THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 209
thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compasson on thee,
and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the
Lord thy God hath scattered thee . . .
"And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land thy
fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ... And the Lord
will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of all thy seed, to love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul,
that thou mayest live .... And thou shalt return and obey the
voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command
thee this day." (Deut. 30:1-8).
Here we have a clear statement of what Israel was
seeking for; and we can readily understand how the
unspiritual rabbis, those "blind leaders of the blind,"
should have interpreted this and similar scriptures as
promises of political restoration for Israel and of the
repossession by that nation of the earthly Canaan ;
for
they were blinded to the truth that the land of Canaan
was but a fleeting "shadow" (Heb. 10 :1) of the true
land of promise (Eph. 1 :3) ;
even as the earthly nation
itself was but the shadow "for the time then present,"
of the true Israel of God.
And then follow these words, to which we specially
invite
attention:
"For this commandment, which I command thee this day, it
is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven,
that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and
bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is
it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over
the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do
it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in
thy heart, that thou mayest do it" (Deut. 30:11-14).
Paul quotes from this scripture and says that Moses
was referring there to "the word of faith which we
preach," that is, the gospel; and he declares the inner
meaning of these words of Moses to be, "That if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus" Moses
had said "in thy mouth and in thy heart" "and shalt