02.10. The Future Salvation of Israel
Chapter 10
THE FUTURE SALVATION OF ISRAEL
In Isa 62:11 we find a remarkable passage: "Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh."
The ends of the world where the people of Israel are now found scattered, far from their home, are thus called upon to make the exiled children of Zion among them acquainted with their coming salvation. Then the end of the world must have already experienced this salvation in order to be in a position to make it known to the daughter of Zion, who is still waiting for it, so that she too might get the benefit of that salvation which has brought blessing to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And this remarkable fact is also the subject of prophecy in the book of Isaiah. In Isa 49:1-26 the MESSIAH is heard addressing the Gentile world:
"Listen, O isles unto Me, and hearken ye peoples from far: the Lord called Me from the womb: from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name." This refers to His mysterious birth as the Seed of the Woman, the Virgin-born. "And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me: and made Me a polished shaft: in His quiver hath He hid Me." This refers to the thirty silent years of His preparation for His public ministry. "And said unto me, Thou art My Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." (Isa 49:1-3)
He bears the name "Israel," because He is all that Israel should have been but never was. The genius of Israel is personified in the MESSIAH. "But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity, yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my recompense with my GOD." (Isa 49:4) This refers to the fact that MESSIAH was rejected by His generation. He had spent Himself on Israel in vain. "He came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:11)
But now comes a remarkable turn of affairs. "Now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob again to Him and that Israel be gathered unto Him . . . yea, He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my Salvation to the end of the earth." (Isa 49:5-6) And so it has come to pass. The salvation refused by the Jewish people has gone out and is still going forth to the Gentiles. The river of blessing has found new river beds for its beneficent flow in the erstwhile heathen world, transforming desert wastes into fruitful gardens.
And the end is not yet; for devoted Gentile disciples of the MESSIAH who was born of a Jewish mother; raised in a Jewish home; who never repudiated His Jewish brethren, though denied by them; bewailing with tears the doom that was to fall on Jerusalem; are today carrying His message to China, India, Japan, Korea, Siam, Africa, and the islands of the sea; and multitudes are being lifted into newness of life, out of shame and corruption, by faith in His blessed Name.
But what about the children of Zion? GOD has not forgotten them, but has given commandment to the end of the world to restore to them their long lost treasures, to say: "Behold, thy Salvation cometh!" (Isa 62:11) How does it come? In the person of Him of whom GOD has said: "Behold, My Servant whom I uphold, Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My SPIRIT upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench; He will bring forth justice in truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law" (Isa 42:1-4).
All that had been predicted before of the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Son of David, is realized in this Messianic Servant of GOD. The Aramaic Targum reads Isa 42:1 : thus: "Behold, my Servant, the MESSIAH." (Isa 42:1) He is the Mediator of this great salvation, first to the end of the world and then to the daughter of Zion, in the fulness of time, when her warfare is accomplished, and her national sin is pardoned at last.
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