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Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil," "He answered her not a word; " telling her afterwards, that He was "not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But, as the Apostle tells us, when “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not," but "despised" and "rejected" Him;3 and now that "Shiloh " had come and "the gathering of the people," i.e., Israel, was not now to be "unto Him:" for as Daniel had long before foretold, that when "Messiah the Prince" should "be cut off," "there shall be nothing to Him; " or, in other words, according to this prophecy, that Israel, as a nation, should not then be "gathered:" then it was that in these touching words, He complains to His Heavenly Father; sweetly leaving the issue, nevertheless, wholly in His blessed hands"Not My will, but Thine be done." And then it was, that the Father comforted Him with the assurances and promises contained in the verses following; which relate to this Dispensation.

As to the precise time when these assurances were given Him, we know not, as this has not been revealed; but it might have been on some such occasion as that_recorded by the Evangelists, "And when He was come near, He beheld the city" of Jerusalem, "and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord."

And then His Father answers Him, in the words of this prophecy, which refers to this present Dispensation, “And

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Mr. B. W. Newton's translation, and see also the margin

1 Mat. xv. 21-24. 4 Dan. ix. 26. of the A.V.

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now, saith Jehovah that formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and My God shall be My strength. And He said, It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved" (margin "desolations") "of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My Salvation unto the ends of the earth."

That these words refer to this Dispensation, is proved beyond all doubt: because they were quoted by the Apostle Paul, with this object in view; as is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. For when the Jews at "Antioch in Pisidia" "saw the multitudes" coming together to listen to the Gospel, "They were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you" (as we have seen): "but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying I have set Thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that Thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." And the reply of the Father to Jesus seems to be this. "Yes: I have formed Thee from the womb to be My servant, to bring Jacob back again; and this My purpose shall be fully accomplished; and Thou shalt have all the glory of it. But this it not all. Inasmuch, therefore, as Israel hath rejected Thee; this gathering shall not take place at Thy first coming; but I will thus take occasion to fulfil My purpose to visit the Gentiles also, that I may take out of them a people for My Name." "Some of the branches," therefore, of the Jewish 'Olive Tree' shall be broken off' that 'the Gentiles may

1 Acts xiii. 14, 45-48.

be grafted in;' and when this My purpose has been accomplished, and the Gentile has been cut off,' the natural branches shall be grafted in again;' and Israel shall be 'gathered' at Thy second coming: 'and so all Israel shall be saved;' and that nation shall then be " (as we shall see) "the blessed instrument in Thine hands for extending 'My salvation unto the ends of the earth.''

The concluding portion of these predictions, however, is more particularly deducible from the subsequent verses of our Chapter; the former part of the 8th verse referring to Christ's resurrection from the dead; and the latter part of it to His second coming, when He brings Israel under the terms of "the new Covenant:" which we know will not be until that period.

Verses 8 and 9 run as follows:-" Thus saith Jehovah, In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee: and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a Covenant to the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places."

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The former part of verse 8 has its counterpart in Psalm lxix., which relates to the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. The psalm is applied to Him in John ii. 17, and xv. 25; and herein He appears as the true "trespass offering," Who "restored that which He took not away; " and after having referred to Him as "sinking in deep mire, where there was no standing," and coming "into deep waters, where the flood overflowed "2 Him; which referred to His sufferings in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross; the Psalm then records His prayer, "But as for Me, My prayer is unto Thee, O Jehovah, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear Me, in the truth of Thy salvation." Now this "acceptable time" and "day of salvation" to Him, took place at His resurrec

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tion, to which this verse, as well as the passage in our chapter refers. For then "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," by "the working of His mighty power" "raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." St. Paul also refers to this passage, when, in writing to the Corinthians, he says, "We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard Thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured Thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.")"

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That the latter part of verse 8, and verse 9, relate to the second coming of the Lord, is proved from the fact that it is not until then that He will bring "the people,” i.e., Israel, under the terms of " the New Covenant; as many passages of Scripture plainly assert. Thus, to quote only one passage, "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Jehovah but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Jehovah, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."3 Now the New Testament Scriptures shew us, that the elect remnant only of Israel and among the Gentiles are now the subjects of

1 1 Epb. i. 17, 20, 21.

2 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2.

3 Jer. xxxi. 31-34.

this Covenant; and that Israel, as a nation, will not be the subject of it until the second coming of the Lord. This, therefore, must be the time referred to in this passage.1

Having now, therefore, sufficiently opened out the subject, I shall pass over the remaining verses of the Chapter, which relate to Israel's future blessings, until we come to the close of this Dispensation: when I shall have to take up the subject again in its entirety.

SECTION II.

The high qualifications of Messiah for the work which the Father had given Him to do-The Gospel of the grace of God; what it is; and to whom it is sent the blessings promised to Israel, on their reception of it— an Exposition of Isaiah lxi,

We now come to a deeply important passage of God's word, which is the 5th passage I would note, wherein this Dispensation is referred to; in which we shall see how completely this must have been hidden from the Old Testament saints, and how perfectly it has now been revealed to us! The passage I refer to is Isaiah lxi. ; in the first verse, and in the first clause of the second verse of which, this Dispensation is referred to; while in the latter clause of the second, and in the whole of the third verse, the second coming of Christ is referred to: the remaining verses giving us an account of some of Israel's blessings which will flow therefrom.

Moreover the portion of the prophecy, which relates to this Dispensation occurs, after the manner of Isaiah xlii. 21, and Zech. xiii. 7, in the very midst of a prophecy, which, in other respects, relates eutirely to the second coming of the Lord, and to many of the most important events which are consequent thereupon.

1 See and compare Rom. xi. with Hebrews viii. 6-13; x. 1-22.

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