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desired to see these things, but had not (Matt. 13: 17), and in Israel, at that time and in
these circumstances, was fulfilled the saying of Isa. 6: 9, 10 (Matt. 13: 13-15).
Reference to the fulfillment of prophecy in Matthew's Gospel is usually introduced by
the phrase, "That it might be fulfilled", using the Greek word pleroo. This is so in
Matt. 13: 35, but in verse 14 of the same chapter, where Christ said, "In them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah", He departs from this custom and uses the intenser form
anapleroo, the only occurrence of the word in the four Gospels. It is this word that is
used by Paul in the passage which we have already quoted, namely, "To fill up their sins
alway" (I Thess. 2: 16).
No word could more definitely indicate that this prophecy was at that time completely,
nationally, and finally fulfilled. When we come to Acts 28: 1-9, again we find
miracles that included the taking up of serpents and the laying on of the hands on the
sick, as in Mark 16: 18, the turning to the Gentile (Acts 28: 28), a ministry of the
mystery (Eph. 3: 13; Col. 1: 23-27), which mystery went back to a period known as
"before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1: 4), a subject which in other ages had not
been made known as it had now been revealed (Eph. 3: 5), and all this confirmed by the
selfsame quotation from Isa. 6: 9, 10.
There are two points concerning the quotation that must be considered, and their
importance recognized.
(a) The quotation made both by our Lord and by Paul in Matt. 13: and in Acts 28:,
differs in certain, but the same, respects, from the LXX version, i.e., Paul repeats
word for word the quotation as it is found in Matt. 13: Paul was indeed repeating,
verbally, the doom pronounced by the Lord before His crucifixion on this same
generation.
(b) The use of the word anapleroo, in Matt. 13: indicated that, then and there, the
terrible condition prophesied by Isaiah had come to pass. In repeating this passage
Paul does not say that it was "fulfilled", but only, "Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Esaias the prophet unto our fathers", and it is noteworthy that in John 12:, where
Isa. 6: 9, 10 is once more quoted, the word "fulfilled" is again omitted, the
blindness exhibited by Israel being the result of a foretold blindness already finding
its fulfillment in them: "Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said again,
He hath blinded their eyes", etc. (John 12: 39, 40). Isa. 6: 9, 10, while repeated in
Acts 28:, was really fulfilled in Matt. 13:
(6) The dismissal of Israel received its seal at the destruction of the Temple in
A.D.70.--The desolation, both of the temple and the city, had been foretold by Christ,
and in it was summed up Israel's rejection. Within a few years of the last chapter of the
Acts this judgment fell, and the days of Israel's opportunity and hope closed until the
future awakening comes, when "All Israel shall be saved".
(7) The prison ministry of the apostle Paul bridges the gulf between the dispensation
closing with Israel's rejection and the opening with the dispensation of the mystery.--
The "prison ministry" of the Apostle, which covers the "two whole years" of
Acts 28: 30, 31, is contained in those epistles where he is found to be "The prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles", namely, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon