God had certainly no such purpose respecting them : that, on the contrary, he had entered into covenant with them to re- store them in due season, and to confer on them, as well as on the Gentiles, all the blessings of redemption. The period he had fixed in his divine counsels was, " When the fulness of the Gentiles should come in ;" that is, when there should be among the Gentiles such a measure of concern about the Gospel, as should shew that the time for their fuller and more general reception of it was arrived11. (It is the commencement and not the close, of this period, that must be understood by " the fulness of the Gentiles being come e.") Then shall " the fulness of the Jews" also be brought in. Multitudes in every place shall then begin to be converted to the faith ; and with greater or less rapidity will the whole nation be turned to the Lord. " The first-fruits were holy ; and so is the lump : the root was holy ; and so are the branches." Hence their restora- tion is assured to them ; for " God's gifts and calling are without repentance f."]
The effect of this upon the Gentiles will be blessed in the extreme —
[The Jews being dispersed over the whole world, the change wrought on them will attract universal attention : and carry such conviction with it to the minds of the beholders, as nothing can withstand. Besides, the Jews feeling the truth and importance of the Gospel themselves, will, as in the apostolic age, become preachers of it themselves ; and their Gentile neighbours, knowing what enemies to Christianity they lately were, and seeing the wonderful revolution that has taken place in their minds, will be led to inquire into the Gospel themselves, and will be constrained to yield to its in- fluence. So rapid will their conversion be, that they will " flock to Christ even as doves to their windows," and " a nation will be born in a day."
We have before shewn the beneficial effects which have resulted to the Gentiles from the fall of the Jews : and if such inestimable benefits have been conferred on the world by their fall, " how much more" shall the same, and greater, benefits arise from " their fulness ?" Mark the force of the argument here. The Jews, when the Gospel was preached to them,
d ver. 25 — 27. compared with Isai. lix. 20, 21.
e 7rXr/pw/na corresponds with jjrrrjfia. As soon as the fall of the Jews commenced, the benefit began to arise to the Gentiles ; and as soon as the time for the more general conversion of the Gentiles shall commence, the time for the conversion of the Jews will commence also.
f ver. 16, 29.