`Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the

circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises

made unto the fathers' (Rom. 15:8).

`Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of

the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep

of the house of Israel' (Matt. 10:5 -6).

`I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of

Israel' (Matt. 15:24).

Proof that the promise made to David concerning a King was in view.

`Where is He that is born King of the Jews? ... in Bethlehem'

(Matt. 2:2 -5).

`Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto

thee' (Matt. 21:5).

`What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?  They say unto

Him, The Son of David' (Matt. 22:42).

`David ... being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn

with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,

according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on

His Throne; he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection

of Christ' (Acts 2:30,31).

Proof that the promise to Abraham concerning Israel as the chosen

channel of blessing to the Gentiles was in view.

`Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God

made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall

all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.  Unto you first God,

having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning

away every one of you from his iniquities' (Acts 3:25,26).

The consideration of these Scriptures in their setting provides

sufficient proof for the statements made concerning the character of the

Saviour's earthly ministry.

We are now in a position to consider Matthew 24 and 25, which is a

prophecy of the second coming of Christ, and concerns the hope of Israel as

distinct from the hope of the church.

The threefold prophecy of the coming of the Lord as revealed in Matthew 24 was

given in answer to the threefold question of the disciples --

`When shall these things be?'

`What shall be the sign of Thy coming?'

`And the end of the world (age)?' (Matt. 24:3).

The evidence which follows, sufficiently shows that in this passage the

hope of Israel and not the hope of `the church which is His Body' is the

First the word translated `end' is sunteleia, a word at that time well

known to every Jew, for it was the name of the third great feast, namely `the

feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year' (Exod. 23:16).  This is

evidence that Israel's hope is in view.

Secondly, we find that this coming of the Lord is to be preceded by `wars

and rumours of wars'.  Because of the fact that there have been, and yet will

be, many wars and rumours of wars since the setting aside of Israel, these