DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
ACTS
57
AND
servant of Christ, no longer free and therefore unable to speak openly to the multitude, made known to the saints
secrets that were hid in God from before the foundation of the world.
We therefore appreciate the aptness of the quotation of Isaiah 6:9,10 at this great juncture of Israel's rejection.
We do not believe that the reader who has pondered these things will need any argument by us to justify the title
we have given to Acts 28, namely,
`The Dispensational Landmark'
As in Matthew 13, Israel did not hear. The Gentiles, who, up till then, had been kept outside (`Go not', `Aliens',
`Strangers'), now become the objects of grace.
When the apostle could utter the words, `The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles', then, the dispensation of
the mystery began and, then, Israel became lo-ammi, `not My people'. But when this day of matchless grace shall
close, with every member of the Body safely brought into living relationship with the exalted Head, then the thread
of prophetic truth shall once more be taken up by God. Israel will look upon Him Whom they pierced, the Day of
the Lord will set in, the purpose of the kingdom will be accomplished, Gentile dominion will cease, all Israel shall
be saved, and the two aspects of the kingdom be realized - on the earth and in the heavenly city.
As we have seen, the quotation of Isaiah 6 marks a crisis of the first magnitude. This we shall now consider,
together with its context.
`And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word' (Acts 28:25).
This `one word' constituted Israel's solemn dismissal, for the word translated `they departed' is in the passive,
and should be translated `They were dismissed'. The word apoluo, used in the original, not only means `to send
away' in a general sense, but in a good sense, `to release', as in Hebrews 13:23, and, in a bad sense, `to divorce' a
wife, as in Matthew 1:19; 5:31,32, the first four occurrences of the verb. It is this figure that must be kept in mind
when considering Israel's rejection in Acts 28 for, throughout their history, Israel's relationship with the Lord has
been construed in terms of marriage.
`They agreed not'.- The word thus translated is asumphonos, which is derived from sumphoneo, the origin of our
`symphony'. It is used once in connection with the marriage relationship (1 Cor. 7:5), where husband and wife
`agree' to temporary separation for the Lord's sake. The separation of Israel from their Lord, however, was not by
consent, but because there was no `concord' that could make the relationship possible, although there will be when,
by grace, the repentance of Israel is brought about.
This `divorce' of Israel, which had cast its shadow even over the Gospels, and is anticipated in the first miracle
of Acts 13, is now pronounced, and the word used to seal the dreadful dismissal is that quoted from Isaiah 6.
Just as Stephen says `your fathers', not `our fathers', so the Revised Text (also L T Tr. A.) of Acts 28:25 reads
`your' fathers. Here is a far-off echo of that pronouncement, `Your house is left unto you desolate' (Matt. 23:38).
Israel `heard', but they did not `understand'; they `saw', but they did not `perceive', and the seat of the trouble
was not in the eye or the ear, but in the heart:
`For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed'
(Acts 28:27).
Pachunomai, `waxed gross', occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Matthew 13:15. The word is used
as early as the prophetic song of Moses, when he described the very symptoms and disease from which Israel
ultimately suffered. He spoke of the way in which the Lord had found Israel in a waste and howling wilderness, and
how He had kept him as the apple of His eye.
`But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then
he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation' (Deut. 32:15).
Derived from pachunomai is pachne, `frost', and pachnoo, `to freeze', and pachos, `thick', a condition that
described Israel at this time. To describe a specially dull-witted fellow we use the expression, `He has a skin as