the gospels, the Jews both inside and outside Palestine made clear their unyielding opposition and rejection of God's

renewed offer to them of the realization of the kingdom by the return of Christ, that offer being conditional upon

their repentance and turning back to God.

It was at this point that Israel went into their darkness and blindness which has persisted to the present time.

Individual Jews have come to a saving knowledge of Christ, but the nation is still rejecting Christ as they did in New

Testament days. As Isaiah 6 says, they have deliberately closed their eyes, deafened their ears and hardened their

hearts against Him, neither will they change until they see the returning Christ in great power and glory when they

will look on Him Whom they pierced and at last be convicted of their terrible sin of crucifying Him and then they

will turn to Him and believe (Zech. 12:9-14). It will take nothing less than the glory of the Lord's Second Advent to

the Mount of Olives to break Israel's stony heart and to put into effect the New Covenant of grace which God made

between Himself and them, expressly dealing with the heart and mind (Jer. 31:31-37).

Their hardened condition now is the very negation of the New Covenant which only shows that it is not in

operation today. It is a mistake to imagine that salvation by grace can only operate under the New Covenant. God's

mercy and boundless grace can flow out to sinners today quite apart from covenant conditions. There can be no

doubt that, from a careful and honest consideration of the Scriptures, Acts 28 is the point where the Lord set aside

Israel in unbelief, not in Acts 2 or Acts 13. Here they became in the words of Hosea, lo-ammi, not My people. It is

they who are at the centre of revelation, humanly speaking from Genesis 12 to the last chapter in the Acts and the

great subject all through is the earthly phase of the kingdom of God.

Before we go any further, it is necessary for us to consider the Scriptural meaning of the word `church'. There

are so many and varying ideas concerning this word that our examination from Scripture is essential. It is used in at

least six ways in the Word of God:

(1) First of all it is used of Israel as a nation. Stephen calls them the `church in the wilderness' (Acts 7:38). We

shall have more to say about this later on.

(2) The Jewish synagogue: `and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church ...' (Matt. 18:17). (Note

that the word `assembly' in James 2:2 is not ekklesia, the church, but sunagogue and the phrase should be

translated `if there come into your synagogue').

(3) The guild of Ephesian craftsmen mentioned in Acts 19:39,41, `a lawful assembly'.

(4) Separate assemblies in different localities: `The church of God which is at Corinth' (1 Cor. 1:2). `The

churches of God' (1 Cor. 11:16; 1 Thess. 2:14). `The churches of Christ' (Rom. 16:16).

(5) The `church of the firstborn' (Heb. 12:23).

(6) `The church, which is His Body' (Eph. 1:22,23).

It should be clear from these usages that care must be taken with this word. We sometimes come across the `one

church' in religious literature, but this never occurs in the Bible. There is one Body, but that is a different matter.

What comes as a surprise to many Christians is that the word `church' is used of Israel as a nation. The original

word means a `called out company of people' for any purpose, Christian or secular. It is certain that Israel was a

`called out' nation by God and separated by Him from every other nation for the kingdom purpose that He had in

mind. They were therefore a church in the Scriptural sense.

In considering the word `church' as related to the people of Israel we should realize that this word as applied to

themselves was a fact well known to the Jew. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, was in

common use in the New Testament era and freely used by the Lord and the Apostles and the word church (ekklesia)

occurs in it some 96 times. It is usually the translation of the Hebrew word qahal, rendered `congregation' in the

Authorized Version and it is used of four other Hebrew words.

We give several examples of the Septuagint usage:

`And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the church of Israel'.

`And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great church ...' (1 Kings 8:22,65).

`And David said unto all the church of Israel ...' (1 Chron. 13:2).

`So Solomon, and all the church with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon ...' (2 Chron. 1:3).