THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 107
remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy
youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting
covenant" (v. 60)
. And agreeably to this Paul declares
that "as touching the election, they are beloved for
the fathers' sake" (Rom. 11:28). Thus does God remember
His covenant with that nation in the days of
its youth, by preaching to them first, of all the peoples
of the earth, the unspeakable blessings of the new covenant.
Chapter XVII foretells, in the form of a parable,
God's coming judgments upon "the rebellious house"
(v. 12) ;
and it closes with a promise of Christ's coming
as a "Branch," to be planted "in the mountain of
the height of Israel." As this is clearly a promise concerning
this gospel era (cf. Isa. 11:1; 2:2, Zech. 3:8,
9 ;
and like passages) ,
it supplies us with a further indication
that the prophets were always looking to
"these days" (Acts 3:24) when they foresaw mercies
in the future for the people of Israel.
Chapter XX contains a withering indictment of the
nation of Israel for its persistent sins and rebellions,
first in Egypt (5-9), secondly in the wilderness (10-
27) ,
and thirdly in the land of Canaan (28-32)
. Therefore
God says, "I will purge out from among you the
rebels, and them that transgress against Me" (v. 38).
This chapter also closes with a view of the true Israel
on God's "holy mountain, in the mountain of the height
of Israel" (v. 40) ; which corresponds with "the heavenly
places" mentioned in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Chapters XXI, XXII, XXIII foretell further judgments
that were to fall upon Jerusalem, and give details
of the general corruption of priests, prophets
and people; and chapter XXIV again foretells the approaching
"woe to the bloody city."