6. The Bible nowhere teaches that Christ's kingdom, reign,
and salvation work, will ever be confined to the land of
Palestine.
It was predicted that in the Christian
dispensation the law should go forth from Zion, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa. 2:3). But nowhere do we read
that it is to return there. This prophecy is applied in Luke
24:47. "And that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, BEGINNING at
Jerusalem." Mark well the fact that Jerusalem was the
place of "beginning," but not the place of ending.
When "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all nations; then
shall the end come" (Matt. 24 :14). Not a hint that after I
it has reached all nations in all the world, then it will I
return and be limited to the confines of a spot of earth from
20 to 40 miles in width, and about 150 miles in length. Just
take a world map and note the size of Palestine compared with
all the earth. It is hardly a dot in comparison. Then
imagine the great kingdom of God limited to that small area,
and confined to one nation—the Jews. No, indeed; such a
doctrine is refuted by the whole spirit and message of the New
Testament. Christ said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts
1:8). The kingdom of grace began in Palestine as a small stone
"cut out without hands," but it is destined to
become "a great mountain and fill the WHOLE EARTH"
(Dan. 2 :34, 35). Where do we read that after all this, it
will be reduced to a little mole-hill covering the barren
wastes of Palestine? And why this tiny country anyway? It does
not compare in beauty and wealth with most other countries.
It became the land of promise to Israel only in
order to fill up the types of the Old Testament. It has served
its purpose, and is no longer sacred, no more than are the
Jewish Sabbath and offerings. Under the law we read of the
holy land, holy temple, holy altars, holy priests, holy days,
holy Sabbath, holy garments, and a hundred other holy things.
But with the passing of that dispensation all these have lost
their holiness. Under the gospel, no one spot of earth is
better than another. The domain of Christ, instead of being
limited, and confined to one little country, is destined to
spread out "under the WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dan. 7:27); and
not the Jews only, but "ALL NATIONS shall flow unto
it" (Isa. 2:2).
7. The. "times of the Gentiles"
and "fullness of the Gentiles" does not imply a
rejection of the Jews now, nor an age of salvation for them in
the future.
The judgments of the Almighty that came
upon the Jewish nation in the destruction of their city, the
desolation of their land, their scattering among all nations,
and the "blindness in part" that happened to them,
they brought upon themselves. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and
said, "How often would I have gathered" you, but
"ye would not" (Luke 13:34). When they condemned him
to death, "then answered all the people, and said, His
blood be on us, and on our children" (Matt. 27 :25). They
were so enraged against the truth that when Paul preached to
them "they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and
threw dust into the air" (Acts 22:23). "Then Paul
and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the
word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing
ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13
:46). "The Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus, and
their own 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 alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the
uttermost" (1 Thess. 2 :14-16). As many as accepted
Christ were saved, and these constituted the
"remnant" (Rom. 11:5), the "election" (v.
7), and "the rest were blinded," and "broken
off," "because of unbelief." The whole blame
lies at their own door.
It was in this way the kingdom was
taken from them and given to the Gentiles (Matt. 21:33-45);
not by a sovereign decree unconditionally, but because they as
a nation rendered themselves "unworthy of everlasting
life." History proves that God deals with nations as well
as with individuals. Now, since the Jews as a whole (with few
exceptions) have continued in unbelief throughout the
Christian era, the great majority of those who have accepted
the gospel are from among the Gentile nations. This, then, is
why the gospel age is termed "the times of the
Gentiles." The Jew has an equal privilege with the
Gentile, but because of his own stubborn unbelief the
"veil remains on his heart," and "blindness in
part" will rest upon him until the end of this age, which
will mark "the fullness of the Gentiles," or the
time when the great harvest of the Christian era shall have
been gathered. (Rom. 11 :25).
