ISRAEL—HOW THE GATES OF HIS ENEMIES ARE TO BE GIVEN HIM—BY THIS SIGN LOST ISRAEL MAY BE KNOWN—THE GIVING WILL CORRESPOND TO THE MULTIPLYING—THE PROMISE, IN THIS DAY, IS RAPIDLY FULFILLING—ENGLAND, DISRAELI AND “TANCRED,” AND RUSSIA. “That in blessing I will bless thee; and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”—Gen. xxii. 17. Under a Divine oath was this prophetic promise made to Abraham. At the time it was given Abraham had, by command, offered his only son Isaac, which offering, to all human appearance, would leave the old patriarch again childless; but his faith staggered not, for human incompetence does not circumscribe the bounds of Divine sufficience. The God who commanded Abraham to offer, recalled the command at a certain stage of the fulfilment, counting the faith of Abraham for righteousness. In Abraham’s faith Isaac was really sacrificed; hence the Divine approval: “By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” An oath with men in this day does not mean much in the way of confirmation, but not so with God’s oath. An oath ought to be sacred, and should be the end of doubt and strife. God made a promise to Abraham, and because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. And Abraham lived to see the promise begin to fulfil, and to-day the heirs of Abraham may look and see the same promise fulfilling, for, as Paul says in Heb. vi. 17: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath.” Who are the heirs of promise? For to them belong many and precious promises, both spiritual and temporal. Spiritually, they are to lead and be responsible for the evangelisation of the world. Temporally, they are to be a numerous seed, a powerful people. They are to occupy the ends of the earth, the uttermost parts of the earth, the coasts of the earth, the waste and the desolate places of the earth, the isles of the sea, the heathen, as an inheritance. They are to inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited; they are to be the chief of nations; they are to be a company of nations; they are to be a great people; they are to possess the gates of their enemies. Surely such a people should be found, for all these things make it impossible for them to be hid in a corner. One cannot help saying with the Psalmist: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.”