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| Of the Things Pertaining to the Gospel of Christ Which Hosea and Amos Prohesied. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter 28.—Of the Things
Pertaining to the Gospel of Christ Which Hosea and Amos
Prohesied.
The prophet Hosea speaks so very
profoundly that it is laborious work to penetrate his meaning.
But, according to promise, we must insert something from his
book. He says, “And it shall come to pass that in the place
where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there they shall
be called the sons of the living God.”1153 Even the apostles understood
this as a prophetic testimony of the calling of the nations who did
not formerly belong to God; and because this same people of the
Gentiles is itself spiritually among the children of Abraham, and
for that reason is rightly called Israel, therefore he goes on to
say, “And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall
be gathered together in one, and shall appoint themselves one
headship, and shall ascend from the earth.”1154 We should but weaken the savor
of this prophetic oracle if we set ourselves to expound it. Let
the reader but call to mind that cornerstone and those two walls of
partition, the one of the Jews, the other of the Gentiles,1155 and he
will recognize them, the one under the term sons of Judah, the
other as sons of Israel, supporting themselves by one and the same
headship, and ascending from the earth. But that those carnal
Israelites who are now unwilling to believe in Christ shall
afterward believe, that is, their children shall (for they
themselves, of course, shall go to their own place by dying), this
same prophet testifies, saying, “For the children of Israel shall
abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a
sacrifice, without an altar, without a priesthood, without
manifestations.”1156 Who does not see that the Jews
are now thus? But let us hear what he adds: “And afterward
shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God,
and David their king, and shall be amazed at the Lord and at His
goodness in the latter days.”1157
Nothing is clearer than this
prophecy, in which by David, as distinguished by the title of king,
Christ is to be understood, “who is made,” as the apostle says,
“of the seed of David according to the flesh.”1158 This
prophet has also foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third
day, as it behoved to be foretold, with prophetic loftiness, when
he says, “He will heal us after two days, and in the third day we
shall rise again.”1159 In agreement with this the
apostle says to us, “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above.”1160 Amos also prophesies thus
concerning such things: “Prepare thee, that thou mayst invoke
thy God, O Israel; for lo, I am binding the thunder, and creating
the spirit, and announcing to men their Christ.”1161 And in
another place he says, “In that day will I raise up the
tabernacle of David that is fallen, and build up the breaches
thereof: and I will raise up his ruins, and will build them up
again as in the days of old: that the residue of men may inquire
for me, and all the nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the
Lord that doeth this.”1162
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