prophetic utterances.  In Luke the first reference is a quotation from the

Old Testament.  The next two are from the prophecy made by the father of John

the Baptist, the fourth a quotation from the Old Testament by Simeon, and the

last from Luke being the only passage from the four gospels that is not

either a quotation or a prophecy; this last reference being the conviction

dawning upon the mind of the people that God had fulfilled His Word.  The two

in John's Gospel are the prophetic utterances of Caiaphas.  It may be of

interest to the reader to know that these twelve passages were selected on

their face value before it became evident that most, if not all, were closely

associated with prophecy.

It is our joy and our gospel to declare that 'whosoever shall call upon

the name of the Lord shall be saved' (Rom. 10:13).  That 'by grace are ye

saved' (Eph. 2:8), and that God 'will have all men to be saved' (1 Tim. 2:4),

yet it is most certain that such a salvation was not in the mind of Matthew

when he wrote the words, 'His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save

His people from their sins'.  To him, and in his time, it was gospel truth to

declare that Christ had come primarily for 'the lost sheep of the house of

Israel' (Matt. 10:6; 15:24).

The other four references in Matthew need no argument to demonstrate

their relationship with Israel.  The birth at Bethlehem, while containing the

germ of John 1:14 and Romans 1:3,4, is primarily the provision of a Governor,

that shall rule the people, Israel; and while it was sadly true that the

Gentile nations were at that time in gross darkness, and Galilee was called

'Galilee of the Gentiles' by way of reproach by the Jerusalem Jews in much

the same way as Nazareth was despised by them (John 1:46; 7:52), yet Galilee

was a part of the land of Israel and was part of Israel's inheritance.  As

for Isaiah 6, no prophetic student or one that had a knowledge of

dispensational truth (Matt. 13:14,15; Acts 28:26,27) questions the full

application of that passage to Israel, for while it is true that there are

hypocrites in every profession of faith, yet the charge cited from Isaiah in

Matthew 15:8 was primarily true of Israel.

The same restrictions are observed in the quotations given by Luke and

John.  Whether it be Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, or Caiaphas

the high priest, the prophetic utterance of each, employs the word 'people'

of Israel only.  And when we turn to the one non -prophetic reference, namely

Luke 7:16, the limitation to Israel alone makes sense of the dawning

conviction there recorded.  Should the inquiring reader examine the remaining

forty -four occurrences of laos in the Gospels, not a single reference will

be found to any nation except the one chosen, favoured, yet disobedient and

hardened nation of Israel.

Our survey is not complete however.  There are the Acts, Epistles and

the Revelation yet to be examined, and be it noted before the quest is

finished, we are seeking one solitary use of the word 'people' that shall

apply to any but the people of Israel.  If we do discover such a reference it

will need to be most carefully examined not only in its immediate context,

but particularly noting the dispensation in which it is found.

The Acts of the Apostles contains forty -eight occurrences of laos,

'people', two of which are in the plural (Acts 4:25,27), but upon

examination, it will be remembered, this passage refers to Israel in their

apostate association with the 'heathen' and 'kings of the earth'.  The