power to do this very thing. So even if Israel had been ready to receive Him, He still

would have died; He would have voluntarily laid down His life and become the great

Sin-bearer: He would have taken it up again, as He said, after three days. And then,

instead of waiting centuries, the kingdom could have come in to being straight away

because Israel would have been redeemed and the whole plan for worldwide blessing

could have gone forward.

But it did not happen like that. Is it not tragic the way sin and failure has postponed

and hindered God's plan? At the same time we must realize that it cannot finally

frustrate it, otherwise we have no hope, no assurance at all. We should have no message

of joy to proclaim if that were true.  But God is not dealing with puppets;  He is

dealing with responsible people who can refuse and reject, so that God's purposes for the

time being can be delayed. That is why it has not come to pass yet; that is why, nearly

two thousand years after Calvary that the kingdom on the earth is not yet in being. And

as we look on world conditions we seem to see it receding farther and farther away; but

when we have got the Divine Plan in our minds we can realize that God has got

everything under control; He is still `working all things after the counsel of His own

Now the next point is this: the great Sacrifice for sin having been made, God thus

over-ruling as He did the people of Israel murdering their Messiah, the Gospel can now

be preached to the people who first needed it, the murderers, the Jewish nation. And

unless God has changed the plan and discarded Israel, and is going to use some other

channel to reach all families of the earth, that is the very thing that must happen. The

book of history that follows the Gospel records makes the continuation of the purpose

clear.  That book, of course, is "The Acts of the Apostles".  It shows that God's

longsuffering, even after the climax and sin of crucifying Christ did not run out for the

Jew. The plan was still in the forefront and so, during the thirty-five years, roughly

speaking, which that book covers, God waits in His longsuffering for Israel to repent and

turn back to Him. The gospel is preached to them by Peter and the twelve, and he waits

to see whether they will respond in this way. Later on, when Paul wrote the Epistle to the

Romans; he wrote concerning his own people, the Jew, "my kinsmen according to the

flesh". This can only be the literal Jew. He said: "God hath not cast away His people

which he foreknew." Now there are some systems of theology that tell us that He did

cast them away at the Cross:  but Paul said He had not done so.  In effect he said,

"Look at me--I am an Israelite and He has not cast me away". That is the argument of

Rom. 11:, and the Scripture goes on to say this: `The gifts and the calling of God are

without repentance." God does not change his mind; if this is the plan He is not going to

alter it because of man's failure and sin. So beware of any interpretation of the Scriptures

that says there is no future for the Jew as a nation, the gifts and the calling and the plan of

God are without repentance on His part. Paul goes on to say, "As touching the gospel

they are enemies for your sakes, but as concerning the election they are beloved for the

fathers' sakes". So you see, after Calvary, God takes up His dealings with this same

people, and He prepares the twelve for this great ministry to them.