I. Prophecies not yet fulfilled (Ezek. 37): Valley of dry
bones; the two sticks; the two kingdoms made one; placed in Jerusalem;
hence one king. 2. Gog and Magog, the battle of. 3. The new covenant, its
fulfillment yet future. 4. The possession of the land of Canaan by Ephraim
and Judah. 5. The building of the temple. 6. The temple service. 7. The
waters issuing from the threshold of the temple; how interpreted. 8. The
apportionment of the land to the twelve tribes; the priests' portion; tile
part for tile temple; the name of the city froth that day shall be,
"The Lord is there"
1. The first unfulfilled prophecy we meet is found in
Ezekiel 37: "The valley of dry bones." We have already found the former
part of this prophecy now fulfilled at least in part. The former
part of this vision sees "a valley of dry bones." This is
interpreted to represent "the whole House of Israel, i. e., ten-tribed
Israel.
And these dry bones God "breathes upon, and
clothes with flesh and skin, and they stand up an exceeding great army."
It has been shown above, that this part of the prophecy has had its
literal fulfillment in the identity of the Anglo-Saxon race with the "lost
tribes of Israel;" that the discovery of this wonderful truth seems
as strange and incredible as would the story that a certain old graveyard
made ages and ages ago has been seen by somebody to be now giving up the
dead that were buried therein, and these dead were now coming forth in
perfect form clothed with flesh and skin, and, having laid off their
grave-clothes, are now clothed in garments of modern form; and these are
all veritable living men and women!
2. The prophecies touching this subject are found in
Zech.14:2; Ezk. 38:2, 3; Joel, 3:1,2; Ezk. 39. These prophecies all
point to a time of great warfare in the land of Canaan in the vicinity of
Jerusalem; but no one is specific as to the time -- whether before or
after some other specified prediction.
Like all other prophecies in the Bible, no one
can know the time, the day or or the year of fulfillment, till tile event
actually takes place. All prophecies are thus given, so that nothing
of a chronological order can be discerned by man. Hence it is found
that the same prophet will utter a prediction in the former part of his
prophecy, which is found to have its fulfillment far down in the history
of the world, while in other parts of the book are recorded prophecies
whose fulfillment is equally indefinite. In all cases, no prophecy
was ever known as to the time of its fulfillment till just before the
actual event, and that only by certain sign which should portend the
fulfillment.
This is God's plan, not man's; for if the how
or the where, of every or of any prediction were given, how certainly
might men conspire to thwart the fulfillment. But, as it is, there is no
possibility of doing this, and hence we find that all the divine
predictions from the first have come to pass when none were looking for
them -- "as in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son
of Man."
Every one comes unexpectedly,
just as
lost Israel has been found in the Anglo-Saxons, where and when no one was
looking for Israel to be found.; So, also, of the several unfulfilled
prophecies which seem now to be struggling at the very door for entrance.
Who can tell which is first to enter, or how long a time each shall
require for its fulfillment? God only knows. And in this I, at least, do
rejoice -- yea, and will rejoice.
3.The new covenant . (Jer. 31:3l-34.) We have
seen in our remarks on this prophecy that a very partial fulfillment
seemed to have been made in the conversion of every individual after the
coming of Christ, and yet to my own mind this is not certain; for David
says, B. C. 1000, "Blessed is the man whose iniquity is pardoned,
whose sin is covered." Was not the conversion in that day the same
as under the gospel? But the promise of the new covenant was made
500 years after David's time. Must not, then, the blessing of this
new covenant be something different from anything before known?
In this new covenant the blessing is to be
universal. And not only so, but the promise is, "They shall all know me,
from the least to the greatest of them;" and to me the promise seems to
imply that there will be no more sin.
Again, this new covenant is to be unlike that
made at Mt. Sinai -- "which covenant they brake," saith the Lord; but this
new covenant is not to be broken, because the fulfillment of it does not
depend on man, but on God alone. In this covenant God says, "I will
put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and
I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Now this seems to be something different from
what takes place in the conversion of a sinner to Jesus Christ --
different, not so much in kind, as in degree; for in conversion the work
of sanctification seems to be begun only, but here this work is
completed at once, and that, too, on the whole house of
both Israel and of Judah; all of them, "from the least of them to the
greatest of them saith the Lord."
So that as yet we have received but the earnest
- -the first fruit of the fulfillment of this wonderful covenant.
Its greatest blessings must be yet in store, to be poured out when Israel
and Judah shall have become united; henceforth to be no more two nations,
but one nation, and when they shall have one king to reign over
them.; Which king? Can there be any other than Jesus Christ ?
4. In these two passages is the promise to Abraham and to
his seed of the everlasting possession of the whole land of Canaan, "from
the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates." But as the seed of
Abraham had possession of this land but a few centuries at most, the
fulfillment of the promise is, therefore, in the future. And this
fulfillment must imply, i. e., guarantee, the actual possession of this
land by the Anglo-Saxons; together with the Jews,
who are to be returned to Zion, "one
of a tribe and two of a family," who are the seed of Abraham, and this
whole country must thus remain in their possession forever. "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. 30:2.) This promise, therefore, must have its fulfillment in the
future. See Ezk. 36:8-12, also verses 24-32. (Ezk. 39:23-29.
5. The teaching of these four chapters is divine. Ezekiel
says that the vision was made to him in the twenty-fifth year of their
captivity, i. e., the Babvlonish captivity; which, according to the
commonly received chronology was B. C. 574.
Then follows a description of the scene: "In
the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me down
upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on
the south. And he said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and
hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee;
and declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel."
Here, then, the prophet is charged by the
Almighty God himself, to apply his eyes, his ears, and his heart, with
their deepest intent, to understand and to declare to the house of Israel
all that should be made known by this vision. We must believe, therefore,
that the vision is of no trivial importrace, but that it is to make known
things that are certain to take place, and in the identical manner in
which they are shown. If this is not so, then what can we do? The
charge is specific, and the words of the vision are in a language known to
the prophet, indeed, it is vernacular, so that there could be no
possibility of a maunderstanding.
The location also, is Jerusalem, the city known
to him from his youth. And the temple with all its appurtenances, is a
material temple, whose size and form, with all its measurements, are
specified with the utmost exactness . The measuring rod is declared to be
of a certain definite length, viz., six cubits long, and that there may be
no mistake, the kind of cubit is specified, viz., a cubit and a
hand-breadth, thus making the exact length of the sacred cubit, which is
25 inches.
But the Babylonish cubit is said to have been 21
inches, and this with the addition of 4 inches -- the hand-breadth --
makes 25 inches, equal to the cubit used by Moses in constructing the ark,
the tabernacle, etc., at Mt. Sinai. Is it possible, therefore, to err as
to the teachings of this wonderful vision?
And then, when we consider further, that all
the prophetic announcements, by what prophet so ever, and at what time so
ever made, that have had their fulfillment up to this time, these in all
cases have been fulfilled literaly. Have we not a right to expect
the same fulfillment of this prophecy? (Ezk. 40., etc.)
I am shut up to this conclusion. I see no
possible escape. And how much so ever this may go against our previous
theories, I still say, I see no possible escape from the truth of a
literal interpretation. I cannot bring it to pass -- no man can bring it
to pass, but God can; and in this assurance I rest.
6. As these ordinances are about to be announced, the
prophet is charged again from on high to give the most earnest heed to all
the instructions now to be given, and to declare all things to the
children of Israel, in the very words given by God to the prophet. Then
follow the ordinances for the priests, which are given with the minutest
specification. Next the portion of land for the sanctuary. Next for the
city -- and for the priests and for the prince, and ordinances for the
prince. Chap. 46:1-9, ordinances for the prince in worship, and for the
people, v. 16, etc.
Now these ordinances are given with the
severest charge to the prophet, that they be established, in every minute
particular, in accordance with the letter of the command; no intimation,
even, of any deviation or of any figurative interpretation, being given,
but the charge is to declare all as made known to the prophet by the
Almighty; so that it seems impossible to conceive of an ordinance to be
announced with a more perfect literality of meaning than are these
ordinances, one and all.
And could the prophet doubt as to the meaning
of these instructions any more than Moses did at Mt. Sinai, to make all
things according to the pattern shown in the Mount, or than Solomon in
building the temple?
7. This must be interpreted either literally or
spiritually. Literally,, if it will admit of no other interpretation, but
if it will thus admit, then some other interpretation may be sought.
I am inclined to think the interpretation may be both spiritual and
literal --literal it certainly must be; and I have no objection to a
spiritual interpretation also, if one call be properly made from the
text.
8. The border's of the land, and apportionment of the same
to the tribes. The fifty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel is devoted to the
description of the land of Canaan, its various boundaries, and the
assignment to each of the twelve tribes their portion. In describing the
hind it seems that the boundaries mentioned do not differ materially from
those given by Joshua, when the tribes had their various lots assigned
them at their first entrance into the land of Canaan; that this portion of
Canaan thus described is but a small part of the original grant to
Abraham, which was "from the River of Egypt unto the great River
Euphrates," and extending north and south as far as the eye could reach
from that mount of observation from which God pointed out to Abraham the
far reaching boundaries of the land granted to his seed by a warranty deed
as an everlasting possession.
But the divisioning of this limited Canaan is
found to be quite different from that made at the first under
Joshua. Here, in Ezekiel. 48, the portions are bounded from east to
west, extending the whole length of the tract, the west end of every claim
bounded by the Mediterranean Sea; six of the tribes located on the north
of the temple, and six on the south of the temple -- the temple being thus
in the middle of the tribes as located by their boundaries given by divine
command.
Now in this arrangement there is perceived
nothing in conflict with the original settlement of this same land. The
only difference is in the description of the portion made to each of the
tribes; the twelve tribes are all named its at the first, and their
several apportions all contained within the bounds of their lots under
Joshua.
Can the inquiry, then, now be raised as to the
interpretation of this scripture, by which the land of Canaan is to be
apportioned out the second time to the twelve tribes of' Israel?
Yes, just as reasonably as when the twelve tribes were settled in Canaan
by divine command. And there is just as much evidence that the
tribes named by Ezekiel will be spiritual beings, as in the days of
Joshua, those twelve tribes that he led out of the wilderness and across
the River Jordan on dry land, into Canaan, were spiritual phantoms and not
real men and women of flesh and blood!
Here we reach the end
of the prophetic predictions concerning the future establishment of the
kingdom of God in this world. And God himself closes these predictions
with the exclamation: "The name of the city from that day shall be, The
Lord is here"!