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By Dr. Louis S. Bauman, o f Washington, D. C. The Second Message on the Restoration o f Israel in a Prophetic Series
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I N November 1947, a writer in a widely circulated magazine set forth his “ good and sufficient rea sons” for rejecting the idea that the children o f Israel would ever again be a sovereign nation in the land o f Palestine. Since his objections are those worn threadbare by men who refuse to believe in the restoration of Israel as an actual nation, we will quote briefly from his statements: “ To say that the land o f Palestine is for the physical Jew today is mis construing God’s plan fo r this dispen sation . . . The •physical nation, Jews, broke the covenant with God to the degree o f termination.” (Italics mine). But, what saith the Scripture, which Jesus declared “ cannot be broken” ? “ I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations . . . If his children for sake my law,” [and only “ the physi cal nation” could be in view here] “ and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Neverthe less my lovingkindness will I not ut terly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out o f my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure fo r ever, and his throne as the sun before me” (Psa. 89:3, 4, 30-36). What does this unconditional, un breakable covenant involve? Go and read! “ So shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord o f hosts . . . I will appoint a place for my peo ple Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children o f wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime . . . Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after O C T O B E R , 1 9 5 0
thee, which shall proceed out o f thy bowels . . | and I will establish the throne o f his kingdom for ever . . . If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes o f the children o f men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul” (2 Sam. 7:8-15). Note it carefully; “ 1 will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out o f thy bowels” ! Now Peter, on
‘scattered among the nations’, ‘tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms o f the earth’, ‘rooted out o f the land in anger’, etc.” But, what saith the Scripture? “ Hear the word o f the Lord, 0 ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel” (again only the “ physical na tion” can be in view) “ will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock . . . and they shall not sor row any more at all” (Jer. 31:10-12). Again : “ Thus saith the Lord, the God o f Israel . . . Behold, I will gather them out o f all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger . . . and I will bring them unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God . . . And 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 de part from me . . . For thus saith the Lord ; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them” (Jer. 32:36-38, 40, 42). Again this writer wrote: “ There is no hold-over for a natural Israelitish nation. Since Israel ceased as a nation in 70 A.D., the prophecy must refer to the spiritual Israel, and not to the physical Israel, or Jew.” But what saith the Scriptures? “ Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances o f the moon and o f the stars for a light by night, which di- videth the soa when the waves there o f roar; The Lord o f hosts is his name: I f those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed o f Israel also shall cease from being a nation from before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations o f the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed o f Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord” (Jer. 31:35-37). By what sort o f reasoning is it pos sible to read a “ spiritual Israel” into the passage just quoted? Now, since Page Seven
Hill of Mareh on the plain Esdraelon
the day of Pentecost declared that the fleshly body o f Christ was not allowed to see corruption because “ God had sworn with an oath to him [David], that o f the fruit o f his loins, accord ing to the flesh, he would raise up” the Christ who came literally through the fleshly line o f David through the virgin Mary; and, to fulfill His cove nant, that body o f flesh must sit upon David’s throne, over the fleshly sons o f Israel. Verily, God has spoken: “ I WILL NOT LIE UNTO DAVID!” The covenant with God “ broke to the degree o f termination” ? Never, never, never ! God’s faithfulness to a covenant He made with David does not depend upon the faithfulness of the Jew, but upon His own faithful ness. Again, this writer declared: “ And God removed them [the Jews] from the land, as He said He would do, the land promised them forever. ‘Ye shall be plucked off the land,’
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