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abomination of desolation (Matt. 24: 15). Luke records that the Saviour said, "When ye
shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is
nigh", and that "the times of the Gentiles" were commensurate with the treading down of
Jerusalem (Luke 21: 20-24).
Israel is never considered as under divine favour at the same time as "the days of
vengeance" are upon them (Luke 21: 22), and these days are associated with the
destruction of Jerusalem and with the destruction of the temple (Matt. 24: 1, 2).
(3) At Pentecost a stay of execution was granted, and a second appeal made.--The
prayer from the cross, "Father, forgive them", was heard. The Apostles were bidden to
tarry at Jerusalem until endued with power from on high, and then to preach once again
to this same people. The answer of the Lord to the Apostles' question, "Lord, wilt Thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1: 6) showed that He knew that the
extended period of mercy would not bring about Israel's repentance, and with the stoning
of Stephen and the call and commission of Paul, preparation began to be made for a new
dispensation, on new conditions, that would be consequent upon Israel's rejection, and
which would demand a further revelation and a different ministry.
(4)
The dismissal de facto.--The sentence pronounced in Matt. 23:, and
postponed during the years covered by the Acts during which the Lord said, "All day
long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people"
(Rom. 10: 21), became de facto after the Apostle had held his all day conference with the
leaders of the Jews in Rome. The period of leniency covered by the Acts, simply
revealed that these Jews of the dispersion manifested the same hardness of heart that had
characterized the Jews in Palestine.
". . . . . the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their 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 always: for the wrath
is come upon them to the uttermost" (I Thess. 2: 14-16).
Why does Luke end the record of the Acts with the words "No man forbidding him"?
Because the Jew had now been removed from the scene and, under the persecution
against them that was about to commence, their hindrance of the evangelization of the
Gentiles would no longer be possible.
(5) The immediate consequence of Israel's failure, both in Matt. 11:-13: and in
Acts 28: was to give prominence to the Gentile, introduce a "mystery" and fulfil
Isa. 6: 9, 10.--The miracles wrought by Christ should have led Israel to repentance
(Matt. 11: 20-24), but instead, though greater than prophet, priest and king (Matt. 12: 6,
41, 42), the Lord stood rejected by them. In Matt. 12:, for the first time in that Gospel,
the Gentile comes into prominence and favour, introduced by a quotation from
Isa. 42: 1-4.
In Matt. 13: (even as in parallel circumstances--in Acts 13:--the
Apostle quoted the same passage) the kingdom of heaven enters what can be called its
"mystery" phase (Matt. 13: 11). This mystery is associated with a period called "from
the foundation of the world" (Matt. 13: 35). Many prophets and righteous men had