healed the father of Publius of dysentery, but others which had diseases in the island (Acts 28:8,9). Not only this,

but he had been bitten by a poisonous snake, yet felt no ill effects, so the Lord's promise in Mark 16:17,18 was still

On arrival at Rome, as was his habit, he called the chief of the Jews together to tell them the reason for his

action. It was because, he said `for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain' (verse 20). Now the hope of Israel

is not identical with the hope of the Body of Christ, although there are those who would like to make it so to avoid

the awkward problem for them with the presence of the nation so late in the Acts. They assert that the `hope of

Israel' means Christ personally. There is a measure of truth in this of course, for the Lord Jesus is the hope of all His

people, both earthly and heavenly. But if this was the case, why did not Paul say so? No one exalts the Lord Jesus

more than the Apostle and there is no reason whatsoever why he did not remind the Jews that Christ Himself was

their hope if this was what he wanted to stress. What is fatal to this idea is that Paul had already described Israel's

hope in Acts 26:6,7 which we have already considered, that is the fulfilment of God's promises to the patriarchs,

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concerning the seed and the land. Anyone who ignores this, is refusing to face Scriptural

Paul further describes this hope in Romans 15 by quoting from Isaiah 11:

`... Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in Him shall the

Gentiles hope (not trust as in A.V.). Now the God of (that) hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing ...'

(verse 12,13).

Now Isaiah 11 is a great Millennial chapter describing the righteous rule and reign of the Lord Jesus over the

Gentile nations and the regathering of Israel to the land given to Abraham and his seed. This completely fits the

context and the divine purpose described in the Acts concerning the mediatorial kingdom of the Old Testament and

it does not fit either the calling or the hope and destiny of the heavenly people, the Body of Christ as revealed in

Ephesians and Colossians now `enthroned in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:6) and blessed with `every

spiritual blessing' THERE. Because of this the members of this company are urged to set their minds there and not

on things on the earth (Col. 3:2 and note the marginal reading).

The next thing we read is that Paul fixed another meeting with the Jewish leaders at his lodging (28:23). Many

of them came and he spent a whole day in which `he expounded and testified of the kingdom of God, persuading

them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning to evening' (verse 23).

This could not refer to the Body of Christ, for it is not the subject of the Old Testament law and prophets, this

company being `hidden in God' at this time, thus belonging to God's secret purposes (Eph. 3:3,9). What he did

speak about was obviously the things that pertain to the mediatorial kingdom of which Israel was the human centre

and the theme of all the prophets (Acts 3:19-26).

The result of this long exposition was quite inconclusive. While `some believed' (verse 24) there was no

agreement among themselves and this only confirmed the fact that the attitude of the nation whether inside or

outside Palestine was still the same, a hardness of heart and enmity against the Messiahship of Christ and as long as

this persisted, the realization of the earthly phase of the kingdom of God was impossible.

It is quite evident that the apostle Paul realized here the mind of the Lord, for he quotes the solemn words of

Isaiah 6:9,10 for the third and last time in the New Testament as words of the Holy Spirit to their fathers, and now to

them also (verses 25-27). Each quotation of these verses had been made at a time of crisis in Israel's history. In the

Old Testament, where it was first made, the time was one of rebellion on Israel's part, leading inexorably to the

judgment of the captivity at Babylon and dispersion. The first quotation in the New Testament was given by the

Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:13-15 after He had made it quite clear that He had been rejected as Prophet, Priest and

King (Matt. 11 and 12). He addressed His solemn remarks to the leaders of the nation and told them that by their

attitude of enmity and rejection of Him they were fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 6 in their spiritual blindness,

deafness and hardness of heart.

The second quotation came at the crisis when after His triumphal entry of Jerusalem as their King the leaders of

the nation again rejected Him. In fact they had already prepared to kill Him (John 11:53; 12:12-16,37-41). The

third quotation and final crisis took place as we have just seen at the end of Acts, when together with the record of