The Holy Spirit and
the Salvation of Israel
The spiritual condition of the Jewish
People
We are sure that the Messiah has come, and we naturally
ask what may be the cause or causes of why, when He came to His own, His own
received Him not. This question been answered already in a former lecture, and
we do not recur to it further than is necessary to show the need of the
outpouring of the Spirit to remove these causes. Putting aside the minor
causes, we shall refer only to three which appear to be the most important.
The natural blindness of the mind, and hardness of the heart, common to
Jews with all other men. To this, as unremoved, Moses directed the attention of
the people in Deuteronomy 29:4: "The Lord hath not given you an heart to
perceive, nor eyes to see, nor cars to hear, unto this day." This cause
evidently the outpouring of the Spirit would remove.
Judicial blindness
inflicted because of their iniquities already spoken of. To this Isaiah
testifies. But this being an effect of the Divine anger, win be turned away
along with that anger, that this song may be sung in that day, "Though thou
wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me."
There is another cause remaining and, if we were to look only at second causes,
it would appear to be the greatest of all. I mean the authority ascribed to the
Talmud. But that gracious power of God which can burst through the depravity of
man? nature, and find a way, notwithstanding the fierceness of God's deserved
anger can surely make a speedy riddance of the cobwebs of man's inventions, the
covering wherewith they cover, but not of Adonai's Spirit.
It pains me that
I need to speak in such terms of what you reverence as part and parcel of the
word of God. but before the Tanakh and before your own minds, when enlightened
by the Spirit of God, to understand the Tanakh, the puerilities, fables, the
silly stories of "Rabbi this, said so" and, "Another Rabbi said that, and
another Rabbi still said so and so", the forced constructions of the plainest
Scriptures, which our own common sense would revolt at, were it not crushed
under the weight of a revered traditional authority, and which, as it is, you
must feel ashamed to defend, before any who will not implicitly bend his mid to
the same authority, the mass of histories, true or false, of the sayings doings
of the later Rabbis, all delivered of God by word mouth to Moses, at mount
Sinai, the astounding affirmations that the House of Kul. declared, that the
decisions of the house of Hillel, and of the House of Shammai, in direct
opposition to one another as they are, were still the one and the other, the
words of the living God. And in addition to all this the blasphemies of that
book, over which grief, shame, and love make me draw a veil: before the light
of God's Word and Spirit, we say, these impious absurdities must be dispelled
as the shades of night by the orb of day. That these things should be believed
by sensible men having the oracles of God in their hands, shows the awful
blindness and hardness of the human soul, the need there is for the outpouring
of the Spirit, how easily that Spirit would turn this great mountain into a
plain. It requires but a glimmering of common sense, conjoined with the least
spark of downright honesty, to scatter the whole to the winds. But, alas! I
where is poor Israel to receive that glimmering of sense, and that spark of
integrity? Creation cannot impart it. It must be brought the Spirit of God.
Believe not me, dear Israelites; believe not any man on his own mere word.
Sacredly reserve your faith for the word of the living God. Ye are Adonai's
people, bound in covenant to fear, love, and serve Him alone. Remember it is He
who sanctifieth Israel. You say, "Every thing is in the hands (power) of
heaven, except the fear of heaven." Horrible pride of man! To acknowledge his
obligation to God for all that He has, saving always and excepted the very best
thing that any man can have, which if he arrogate to himself, he makes himself
more his own debtor than God's. Not so runs the promise of God made unto you,
and to your children: "I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I
will not turn away from them to do them good. but I will put my fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me" (Jeremiah 32:40).
We have
proved to you from the doctrinal statements of Scripture, from the prayers of
the saints, and from the promises of God?s covenant, the need you have of the
Spirit, in order to your answering at all the purposes for which the Lord set
you apart to be a holy people unto Himself. However learned you may be without
this, you must remain arrant fools in the things of God. and, however simple
and foolish you may be, this will make you wiser than all your teachers, for to
such does heavenly Wisdom proclaim, "Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you."
You say the Talmud is the word of
God. we say it is not. We say the New Testament is the word of God; you deny
it. We say that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, that your
fathers crucified him as a blasphemer, and you say you see no reason to forsake
the wisdom of your fathers. Well one thing is sure, and on all hands confessed:
Adonai is the only God, and the Tanakh is His blessed word. In that word He has
promised His Holy Spirit. The holy men of old read the promise, and implored
the gift. The promise is in your hands, and reading, you should repair to
Adonai: He may be found. He is near. He says, "Call upon me, and I will answer
thee, and show thee great and wonderful things which thou knowest not."
The Holy Spirit and Confession of Sin
He never said to the seed
of Jacob, "Seek ye me in vain." You should pour out your heart before Him,
importunately, perseveringly, unremittingly till answered, in the cry, "Take
not (or keep not) thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me, (or bestow upon me)
the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Thy Spirit is
good, lead me unto the land of uprightness."
Adopt all the prayers of the
saints on this subject, turn all the promises into prayers. Take no denial;
this is no vain thing, for it is thy life. Thus praying, show the sincerity of
your prayers, by cultivating the dispositions which befit your requests;
candour and downright sincerity, a sacred regard to truth and to the God of
truth, a determination to adopt nothing as matter of your faith but what you
receive from the mouth of God, but to receive and entertain all that He makes
known, however contrary it may be to your prejudices, your natural
inclinations, most cherished desires, and fondest hopes; however contrary to
all human authority which you may have hitherto venerated the most; and be the
consequences to your worldly interests, in believing, professing, and
partaking, whatever they may. And when you feel any thing contrary to this
disposition, confess it as sin, and redouble your prayer for the Spirit of God
to remove it.
With your eye thus directed in singleness of heart towards
Adonai, for His good Spirit to instruct you, read, study, meditate by day and
by night on the Tanakh, the acknowledged, the indubitable word of God. What the
result will be I know full well. If Adonai grant your request-and when did He
put away the prayer of His servants who desire to fear His name? Then will the
Lord reveal Himself to you by the word of the Lord. You shall behold the beauty
of the Lord, and the majesty of your God. When your heart is turned to the
Lord, the veil which is upon your heart shall be taken away, and you shall
behold wonders out of His law with adoring astonishment joined to surprise at
your own blindness, which hid them so long from your view.
Adonai, Adonai
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and
who win by no means clear the guilty, will draw near to you in and by His word,
and ye shall behold His glory. The glory of the infinite and eternal
excellencies which He possesses in Himself, you shall also see enstamped on
every commandment of His holy, just, and good law. You will know and feel that
the law is spiritual. That eternal righteous is in all His testimonies.
Conscience awakened will testify to the reasonableness and necessity of being
holy as he is holy. And ah! then will come the appalling discovery that you are
in very nature sinful, carnal, sold under sin; that in you, that is in your
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Then will the curses which are written in the
book of the law dart on your trembling soul, lightnings more vivid than those
of Sinai, and the intolerable misery of being sinful, that is unlike and
opposed to the holy Adonai and His holy law, will wring your heart with anguish
unutterable. When striving to obey (for if the Spirit of God be poured out upon
you, nothing can so discourage that effort so as to abolish it), when ever
striving to obey, and ever failing, you shall be at last convinced that your
carnal mind is enmity to God, since it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.
Oh! heart will die within you, and all your natural
hope expire. Neither the merits of ancestors, nor b'rit milah,5 nor
tephillin,6 nor tzitzit, nor mezuzoth, nor the reading of the Shema,
purifications, nor daily prayers, nor festivals, not even Day of Atonement
itself, nor death as an atonement for sin, nor the flattering maxim that "all
Israel hath a share in the world to come", nor ought beside that leaves the
malady uncured, will ease your heart throbbing with the consciousness, "I have
violated Adonai's law, and thus raised my sacrilegious hand against Adonai's
perfections and very being, manifested in that very law in which He reveals
Himself and comes near, demanding and exhibiting Himself as infinitely worthy
of all my love. Oh misery of miseries, to stand justly exposed to all that the
wrath of the justly incensed Lord can inflict, misery deeper still to have done
such things, to have a heart that could prompt such conduct and which, if
unchanged (and I cannot change it), will lead to transgress again, and for
ever." These things ye shall know if ye know the law. and, if the Lord pour out
His Spirit, He will make His words (the words of His holiness) known unto you.
Yet, with the Spirit of the Lord resting on you, and the book of God in
your hands, you shall not be cast down utterly. The name of Adonai, merciful
and gracious, presents a ground of hope to which His good Spirit will guide
you. Feeling yourself in every way a sinner, the only hope you will find will
be in His name, His free grace, and bounteous love. To this you will trace all
the precious promises which are scattered, as so many precious jewels, through
the entire book and adorn its every page. These, as you continue your studies
under the Spirit's guidance, you will gradually find arranging themselves into
one consistent and magnificent plan, an everlasting covenant well ordered in
all things and sure. The fundamental promise of all you will find to be the
remission of sins. All other blessings God promises to bestow on the house of
Israel for, saith He, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Your hearts thirsting for
forgiveness, yet jealous of the honour of the law, will be further established
by your being led to see the importance of the bloody sacrifice which God
connected with the bestowment of forgiveness; and the whole of the ceremonial
law will appear in a new light most interesting, not only to your
understanding, but also to your heart and conscience.
But being soon made
aware, as a heart in which is God's law and which, therefore, feels the demerit
and malignity of sin easily, I had almost said, instinctively, perceives that
the blood of bulls and of goats cannot take away sin, nor make the worshippers
perfect as concerns the conscience. you be led to enquire more deeply into the
meaning of sacrifice and to connect this instructive and most important rite
with the promise of the Messiah, first announced in Gan Eden11 on the day when
Adam ha-rishon fell, as the Seed of the woman who should bruise the
Serpent's head, while his own heel should be bruised in achieving the conquest.
Your sin-slain soul will revive at the announcement of a suffering and
triumphing Saviour from sin and the old Serpent. And when you come to read in
the book of the prophet the place where it is written, "He was wounded for our
transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all had gone astray as
lost sheep; we had wandered, every one, after his own way. and the Lord laid
upon Him the iniquities of us all. When His soul shall make an offering for
sin, He shall see His seed; He prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hands" (Isaiah 53), you shall exclaim, "This is just what
my case demands! This is just the Messiah, the deliverer for me!"
And, thus
prepared, you would speedily find Him of Moses in the law and the prophets did
write, Jesus of Nazareth. We have His own authority and that of His prophets,
for submitting the proof of the Gospel to the evidence of the Tanakh and for
affirming that the genuine faith of the latter would inevitably issue in the
reception of the former. "Do not think," saith Jesus, "that I will accuse you
to the Father: there is one accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For,
had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" (John 5 45-47).
"For, (saith an apostle) they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers,
because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him" (Acts 13: 27).
And in the case of that apostle, it was when by the law he had attained to
the knowledge of sin, that he found redemption in the blood of the Messiah, and
knew undoubtedly that Jesus is that Messiah.
But you say, "I know not that
these would be the results." I know you do not; you cannot till you try. But
this I ask, let the results be what they may, can you deny that we have proved,
aye, to the approbation of your own consciences, that the plan suggested, the
exhortation tendered, is founded on the infallible word of the Lord, and that
you are bound, that you are necessitated, to follow it, unless you would s in
rebelliously, with a high hand cast off the fear of the Lord and refuse to
tremble at Him, and at the words of His holiness? And how instructive, how
consolatory and encouraging, if there be any sincere Israelite here, who,
tossed about by the conflict of opposing systems, is alarmed lest he should
dishonour the God of Israel by either, on the one hand, rejecting the Messiah
or, on the other, receiving an impostor, to be assured that if any man do the
will of Adonai, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether
Jesus speaks of Himself.
Having thus studied the Old Testament, and
penetrated to the core with its truths in the living spirit of them, read then,
in the same prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, the Talmud, much or little
of it, as you may find it good and profitable-and believe it to be the word of
the living God, if you possibly can. Read still, with the same dependence on
the Holy Spirit, the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and
disbelieve it to be the word of the living God if, you possibly can.
The
question then between us, my much-longed-for friends, is brought to the fair
issue of a practicable experiment, warranted and demanded by the word of God,
fully admitted, and received by us both as such.
Standing in the presence
of the great judge of all, in the view of what I owe to the truth of my Lord
and God, who bought me with His own blood, and through Whose mediation alone I
know, and am assured, that the Holy Spirit is bestowed; and Whose name alone,
through faith in His name, can give soundness to the sin-destroyed soul and in
the view of what I owe to your souls, knowing that it is at the peril of my
everlasting condemnation, if I attempt to deceive any, especially to seduce the
chosen people of the Lord from their allegiance to their covenant God, I
tremble not at the consequences of having addressed to you this word of
exhortation, I tremble only, lest through the contemptuous rejection, or
callous neglect of it by any hearer, I should become the savour of death unto
him.
The Holy Spirit and Salvation
And now you know your
immediate duty. You must perforce approve of it. Will you dare, under Adonai's
eye, ever but now especially upon you-will you dare to neglect to defer it for
a single instant? Delays are dangerous, flee for thy life, tarry not in the
plain, look not back, lest thou be made an eternal monument of Adonai's
tremendous displeasure. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon
Him while He is near. He is waiting to be gracious unto thee; He is exalted,
that He may show thee mercy. Wilt thou be obstinately dumb and restrain prayer
God? Wilt thou not, from this time, cry, "Pour out Thy Spirit upon me, make
known thy words unto me."
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel, is that they may be saved. and that for their salvation, He pour out
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, even now, on
such as may be present, speedily on the whole nation, the Spirit of grace and
supplication, that they may look on Adonai, whom they pierced, and may mourn
for Him, as one mourneth for an only son, and be in bitterness for Him, as one
that is in bitterness for his first born. In which day of doleful mourning
there shall be a fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness for the house of
David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12: 10; 13: 1). The Lord
hasten it speedily in our days.
And as for you, my Christian friends, not
in name only but in reality, who have been made partakers of the dwelling of
the Holy Spirit, and who live in the blessed fellowship of Him who glorifies
Christ, by taking of His, and showing it unto you, let me address myself unto
you in behalf of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. By means of the
additional light of New Testament Scripture, and by your own heart-felt
experience, you know better than they do, where the salvation of Israel is to
be found. Before the departure of our Lord and Saviour to His Father's glory,
He promised to send the Holy Spirit, who, when He was come, should convince the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement: of sin, because they believe
not in Him; of righteousness, because He has gone to the Father, and we see Him
not, of judgement, because the prince of this world is judged. Ye know that in
fulfilment of this promise the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost,
immediately succeeding our Lord's ascension into heaven. You know the truth of
all this, by many indubitable evidences, and by this, to your own minds, the
most convincing of any -your own experience.
The Holy Spirit, whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, ye know,
for He is with you, and abideth in you. You know how needful His communion is
to sinful men, whether Jews or Gentiles: for once, ye were carnal, not having
the Spirit. Then ye know ye did not, ye could not see the kingdom of God, ye
did not receive the things of the Spirit of God, neither could ye know them,
but they were foolishness unto you, because they are spiritually discerned. You
are aware, that besides the natural depravity of fallen nature, there are in
the case of the Jews, peculiar superadded circumstances, flowing indeed from
this the source of all human evil, yet adding immensely to the danger and
difficulty in respect of them. Human power is in itself, you are aware utterly
vain, but you are aware also, that the promise of God who cannot he, is pledged
for Israel?s conversion: "Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and
briers - until the Spirit be poured upon them from on high, and the wilderness
be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then
judgement shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the
fruitful field" (Isaiah 32:13).
We earnestly recommend to your attentive
perusal the third chapter of second Corinthians, especially from the twelfth
verse: "Seeing then that we have this hope [i.e. that Spirit of God doth and
ever will accompany our doctrine with His demonstration and power, commending
it to the consciences and writing it on the hearts of men] we use plainness [or
liberty, boldness] of speech. and not as Moses who put a veil over his face,
that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly to the end of that which
is abolished [i.e. the legal dispensation (v7) the end of which is Christ
(Romans 10:4] but their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the
same veil untaken away in the reading of Old Testament [hiding from them the
glory of the Lord, which shines even in it]; which veil is done away in Christ.
But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon the hearts.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord [that is, as I judge, to Adonai,
the one living and true God, the blessed Trinity, but especially the Holy
Spirit, whose dealing with the heart is most immediate] the veil shall be taken
away. Now the Lord [unto whom their heart shall turn] is that Spirit [of whose
administration we have been throughout the chapter speaking]. and where the
Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. But we all [who are enlightened by the
Spirit] with unveiled face beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord [rather: by the Lord, the Spirit]."
Having therefore these promises,
be persuaded, dear brethren, be stirred up, to pray for the outpouring of the
Spirit on the house of Israel. Whatever means God has appointed, let these be
vigorously, efficiently employed. But let us ever remember, that mighty as
these may be, as they assuredly shall be, through the power of the Spirit of
God, they are, in and of themselves, absolutely nothing. The excellency of the
power is entirely of God, and in reference to this sublime truth, there is
nothing left us that we can do but to pray. Societies may be formed, churches
as such may enter into the field, sermons may be preached, inquiries may be
made, information obtained, plans organised, funds profusely furnished,
missionaries instructed and sent forth, institutions formed, Bibles and tracts
distributed with the most abundant liberality, and discussions upon discussions
held interminably, but all in vain without the Spirit. God will not give His
glory to another. The residue of the Spirit is with Him, and it will be
bestowed in answer to believing and earnest, importunate, persevering prayer.
Oh, then, pray. Pray without ceasing, that the salvation of Israel may come out
of Zion.
If I thought you could need any further stimulus, I would call on
you to remember the days of old, when Israel was holiness to the Lord, the
first fruits of His increase, the time when God left all nations to walk in the
way of their own hearts. How bright then the beauty over whose departure for a
time - for a time - but only for a time, we mourn! He showed not such favour to
any nation, for they had not known His judgements. Think on all the exalted
privileges conferred on them by Him who had mercy on them: the adoption, and
the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God.
Think that theirs are the fathers; and, the greatest of all, that of them, as
concerning the flesh, Christ came, God over all blessed for ever.
Think of
our obligations to them. When we were poor aliens they thought of us, they
prayed us: "We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do
for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?" (Song of Songs 3:8).
"God be merciful unto us and bless us, may He cause His face to shine upon us,
Selah. That Thy way may be known upon the earth, Thy salvation among all
[heathen] nations. Let peoples praise thee, O God, let peoples praise thee-all
of them. Let communities rejoice and sing glad songs: for thou shalt peoples
judge with equity and communities on earth-thou shall conduct them, Selah
(Psalm 67:1-5).
Into their olive tree we have been ingrafted and partake of
the root and fatness: on the skirts of a Jew we hang for life everlasting.
"Salvation is of the Jews." Think of the benefit still in prospect for
ourselves, to whom the receiving of them shall be as life from the dead. And
think, above all, on the pleasure of the Lord prospering in Messiah's hand. Oh!
what shall be the delight with which her Maker, her husband, shall receive back
again His adulterous, His penitent spouse. when He who is a father to Israel
shall welcome home His wandering sons, who were dead, and are alive again, who
were lost and are found. He will rejoice over Jerusalem with singing. He will
rest in His love. And never shall they stray from their home. "He will not turn
away from them to do them good. and will put his fear in them, that they shall
not depart from Him." (Jeremiah 32:40).
"Return, O Lord, return to the ten
thousands of Israel."
"Hear me, O Adonai, hear me, that this people may
know that thou art Adonai God, and that thou hast turned their heart back
again."
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