Temple), that it may flow to the
remotest nations of the earth! As it enters the bituminous waters of the
Asphaltite Lake, it is represented as curing them of their bitterness
(Ezek. xlvii. 8, 9); descriptive of the power of the Gospel, whose
living streams, like the symbolic "leaves of the tree of life," are for
"the healing of the nations." Then shall the words of Isaiah be
fulfilled, "Every valley shall be exalted, and _every mountain and hill
shall be made low_, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together." (Isa. xl. 4.) In the prophecy of
Zechariah, to which we have just referred, we are told that in that same
happy millennial period, the representatives of the world's nations will
go up "year by year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep
_the feast of Tabernacles_." (Zech. xiv. 16.) Who can tell but this may
be a literal revival of the old Hebrew festival, only invested with a
new Gospel and Christian meaning. "This feast," says a gifted expositor,
"is the only unfulfilled one of the great feasts of Israel. _Passover_
was fulfilled at Christ's death, and _Pentecost_ at the outpouring of
the Spirit. But this feast represents the LORD _tabernacling with men_,
and is only fulfilled when '_The Lord my God shall come, and all the
saints with Thee_.' On the Transfiguration-Hill, Peter, almost
unwittingly, set forth this truth. He seemed to mean to say, 'Is not
this the true joy of the Feast of Tabernacles? Is not the Lord here?'" If
this be so, we can think of the palm-groves of Bethany again bared of
their branches;--these waved in triumph as a new and nobler "Hosannah"
awakes the ancient echoes of Olivet--"Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord!" As the regenerated children of Abraham build up the
waste places in and around Zion, which for ages have been "without
inhabitant," and whose names are still dear to them--think we, amid
other scenes of hallowed interest, they will not love oftentimes to take
the old "Sabbath-day's journey" to the site of "the Home of Mary and her
sister Martha." While seated nigh the reputed burial-place, with the
Gospel in their hands, reading, through their tears, the story of their
fathers' impenitency, and of their Saviour's compassion and sympathy at
the grave of His friend, will not a new and impressive truthfulness
invest one of the old Bethany utterances, "T