According to this view, the first method of interpretation dif- fers very little from the second of those above mentioned. Both suppose that the same words or descriptions are intended to refer to two or more events very different in their nature and in the time of their occurrence. Isaiah's prediction of the great deliverance which God was to effect for his people, was so framed as to an- swer both to the redemption of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, and to the greater redemption by the Messiah. It was in fact and equally a prediction of both events. The former was the type, and the first step toward the accomplishment of the other. So also in the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah, the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, the spiritual redemp- tion, and the final judgment, are blended together. As, there- fore, in the Old Testament the Messianic prophecies took in the whole scope of God's dealings with his people, including their deliverance from Babylon and their redemption by Christ, so as to make it doubtful what refers to the former and what to the latter event ; so this discourse of Christ may be considered as taking in the whole history of his kingdom, including his great work of judgment in casting out the Jews and calling the Gen- tiles, as well as the final consummation of his work. Thus every- thing predicted of the final judgment had its counterpart in what was fulfilled in that generation.
The third method of interpretation is greatly to be preferred, if it can be successfully carried out. Christ does in fact answer the three questions presented by his disciples. He told when the temple and the city were to be destroyed ; it was when they should see Jerusalem compassed about with armies. He told them that the sign of the coming of the Son of Man was to be great defection in the Church, dreadful persecutions, and all but irresistible temptations, and that with his coming were to be con- nected the final judgment and the end of the world ; but that the time when those events were to occur, was not given unto them to know, nor even to the angels of heaven. (Matt. xxiv. 36.)
If this be the method of interpreting these important predic- tions, then the declaration contained in Matt. xxiv. 34, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled," must be restricted to the " all things " spoken of, referring to the de- struction of Jerusalem and the inauguration of the Church as Christ's kingdom on earth. There is, however, high authority for making rj yevca avrq, here and in the parallel passages, Mark xiii. 30 and Luke xxi. 32, refer to Israel as a people or race ; in
800 PART IV. Ch. m. — the second advent.
this case the meaning would be that the Jews would not cease to be a distinct people until his predictions were fulfilled.1 There is nothing, therefore, in this discourse of Christ's inconsistent with the common Church doctrine as to the nature and concomitants of his Second Advent.
§ 4. The Calling of the Grentiles. The first great event which is to precede the second coming of Christ, is the universal proclamation of the Gospel.
1. The first argument in proof of the position that the Gospel must be preached to all nations before the second advent, is founded on the predictions of the Old Testament. It is there distinctly foretold that when the Messiah appeared the Spirit should be poured out on all flesh, and that all men should see the salvation of God. The Messiah was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel. The feet of those who brought the glad tidings and published peace, were to be beautiful upon the mountains. God said in Hosea ii. 23, " I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people ; and they shall say, Thou art my God." And in Isaiah xlv. 22, 23, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself .... that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." That is, the true religion shall prevail over the whole earth. Jehovah shall everywhere be recognized and worshipped as the only true God. It is to be remembered that these and many other passages of like import are quoted and applied by the Apostle to the Gospel dispensation. They are enforced on the at- tention of those to whom they wrote as showing the Gentiles that the Gospel was designed for them as well as for the Jews ; and to impress upon the Church its obligation to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven.
2. Christ repeatedly taught that the Gospel was to be preached to all nations before his second coming. Thus in Matt. xxiv. 14, it is said, " This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come." (Mark xiii. 10) " The gospel must first be published among all nations."
1 Dorner. Be Oratione Christi Eschatologica, Tractates Theologicus. Stuttgart, 1844, pp. 76-86.
C. A. Auberlen, The Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelations of St. John. Translated by Rev. Adolph Saphir, Edinburgh, 1856, p. 354. "The Lord Jesus himself," says Auber len, " prophesied (Matthew xxiv. 34), that Israel was to be preserved during the entire Cbnrch-historical period."