in the flesh. He is the true presence or exhibition of Jehovah; revealing grace, mercy, and peace, to poor and perishing men. And when he appears in his holy temple, as he doth now in part in his people individually, and will hereafter in his whole church collectively: then it may be said, beholding the beautiful intention of Solomon and his temple resolved into Christ and his church, that greater than those are here.† The temple was The whole fabric of the universe, the courses and ordinations both of providence and grace, compose only one undeviating (though to our view complex) system of means, and are by no means a final cause, or end, either in whole or in part. In proof of this, we may observe there is no rest, or resting place, in the visible or elementary creation; all things fluctuate and move onwards, either to produce or to establish something beyond themselves: and these, in their turn, act over the same or similar operations, for others. Consequently, nothing here has attained its own proper end; but is restlessly urged to a plus ultrà. So the apostle; the whole creation travaileth, &c. And grace itself, with all its operations and objects here, passes through the world as through a strange country, and pushes on for consummation and rest to a futurity of glory. †The temple was built upon Mount Moriah, the mount of vision or instruction; so called, because there Abraham foresaw, that Jehovah would come to his temple, or Christ appear in the flesh, for the salvation of his church. Abraham himself named the particular spot Jehovah jireh, in token of his faith in the promise: and accordingly the next words should have been rendered, In the mount JEHOVAH shall be seen. This mountain, by a figure, stands for the temple itself; and both temple and mountain relate to the spiritual church, of which Isaiah and Zechariah prophesied. Isaiah xxv. 6, 7, 10. Zech. viii. 3. Among other proofs, that the outward splendor of the temple was the least part of its glory; the second temple, under Zerubbabel, was only a figure of Christ's body, and was so explained by himself in John ii. 21. And alluding in the first instance to his natural body, and, through that, in the second, to his spiritual body, of which the component parts, his people, are termed his members, his flesh and his bones; not one of which, however oppressed for a time, could, not more than those of his natural body, be finally lost or broken. Gentiles as well as Jews were employed in preparing materials for, and in building, the outward temple. And in Christ's spiritual temple, blessed be God, Jews and Gentiles have one common right and privilege, are mutually members of the same glorious fabric, and shall be united in fraternal, indivisible, love for evermore. It is even probable, that the Gentiles will make up the far greater part of that holy assembly; for never do we read of such multitudes of true believers in the Jewish history, as we can trace from time to time in later records. Possibly, the greatest gathering of souls, at any one period of the Hebrew church, was in the last period of forty years, a little before the entire abolition of the Jewish place and removal of the Jewish nation. babel, inferior as it was to the former, was prophesied of as vastly surpassing it in real greatness; because the DESIRE of all nations was to appear in it, and to give peace in that place. Hag. ii. 7. 9. This title is personal to Christ (contrary to the opinion of a late author) as that same word ♬ was to Saul, 1 Sam. ix. 20. That this was truly the second temple, notwithstanding Herod's new erections, and that, as such, the daily sacrifice and other ministrations were continually carried on in it; see SCALIGER de emend. temp. 1. 6. and SELD. de Synedr. 1. iii. c. 13. § 8. See also Dr. GILL on the Prophecies, c. 3. All All the materials, and every part of the outward fabric, were prepared and fitted for their respective places, before they were brought together; so that (according to the divine command) there was neither hammer, nor ax, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house, while it was building.* This was to denote, that all the spiritual building is fitted and prepared in this present life, part by part, in their order and succession; and that, hereafter, the component parts will be fitly joined together, and remain in a holy and heavenly rest for the everlasting habitation of God. There they shall no more need to be hewn with afflictions, to cut away their exorbitancies; no more hammered with temptations and trials, to fix and confirm their faith; nor can the iron ever enter again into their souls, to divest them of earth, or to prepare them for heaven. The outward temple and its œconomy were to serve but for a while, and stood upon a conditional covenant and carnal ordinances, imposed until the time of reformation, or of correction and full explanation;† i. e. by a more perfect dispensation. The Jews broke the conditions, and, according to God's foresight and appointment, they are become a proverb and a by-word among all people; their house is left unto them desolate; and their fruitful land is become barren, through their wickedness. The Lord hath cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; that is, he hath removed the ancient means of grace from the Jews, by which in spirit (like Elijah) they mounted to heaven, 1 Kings vi. 7. + Heb. ix. 10. and and in consequence hath also taken away those faithful and praying redeemed ones, who are the Lord's host indeed, and engaged in his spiritual warfare. The fulfilment of these prophecies is now as evident, as it hath been for ages. Every Jew we see (and we may see Jews scattered all over the world) is a mark of scorn, and a living witness of the truth of divine wrath and revelation. The nation, quite unexampled in the history of all other people, is kept distinct from the rest of mankind, though confused in itself and every where dispersed. The land-of Canaan is now barren and wretched beyond comparison. And if we enquire into the cause of all this, the Lord himself foretold the proper answer, near three thousand years ago, and before the great transgression.* I might have said above three thousand years, even before they had entered the land, or had thoughts of building the temple.† And how often they were warned and threatened afterwards, we may read in many parts of the bible.+-But God's true and spiritual people are partakers of a better covenant, which is established upon better promises ;§-a covenant, which stands, not upon man's performance, but upon God's preroga tive;-promises, which do not rest upon human will and power, but upon the divine faithfulness and omnipotence. This is the covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel AFTER those days [the days that were to come, any, the world to come, (as the Jews speak) * 1 Kings ix. 8, 9, + Deut. xxix. 24. Jer. xxii. 5, &c. Hosea ix. 17. Luke xix. 41, &c. § Heb. viii. 6. i. e. the future or Christian dispensation] saith the LORD: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God [their Alehim,] and they shall be to me a people.* To these spiritual people, and of this everlasting covenant, it is said; the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness snall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD, that hath mercy upon thee.t From hence we may perceive too, that the things of God, pertaining to salvation, are of a divine and spiritual nature; and that, though they may be shadowed forth by terrene and sensible objects, they are not necessarily connected with, and do not depend upon them. Thus, the law completed nothing, but was Tywyn, the suc cedaneum, the subintroduction of, the subordinate means to bring in, a better hope, by the which we draw nigh unto God. If any outward services and circumstances upon earth could claim the privilege of a necessary connection with spiritual things, certainly the Jewish œconomy, as ordained by God himself, might claim it above all others. But when the carnal Israelites, merely because they were Israelites and children of Abraham,§ trusted in God's favor, without the circumcision of the + Isa. liv. 10. see This is the un * Heb. viii. 10. from Jer. xxxi. 31, &c. also Isa. lix. 21. ↑ Heb. vii. 19. happy Jewish confidence to this day. They expect mercy and favor from God, because they are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who, from a sense of their own sinfulness, looked for a spiritual Redeemer, which their unhappy offspring fail to do. heart |