After admonishing them to give heed to the law of Moses, as he foresaw that for a long time to come they would not understand it spiritually and rightly, he went on to say, "And, behold, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the great and signal day of the Lord come: and he shall turn the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his next of kin, lest Icome and utterly smite the earth."(5) It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them.For not without reason do we hope that before the coming of our Judge and Saviour Elias shall come, because we have good reason to believe that he is now alive; for, as Scripture most distinctly informs us,(6)he was taken up from this life in a chariot of fire.When, therefore, he is come, he shall give a spiritual explanation of the law which the Jews at present understand carnally, and shall thus "turn the heart of the father to the son," that is, the heart of fathers to their children; for the Septuagint translators have frequently put the singular for the plural number.And the meaning is, that the sons, that is, the Jews, shall understand the law as the fathers, that is, the prophets, and among them Moses himself, understood it.For the heart of the fathers shall be turned to their children when the children understand the law as their fathers did; and the heart of the children shall be turned to their fathers when they have the same sentiments as the fathers.The Septuagint used the expression, "and the heart of a man to his next of kin," because fathers and children are eminently neighbors to one another.Another and a preferable sense can be found in the words of the Septuagint translators, who have translated Scripture with an eye to prophecy, the sense, viz., that Elias shall turn the heart of God the Father to the Son, not certainly as if he should bring about this love of the Father for the Son, but meaning that he should make it known, and that the Jews also, who had previously hated, should then love the Son who is our Christ.For so far as regards the Jews, God has His heart turned away from our Christ, this being their conception about God and Christ.But in their case the heart of God shall be turned to the Son when they themselves shall turn in heart, and learn the love of the Father towards the Son.The words following, "and the heart of a man to his next of kin,"--that is, Elias shall also turn the heart of a man to his next of kin,--how can we understand this better than as the heart of a man to the man Christ? For though in the form of God He is our God, yet, taking the form of a servant, He condescended to become also our next of kin.It is this, then, which Elias will do, "lest," he says, "I come and smite the earth utterly." For they who mind earthly things are the earth.Such are the carnal Jews until this day; and hence these murmurs of theirs against God, "The wicked are pleasing to Him," and "It is a vain thing to serve God."(7CHAP.30.--THAT IN THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, WHERE IT IS SAIDTHAT GOD SHALL
JUDGE THE WORLD, THE PERSON OF CHRIST IS NOT EXPLICITLY INDICATED, BUT IT PLAINLYAPPEARS FROM SOME PASSAGES IN WHICH THE LORD GOD SPEAKS THAT CHRISTIS MEANT.
There are many other passages of Scripture bearing on the last judgment of God,--so many, indeed, that to cite them all would swell this book to an unpardonable size.Suffice it to have proved that both Old and New Testament enounce the judgment.
But in the Old it is not so definitely declared as in the New that the judgment shall be administered by Christ, that is, that Christ shall descend from heaven as the Judge; for when it is therein stated by the Lord God or His prophet that the Lord God shall come, we do not necessarily understand this of Christ.For both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the Lord God.We must not, however, leave this without proof.And therefore we must first show how Jesus Christ speaks in the prophetical books under the title of the Lord God, while yet there can be no doubt that it is Jesus Christ who speaks; so that in other passages where this is not at once apparent, and where nevertheless it is said that the Lord God will come to that last judgment, we may understand that Jesus Christ is meant.There is a passage in the prophet Isaiah which illustrates what I mean.
For God says by the prophet, "Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call.
I am the first, and I am for ever: and my hand has rounded the earth, and my right hand has established the heaven.Iwill call them, and they shall stand together, and be gathered, and hear.Who has declared to them these things? In love of thee I have done thy pleasure upon Babylon, that Imight take away the seed of the Chaldeans.I have spoken, and I have called: I have brought him, and have made his way prosperous.Come ye near unto me, and hear this.I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; when they were made, there was I.And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me."(1) It was Himself who was speaking as the Lord God; and yet we should not have understood that it was Jesus Christ had He not added, "And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me."For He said this with reference to the form of a servant, speaking of a future event as if it were past, as in the same prophet we read, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,"(2) not "He shall be led;" but the past tense is used to express the future.And prophecy constantly speaks in this way.
