And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any

more.

Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the LORD GOD.

And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the LORD GOD.

VII.

Christ to be the King.

If he

Compare together 2 Sam. vii.

14-16.

I WILL be his father, and he shall be my son.
commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of
men, and with the stripes of the children of men :

But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as
I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Heb. i. 5. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

1 Chron. xvii. 11-14.

Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4.

Ps. lxxxix. 29-37.

He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:

But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever, and his throne shall be established for evermore.

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the as a faithful witness in heaven.

moon, and

7.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: Isaiah ix. 6, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for

ever.

this.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform

For thus saith the LORD, David shall never want a Jer. xxxiii. man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.

17.

20, 21.

Thus saith the LORD, If ye can break my covenant Jer. xxxiii. of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne.

33.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of Luke i. 32, the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him : the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

14.

VIII.

THE SIGNS OF HIS APPROACH.

(1) The Gospel to be preached for a witness to all

nations.

Matt. xxiv. AND this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come.

Matt. xxv. 5, 6.

2 Peter iii. 3, 4.

2 Tim. iii. 1

-5.

(2) Apostate condition of professing Christendom.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh: go ye out to meet him.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and 2 Tim. iii. 13. worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

4.

For the time will come when they will not endure 2 Tim. iv. 3, sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

(3) State of the world.

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the Matt. xxiv. coming of the Son of man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

And knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

(4) The signs of his coming to produce awful forebodings in the minds of his enemies.

37-39.

Luke xxi.

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress 25, 26. of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.