THE THEME OF PROPHECY AS SCRIPTURE

The special work of the prophets as applicable to their times and conditions has already been considered. It is intended in this chapter to consider what we find in Prophecy as a part of the Scriptures.

Here also we find that all their messages center about the idea of a people of God, or as it might be put, a kingdom of God on earth. It is to be noted, however, that while the prophets spoke of a people or kingdom that should be in the future, their teachings about that people were put in general terms; they did not attempt to give in minute detail the history of that coming kingdom*,

1. The fact that God purposed to have a people on the earth, a people in a real sense separate and distinguishable from all others, is made evident from the first, and this purpose was not thwarted, nor could it be prevented, by the failure of the Israelites to be faithful to God. Even when Israel, nominally God’s, turned from him and worshiped idols, when they had rejected the Holy One of Israel, his prophets declared that in that future which they foresaw there would be a real people of God.

It was natural, if not necessary, that prophetic references to this true people of God, should be put in terms that fitted Israel’s relation to Jehovah. Probably the prophets could not have spoken to those of their own times and have been understood, without using Israelite terms. That people of God of the future is thus called “Israel”; their home is the “Holy Land”; their chief city is “Zion”; their enemies are “Edom,” “Egypt,” “Philistia,” “Assyria,” and “Babylon.”

But the prophetic idea of God’s future people was clearly larger than Israel. It was to be a people not distinguished by family descent, nor marked off by national barriers. There would be included in it men of all nations, even of those who had been the perpetual, hating enemies of the Israelites. There are very many passages that show this, none perhaps more certainly than Isaiah 19:24, 25, where it is declared that Israel shall be one of three, the other two being Egypt and Assyria, and terms of close relationship to God that had been applied to Israel only, are here applied to these veteran enemies of Israel. “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”

2. This future people of God would he his by virtue of the fact that he would choose them out of the world for himself. They would be the objects of his favor, the recipients of his grace. It would be a people whose sins would be forgiven because of the vicarious suffering of the Servant whom God would send. The highest idea of the work of the suffering innocent One, through whom the nations would be turned back to Jehovah, and who would himself bear the stripes due the guilty, is given in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. No interpretation of this wonderful passage that denies its reference to Christ can ever be finally acceptable. Of the two divisions of the Messianic ideas presented in the Old Testament, that of the Sovereign and that of the Sufferer, the climax of the latter is reached in this passage.

3. The prophetic assertion that a King would reign over this future people of God is not a mere figure of speech suggested by the fact of the Israelite kingdom, but rather the kingdom of Israel was established under the direction of Jehovah, with a king of his own choosing, that it might be a type of the spiritual kingdom still future. By the character and history of the first kings of Israel we learn what the Theocratic, Messianic King was to be, though the reality far exceeded what was thus foreshadowed.

The failures of Israel’s kings gave occasion for the prophets to predict the coming of a King who would rule in accord with the will of God; who would reign in righteousness; whose scepter would be one of justice; whose sway would be as wide as the earth; a King whom other kings would serve, and whose rule would be one of peace.

The two chief functions of the Israelite king were to be realized in him: that of defender, and that of judge. He would defend his people from all their enemies. Under his reign they would be secure from oppression. And he would be a just Judge, arbitrating all cases with equity, and rendering to each according to his deserts.

This Messianic idea in its twofold aspect is a dominant one in Old Testament Prophecy. Sometimes the Messianic thought is given only in outline and very general terms; sometimes, especially towards the close of the prophetic period, the delineation of the person and work of the Messiah stands out with more clearness. Yet all that we get is far less than what was revealed by the Messiah himself when he at last came. What is here given is but an introduction that we might become acquainted with him later.

4. This people of God was to be characterized by righteousness, justice, mercy or loving-kindness, and holiness. All these characteristics would result from the fact that they were the people of Jehovah, and that they were to be like him. While the Israelites were nominally God’s people, in character they were scarcely different from the nations about them during much of their career. They were distinguished by name as the worshipers of Jehovah, though in practise the mass of them much of the time worshiped idols. They followed the formal ceremonies of their religious ritual, but too often their worship was the form only, while in heart they were far from God.

The prophets declared that in the future the people of God would have his law written in their hearts; that they would be faithful to Jehovah, instead of forsaking him and worshiping the gods of the heathen. There would be none unholy among them. The city where they would dwell would be called the city of righteousness, and none but those with a character like God’s would be found in it.

In their relation to the peoples about them this people of God was to be preeminent. All the other nations were to be subservient to them. This idea was especially suggested, and especially comforting, at a time when the Israelites were being ruled over by the heathen. They were invaded, despoiled, oppressed, exiled. These conditions would not obtain in the Messianic times. These terms are undoubtedly figurative, yet there is in them the great truth that it was God’s purpose that all the nations of the earth should be made to contribute to the glory of his kingdom. Not only should the world powers be prevented from dominating his people, but his people should be served by the world powers.