`If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed

of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever' (Jer.

At the first advent of their Messiah, Israel knew not the day of their

`O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them

which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children

together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would

not!' (Matt. 23:37),

but at the second coming this gathering will take place:

`Immediately after the tribulation of those days ... shall appear the

sign of the Son of Man in heaven ... and He shall send His angels with a

great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from

the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other' (Matt. 24:29 -31).

See also Deuteronomy 30:3 and Isaiah 43:5,6; 54:7.

In God's good time Israel shall be restored, but, although the Mystery

itself was never a subject of Old Testament  prophecy, it was fully revealed

that upon the defection of Israel, the Gentiles would be enlightened.  `It is a

light thing' when compared with the entire plan of the ages, that Christ should

raise up the tribes of Israel; `though Israel be not gathered', Christ was to

be given `a light to lighten the Gentiles' (Isa. 49:5,6), and this was quoted

by the apostle Paul upon the defection of Israel, in Acts 13:47.

The word that is translated `end' in the phrase `the end of the world',

in Matthew 24:3, contains the idea of gathering, particularly that of the

gathering of harvest.  The Greek word sunteleia is a word that meant in

classical Greek `a joint or common contribution for the public burdens', but

which was used in the LXX upon its first employment to refer to `the feast of

the ingathering' at the end of the year (Exod. 23:16).  This allusion to the

harvest is most certainly intended in the question of the disciples, even as it

is included in the Saviour's prophecy of the second coming (Matt. 24:3,31).

No such `gathering' as any of those already indicated finds a place in

the Prison Epistles, the words in Ephesians 1:10, `He might gather together in

one', having a very different meaning and association.  The Greek word used in

Ephesians 1:10 is found nowhere else in either the LXX or the Greek New

Testament except in Romans 13:9 where it is translated `is briefly

comprehended' -- the ordinary meaning of the word.  The R.V.  reads `to sum

up', which is its classical meaning, but there are contextual and spiritual

reasons for believing that the word chosen, anakephalomai, should be translated

`to head up', by reason of the great and blessed fact that the supreme title of

Christ in this epistle is kephale or `Head'.  Whatever word however may be

employed, of either Israel, Gentile or Mystery, the Scriptures make it clear

that at the end the climax blessing and seal of all that has gone before can be

expressed in this one word `gather'.  It is a lovely word, a homely word, a

word associated by the Saviour Himself with a hen and her brood, and the farmer

and his corn.  While isolation and loneliness may often be the price that must

be paid for faithful stewardship today, a gathering together of those of like

precious faith can be, and often is, a foretaste of joys to be experienced in

the days to come.  This has been the comment many times by those who have