and thus Cornelius becomes Gentile No. 1. That happened at Acts 10.

The door opens wider. Now Paul is being used, The apostle to the Gentiles. But he must go to the Jew first. Wherever he goes on his

missionary travels he goes first to the Synagogue. He reasons with the Children of Israel from the Scriptures, and then goes to the Gentiles. Even

so these Gentiles must be grafted into the parent tree (Rom. 11:17). More and more they come in. Will the Children of Israel be penitent? No!

They are not penitent, they are angered. Now Paul goes to Rome. The last place and the last chance. Paul reasoned and argued. So the Jews

appointed him a day. From morning till evening Paul expounded, testified, persuaded, but all to no avail. `They agreed not'. So the door was

shut! Once again the Children of Israel are `Lo-ammi - Not My people'. That happened at Acts 28:28.

What now? The tree is cut down and the grafting is finished. What can happen now? Is there no hope for the world? `Oh how great is the

God we adore'. What boundless love! What marvellous wisdom! Paul can now reveal his secret (Eph. 3:3). A secret never before made known

(Eph. 3:9). The Jew as God's chosen people is finished, for the time being, anyway. The prophetic clock has stopped. The door is shut, but like

the revolving doors, as one shuts another opens and now it is `whosoever will', Jew or Gentile - all One body in Christ. What then is the special

secret that Paul revealed? Well here it is. Ephesians 2:12, That we being in times past Gentiles in the flesh ... That at that time we were without

Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the

world! But now in Christ Jesus we who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

What a glorious dispensation of Grace (for by grace are ye saved, through faith). Do we not partake then in the promises covenanted to Israel?

Abraham was promised a seed `as the sand of the seashore'. Again he was promised a seed `as the stars of heaven'. Do we not take our place

with them? Oh, no! (Eph. 2:6) `He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ'. And where is He? Why He

is (Eph. 1:21) `Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in

that which is to come'. God be praised! Our place is with Him THERE.

One day - it may be soon - the times of the Gentiles will be over. The prophetic clock will start again, but `that's another story'.

Kingdom proclaimed.

Matthew 13.

Kingdom underground

Kingdom preached a