And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the
Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the
earth.--Isaiah xlix. 6.
The descendants of Abraham, the friend of God, were treated as
the Lord's peculiar people; singled out from other nations as the
favourites of heaven, the Lord was their lawgiver and king. No other
nation had God "so nigh unto them in all things that they called
upon him for," as the people of Israel. To benefit them, the laws
of nature were reversed, and nations destroyed. They were employed
by Jehovah to punish the idolatrous people for their crimes.[142]
They were selected to maintain the knowledge and worship of the
true God,[143] and to convey his pure and holy law to remote
generations. Thus favoured and blessed, the Jews were accustomed
contemptuously to regard all other nations, as common and unclean;
they could not endure to have one stone thrown down of the partition
wall, which had so long separated them from the Gentiles.[144]
They proudly enough appropriated to themselves all the blessings
connected with the appearance of the Messiah. But it would be a
light thing that Christ should become Jehovah's servant, endure pain
and scorn, merely to "raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore
the preserved of Israel;" that nation which he knew would so long
despise and reject him. But Messiah was given for "a light to the
Gentiles," and Jehovah's "salvation unto the ends of the earth." He
has asked, and received "the heathen for his inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." "Yea, all nations
shall be blessed in him;" for the root of Jesse shall stand for "an
ensign of the people, and to him shall the Gentiles seek:" to his
glorious rest shall all nations flow. He shall have "dominion from
sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." "They
that dwell in the wilderness, shall bow before him; and his enemies
lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring
presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba, shall offer gifts: yea, all
kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. For
he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him
that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from violence:
and precious shall their blood be in his sight. He shall live,
and to him shall be given of the gold of Seba: prayer also shall
be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. His
name shall endure for ever, his name shall be continued as long as
the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call
him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only
doeth wondrous things." Yes, Christ is Jehovah's servant, in whom
his soul delights; he has "put his spirit upon him, he shall bring
forth judgment to the Gentiles;" "he has given him for a covenant
of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." Numerous are the
prophecies which refer to the call of the heathen world, and Jesus
who declares himself the Messiah, is described in the New Testament
as "a light to lighten the Gentiles," as well as "the glory of his
people Israel." He preached himself in the borders of Zabulon and
Nephthalim,[145] and Samaria:[146] the parting command he gave his
disciples was, that they should "go forth into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature." He endowed them with the
gift of tongues, to enable them to preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ to the Gentiles. And they went forth and preached every
where, "the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with
signs following." "The word of the Lord went forth from Jerusalem;"
it rapidly spread through Jewry, Samaria, and Galilee. Distant
cities soon heard the glad tidings. Within thirty years after their
Lord's ascension, the faithful disciples had preached the doctrines
of the gospel at Cæsarea, Damascus, Joppa, Antioch, Phrygia,
Galatia, Derbe, Corinth, Iconium, Ephesus, Macedonia, Cyprus, Syria,
Cilicia, Athens, Alexandria, at Rome, and numerous other places.
[142] Deuteronomy xviii. 9, 12.
[143] Isaiah xliii. 20, 21.
[144] John iv. 9.
[145] Matthew iv. 12, 13, 15, 16.
[146] John iv. 4.
The Christian faith was contrary to all existing opinions,
religions, and habits; and decidedly opposed to the natural
propensities of the human heart. Its teachers were Jewish fishermen,
tent-makers, and tax-gatherers, poor and illiterate men,[147]
unskilled in artifice. They preached not merely amongst men as
simple as themselves, they taught at Athens and Rome, the very
seats of learning and philosophy; they had to contend with men
skilled in science, and were opposed by long-established customs
and habits. The disciples had no eloquence to convince, no power to
awe, no wealth to bribe; they were opposed by Jewish pride, Grecian
philosophy, and worldly power; yet the gospel flourished rapidly
over all opposition and persecution: ancient prejudice fell before
the religion of Jesus; though it offered no worldly recompense to
its followers, yet it spread, notwithstanding the kings and nobles
of the earth set themselves in array against it. "The stone cut out
without hands is become a great mountain, and shall fill the whole
earth." The standard of the cross has been planted on every land.
Nations, barbarous and learned, have bowed before it; may it go on
"conquering and to conquer," till all nations and people call our
Immanuel blessed.
[147] Acts iv, 13.