in this case it " involved a withering rejection of the blasted spirit and his accusations, as when Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and he departed out of his victim."[1] The reason follows, " Yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee" as much as to say, " Shall God cast away His people which Pie hath foreknown?" (Rom. xi. i). And this is the best answer that can ever be given to the accusations of man or devil, directed either against Israel, or the Church, or the individual Christian. It is the answer which Paul gives in that section of his Epistle to the Romans which was indicted for the express purpose of instructing Gentile believers in God's mystery with Israel:
"I say, then, hath God cast away His people? " He shudders at the very thought, as inconsistent with the character of God, Who must abide true though all may prove liars, and whose gifts and calling of His people are without repentance (or " change of mind ") on His part " By no means," or " God forbid," he exclaims.
Yes, if Israel's position as the Lord's peculiar people depended on their own faithfulness, then there would have been an end of them long ago; but Israel's hope and safety rest on the immutable character and faithfulness of the Everlasting, Unchangeable God, and that makes all the difference. Why did God choose Israel in the first instance? Was it because of their righteousness or their lovableness above all other peoples? Oh no! " Jehovah did not set His love upon you, nor choose you," He tells them through Moses, " because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people." " Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thine heart, but because Jehovah loved you, and because He would keep
- ↑ The following passages collected by Pusey show that "the rebuke of God must be with power": "Thou hast rebuked the nations, Thou hast destroyed the ungodly" (Ps. ix. 5); "Thou hast rebuked the proud accursed" (Ps. cxix. 21 ); "They perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance " (Ps. Ixxx. 16); "God shall rebuke him, and he fleeth far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind" (Isa. xvii. 13); "The foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord " (Ps. xviii. 15; Nah. i. 4; see also Ps. cvi. 9 and Mai. ii. 3, R.V.).
