Timothy Alden on the calling of the Jews and the latter-day glory of the church

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THE DESERT SHALL REJOICE AND BLOSSOM LIKE THE ROSE. ISAIAH, XXXV. I.

THIS is a beautiful description of that glorious epoch, which Christendom beholds with an eye of faith, and in which the world will finally rejoice. The time is rapidly advancing, when the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah will be gathered together, from the four quarters of the globe, to the ancient land of promise. They will wail because of him, whom their forefathers have pierced, and will flee to the standard of the cross. This great event will usher in the aurora of that happy day, which prophets, time immemorial, have predicted, and which poets, with raptures, have often sun.

The children of Abraham, who arc now despised, as the mere offscouring of the earth, will then be revered as the favoured of heaven. Ten men at that time, out of all languages of the nations, will even take hold of the skirt of him, who is a Jew, and will say to him, we will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you. The kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of Immanuel. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth, as the waters cover the depths of the sea, The great family of man will become a family of brethren. Every knee will bow in the name of Jesus. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord, to the glory of the God supreme. The fear of Jehovah will dwell in every heart, and tranquillity and happiness in every dominion of the globe.

For the reference, see:

 
I love these posts. Too many Reformed folks react to dispensationalism in the opposite direction; as if it is crypto-dispensationalist to believe God will bring the Jews en masse to Christ in the future. The mass conversion view seems to be a consensus to the Reformers but too many modern Calvinists look odd at you, and ignore when you try to say the Jews are coming BACK into the church, not as a separate “people of God.”
 
"The children of Abraham . . . will then be revered as the favoured of heaven." Favored over the godly Gentiles? It sounds as if a distinction is being made between the Jew and the Gentile in God's favor. And they "will be gathered together, from the four quarters of the globe, to the ancient land of promise"? In the eschaton the "ancient land of promise" will be expanded to include the entire renewed earth (Heb 11:9,10,15,16), home of the glorious Israel of God, glorious by virtue of her marital union with God the eternal Son.

The "children of Abraham"? "...if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:26,27,28,29)".
 
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THIS is a beautiful description of that glorious epoch, which Christendom beholds with an eye of faith, and in which the world will finally rejoice.
When I review the tenor of the whole Bible, I cannot but have this hope myself. I love having this hope in a day when most Christians have very little expectation for the future of this sad old world. When I pray, I often put it this way to God. "Alas, is it true of You that the commercial is better than the product advertised?" Please understand that I speak this way to God with the utmost reverence in my heart, a smile of joy on my face, in wonderment of the glory of God. "He is the God!--He is the God!"

And why shouldn't I hope this? I know the Bible from beginning to end, and the central theme of it is the unsearchable wisdom, power, goodness, and Glory of God. It must say in clear words or implied statements a hundred times that he will have the victory in time over the vast majority of the world. As I often say as I address the Father, "Is it not true that your almighty son Jesus, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Himself mighty God, is the Savior of the World?" Then with great joy and praise in my heart, I say that "You, in all things, will surely 'do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.'"

Romans 11:33‭-‬36
O, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen
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Timothy Alden is a Methodist. (Edit: I thought this wasn't right; he was a Congregational minister and Wikipedia seems to have gotten that wrong based on Allegheny College's later affiliation). Is this a Reformed covenantal exegesis of this verse? Matthew Henry has a different exposition:
When the world, which lies in wickedness, shall be laid in ruins, and the Jewish church, which persisted in infidelity, shall become a desolation, then the gospel church shall be set up and made to flourish. I. The Gentiles shall be brought into it, ver 1, 2, 7.
...
When the Gentile nations, that had been long as a wilderness, bringing forth no fruit to God, received the gospel, joy came with it to them, Ps 67 3, 4; 96 11, 12. When Christ was preached in Samaria there was great joy in that city (Acts 8 8); those that sat in darkness saw a great and joyful light, and then they blossomed,
...
All the beauty of the Jewish church was admitted into the Christian church, and appeared in its perfection, as the apostle shows at large in his epistle to the Hebrews. Whatever was excellent an desirable in the Mosaic economy is translated into the evangelical institutes.
He does address the conversion of the Jews from a different perspective, as in his exposition of Romans 11.
 
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