out His injunction and `occupy' till He comes, remembering that `Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He

cometh shall find so doing' (Matt. 24:46).

Every now and again someone will arise who forecasts the date of the Lord's return, and some will always be

found who will, as a consequence, dispose of their business, and wait the expected day. It strikes the outside

observer as strange that in such circumstances a business should be sold: why should it not be given away? Of what

use would the proceeds be in that day? Again, if the nature of one's business is such that, being assured of the

nearness of the Lord's return, one would leave it, surely that is sufficient reason for leaving it now, irrespective of

`times and seasons'. The Lord's own instruction to His servants in view of His coming is not: `Give up your work',

but `Carry on', `Occupy'.

There are a number of passages that warn the believer against attempting the computation of the date of the

second coming:

`But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only' (Matt. 24:36).

`Ye know not what hour your Lord doth come' (Matt. 24:42).

`In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh' (Matt. 24:44).

`Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh' (Matt. 25:13).

`But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know

perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night' (1 Thess. 5:1,2).

The fact is that since the setting aside of Israel in Acts 28, prophetic times are in abeyance and we are living in a

parenthetical period during which the prophetic clock has been stopped.

The basis of all prophetic computation is found in Daniel 9, and it is evident that the present interval of well-nigh

2,000 years has no place in Daniel's 70 weeks. If, then, the computation of times was clearly wrong during the

periods of the Gospels and the Acts when the hope of Israel was still before the believer, how much more should it

be discountenanced during the present dispensation of the mystery? Instead of being left to speculate about `times

and seasons' the apostles were instructed how they were to `occupy', with the hope of Israel's restoration in view:

`But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come (having come) upon you: and ye shall be witnesses

unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part (end) of the earth' (Acts

The expression, the `end of the earth' is of great importance, because by its use the Lord associated with His

command a passage from Isaiah which has a bearing upon the apostles' question of Acts 1:6. The passage of Isaiah,

to which we refer, is one that is difficult to translate with certainty. We will compare it as it appears in the A.V. and

R.V., when the difference will at once be manifest:

`And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him,

Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength'

(Isa. 49:5 A.V.).

`And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, and that

Israel be gathered unto Him: (for I am honourable in the eyes of the LORD, and my God is become my strength)'

(Isa. 49:5 R.V.).

The difference between the two renderings depends upon whether we read the Hebrew word lo as meaning `to

Him', or `not'. The Lord, Who knew the end from the beginning, and Who knew that the same Hebrew word could

be read as it appears in either the A.V. or the R.V., so caused Isaiah to write that the prophecy sets forth the facts

without providing Israel with excuse. It was the Saviour's mission to gather Israel to the Lord, and this gathering

shall yet be accomplished. But it was known that Israel would not repent at the Lord's first coming, and that the

salvation of the Lord would extend to the Gentiles; consequently, Isaiah. 49:6 continues: