"AND IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM, WHICH

SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED: AND THE KINGDOM SHALL NOT BE LEFT TO OTHER PEOPLE, BUT

IT SHALL BREAK IN PIECES AND CONSUME ALL THESE KINGDOMS, AND IT SHALL STAND FOR

EVER. FORASMUCH AS THOU SAWEST THAT THE STONE WAS CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN

WITHOUT HANDS, AND THAT IT BRAKE IN PIECES THE IRON, THE BRASS, THE CLAY, THE SILVER,

AND THE GOLD; THE GREAT GOD HATH MADE KNOWN TO THE KING WHAT SHALL COME TO

PASS HEREAFTER (margin, "after this): AND THE DREAM IS CERTAIN, AND THE INTERPRETATION

THEREOF SURE." -- Dan. ii. 44-45.

One of our duties towards the word of God, is to "rightly divide" it, because it is the "Word of Truth." And

because it is the "engrafted word" we are to receive it: because it is the "faithful word" we are to hold it fast:

because it is the "Word of Life" we are to hold it forth. But because it is the "Word of Truth" we are to

"rightly divide" it. It is one of the verities of that Word, that "what God hath joined together, let no man put

asunder" (Matt. xix. 6), and so we may assert as truth, the corollary of this proposition, and say what God

has put asunder, let no man join together: what God has separated and distinguished, let no man confound

and confuse.

Now if God has put anything asunder, He has done so in I Cor. x. 32, where he has for ever distinguished

"the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God." But man has not "rightly divided" the word of God, with

reference to these three; he has joined them together with all perverseness and self-will, giving to the

Church what God has said is for Israel; and to the world what God has said is for the Church. In the

prophecies, man puts "the Church" for Israel when it is a question of blessing, while he carefully le aves all

the curses for "the Jew." So in Practical Religion he confused the Church with the world so completely, that

one cannot tell the difference between the worldly Church and the religious world; or see where the one

begins and the other ends.

But God has put these three things for ever asunder, and confuse them now as men may, they are and will

be for ever separated, in God's eternal purpose, in His everlasting word, and in His unerring judgment.

Having considered the purpose of the Second Advent in relation to "the Church of God," and to "the Jew,"

let us now look at it in relation to the Gentile.

Here again we must go back to the fountain head, and see in those prophetic titles of Christ, "The Son of

Man," "The Second Man," and "the last Adam," the history of man's ruin, and the hope of the world's

We have already seen (Sermon vii.) that as "the Son of Abraham," Jesus is the heir of the Land; and that as

"the Son of David," He is the heir of the Throne. So also, as "the Son of Man," Jesus is "the heir of the

world" (Rom. iv. 13), and the "heir of all things" (Heb. i. 2, see also Gen. i. 28, and Ps. viii. 4-8).

From the beginning God has shown that He has purposes of blessing for "the Gentile" as such, "when he

divided to the nations, their inheritance, when He separated the Sons of Adam" (Deut. xxxii. 8), and when He

announced the promise to Abraham, that in Him "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. xviii.

All through the history of Israel there were pledges of t his future blessing. Individuals were repeatedly

brought in for blessing, yea even into the very line of the Messiah, as Rahab and Ruth. Naaman and many

others received foretastes of that blessing. The Passover itself was always free to Gentiles under condition

of circumcision (Ex. xii. 48-49). Many prophecies also point to the fact that Christ was to be "a light to

lighten the Gentiles" as well as the glory of His people Israel.