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essential to progress, but when we say that God must do this or that or He denies His
attributes, we are out of our depth. The scripture does not present us with a philosophic
conception of God. It opens with what God did:--
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1: 1).
Philosophy would require us to search back and find out God first. Scripture takes the
position that
"He that cometh to God must believe that He is" (Heb. 11: 6).
The revelation of the Deity throughout scripture is always relative. The moment we
take one step beyond the circle of human things and the age purpose we flounder and fail.
The method chosen by God for the purpose of revelation, the method which His wisdom
saw to be the fittest for His purpose, viz., the constant use of type, figure and biography,
is the method I am bound to follow in interpreting the record of the age purpose.
Interpretation by Type.
A.--But surely this method is limited to the O.T.?
B.--It is in the O.T. that the foundation is laid. The N.T. builds upon it and accepts it,
and so must we. God has revealed the general principles of the great purposes of the ages
in the history of His people Israel. We cannot interpret "all Israel" in one way and "all
men" in another, without forsaking a divine principle. What Abraham is to Israel Adam
is to man, and you will remember that descent from Abraham was not sufficient to
constitute one a child of promise, but that the true seed were called "in Isaac". Therefore
we must be prepared to find that descent from Adam likewise is not sufficient to establish
one as a child or promise, but one must have been chosen "in Christ", which limitation is
indicated in the line that comes down from Adam to Seth, not from Adam to Cain. Israel
are the age-people, and shadow forth the age purpose.
Israel the typical Nation.
A.--What is your warrant for calling Israel the age-people?
B.--Isa. 44: 7 (A.V.) reads "the ancient people". The original is am-olam. Happily we
are quite agreed that the interpretation of the Hebrew olam and the Greek aion should be
"age", and not "ever", "eternal" and the like. You will see that this age-people are
called the Lord's "witnesses" in the next verse. The theme of the chapter and Israel's
witness is that of idolatry, but we have not gone far enough to consider the bearing of
idolatry upon the purpose of the ages yet.
A.--I call to mind other passages which link Israel on to age purpose, such as, the
"everlasting covenant", Canaan as an "everlasting possession", "eternal redemption",
"eternal inheritance", and other similar statements where olam or aion are used.