THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION

descendants of Jacob, the son of Isaac, or converted Gentiles, it also opens before us such a wide field of research

and study, that the limitations of one chapter cannot suffice. The study under our second heading, therefore, must be

somewhat tabular, analytical, and of the nature of a sample.

Isaiah's prophecy divides into two great sections: the first section, chapters 1 to 39, dealing mainly with Israel's

rejection; the second section, chapters 40 to 66, dealing mainly with Israel's restoration. This second section opens

with the words:

`Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that

her APPOINTED TIME is accomplished (see margin), that her iniquity is pardoned' (Isa. 40:1,2).

The word rendered `warfare' in the A.V. occurs in Daniel 10:1, `the time appointed'. This prophecy of

restoration makes immediate reference to `the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness'. The apostles would know

the close connection between John the Baptist and this prophecy, and hence their question in Acts 1:6. Chapter 43

contains the promise:

`... I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the

south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth' (Isa. 43:5,6).

Jeremiah, too, is a prophet of Rejection and Restoration. First the Lord declares that He will:

`Hasten (Watch over) My word to perform it' (1:12), (which word here was a word of judgment and wrath).

In chapter 31:28 the Lord says :

`And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw

down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD'.

These words refer to Israel as a nation, and not to `a church', as verse 36 bears testimony :

` ... If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being

A NATION before Me for ever'.

`Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the

house of Israel and to the house of Judah ... David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of

Israel ... If I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of JACOB, and

DAVID My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and

JACOB: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them' (Jer. 33:14-26).

No wonder the apostles said `Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'

Jeremiah's prophecy concludes with the transference of sovereignty from Israel to Nebuchadnezzar. Of this

transference and its outcome Daniel is one of the chief spokesmen:

`In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem,

and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand' (Dan. 1:1,2).

Nebuchadnezzar was the divinely appointed head of gold. What Israel's sovereignty covered and what the

restoration of that sovereignty will involve is opened to us by the words of Daniel in describing the extent of the

authority which had been transferred to Nebuchadnezzar:

`Thou, O king, art a king of kings' (Dan. 2:37).

When Israel's kingdom is restored, and great David's greater Son is king, this will be His title:

`King of kings, and Lord of Lords, Prince of the kings of the earth' (Rev. 19:16; 1:5).

That such vast sway and majesty was included in the covenant with David, Psalm 89:27 testifies:

`Also I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth'.