or Rome and so escaped imprisonment. But when we come to chapter 23: we are told

(verse 11), "And the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer,

Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at

Rome."

Paul may not have fully known what this future imprisonment was going to involve,

but whatever it cost him, there was nothing but tremendous blessing coming through it

for Gentile believers, who by nature were aliens and far off from God and all the

blessings given to the covenant people Israel. This we trust, we shall get to know for

ourselves as we proceed with our study and see how the riches of God's truth unfold.

We have seen how the Apostle Paul is taking the message as he goes on his

missionary journeys, spreading the truth of the Gospel, but going to the chosen people

first because they were still in covenant relation to God and His plan to reach the earth

through the chosen people of Israel, Abraham's seed, was still a possibility.

Now we open the Book then at the twenty-sixth chapter of Acts, and we find now

that, in the providence of God, Paul has come before King Agrippa and he is making his

defence before this king. He says (verse 2): "I think myself happy, King Agrippa,

because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I

am accused of the Jews . . . . . And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the

promise made of God unto our fathers". God made certain promises to Abraham, and

confirmed them to Isaac and to Jacob as we have seen. These concerned their posterity,

Israel, and what God was prepared to do through them for world blessing. At this point

He was waiting for their repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus as their Messiah and

Verse 7: "Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night

hope to come". Now what about those who teach that Israel was cast off by God at the

Cross because they rejected the Lord Jesus? It is quite evident that the Apostle Paul did

not believe that. The twelve tribes have still their hope, and there is still a possibility of it

being fulfilled! No one knew but what, at the last moment, this nation might turn and

repent and then God would have been as good as His Word; He would have sent back

the Lord Jesus  to them and  the earthly Kingdom  could have been realized

(Acts 3: 19-26). We must keep the possibility of this still in our minds. We know that

Israel did not repent and so it did not take place then. We must not look at things as we

see them 2,000 years later, but try and put ourselves in the position of believers at this

time. So there is a possibility of the hope of the promise that God gave to Abraham being

fulfilled as late as Acts 26:, otherwise words do not mean anything.