By J.C. Philpot
Preached at Gower Street Chapel, London, on Lord's Day Evening, July 28, 1867
"Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all." Jeremiah 31:12
Our text and subject this evening are very closely connected with our text and subject this morning; indeed, so closely connected are they, not only in the sequence of the verses, but also in the sequence of the blessings, that when I went up into the pulpit this morning it was my intention to take both verses and attempt to speak from them. But before I gave out my text, it struck my mind that the subject was so vast and copious that I could scarcely hope to consider it in the course of one sermon as fully as it deserved, and I therefore decided to divide it into two discourses, the result of which is that not only was I enabled to enter more fully this morning into the nature of redemption both by price and by power, but hope to have this evening a clearer and wider field to lay open before you the rich and choice blessings which flow out of redemption as they are folded up in the bosom of our text.
You will perhaps recollect that there was a point on which I touched this morning which I said was, in the language of the apostle, a mystery, and I expressed a wish that I could unfold it more fully, as involving much precious truth. This mystery was, the right of us Gentile believers to claim an interest in the promises made originally to the Jews, and, as I believe, to be one day both literally and spiritually fulfilled to and in them. If then you will kindly bear with me, I will take the present opportunity to open this point a little more fully and clearly.
The apostle tells us that God by revelation made known to him a mystery, which he calls "the mystery of Christ." (Eph. 3:3, 4.) The word "mystery" in the New Testament does not mean something dark, obscure, and perplexing, but a divine secret, a gracious purpose of God, hidden for a time in his own bosom; and the revealing of a mystery does not signify some mystical communication of a secret intention of God to an individual, of which he alone is the favoured object, but the bringing to open light and the public proclamation of hidden purposes of mercy in God to thousands and tens of thousands. Thus the calling of the Gentiles and putting them into possession of the promises and blessings of the Gospel, was "the mystery" of which Paul speaks as "hidden from ages and generations," that is, the ages and generations which had run their course from the call of Abraham to the time of the coming of Christ; and the revelation of the mystery was the making known "unto the holy apostles and prophets" (that is, the preachers of the gospel under the Now Testament) by the Spirit of the purpose of God, that believing Gentiles should be fellow-heirs with believing Jews, be members with them of the same mystical body of Christ, and be equal partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. (Eph. 3:3-6.)
Now connected with and flowing out of this leading mystery, is the peculiar point on which I touched this morning, viz., the right which believing Gentiles possess to appropriate to themselves the promises made to the Jews in the Old Testament, and to give them a spiritual interpretation. This I consider to be a point of very great importance, and yet, strange to say, it is one very little understood, and as rarely opened or explained. Indeed, you will scarcely find in a hundred ministers one who ever opens it, and among the religious books which are most in our hands any one, to my knowledge, which has even attempted to explain it. They all, whether ministers or books, seem to assume the point as a matter of course, and as one so plain and clear that it is not needful to bestow a word of explanation upon it. But if these promises were given to the literal Israel, as seems to me to be undeniable, should we not be able to establish a clear right to claim them as belonging to us? And unless we can plainly show that we have this clear right, might it not be an act of presumption for us to rest upon them as if they were actually given to us by God himself, and therefore that he will fulfil them spiritually and experimentally to us? I do not say that we have not this right; I believe that we have it. But it is one thing to have a right, and another to know the grounds of it. You may be the lawful owner and rightful possessor of a piece of land but you ought to be able to show your title to it if enquiry be made into your right of possession. Look then simply at this matter as it stands before us. If a man make a will and insert a certain name or names in it as heirs and legatees of all his property, what right has any other person to claim an interest in the provisions and benefits of that will whose name is not put down in it either as an heir or a legatee? Now if you will read the chapter carefully from which my text is taken (Jer. 31), I think you will see very clearly that it is addressed to the literal Israel. Look for instance at the very first verse: "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people." Does not the Lord here promise that he will at a certain time be "the God of all the families of Israel?" Now must not this mean the literal Israel, for it says in the preceding chapter "For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it?" (Jer. 30:3) Does not the Lord declare there that he will cause the literal Israel to return to the land from which they are now banished, which he gave to their fathers, and that they shall possess it? But take another verse: "Again I will build thee and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel." Who is "the virgin of Israel" but the ancient people whom God had separated and espoused unto himself from all the nations of the earth? When we read the historical declaration, "The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing" (Jer. 18:13), we are ready enough to say, "Ah, that means the Jews of old;" but when we read the prophetical declaration, "Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel," though the very words, "Again I will build thee," seem to point, expressly to the repairing of what is ruined and desolate, we say, "No; we must not take the words literally. They do not refer to the literal Israel; they must be taken altogether spiritually." Thus we give to the Jews all the threatenings, and take to ourselves all the promises. Now I don't call this fair.
