“The Lord pronounces a curse upon these Pharisees and Rabbis, these who ‘thrust with side and with shoulder,’ those evil shepherds who will not suffer the sheep to lie down, neither will feed them with good pasture. But, after having described this state, He prophesies better times for the poor Jew. The day is coming when the careless shepherds shall be as naught; when the power of the Rabbis shall cease, when the traditions of the Mishna and the Talmud shall be cast aside.
The hour is approaching, when the tribes shall go up to their own country; when Judea, so long a howling wilderness, shall once more blossom like the rose; when, if the temple itself be not restored, yet on Zion’s hill shall be raised some Christian building, where the chants of solemn praise shall be heard as erst of old the Psalms of David were sung in the tabernacle.
Not long shall it be ere they shall come—shall come from distant lands wher’er they rest or roam; and she who has been the offscouring of all things, whose name has been a proverb and a byword, shall become the glory of all lands. Dejected Zion shall raise her head, shaking herself from dust, and darkness, and the dead. Then shall the Lord feed His people, and make them and the places round about His hill a blessing.
I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible, it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the children of Israel. ‘Thither they shall go up; they shall come with weeping unto Zion, and with supplications unto Jerusalem.’
May that happy day soon come! For when the Jews are restored, then the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in; and as soon as they return, then Jesus will come upon Mount Zion to reign with His ancients gloriously, and the halcyon days of the Millennium shall then dawn; we shall then know every man to be a brother and a friend; Christ shall rule, with universal sway.”
-–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Church of Christ,” in Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 135-6.
