`Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this

great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers,

which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other

gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and who had not given to them (see margin) any portion

... and the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger ...' (Deut. 29:24-28).

Before proceeding, the whole of Leviticus 26 should be read. The chapter is full of teaching on the subject of

Israel's rejection.

The second great cause of Israel's rejection was their blindness and hardness of heart at the coming of Christ:

`And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at

least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes' (Luke

`O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often

would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would

not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate' (Matt. 23:37,38).

The third cause of the rejection of Israel is seen in their bitter opposition to the spread of the gospel. Such

passages as Acts 17:1-7 and 22:1-22 should be read. Space for the citation of many of these passages cannot be

afforded, but we give one of them from the epistle to the Thessalonians:

`Ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the

Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all

men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is

come upon them to the uttermost' (1 Thess. 2:14-16).

CHAPTER 6

In the opening chapter of this book, in which the book of Acts as a whole was considered, we found that the first

fourteen verses formed a preface to the book, in which was gathered up in brief what had been said more fully in the

last chapter of Luke, and, therefore, that Acts proper commenced with verse 15.  We also discovered that

the structure of the book placed Peter and Paul in correspondence, each having his own spiritual equipment

(chapters 2 and 13), and ministry (3 to 11 and 13 to 19), and both finally suffering imprisonment (12 and 28). The

opening member of the structure was given on page 4 as:

A2 B 1:15 to 2:13. JERUSALEM. - Holy Spirit. Enduement of the twelve.

The geography of the Acts is like an index finger pointing out the road which the teaching must inevitably

follow. In broadest terms it is Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome; but the intervening movements are important, as showing

the manner in which the teaching spread in ever widening circles. Let us make a note of the geography of this

important book.

The whole movement is anticipated in 1:8 where we read:

`Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part

of the earth'.

There is ambiguity that is evidently intentional in the use of the word translated `earth'. That this Greek word,

ge, is rightly translated `earth', receives confirmation from Acts 4:24, 7:49, 14:15 and 17:26. But that it is also

rightly translated `land' is shown by Acts 7:3,4,36; 13:19 and 27:44. It is therefore a matter for careful thought that

the Lord used a word which might have meant either a world-wide commission, or one embracing only the uttermost

parts of the land of Israel, the alternatives depending respectively upon Israel's repentance and entrance into their