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within that generation the Lord would come. Paul could rightly join himself with the
believers and say:--
"We which are alive and are left to the coming of the Lord" (I Thess. 4: 15).
"Your whole person, spirit, and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thess. 5: 23).
Of this coming Peter spoke in Acts 3: 19-21:--
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted . . . . . When the times of refreshing shall come
from the Presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ . . . . . Whom the heavens
must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the
mouth of all His holy prophets since the age."
Right on till Acts 28: the hope is "the hope of Israel" (28: 20). This therefore
includes the hope of Galatians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Corinthians and Romans.
But Israel repented not. They were not "converted" (28: 27). The times of refreshing
did not come. The Lord did not return. The dispensation with its hopes and its doctrine,
its church and its sphere, passed away, and its place has been taken by the dispensation of
the mystery. Not until the Church of the One Body is complete can the hope of Israel be
resumed. It shall come. He is faithful; but a better hope awaits the Church of the
Mystery.
#8.
The dispensational place of the Gentiles during the Acts.
pp. 71 - 73
Our only means of knowing the purpose of God is the teaching of the Word of God.
We cannot argue the point as to whether there may have been some Gentiles gathered
with the disciples on the day of Pentecost, all we know is that there are none in the
Scripture record. None but Jews, or Israel, either believing or unbelieving, figure in
Acts 1:, 2:, 3:, 4:, 5:, 6: & 7: We earnestly invite our readers to write to us if they
disagree on this, not to debate, but to supply us with chapter and verse. Chapter 8:
records the widening of the witness:--
"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ" (8: 5).
Here the third sphere of testimony is reached, "Jerusalem and in all Judæa and in
Samaria" (1: 8). Toward the close of the chapter an Ethiopian is introduced, to whom
Philip preaches "Jesus" (8: 35). Philip passes through Azotus (in Judæa) and preaches
in all the cities until he comes to Cæsarea, some 30 miles north-west of Samaria.
Chapter 9: finds the preaching of Christ extended as far as Damascus, some 140 miles
north of Jerusalem. This section is concluded by the words of 9: 31:--
"Then had the churches rest throughout Judæa and Galilee and Samaria."