacob after His wrestling with the angel. Gen. 32:28. This name is applied to the descendants of Jacob (Ex. 3:16), and was ever afterward the national name of the twelve tribes collectively. The covenant that God made with Abram, and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, He also confirmed to Israel for an everlasting covenant. In this covenant God promised Abram and his seed all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. Gen. 17:8. By consulting Heb. 11:13, we find that Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and certain of their descendants, all died in faith, not having received the promise. From verse 10 we learn that Abram did not expect the fulfilment of the promise in this life; "for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God." Rom. 4:13 informs us that the land of Canaan promised to Abram and his seed included the world; and from the fact that the city which hath foundations (the new Jerusalem), whose builder and maker is God, is to be the capital of the earth made new (Revelation 21), it is plain that Abram so understood it. Then what God promised Israel was the new earth; not part of it, but all of it; and this is the inheritance promised to God's children of all ages. Ps. 37:9-11, 22, 29, 34; Matt. 5:5; Rom. 4:13; Heb. 11:39, 40. Israel must therefore be the family name of God's children of all ages; for the inheritance is all promised to Israel, and if God has any children who are not Israelites, they can have no inheritance in the new earth. In Eph. 3:15 we read that God's children both in heaven and on earth are one family; and also that they have a family name. When a child is adopted into a family it takes the family name. When a Gentile is adopted into the family of God does he remain a Gentile still? This is impossible, for the word "Gentile" is applied to those outside of God's people, worshipers of false gods. Eph. 2:1-3 tells us of some persons who "in time past were dead in trespasses and sins." Verse 11 informs us that when they were dead in trespasses and sins they were Gentiles; and verse 12 says that "at that time [when they were Gentiles] they were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Then both the commonwealth and the covenants of promise belong to Israel. Verse 13 tells us that "now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ," and verses 19 and 20 say, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone." But this foundation is Israel (Micah 5:2), and as the earthly family name of God's children is Israel, then when a Gentile accepts Christ and is adopted into the family of God, he takes the family name, Israel; he ceases to be a Gentile, and becomes an Israelite. In proof of this we will consult a few more passages of Scripture. "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. 2:28, 29. Here we are told that the Gentile and the Jew may change places, the Gentile after the flesh becoming a Jew, and the Jew after the flesh ceasing to be a Jew: that this change is accomplished by a change of heart in the former, and the absence of that change in the latter. We find the same statement in Rom. 9:6-8: "For 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. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." Plainly those who through faith in Christ have been born again are Israel, and those who have not accepted Christ, and been born again, tho they may be of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, are not Israel. We will give one more passage of Scripture, which is so clear on this point that if it stood alone it would prove all we claim. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. We have seen that the new earth is promised to Israel, so he who is Christ's must be of Israel or he could not be heir to the promise made to Israel. Before passing on to Israel in the earth made new, we would just call attention once more to Rom. 4:13. "For his promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." The Fulfilment of the Promise.
"And he made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation." Acts 17:26. R. V. In G. R. Berry's literal translation of the Greek New Testament the last clause reads, "Having fore-arranged times and the boundaries of their dwelling." From this verse we are referred to Deut. 32:8, where we read as follows: "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." Jacob was called Israel, and the number of his sons was twelve. Dr. Adam Clarke in commenting on this passage renders it, "according to the number of the sons of Jacob." The next verse is proof that this is the meaning of the passage, "For the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." That this verse does not refer to the division of the land of Canaan between the twelve tribes, is evident from the preceding verse: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee; thy elders and they will tell thee." The plain meaning of these passages is that God made of one (Adam) all the nations of the earth, and fore-arranged to divide the sons of Adam into twelve nations after the number of the sons of Jacob, and give them the earth, having beforehand not only determined their appointed season but the bounds of their habitation. This is only another expression of the statement in Rom. 4:13, that God has promised Israel the earth, with the additional information that Israel will then be twelve nations, elsewhere called tribes. This promise has never been fulfilled, and never can be till Isa. 13:9 is fulfilled, and sinners are destroyed out of the earth; for we have seen that Israel is the family name of all God's earthly children. Under present conditions they are "strangers and sojourners here, as all their fathers were." 1 Chron. 29:15; Ps. 39:12; Heb. 11:9, 13. But when they inherit the earth there can be no other nations or peoples in it. The fulfilment of this promise lies beyond the millennium, when the whole land will be desolate. Isa. 13:9; 24:1-3; Jer. 4:23-27. At the beginning of this period Israel, both those who have fallen asleep and those who are alive, will be taken to be with Christ (1 Thess. 4:15-17); and, assisting in the judgment of the wicked (1 Cor. 6:2, 3), they will reign with Christ a thousand years (Rev. 20:4). At the close of the thousand years they will come again to the earth, when the wicked dead who lived not again till the thousand years were ended will be raised (verse 5), and, urged on by Satan, they will try to take the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire will come down from God out of Heaven and devour them. Verse 9. In verse 15 we find that all whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire. The next verse, chapter 21:1, tells us that a new heaven and a new earth had taken the place of the old heaven and the old earth which had passed away. From 2 Peter 3:7-13 we learn that just prior to the appearance of the new earth, "the [old] heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up"; also that this fire is the "perdition of ungodly men." In the new earth we find the holy city, the New Jerusalem. Rev. 21:2.10 Now we have on the earth the city that Abraham looked forward to, "which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and we may expect the fulfilment of the promise made to Israel. This city is the capital of the new earth, for in verse 24 we read that the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. So there will be nations and kings in the earth made new. From the number of gates in the city (verse 12), through which they are to bring their glory and honor into it, we would expect just twelve nations in the new earth, and this is the exact number of nations among whom God fore-arranged to divide the earth. From the names on the gates (verse 12), we find that these nations are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is an exact fulfilment of God's covenant with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, confirmed to Jacob and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. In Matt. 19:28 we find further proofs of this. "Jesus said unto them [His disciples], Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." If the twelve tribes of Israel are the twelve nations in the new earth, we would expect to find the twelve apostles the twelve kings; and these are the very names we find on the walls of the city (verse 14), while within the city, the capital of the universe, is the throne of God and of the Lamb. When the earth is divided between the twelve tribes of Israel their inheritance will be forever. Ps. 37:18; Isa. 60:21. In this we see the antitype of the division of the land of Canaan. In the type, when Israel was to cross over into the land of Canaan, twelve men were appointed, one of every tribe, each to take a stone from the midst of Jordan with which to erect a memorial of their miraculous passage. Joshua 3:11 to 4:7. In the antitype a number of people pass over without seeing death. 2 Thess. 4:17. In Rev. 7:4-8 and 14:1 we have mention of twelve thousand from each tribe of the children of Israel. In chapter 14:4 we learn that the hundred and forty-four thousand will constitute an everlasting memorial of the miraculous passage from the wilderness of this world to the Canaan of the earth made new. As the hundred and forty-four thousand are to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," they will be the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel in the new earth. As the twelve tribes were always twelve parts of one nation, so the twelve nations in the new earth will be twelve divisions of the one everlasting nation, Israel, whose capital will be the New Jerusalem. They will have access to the tree of life, and there will be no more curse, neither shall there be any more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for former things have passed away. We know by the budding of the fig tree (Matt. 24:32-35) that the Lord is coming in this generation to gather His children home. This being the case, the twelve tribes of Israel must be on the earth to-day; for all who are to cross over are Israel, twelve thousand of each tribe. Rev. 7:4-8; 14:3. They are not Israel after the flesh, except as they have been grafted in again, for God is able to graft them in again if they abide not in unbelief. But the wild branches are also grafted in, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Rom. 11:17-23. "If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. "Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
God treasures up His vast designs
And works His sovereign will."