29), but do not come into view until the Deliverer comes to Zion (Isa.

59:20,21).  Whatever calling is in view, whatever promise is in expectation

of fulfilment, whether it belongs to earth, heavenly Jerusalem, or 'far above

all', one thing must be settled before anything else is possible.  Sin must

be righteously and mercifully removed.

Now while the people of Israel dominated the scene, as they did

throughout the Acts of the Apostles, the Gentile could receive this initial

blessing, the forgiveness of sins, in association with the covenant people

for 'salvation is of the Jews', but the remaining promises of the New

Covenant, unquoted in Hebrews 8, and still awaiting fulfilment, refer

exclusively to the restoration of Israel, and of Israel alone.  No Gentile

has a place in the second and future half of the New Covenant.

'Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the

ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which

divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His

name: if those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then

the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for

ever.  Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the

foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all

the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord' (Jer.

31:35 -37).

This phase of the New Covenant, echoed in many other places where the

restoration of Israel to their land and the fulfilment of all the promises

made to the fathers will be accomplished, is the burden and glory of these

prophetic Scriptures.

When the opening of the Apocalypse becomes historic fact Both sections

of the New Covenant will have been fulfilled:

'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own

blood' (This has in part been fulfilled).

'And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father'

(Rev. 1:5,6).

The prophet Hosea suggests this division of the Covenant, in chapter 3:

A faithless wife, forgiven and redeemed.

'An adulteress ... I bought her' (Hos. 3:1,2).

Before complete restoration, there must be a period of waiting.

'Thou shalt abide for me many days ... without a king ... '

(Hos. 3:3,4).

When this period of segregation is over, Israel will be restored.

'Afterward shall the children of Israel return' (Hos. 3:5).

This pattern is followed by many other prophets, and is seen in

operation at the end of the Acts of the Apostles, where Israel go out into

their present blindness, the New Covenant is suspended and the Mystery

begins.  Under the heading Lo -ammi2, this aspect of prophetic truth is

considered more intimately.  It will be recognized at once that if Israel

ceases to be a people before the Lord at any time, and if He also at the same

time declares, 'I will not be your God', any attempt to obtrude the New

Covenant into the dispensation of the Mystery which intervenes from Acts

28:28 until Israel repents, must be false, and have a blinding effect upon

all who perpetuate such teaching.  For fuller explanation of this theme and