'For he is like the fire of smelters and the acid used by fullers; He

will sit down to smelt and purge, purging the sons of Levi, refining

them like silver and gold' (Mal. 3:2, Moffatt).

'Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you

into the midst of Jerusalem.  As they gather silver, and brass, and

iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the

fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My

fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you ... as silver is melted

in the midst of the furnace' (Ezek. 22:19 -22).

To go outside the pages of Scripture for our information is fraught

with danger, we are neither historians nor ethnologists, we simply refer to a

further evidence of this great intermingling that has taken place since a.d.

70.  There is evidence in hand to show that another nation was incorporated

into the Jewish faith, a people called the Khazars, who occupied the south

eastern corner of Europe in the eighth century.  About the end of the seventh

century, the Khazars became converted to Judaism, and Rabbis were brought

over from Spain to minister in their synagogues.  Later on this Khazar

kingdom became incorporated in Southern Russia, and this accounts for the

great Jewish population of Poland, Rumania and adjacent countries.  All this,

however, we take 'on trust', knowing little more from history than that such

a kingdom existed.

If to the Edomite intermixture we add the Khazar, and other additions,

we can well understand that the 'all Israel' that God is pledged to 'save'

(Rom. 11:26) cannot include many who are 'of Israel' or who can call Abraham

their 'father' (Rom. 9:6 -8), such are not the children of the promise who

are counted for the seed.  If we have represented the character of the 'Jew'

aright, it makes it simply impossible, that to such a mixture, the blessed

words should be addressed, 'Arise, shine; for thy light is come'; such an

unholy mixture could never be used by God as a pre -Millennial kingdom, for

their melting and refining, the ridding of their dross, takes place on the

eve of the Lord's return at His Second Coming.  Jerusalem will be trodden

down by the Gentiles until the end of Gentile time.  Gentile time will end

when the Stone cut without hands smites the image of Daniel 2.  The people

that become a blessing to all nations will be those who at long last will

look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and who will say:

'Unto Him that loved us, and washed (or loosed) us from our sins in His

own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father;

to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.  Amen' (Rev. 1:5,6).

In line with all that we have seen, is Peter's appeal immediately

following Pentecost:

'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted

out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the

Lord' (Acts 3:19).

The word presence, prosopon, is generally translated 'face' and Cannot

possibly mean 'absence'.  In verse 13 we read of the 'presence of Pilate',

and in 5:41 identical language is used for departing 'from the presence' of

the council, and in the reference to the Second Coming in 2 Thessalonians

1:9.  The promised 'refreshing' and the threatened 'destruction' flow alike

from the immediate personal presence of the same Lord.  This 'Scattered

People' will at last become the Lord's 'Gathered People', and that gathering