T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S THURSDAY, June 15. Isaiah 2:1-5. Israel Restored and Re-instated. Romans nine, ten and eleven are na tional and dispensational. They have to do with the houses of Israel and Judah. Their testimony is historic and prophetic. Zion, though trodden down shall rise again, and when the last of proud Caesar’s representatives shall have forever passed away, Jerusalem, the city of the great King, shall be builded on» a scale of greater grandeur than Rome in her mightiest days ever knew, Ps. 122:3, 4. No prophetic scheme of the future can be either Scriptural or intelligible unless Israel be recognized as the leading nation of the earth during the Millennial age. It is a mischievous and disastrous exegesis that interprets Israel, Jerusalem and the kingdom of Christ in a spiritual and figurative sense only. Paul had no such thought in his mind. A real people whom He called Israel had been broken off. This same people is to be grafted in again, their receiving by God being described as “ life from the dead.” FRIDAY, June 16. Zech. 14:4-11. Changes in (he Land. A valley is to be formed from the Mediterranean to the Dead sea. In con sequence a channel will be opened across Palestine through which the waters of the Atlantic by the Mediter ranean Sea will pass through and fill the desert land beyond. A highway shall be made to the east and west. This physical change obviously refers to some intended improvement rather than destruction. It will make Jerusalem accessible to all the nations of the world. The lifting up of the land of which the prophet speaks may refer to the elevation of the land upon which the city is to be built. The foundation of the temple is described in Bzek. 40. It is to be nine miles square and will therefore require a great plateau for itself and the city. Isa. 2:2. We may expect that not only will these physical changes take place in Palestine but there will doubtless be great changes in the earth as well. There were changes on account of sin and it is reasonable to suppose that the redeemed and reno vated earth will be even better than the created earth which was entrusted to Adam. SATURDAY, June 17. Isaiah 11:1-9. The Moral Renovation. The heathen nations have a tradition of a golden age which once existed and passed away. They also cherish the
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expectation of a Deliverer who is com ing to restore it. If we read the Scrip ture aright this expectation is ours also. The curse pronounced because of sin is to be lifted, hatreds and jealousies among men, wars and fightings among nations, sectarian. controversies among worshippers, shall all pass away. This restitution is not brought about by gradual and progressive improvement nor is it the product of human effort. It will be effected suddenly by the Word and power of God. The regeneration of the world as well as the regeneration of the sinner, is the operation of God Himself. He who created the world by Christ is able to re-create it. The first man had only a small section of the earth for his Eden. The second Man shall have the entire globe for His. SUNDAY, June 18. Ezekiel 37:1-14. National Restoration. Another restoration clearly foretold in the Scriptures is the return of the ten tribes of Israel to their own land and their being united again with Ju dah. This national revival is compared by the prophet Ezekiel to resurrection of dry bones. It may be noted that they were raised in two stages. In the first place the prophet says, “ There was a noise and behold a shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his bone.” This suggests the people coming back to their land in unbelief. This is now going on before our eyes under the propaganda of so-called Zionism. The prophet next refers to their restoration to Divine favor when he says, “ The breath came into them and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army!” The restoration of this people will be as full and complete as the grace and forgiving love of God can make it. Deut. 11:24; Jer. 30:19; Hos. 3:5; Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16; Joel 2: 23-27. MONDAY, June 19. 2 Kings 24:10-16. The Captivity of the Jews. The captivity includes all the various times in which the people of Israel were under the power of their enemies. There are six such occasions mentioned during the time of the Judges. The term is also applied to the conquest of Israel by Assyria, but in the narrower sense the captivity of the Jews is the period of seventy years when they were in Baby lon from 606 B. C. to 536 B. C. There were three stages in the beginning and end of the captivity.. Nebuchadnezzar invaded the kingdom in 606 B. G. and carried away a few Jews among whom
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