`When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee; yet if they pray toward

this place, and confess Thy name (i.e. repent), and turn from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them; then hear

Thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants' (2 Chron. 6:26,27).

`Remember, I beseech Thee, the word that Thou commandest Thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will

scatter you abroad among the nations: but if ye turn unto Me ... though there were of you cast out unto the

uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence ...'(Neh. 1:8,9).

`The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers ... Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith

the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts' (Zech. 1:2,3).

In each case the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) uses Peter's word translated `be converted'

for the word `turn', so this Apostle's command to Israel in Acts 3 was not new to Israel, but reinforced what the

sacred Scriptures had emphasized repeatedly in the past.

Peter goes on to remind his hearers that, as the chosen race and human channel for the kingdom, they were the

children of the prophets (Acts 3:25) and he adds:

`... and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the

kindreds of the earth be blessed'.

Once again we are back to the key text in Genesis 12 which is the germ of the great kingdom purpose devised by

God, showing plainly that His plan for the blessing of mankind through Israel was still in mind if only Israel would

repent and turn back to Him. All this is missed or glossed over if something entirely new is introduced at this

juncture, combined with the erroneous idea that Israel had already been set aside by God. And if this was true, it is

inexplicable why the Jew was still first all through the Acts period.

Peter ends his discourse by saying:

`Unto you (Israel) first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you' (Acts 3:26).

The apostle Paul, in his speech recorded in chapter 13 stresses the same truth. He said:

`... It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you (Jews)' (verse 46).

Why was it necessary unless Genesis 12:1-3 was still in mind? As the record of the Acts shows Paul always went to

the Jew first (see Acts 14:1; 17:1,10; 18:1-4,19) and in Romans he asserts that the gospel was to the Jew first as was

also judgment on the part of God (Rom. 1:16; 2:8,9). The Lord was concerned that the thousands of Israelites called

`the Dispersion' living outside Palestine should hear the offer of mercy as those in the land had done under Christ's

earthly ministry. Consequently to every new centre that Paul took the gospel in Asia Minor he first of all went to the

synagogue and this was just as true when at length he arrived at Rome as a prisoner (Acts 28:17, 23).

Romans was the last epistle Paul wrote during the time covered by the Acts and in Romans 10:18 he asks:

`But I say, Have they (Israel) not heard? Yes verily ...'.

but this would not have been true before Paul's ministry commenced to those Israelites living outside the land. The

whole nation had now come under the great responsibility of hearing for the second time the offer of mercy and the

possibility of establishing the kingdom with the return of Christ, upon their repentance, and the Lord, in His infinite

patience and longsuffering, awaited the outcome right throughout the period covered by the Acts.

In the early chapters of the Acts, it was not just `to the Jew first' but to the Jew only and such Gentiles as were

associated with Israel must have been proselytes (Acts 2:10), that is, converts and sympathizers with Judaism. The

popular idea that, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to Gentiles as well as Israelites and that they were

included in the 3000 saved is quite untenable. Pagans would not be allowed to participate in the feasts of Jehovah,

nor would they be interested in them, except through curiosity. Furthermore Peter's attitude to Cornelius and the

attitude of the mother church at Jerusalem described in Acts 10 and 11 is incomprehensible if Gentiles were present.

It required a special vision from God to induce Peter to deal with the Gentile Cornelius, nor can this be attributed

to narrowness and bigotry on Peter's part for he was simply being obedient to God's commands for separation from