The Resurrection Revealed, Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Section 20
SECT. XX.
§. 1 THe eleventh place in Iſaiah is Chap. 49. wholly. But I ſhall need to touch only upon three or four places of the Chapter, which will give light to all the reſt. In generall, the chapter is of the bringing in of Jews and Gentiles into the Church. The Jews are here named by the generall termes that comprehend at leaſt the ten Tribes, if not the whole twelve: viz. by the names of Iſrael, ver. 3, 5, 6, 7. and of Jacob ver. 5. and of the Tribes of Jacob, v. 6. and the preſerved of Iſrael, ibid. In way of diſtinction from whom, the two Tribes are called Zion, v. 14. So that all the twelve Tribes that came of Jacob, are intended in this Chapter, in the cloſe whereof, as a ſeal, the Lord ſtiles himſelf Their Saviour, their Redeemer, the Mighty one of JACOB. The Gentiles likewiſe are expreſſely named in v. 6. viz, I will alſo give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayeſt bee my ſalvation unto the ends of the earth; quoted by the Apoſtle Act. 13.47. to prove the propagation of the Goſpel for ſalvation to the Gentiles. The concurrence of both Jews and Gentiles in coming in to Chriſt, is expreſſed to the life, ver. 22, 23. Thus ſaith the Lord God, behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and ſet up my ſtandard to the people, and they ſhall bring THY ſons in their armes, and thy daughters ſhall be carryed upon THEIR ſhoulders, and KINGS ſhall be thy nurſing Fathers, and THEIR Queens ſhall be THY nurſing Mothers, &c. Adde, that the engagement of God that thus hee will call home both Jews and Gentiles, v. 13.15, 19, 18, & 26. is great. Sing O Heavens, and be joyfull O Earth, and break forth into ſinging, O Mountains, for God hath comforted his people, and WILL have mercy on his afflicted. Can a woman forget her ſucking child, that ſhee ſhould not have compaſſion on the ſon of her womb, &c. Yet VVILL NOT I FORGET THEE. Behold I have GRAVEN THEE upon the palmes of mine hands. As I LIVE, ſaith the Lord, thou ſhalt ſurely cloathe thee with them all (that oppoſe thee) as with an, ornament, &c. And ALL FLESH ſhall know, that I the Lord am the Mighty one of Jacob.
§. 2 Theſe being premiſed, let us but only put the queſtion upon ſome Verſes, whether ever they were yet fully fulfilled; and that will be ſufficient to ingenuous reaſon, to confeſſe they muſt yet be fulfilled, and that on earth.
§. 3 VVhen was the ſeventeenth verſe ever fulfilled? viz. Thy children ſhall make haſle, thy deſtroyers, and they that made thee waſte, ſhall goe out of thee. VVe read no ſuch thing at their return from Babylon, but that there were the crew of Sanballat, Tobiah, &c. that oppoſed them. Anon Alexander the Great the Grecian Monarch enters Jeruſalem. After him, Antiochus Epiphanes, alias Epimanes King of Syria waſteth it. After theſe the Romans conquer it. And now the Turks ever ſince poſſeſſe it.
§. 4 And when ever yet was the nineteenth verſe fulfilled? viz. Thy waſte and deſolate places, and the land of thy deſtruction, ſhall even now be too narrow by reaſon of the Inhabitants, and they that ſwallowed thee up, ſhall be far away. Surely ſince the carrying away captive of the ten Tribes, the Kingdomes of Iſrael and Judah were never full of their owne Inhabitants. We never read, that ever the Aſſyrians, Babylonians, Cutheans, &c. which the King of Aſſyria ſent into the Kingdome of Iſrael (2 Kings 17.24.) were ſent for home againe. Nor that ever thoſe CALDEANS that were ſent to governe Judea (intimated in 2 King. 25. were recalled. And for after times (as we have hinted afore) when the Greek went out, the Syrian came in; when the Syrian went out, the Roman came in; when the Roman went, the Turke came in, and there he is to this day. Theſe expulſing one another, there hath been a conſtant ſucceſſion of them that ſwallowed up the twelve Tribes. Their waſters and deſtroyers have been changed, but have not been ſent forth far away from Iſrael and Judah.
§. 5 Againe, did the Gentiles and Peoples ever yet (as v. 22.) bring the ſonnes and daughters of the Jewes in their armes, and upon their ſhoulders? If we ſhould wave the litterall ſenſe of ſetling the Jews in their owne Land, and condeſcend to a ſpirituall ſenſe of the generality of the Gentiles compliance with the generality of the Jewes in matters of Religion, and union into the univerſall Church, wee cannot tell when ever this was done to this day.
§. 6 Nor can we ſay that ever the Kings of the Gentiles (as it is v. 23.) and their Queens, have been nurſing fathers and mothers to the Jewes, and bowing downe to them. Alas, poore Jewes! they have ever ſince the beginning of the Grecian Monarchy, long before Chriſt, downe to this very day, been under the awing power of the Gentiles, and moſtly uſed hardly, and in moſt places of the world inſtead of reverence, have been, and are much villified. Therefore John in Revelation tels us, that this is yet to come, and to be fulfilled upon earth afore the ultimate day of judgement, as the circumſtances of things, and the phraſes of the Propheſie neceſſarily require, Rev. 21. v. 24.26. And the Kings of the EARTH doe bring their glory and honour (into New Jeruſalem) And they ſhall bring the glory and honour of the NATIONS into it. And yet ſo, as there ſhall in no wiſe enter into it any thing that defileth, &c.
§. 7 Wee are likewiſe utterly to ſeek, when ever yet the 25. and 26. verſes were fulfilled, viz. The captives of the mighty ſhall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible ſhall be delivered, for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will ſave thy children, and will feed them that oppreſſe thee, with their owne fleſh, and they ſhall be drunken with their owne blood. Wee know not of any ſuch thing ſince the captivity of the Jewes in Babylon, in all Hiſtories divine, and humane, that thus the Jewes were ſaved by ſuch deſtruction of their enemies. The Jews indeed ſoon after their captivity made ſome attempts, 2 King. 25. v. 25. After that, they made ſome attempts in 1 Book of Macchab. And after that, they made ſeverall attempts in the time of Titus and Adrian, Roman Emperours. And ſince that the Turk hath dominered over them, the Kings of the Gentiles, eſpecially of England, have made ſome attempts of warre on their enemies, managed by the ſtocke, counſell, and aide of ſeverall religious orders for that end; as of the Templars, Knights of the Rhodes, or of John of Jeruſalem, and of the Knights of Malta, alias Melita. But all theſe attempts, have not amounted to Iſaiahs phraſe, to a full ſaving of the Jews by the deſtruction of their enemies, deſtroying their fleſh, and pouring out of their blood. But in all theſe attempts in the end, the Jewes party had the worſt, even as Iſrael and Juda are ſtill diſperſed, and thoſe in Judea, are ſtill under the power of their enemy the Turk. Therefore theſe things are yet to be fulfilled, viz. at the fall of Antichriſt, Rev. 16.5.6. and Rev. 19. v. 19.20, 21. Thou art righteous O Lord, &c. becauſe thou haſt judged thus: For they have ſhed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou haſt given them blood to drinke. And the Kings of the earth, and their armies were gathered together to make warre againſt him that ſate on the white horſe, and againſt his army, and the beaſt was taken, and with him the falſe Prophet, and caſt into the lake of fire, &c. and the reſt were ſlaine with the ſword, &c.