We Shall Rejoice Together in Him
God's patience with Israel will ultimately lead to their restoration and blessing, and all believers will rejoice together in Christ.
C.H. Spurgeon emphasizes the enduring identity and suffering of Israel, reflecting on their rejection of Jesus as their true King and the patience of God towards them. He laments the historical persecution faced by the Jewish people, often at the hands of those who claim to follow Christ, and highlights their unique role in God's plan. Spurgeon assures that despite their trials, Israel will ultimately be restored, and all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, will rejoice together in Christ, who unites us all. He calls for recognition of the Jewish people's significance and the hope of their future redemption.
Text
Looking to him whom they pierced, the whole house of Israel will weep bitterly. And now, dear brethren, it will tend to increase the blessed sorrows which will then sweep over Israel, to think how the Lord has had patience with them, and still has never cast them away. To this day they are as distinct a people as ever they were. They dwell alone; they are not numbered among the people. Persecuted almost beyond conception, poor Israel, for many a century, has been the butt and jest of those - I shame to say it - who called themselves Christians, and yet despised the chosen people of the Lord. Alas! the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, have been esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! "How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel!" They have for centuries endured a terrible chastening; they have been turned upside down, and wiped as when a man wipeth a dish, but still they stand waiting for a vainly expected King. They would not have their true King, Jesus the Son of David, and they have no other - where is there any king of the Jews? The scepter hath departed from Jacob, and the lawgiver from between his feet, for Shiloh has come, even he who, as he did hang upon the cross, was thrice named, "King of the Jews."
Jesus is the sole and only King of the Jews, and they are preserved and kept alive notwithstanding a thousand influences which threatened to make them lose their nationality; they shall yet be gathered again, and their restoration shall be the fullness of the Gentiles, and we and they shall rejoice together in him who hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall or partition, so that there is now neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarous Scythian, bond nor free, but we are all one in Christ Jesus.
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Mourning For Christ," delivered July 1, 1877.
Sermon Outline
- I. Israel's Sorrow and Preservation
- A. Israel's history of persecution and suffering
- B. Their preservation as a distinct people
- II. Israel's Rejection of Christ
- A. Their refusal to accept Jesus as their King
- B. The consequences of their rejection
- III. Christ's Kingship and Israel's Restoration
- A. Jesus as the sole and only King of the Jews
- B. The promise of Israel's restoration and gathering
- IV. Unity in Christ
- A. The breaking down of the middle wall between Jew and Gentile
- B. The oneness of all believers in Christ Jesus
Key Quotes
“They have for centuries endured a terrible chastening; they have been turned upside down, and wiped as when a man wipeth a dish, but still they stand waiting for a vainly expected King.” — C.H. Spurgeon
“Jesus is the sole and only King of the Jews, and they are preserved and kept alive notwithstanding a thousand influences which threatened to make them lose their nationality;” — C.H. Spurgeon
“we and they shall rejoice together in him who hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall or partition,” — C.H. Spurgeon
Application Points
- We should recognize God's patience and mercy towards Israel and towards ourselves, and respond with gratitude and obedience.
- We should pray for Israel's restoration and gathering, and look forward to the day when all believers will rejoice together in Christ.
- We should recognize the significance of Christ's kingship and the breaking down of the middle wall between Jew and Gentile, and live in light of this reality.