Calvin, Institutes, Vol.2, Part 11
(... continued from part 10)
Chapter 10.
10. The resemblance between the Old Testament and the New.
This chapter consists of four parts. I. The sum, utility, and
necessity of this discussion, sec. 1. II. A proof that, generally
speaking, the old and new dispensations are in reality one, although
differently administered. Three points in which the two
dispensations entirely agree, sec. 2-4. III. The Old Testament, as
well as the New, had regard to the hope of immortality and a future
life, whence two other resemblances or points of agreement follow,
viz., that both were established by the free mercy of God, and
confirmed by the intercession of Christ. This proved by many
arguments, passages of Scripture, and examples, see. 5-23. IV.
Conclusion of the whole chapter, where, for fuller confirmation,
certain passages of Scripture are produced. Refutation of the cavils
of the Sadducees and other Jews.
Sections.
1. Introduction, showing the necessity of proving the similarity of
both dispensations in opposition to Servetus and the
Anabaptists.
2. This similarity in general. Both covenants truly one, though
differently administered. Three things in which they entirely
agree.
3. First general similarity, or agreement, viz., that the Old
Testament, equally with the New, extended its promises beyond
the present life, and held out a sure hope of immortality.
Reason for this resemblance. Objection answered.
4. The other two points of resemblance, viz., that both covenants
were established in the mercy of God, and confirmed by the
mediation of Christ.
5. The first of these points of resemblance being the foundation of
the other two, a lengthened proof is given of it. The first
argument taken from a passage, in which Paul, showing that the
sacraments of both dispensations had the same meaning, proves
that the condition of the ancient church was similar to ours.
6. An objection from John 6: 49, viz., that the Israelites ate manna
in the wilderness, and are dead, whereas Christians eat the
flesh of Christ, and die not. Answer reconciling this passage
of the Evangelist with that of the Apostle.
7. Another proof from the Law and the Prophets, viz., the power of
the divine word in quickening souls before Christ was
manifested. Hence the believing Jews were raised to the hope of
eternal life.
8. Third proof from the form of the covenant, which shows that it
was in reality one both before and after the manifestation of
Christ in the flesh.
9. Confirmation of the former proof from the clear terms in which
the form is expressed. Another confirmation derived from the
former and from the nature of God.
10. Fourth proof from examples. Adam, Abel, and Noah, when tried
with various temptations, neglecting the present, aspired with
living faith and invincible hope to a better life. They,
therefore, had the same aim as believers under the Gospel.
11. Continuation of the fourth proof from the example of Abraham,
whose call and whole course of life shows that he ardently
aspired to eternal felicity. Objection disposed of.
12. Continuation of the fourth proof from the examples of Isaac and
Jacob.
13. Conclusion of the fourth proof. Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and others under the Law, looked for the
fulfilment of the divine promises not on the earth, but in
heaven. Hence they termed this life an earthly pilgrimage, and
desired to be buried in the land of Canaan, which was a figure
of eternal happiness.
14. A fifth proof from Jacob's earnestness to obtain the
birth-right. This shows a prevailing desire of future life.
This perceived in some degree by Balaam.
15. A sixth proof from David, who expects such great things from the
Lord, and yet declares the present life to be mere vanity.
16. A seventh proof also from David. His descriptions of the
happiness of believers could only be realised in a future
state.
17. An eighth proof from the common feeling and confession of all
the pious who sought by faith and hope to obtain in heaven what
they did not see in the present shadowy life.
18. A continuation and confirmation of the former proof from the
exultation of the righteous, even amid the destruction of the
world.
19. A ninth proof from Job, who spoke most distinctly of this hope.
Two objections disposed of.
20. A tenth proof from the later Prophets, who taught that the
happiness of the righteous was placed beyond the limits of the
present life.
21. This clearly established by Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones,
and a passage in Isaiah.
22. Last proof from certain passages in the Prophets, which clearly
show the future immortality of the righteous in the kingdom of
heaven.
23. Conclusion of the whole discussion concerning the similarity of
both dispensations. For fuller confirmation, four passages of
Scripture produced. Refutation of the error of the Sadducees
and other Jews, who denied eternal salvation and the sure hope
of the Church.
1. From what has been said above, it must now be clear, that
all whom, from the beginning of the world, God adopted as his
peculiar people, were taken into covenant with him on the same
conditions, and under the same bond of doctrine, as ourselves; but
as it is of no small importance to establish this point, I will here
add it by way of appendix, and show, since the Fathers were
partakers with us in the same inheritance, and hoped for a common
salvation through the grace of the same Mediator, how far their
condition in this respect was different from our own. For although
the passages which we have collected from the Law and the Prophets
for the purpose of proof, make it plain that there never was any
other rule of piety and religion among the people of God; yet as
many things are written on the subject of the difference between the
Old and New Testaments in a manner which may perplex ordinary
readers, it will be proper here to devote a special place to the
better and more exact discussion of this subject. This discussion,
which would have been most useful at any rate, has been rendered
necessary by that monstrous miscreant, Servetus, and some madmen of
the sect of the Anabaptists, who think of the people of Israel just
as they would do of some herd of swine, absurdly imagining that the
Lord gorged them with temporal blessings here, and gave them no hope
of a blessed immortality. Let us guard pious minds against this
pestilential error, while we at the same time remove all the
difficulties which are wont to start up when mention is made of the
difference between the Old and the New Testaments. By the way also,
let us consider what resemblance and what difference there is
between the covenant which the Lord made with the Israelites before
the advent of Christ, and that which he has made with us now that
Christ is manifested.
2. It is possible, indeed, to explain both in one word. The
covenant made with all the fathers is so far from differing from
ours in reality and substance, that it is altogether one and the
same: still the administration differs. But because this brief
summary is insufficient to give any one a full understanding of the
subject, our explanation to be useful must extend to greater length.
It were superfluous, however, in showing the similarity, or rather
identity, of the two dispensations, again to treat of the
particulars which have already been discussed, as it were
unseasonable to introduce those which are still to be considered
elsewhere. What we propose to insist upon here may be reduced to
three heads: - First, That temporal opulence and felicity was not
the goal to which the Jews were invited to aspire, but that they
were admitted to the hope of immortality, and that assurance of this
adoption was given by immediate communications, by the Law and by
the Prophets. Secondly, That the covenant by which they were
reconciled to the Lord was founded on no merits of their own, but
solely on the mercy of God, who called them; and, thirdly, That they
both had and knew Christ the Mediator, by whom they were united to
God, and made capable of receiving his promises. The second of
these, as it is not yet perhaps sufficiently understood, will be
fully considered in its own place, (Book 3 chap. 15-18.) For we will
prove by many clear passages in the Prophets, that all which the
Lord has ever given or promised to his people is of mere goodness
and indulgence. The third also has, in various places, been not
obscurely demonstrated. Even the first has not been left unnoticed.
3. As the first is most pertinent to the present subject, and
is most controverted, we shall enter more fully into the
consideration of it, taking care, at the same time, where any of the
others requires explanations to supply it by the way, or afterwards
add it in its proper place. The Apostle, indeed, removes all doubt
when he says that the Gospel which God gave concerning his Son,
Jesus Christ, "he had promised aforetime by his prophets in the holy
Scriptures," (Rom. 1: 2.) And again, that "the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets," (Rom. 3: 21.) For the Gospel does not confine the hearts
of men to the enjoyment of the present life, but raises them to the
hope of immortality; does not fix them down to earthly delights, but
announcing that there is a treasure laid up in heaven, carries the
heart thither also. For in another place he thus explains, "After
that ye believed [the Gospel,] ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the
redemption of the purchased possession," (Eph. 1: 13, 14.) Again,
"Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which
ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in
heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the
Gospel," (Col. 1: 4.) Again, "Whereunto he called you by our Gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Thess.
2: 14.) Whence also it is called the word of salvation and the power
of God, with salvation to every one that believes, and the kingdom
of heaven. But if the doctrine of the Gospel is spiritual, and gives
access to the possession of incorruptible life, let us not suppose
that those to whom it was promised and declared altogether neglected
the care of the soul, and lived stupidly like cattle in the
enjoyment of bodily pleasures. Let no one here quibble and say, that
the promises concerning the Gospel, which are contained in the Law
and the Prophets, were designed for a new people. For Paul, shortly
after making that statement concerning the Gospel promised in the
Law, adds, that "whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to those
who are under the law." I admit, indeed, he is there treating of a
different subject, but when he said that every thing contained in
the Law was directed to the Jews, he was not so oblivious as not to
remember what he had said a few verses before of the Gospel promised
in the Law. Most clearly, therefore, does the Apostle demonstrate
that the Old Testament had special reference to the future life,
when he says that the promises of the Gospel were comprehended under
it.
4. In the same way we infer that the Old Testament was both
established by the free mercy of God and confirmed by the
intercession of Christ. For the preaching of the Gospel declares
nothing more than that sinners, without any merit of their own, are
justified by the paternal indulgence of God. It is wholly summed up
in Christ. Who, then, will presume to represent the Jews as
destitute of Christ, when we know that they were parties to the
Gospel covenant, which has its only foundation in Christ? Who will
presume to make them aliens to the benefit of gratuitous salvation,
when we know that they were instructed in the doctrine of
justification by faith? And not to dwell on a point which is clear,
we have the remarkable saying of our Lord, "Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad," (John 8: 56.)
What Christ here declares of Abraham, an apostle shows to be
applicable to all believers, when he says that Jesus Christ is the
"same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," (Heb. 13: 8.) For he is not
there speaking merely of the eternal divinity of Christ, but of his
power, of which believers had always full proof. Hence both the
blessed Virgin and Zachariah, in their hymns, say that the salvation
revealed in Christ was a fulfilment of the mercy promised "to our
fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever," (Luke 1: 55, 72.)
If, by manifesting Christ, the Lord fulfilled his ancient oath, it
cannot be denied that the subject of that oaths must ever have been
Christ and eternal life.
5. Nay, the Apostle makes the Israelites our equals, not only
in the grace of the covenant, but also in the signification of the
Sacraments. For employing the example of those punishments, which
the Scripture states to have been of old inflicted on the Jews, in
order to deter the Corinthians from falling into similar wickedness,
he begins with premising that they have no ground to claim for
themselves any privilege which can exempt them from the divine
vengeance which overtook the Jews, since the Lord not only visited
them with the same mercies, but also distinguished his grace among
them by the same symbols: as if he had said, If you think you are
out of danger, because the Baptism which you received, and the
Supper of which you daily partake, have excellent promises, and if,
in the meantime, despising the goodness of God, you indulge in
licentiousness, know that the Jews, on whom the Lord inflicted his
severest judgements, possessed similar symbols. They were baptised
in passing through the sea, and in the cloud which protected them
from the burning heat of the sun. It is said, that this passage was
a carnal baptism, corresponding in some degree to our spiritual
baptism. But if so, there would be a want of conclusiveness in the
argument of the Apostle, whose object is to prevent Christians from
imagining that they excelled the Jews in the matter of baptism.
Besides, the cavil cannot apply to what immediately follows, viz.,
that they did "all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink
the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ," (1 Cor. 10: 3, 4.)
6. To take off the force of this passage of Paul, an objection
is founded on the words of our Saviour, "Your fathers did eat manna
in the wilderness, and are dead." "If any man eat of this bread, he
shall live for ever," (John 6: 49, 51.) There is no difficulty in
reconciling the two passages. The Lord, as he was addressing hearers
who only desired to be filled with earthly food, while they cared
not for the true food of the soul, in some degree adapts his speech
to their capacity, and, in particular, to meet their carnal view,
draws a comparison between manna and his own body. They called upon
him to prove his authority by performing some miracle, such as Moses
performed in the wilderness when he obtained manna from heaven. In
this manna they saw nothing but a relief of the bodily hunger from
which the people were then suffering; they did not penetrate to the
sublimer mystery to which Paul refers. Christ, therefore, to
demonstrate that the blessing which they ought to expect from him
was more excellent than the lauded one which Moses had bestowed upon
their fathers, draws this comparison: If, in your opinion, it was a
great and memorable miracle when the Lord, by Moses, supplied his
people with heavenly food that they might be supported for a season,
and not perish in the wilderness from famine; from this infer how
much more excellent is the food which bestows immortality. We see
why our Lord omitted to mention what was of principal virtue in the
manna, and mentioned only its meanest use. Since the Jews had, as it
were by way of upbraiding, cast up Moses to him as one who had
relieved the necessity of the people by means of manna, he answers,
that he was the minister of a much larger grace, one compared with
which the bodily nourishment of the people, on which they set so
high a value, ought to be held worthless. Paul, again, knowing that
the Lords when he rained manna from heaven, had not merely supplied
their bodies with food, but had also dispensed it as containing a
spiritual mystery to typify the spiritual quickening which is
obtained in Christ, does not overlook that quality which was most
deserving of consideration. Wherefore it is surely and clearly
proved, that the same promises of celestial and eternal life, which
the Lord now gives to us, were not only communicated to the Jews,
but also sealed by truly spiritual sacraments. This subject is
copiously discussed by Augustine in his work against Faustus the
Manichee.
7. But if my readers would rather have passages quoted from the
Law and the Prophets, from which they may see, as we have already
done from Christ and the Apostles, that the spiritual covenant was
common also to the Fathers, I will yield to the wish, and the more
willingly, because opponents will thus be more surely convinced,
that henceforth there will be no room for evasion. And I will begin
with a proof which, though I know it will seem futile and almost
ridiculous to supercilious Anabaptists, will have very great weight
with the docile and sober-minded. I take it for granted that the
word of God has such an inherent efficacy, that it quickens the
souls of all whom he is pleased to favour with the communication of
it. Peter's statement has ever been true, that it is an
incorruptible seed, "which liveth and abideth for ever," (1 Peter 1:
23,) as he infers from the words of Isaiah, (Is. 40: 6.) Now when
God, in ancient times, bound the Jews to him by this sacred bond,
there cannot be a doubt that he separated them unto the hope of
eternal life. When I say that they embraced the word which brought
them nearer to God, I refer not to that general method of
communication which is diffused through heaven and earth, and all
the creatures of the world, and which, though it quickens all
things, each according to its nature, rescues none from the bondage
of corruption. I refer to that special mode of communication by
which the minds of the pious are both enlightened in the knowledge
of God, and, in a manner, linked to him. Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham,
and the other patriarchs, having been united to God by this
illumination of the word, I say there cannot be the least doubt that
entrance was given them into the immortal kingdom of God. They had
that solid participation in God which cannot exist without the
blessing of everlasting life.
8. If the point still seems somewhat involved, let us pass to
the form of the covenant, which will not only satisfy calm thinkers,
but sufficiently establish the ignorance of gainsayers. The covenant
which God always made with his servants was this, "I will walk among
you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people," (Lev. 26:
12.) These words, even as the prophets are wont to expound them,
comprehend life and salvation, and the whole sum of blessedness. For
David repeatedly declares, and with good reason, "Happy is that
people whose God is the Lord." "Blessed is the nation whose God is
the Lord; and the people whom he has chosen for his own
inheritance," (Psalm 144: 15; 33: 12;) and this not merely in
respect of earthly happiness, but because he rescues from death,
constantly preserves, and, with eternal mercy, visits those whom he
has adopted for his people. As is said in other prophets, "Art not
thou from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not
die." "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is
our king; he will save us" "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like
unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?" (Hab. 1: 12 ; Isaiah 33: 22;
Deut. 33: 29.) But not to labour superfluously, the prophets are
constantly reminding us that no good thing and, consequently, no
assurance of salvation, is wanting, provided the Lord is our God.
And justly. For if his face, the moment it hath shone upon us, is a
perfect pledge of salvation, how can he manifest himself to any one
as his God, without opening to him the treasures of salvation? The
terms on which God makes himself ours is to dwell in the midst of
us, as he declared by Moses, (Lev. 26: 11.) But such presence cannot
be enjoyed without life being, at the same time, possessed along
with it. And though nothing more had been expressed, they had a
sufficiently clear promise of spiritual life in these words, "I am
your God," (Exod. 6: 7.) For he declared that he would be a God not
to their bodies only, but specially to their souls. Souls, however,
if not united to God by righteousness, remain estranged from him in
death. On the other hand, that union, wherever it exists, will bring
perpetual salvation with it.
9. To this we may add, that he not only declared he was, but
also promised that he would be, their God. By this their hope was
extended beyond present good, and stretched forward into eternity.
Moreover, that this observance of the future had the effect, appears
from the many passages in which the faithful console themselves not
only in their present evils, but also for the future, by calling to
mind that God was never to desert them. Moreover, in regard to the
second part of the promise, viz., the blessing of God, its extending
beyond the limits of the present life was still more clearly
confirmed by the words, I will be the God of your seed after you,
(Gen. 17: 7.) If he was to manifest his favour to the dead by doing
good to their posterity, much less would he deny his favour to
themselves. God is not like men, who transfer their love to the
children of their friends, because the opportunity of bestowing kind
offices as they wished upon themselves is interrupted by death. But
God, whose kindness is not impeded by death, does not deprive the
dead of the benefit of his mercy, which, on their account, he
continues to a thousand generations. God, therefore, was pleased to
give a striking proof of the abundance and greatness of his goodness
which they were to enjoy after death, when he described it as
overflowing to all their posterity, (Exod. 20: 6.) The truth of this
promise was sealed, and in a manner completed, when, long after the
death of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he called himself their God,
(Exod. 20: 6.) And why? Was not the name absurd if they had
perished? It would have been just the same as if he had said, I am
the God of men who exist not. Accordingly, the Evangelists relate
that, by this very argument, our Saviour refuted the Sadducees,
(Matth. 22: 23; Luke 20: 32,) who were, therefore, unable to deny
that the resurrection of the dead was attested by Moses, inasmuch as
he had taught them that all the saints are in his hand, (Deut. 33:
3.) Whence it is easy to infer that death is not the extinction of
those who are taken under the tutelage, guardianship, and protection
of him who is the disposer of life and death.
10. Let us now see (and on this the controversy principally
turns) whether or not believers themselves were so instructed by the
Lord, as to feel that they had elsewhere a better life, and to
aspire to it while disregarding the present. First, the mode of life
which heaven had imposed upon them made it a constant exercise, by
which they were reminded, that if in this world only they had hope,
they were of all men the most miserable. Adam, most unhappy even in
the mere remembrance of his lost felicity, with difficulty supplies
his wants by anxious labours; and that the divine curse might not be
restricted to bodily labour, his only remaining solace becomes a
source of the deepest grief: Of two sons, the one is torn from him
by the parricidal hand of his brother; while the other, who
survives, causes detestation and horror by his very look. Abel,
cruelly murdered in the very flower of his days, is an example of
the calamity which had come upon man. While the whole world are
securely living in luxury, Noah, with much fatigue, spends a great
part of his life in building an ark. He escapes death, but by
greater troubles than a hundred deaths could have given. Besides his
ten months' residence in the ark, as in a kind of sepulchre, nothing
could have been more unpleasant than to have remained so long pent
up among the filth of beasts. After escaping these difficulties he
falls into a new cause of sorrow. He sees himself mocked by his own
son, and is forced, with his own mouth, to curse one whom, by the
great kindness of God, he had received safe from the deluge.
11. Abraham alone ought to be to us equal to tens of thousands
if we consider his faith, which is set before us as the best model
of believing, to whose race also we must be held to belong in order
that we may be the children of God. What could be more absurd than
that Abraham should be the father of all the faithful, and not even
occupy the meanest corner among them? He cannot be denied a place in
the list; nay, he cannot be denied one of the most honourable places
in it, without the destruction of the whole Church. Now, as regards
his experience in life, the moment he is called by the command of
God, he is torn away from friends, parents, and country, objects in
which the chief happiness of life is deemed to consist, as if it had
been the fixed purpose of the Lord to deprive him of all the sources
of enjoyment. No sooner does he enter the land in which he was
ordered to dwell, than he is driven from it by famine. In the
country to which he retires to obtain relief, he is obliged, for his
personal safety, to expose his wife to prostitution. This must have
been more bitter than many deaths. After returning to the land of
his habitation, he is again expelled by famine. What is the
happiness of inhabiting a land where you must so often suffer from
hunger, nay, perish from famine, unless you flee from it? Then,
again, with Abimelech, he is reduced to the same necessity of saving
his head by the loss of his wife, (Gen. 12: 12.) While he wanders up
and down uncertain for many years, he is compelled, by the constant
quarrelling of servants to part with his nephew, who was to him as a
son. This departure must doubtless have cost him a pang something
like the cutting off of a limb. Shortly after, he learns that his
nephew is carried off captive by the enemy. Wherever he goes, he
meets with savage-hearted neighbours, who will not even allow him to
drink of the wells which he has dug with great labour. For he would
not have purchased the use from the king of Gerar if he had not been
previously prohibited. After he had reached the verge of life, he
sees himself childless, (the bitterest and most unpleasant feeling
to old age,) until, beyond expectation, Ishmael is born; and yet he
pays dearly for his birth in the reproaches of Sarah, as if he was
the cause of domestic disturbance by encouraging the contumacy of a
female slave. At length Isaac is born, but in return, the first-born
Ishmael is displaced, and almost hostilely driven forth and
abandoned. Isaac remains alone, and the good man, now worn out with
age, has his heart upon him, when shortly after he is ordered to
offer him up in sacrifice. What can the human mind conceive more
dreadful than for the father to be the murderer of his son? Had he
been carried off by disease, who would not have thought the old man
much to be pitied in having a son given to him in mockery, and in
having his grief for being childless doubled to him? Had he been
slain by some stranger, this would, indeed, have been much worse
than natural death. But all these calamities are little compared
with the murder of him by his father's hand. Thus, in fine, during
the whole course of his life, he was harassed and tossed in such a
way, that any one desirous to give a picture of a calamitous life
could not find one more appropriate. Let it not be said that he was
not so very distressed, because he at length escaped from all these
tempests. He is not said to lead a happy life who, after infinite
difficulties during a long period, at last laboriously works out his
escape, but he who calmly enjoys present blessings without any alloy
of suffering.
12. Isaac is less afflicted, but he enjoys very few of the
sweets of life. He also meets with those vexations which do not
permit a man to be happy on the earth. Famine drives him from the
land of Canaan; his wife is torn from his bosom; his neighbours are
ever and anon annoying and vexing him in all kinds of ways, so that
he is even obliged to fight for water. At home, he suffers great
annoyance from his daughters-in-law; he is stung by the dissension
of his sons, and has no other cure for this great evil than to send
the son whom he had blessed into exile, (Gen. 26: 27:) Jacob, again,
is nothing but a striking example of the greatest wretchedness. His
boyhood is passed most uncomfortably at home amidst the threats and
alarms of his elder brother, and to these he is at length forced to
give way, (Gen. 27: 28:) A fugitive from his parents and his native
soil, in addition to the hardships of exile, the treatment he
receives from his uncle Laban is in no respect milder and more
humane, (Gen. 29.) As if it had been little to spend seven years of
hard and rigorous servitude, he is cheated in the matter of a wife.
For the sake of another wife, he must undergo a new servitude,
during which, as he himself complains, the heat of the sun scorches
him by day, while in frost and cold he spends the sleepless night,
(Gen. 31: 40, 41.) For twenty years he spends this bitter life, and
daily suffers new injuries from his father-in-law. Nor is he quiet
at home, which he sees disturbed and almost broken up by the
hatreds, quarrels, and jealousies of his wives. When he is ordered
to return to his native land, he is obliged to take his departure in
a manner resembling an ignominious flight. Even then he is unable to
escape the injustice of his father-in-law, but in the midst of his
journey is assailed by him with contumely and reproach, (Gen. 31:
20.) By and bye a much greater difficulty befalls him, (Gen. 32,
33.) For as he approaches his brother, he has as many forms of death
in prospect as a cruel foe could invent. Hence, while waiting for
his arrival, he is distracted and excruciated by direful terrors;
and when he comes into his sight, he falls at his feet like one half
dead, until he perceives him to be more placable than he had
ventured to hope. Moreover, when he first enters the land, he is
bereaved of Rachel his only beloved wife. Afterwards he hears that
the son whom she had borne him, and whom he loved more than all his
other children, is devoured by a wild beast, (Gen. 37: 33.) How deep
the sorrow caused by his death he himself evinces, when, after long
tears, he obstinately refuses to be comforted, declaring that he
will go down to the grave to his son mourning. In the meantime, what
vexation, anxiety, and grief, must he have received from the
carrying off and dishonour of his daughter, and the cruel revenge of
his sons, which not only brought him into bad odour with all the
inhabitants of the country, but exposed him to the greatest danger
of extermination? (Gen. 34) Then follows the horrid wickedness of
Reuben his first-born, wickedness than which none could be committed
more grievous, (Gen. 36: 22.) The dishonour of a wife being one of
the greatest of calamities, what must be said when the atrocity is
perpetrated by a son? Some time after, the family is again polluted
with incest, (Gen. 38: 18.) All these disgraces might have crushed a
mind otherwise the most firm and unbroken by misfortune. Towards the
end of his life, when he seeks relief for himself and his family
from famine, he is struck by the announcement of a new misfortune,
that one of his sons is detained in prison, and that to recover him
he must entrust to others his dearly beloved Benjamin, (Gen. 42,
43.) Who can think that in such a series of misfortunes, one moment
was given him in which he could breathe secure? Accordingly, his own
best witness, he declares to Pharaoh, "Few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been," (Gen. 47: 9.) In declaring that he had
spent his life in constant wretchedness, he denies that he had
experienced the prosperity which had been promised him by the Lord.
Jacob, therefore, either formed a malignant and ungrateful estimate
of the Lord's favour, or he truly declared that he had lived
miserable on the earth. If so, it follows that his hope could not
have been fixed on earthly objects.
13. If these holy Patriarchs expected a happy life from the
hand of God, (and it is indubitable that they did,) they viewed and
contemplated a different happiness from that of a terrestrial life.
This is admirably shown by an Apostle, "By faith he [Abraham]
sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise: for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." "These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had
been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might
have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better
country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God: for he has prepared for them a city," (Heb. 11: 9,
10, 13-16.) They had been duller than blocks in so pertinaciously
pursuing promises, no hope of which appeared upon the earth, if they
had not expected their completion elsewhere. The thing which the
Apostle specially urges, and not without reason, is, that they
called this world a pilgrimage, as Moses also relates, (Gen. 47: 9.)
If they were pilgrims and strangers in the land of Canaan, where is
the promise of the Lord which appointed them heirs of it? It is
clear, therefore, that the promise of possession which they had
received looked farther. Hence, they did not acquire a foot breadth
in the land of Canaan, except for sepulture; thus testifying that
they hoped not to receive the benefit of the promise till after
death. And this is the reason why Jacob set so much value on being
buried there, that he took Joseph bound by oath to see it done; and
why Joseph wished that his bones should some ages later, long after
they had mouldered into dust, be carried thither, (Gen. 47: 29, 30;
50: 25.)
14. In short, it is manifest, that in the whole course of their
lives, they had an eye to future blessedness. Why should Jacob have
aspired so earnestly to primogeniture, and intrigued for it at so
much risk, if it was to bring him only exile and destitution, and no
good at all, unless he looked to some higher blessing? And that this
was his feeling, he declared in one of the last sentences he
uttered, "I have waited for thy salvation, O God," (Gen. 49: 18.)
What salvation could he have waited for, when he felt himself
breathing his last, if he did not see in death the beginning of a
new life? And why talk of saints and the children of God, when even
one, who otherwise strove to resist the truth, was not devoid of
some similar impression? For what did Balaam mean when he said, "Let
me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,"
(Num. 23: 10,) unless he felt convinced of what David afterward
declares, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints?" (Ps. 116: 15; 34: 12.) If death were the goal and ultimate
limit, no distinction could be observed between the righteous and
the wicked. The true distinction is the different lot which awaits
them after death.
15. We have not yet come farther down than the books of Moses,
whose only office, according to our opponents, was to induce the
people to worship God, by setting before them the fertility of the
land, and its general abundance; and yet to every one who does not
voluntarily shun the light, there is clear evidence of a spiritual
covenant. But if we come down to the Prophets, the kingdom of Christ
and eternal life are there exhibited in the fullest splendour.
First, David, as earlier in time, in accordance with the order of
the Divine procedure, spoke of heavenly mysteries more obscurely
than they, and yet with what clearness and certainty does he point
to it in all he says. The value he put upon his earthly habitation
is attested by these words, "I am a stranger with thee, and a
sojourner, as all my fathers were. Verily every man at his best
estate is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a vain
show. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee," (Ps. 39:
12, 5, 6, 7.) He who confesses that there is nothing solid or stable
on the earth, and yet firmly retains his hope in God, undoubtedly
contemplates a happiness reserved for him elsewhere. To this
contemplation he is wont to invite believers whenever he would have
them to be truly comforted. For, in another passages after speaking
of human life as a fleeting and evanescent show, he adds, "The mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear
him," (Ps. 103: 17.) To this there is a corresponding passage in
another psalm, "Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth;
and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but
thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as
a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but
thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of
thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established
before thee," (Ps. 102: 25-28.) If, notwithstanding of the
destruction of the heavens and the earth, the godly cease not to be
established before God, it follows, that their salvation is
connected with his eternity. But this hope could have no existence,
if it did not lean upon the promise as expounded by Isaiah, "The
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old
like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like
manner; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness
shall not be abolished," (Isa. 51: 6.) Perpetuity is here attributed
to righteousness and salvation, not as they reside in God, but as
they are experienced by men.
16. Nor can those things which are everywhere said as to the
prosperous success of believers be understood in any other sense
than as referring to the manifestation of celestial glory. Of this
nature are the following passages: "He preserveth the souls of his
saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is
sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." "His
righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with
honour -- the desire of the wicked shall perish." "Surely the
righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright shall dwell
in thy presence." "The righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance." "The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants." But the
Lord often leaves his servants, not only to be annoyed by the
violence of the wicked, but to be lacerated and destroyed; allows
the good to languish in obscurity and squalid poverty, while the
ungodly shine forth, as it were, among the stars; and even by
withdrawing the light of his countenance does not leave them lasting
joy. Wherefore, David by no means disguises the fact, that if
believers fix their eyes on the present condition of the world, they
will be grievously tempted to believe that with God integrity has
neither favour nor reward; so much does impiety prosper and
flourish, while the godly are oppressed with ignominy, poverty,
contempt, and every kind of cross. The Psalmist says, "But as for
me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I
was envious of the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the
wicked." At length, after a statement of the case, he concludes,
"When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me: until I
went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end," (Ps.
73: 2, 3, 16, 17.)
17. Therefore, even from this confession of David, let us learn
that the holy fathers under the Old Testament were not ignorant that
in this world God seldom or never gives his servants the fulfilment
of what is promised them, and therefore has directed their minds to
his sanctuary, where the blessings not exhibited in the present
shadowy life are treasured up for them. This sanctuary was the final
judgement of God, which, as they could not at all discern it by the
eye, they were contented to apprehend by faith. Inspired with this
confidence, they doubted not that whatever might happen in the
world, a time would at length arrive when the divine promises would
be fulfilled. This is attested by such expressions as these: "As for
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with thy likeness," (Psalm 17: 15.) "I am like a green
olive tree in the house of God," (Psalm 52: 8.) Again, "The
righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a
cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring
forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing," (Psalm
92: 12-14.) He had exclaimed a little before "O Lord, how great are
thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep." "When the wicked spring
as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish: it
is that they shall be destroyed for ever." Where was this splendour
and beauty of the righteous, unless when the appearance of this
world was changed by the manifestation of the heavenly kingdom?
Lifting their eyes to the eternal world, they despised the momentary
hardships and calamities of the present life, and confidently broke
out into these exclamations: "He shall never suffer the righteous to
be moved. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of
destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their
days," (Psalm 55: 22, 23.) Where in this world is there a pit of
eternal destruction to swallow up the wicked, of whose happiness it
is elsewhere said, "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment
go down to the grave?" (Job 21: 13.) Where, on the other hand, is
the great stability of the saints, who, as David complains, are not
only disturbed, but everywhere utterly bruised and oppressed? It is
here. He set before his eyes not merely the unstable vicissitudes of
the world, tossed like a troubled sea, but what the Lord is to do
when he shall one day sit to fix the eternal constitution of heaven
and earth, as he in another place elegantly describes: "They that
trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of
their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor
give to God a ransom for him." "For he sees that wise men die,
likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their
wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall
continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations;
they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being
in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their
way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Like
sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the
upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their
beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling," (Psalm 49:
6, 7, 10-14.) By this derision of the foolish for resting satisfied
with the slippery and fickle pleasures, of the world, he shows that
the wise must seek for a very different felicity. But he more
clearly unfolds the hidden doctrine of the resurrection when he sets
up a kingdom to the righteous after the wicked are cast down and
destroyed. For what, pray, are we to understand by the "morning,"
unless it be the revelation of a new life, commencing when the
present comes to an end?
18. Hence the consideration which believers employed as a
solace for their sufferings, and a remedy for their patience: "His
anger endureth but a moment: in his favour is life," (Psalm 30: 5.)
How did their afflictions, which continued almost throughout the
whole course of life, terminate in a moment? Where did they see the
long duration of the divine benignity, of which they had only the
slightest taste? Had they clung to earth, they could have found
nothing of the kind; but looking to heaven, they saw that the period
during which the Lord afflicted his saints was but a moment, and
that the mercies with which he gathers them are everlasting: on the
other hand, they foresaw that for the wicked, who only dreamed of
happiness for a day, there was reserved an eternal and never-ending
destruction. Hence those expressions: "The memory of the just is
blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot," (Prov. 10: 7.)
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,"
(Psalm 116: 15.) Again in Samuel: "The Lord will keep the feet of
his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness," (1 Sam. 2:
9;) showing they knew well, that however much the righteous might be
tossed about, their latter end was life and peace; that how pleasant
soever the delights of the wicked, they gradually lead down to the
chambers of death. They accordingly designated the death of such
persons as the death "of the uncircumcised," that is, persons cut
off from the hope of resurrection, (Ezek. 28: 10; 31: 18.) Hence
David could not imagine a greater curse than this: "Let them be
blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the
righteous," (Psalm 69: 28.)
19. The most remarkable passage of all is that of Job: "I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another," (Job 19: 25-27.) Those who
would make a display of their acuteness, pretend that these words
are to be understood not of the last resurrection, but of the day
when Job expected that God would deal more gently with him. Granting
that this is partly meant, we shall, however, compel them, whether
they will or not, to admit that Job never could have attained to
such fulness of hope if his thoughts had risen no higher than the
earth. It must, therefore, be confessed, that he who saw that the
Redeemer would be present with him when lying in the grave, must
have raised his eyes to a future immortality. To those who think
only of the present life, death is the extremity of despair; but it
could not destroy the hope of Job. "Though he slay me," said he,
"yet will I trust in him," (Job 13: 15.) Let no trifler here burst
in with the objection that these are the sayings of a few, and do
not by any means prove that there was such a doctrine among the
Jews. To this my instant answer is, that these few did not in such
passages give utterance to some hidden wisdom, to which only
distinguished individuals were admitted privately and apart from
others, but that having been appointed by the Holy Spirit to be the
teachers of the people, they openly promulgated the mysteries of
God, which all in common behaved to learn as the principles of
public religion. When, therefore, we hear that those passages in
which the Holy Spirit spoke so distinctly and clearly of the
spiritual life were public oracles in the Jewish Church, it were
intolerably perverse to confine them entirely to a carnal covenant
relating merely to the earth and earthly riches.
20. When we descend to the later prophets, we have it in our
power to expatiate freely as in our own field. If, when David, Job,
and Samuel, were in question, the victory was not difficult, much
easier is it here; for the method and economy which God observed in
administering the covenant of his mercy was, that the nearer the
period of its full exhibition approached, the greater the additions
which were daily made to the light of revelation. Accordingly, at
the beginning, when the first promise of salvation was given to
Adam, (Gen. 3: 15,) only a few slender sparks beamed forth:
additions being afterwards made, a greater degree of light began to
be displayed, and continued gradually to increase and shine with
greater brightness, until at length all the clouds being dispersed,
Christ the Sun of righteousness arose, and with full refulgence
illumined all the earth, (Mal. 4.) In appealing to the Prophets,
therefore, we can have no fear of any deficiency of proof; but as I
see an immense mass of materials, which would occupy us much longer
than compatible with the nature of our present work, (the subject,
indeed, would require a large volume,) and as I trust, that by what
has already been said, I have paved the way, so that every reader of
the very least discernment may proceed without stumbling, I will
avoid a prolixity, for which at present there is little necessity;
only reminding my readers to facilitate the entrance by means of the
key which was formerly put into their hands, (supra, Chap. 4 sec. 3,
4;) namely, that whenever the Prophets make mention of the happiness
of believers, (a happiness of which scarcely any vestiges are
discernible in the present life,) they must have recourse to this
distinction: that the better to commend the Divine goodness to the
people, they used temporal blessings as a kind of lineaments to
shadow it forth, and yet gave such a portrait as might lift their
minds above the earth, the elements of this world, and all that will
perish, and compel them to think of the blessedness of a future and
spiritual life.
21. One example will suffice. When the Israelites were carried
away to Babylon, their dispersion seemed to be the next thing to
death, and they could scarcely be dissuaded from thinking that
Ezekiel's prophecy of their restoration (Ezek. 37: 4) was a mere
fable, because it seemed to them the same thing as if he had
prophesied that putrid caresses would be raised to life. The Lord,
in order to show that, even in that case, there was nothing to
prevent him from making room for his kindness, set before the
prophet in vision a field covered with dry bones, to which, by the
mere power of his word, he in one moment restored life and strength.
The vision served, indeed, to correct the unbelief of the Jews at
the time, but it also reminded them how much farther the power of
the Lord extended than to the bringing back of the people, since by
a single nod it could so easily give life to dry scattered bones.
Wherefore, the passage may be fitly compared with one in Isaiah,
"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the
dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my
people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee:
hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish
the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also
shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain," (Isa.
26: 19-21.)
22. It were absurd however to interpret all the passages on a
similar principle; for there are several which point without any
veil to the future immortality which awaits believers in the kingdom
of heaven. Some of them we have already quoted, and there are many
others, but especially the following two. The one is in Isaiah, "As
the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain
before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and
from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before
me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the
caresses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they
shall be an abhorring unto all flesh," (Isa. 66: 22-24.) The other
passage is in Daniel. "At that time shall Michael stand up, the
great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and
there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since
there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy
people shall be delivered, every one shall be found written in the
book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt," (Dan. 12: 1, 2.)
23. In proving the two remaining points, viz., that the
Patriarchs had Christ as the pledge of their covenant, and placed
all their hope of blessing in him, as they are clearer, and not so
much controverted, I will be less particular. Let us then lay it
down confidently as a truth which no engines of the devil can
destroy - that the Old Testament or covenant which the Lord made
with the people of Israel was not confined to earthly objects, but
contained a promise of spiritual and eternal life, the expectation
of which behaved to be impressed on the minds of all who truly
consented to the covenant. Let us put far from us the senseless and
pernicious notion, that the Lord proposed nothing to the Jews, or
that they sought nothing but full supplies of food, carnal delights,
abundance of wealth, external influence, a numerous offspring, and
all those things which our animal nature deems valuable. For, even
now, the only kingdom of heaven which our Lord Jesus Christ promises
to his followers, is one in which they may sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac and Jacob, (Matth. 8: 11;) and Peter declared of the Jews
of his day, that they were heirs of gospel grace because they were
the sons of the prophets, and comprehended in the covenant which the
Lord of old made with his people, (Acts 3: 25.) And that this might
not be attested by words merely, our Lord also approved it by act,
(Matth. 27: 52.) At the moment when he rose again, he deigned to
make many of the saints partakers of his resurrection, and allowed
them to be seen in the city; thus giving a sure earnest, that every
thing which he did and suffered in the purchase of eternal salvation
belonged to believers under the Old Testament, just as much as to
us. Indeed, as Peter testifies, they were endued with the same
spirit of faith by which we are regenerated to life, (Acts 15: 8.)
When we hear that that spirit, which is, as it were, a kind of spark
of immortality in us, (whence it is called the "earnest" of our
inheritance, Eph. 1: 14,) dwelt in like manner in them, how can we
presume to deny them the inheritance? Hence, it is the more
wonderful how the Sadducees of old fell into such a degree of
sottishness as to deny both the resurrection and the substantive
existence of spirits, both of which where attested to them by so
many striking passages of Scripture. Nor would the stupidity of the
whole nation in the present day, in expecting an earthly reign of
the Messiah, be less wonderful, had not the Scriptures foretold this
long before as the punishment which they were to suffer for
rejecting the Gospel, God, by a just judgement, blinding minds which
voluntarily invite darkness, by rejecting the offered light of
heaven. They read, and are constantly turning over the pages of
Moses, but a veil prevents them from seeing the light which beams
forth in his countenance, (2 Cor. 3: 14;) and thus to them he will
remain covered and veiled until they are converted to Christ,
between whom and Moses they now study, as much as in them lies, to
maintain a separation.
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2, Part 11
(continued in part 12...)
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