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`And He said, It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore
the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto
the end of the earth' (Isa. 49:6).
In the structure of the Acts as a whole, we have already shown that Acts 13 constitutes a parallel with the
equipment of the twelve on the day of Pentecost, and accordingly we find Paul traversing much the same ground in
his early ministry.
When the Jews refused his testimony at Antioch, the apostle refers to this identical passage in Isaiah, when he
says:
`Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so
hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for
salvation unto the ends of the earth' (Acts 13:46,47).
There are some who would make this the point where Israel is set aside and the mystery begins, but seeing that
the apostle is fulfilling a passage in the prophet Isaiah, such cannot be the case, for the mystery was, at the time of
his fulfilling utterance, unknown and unrevealed in any part of Scripture, and was disclosed only by revelation to
him as the Lord's prisoner. This ground has been covered in many articles in the Berean Expositor, in many
booklets, and in the three larger volumes published by us. While it is beside our purpose to go over the ground
again here, the matter is nevertheless of supreme importance, and the reader, who is unaware of the unique character
of the dispensation of the mystery, is earnestly urged to consider the claims of the apostle in Ephesians 3:1-13 as a
matter of prime importance, if studies of such as these in which we are engaged are to be effectively pursued.
The spiritual equipment of the apostles, received at Pentecost and promised in Acts 1:8, had in view the
gathering of Israel (a feature that will receive fuller exposition as we proceed to the study of Acts 2 and 3), and also
the gathering of a company from among the Gentiles, during the period in which opportunity of repentance was
permitted to Israel. This we shall find is referred to by the apostle Paul in such passages as Romans 11:7-24 and 1
Corinthians 14:21, where the extension of spiritual gifts to the Gentiles had for its object the provocation of Israel.
When, however, Israel refused to be provoked to emulation, and as a nation were set aside in Acts 28, a new
dispensation, with new characteristics, was introduced, and among the new characteristics is the very evident change
in connection with supernatural gifts of the Spirit.
The last recorded utterance of Christ on earth is in Acts 1:7 and 8, where His words give assurance that,
whatever the answer may be to their question concerning the time of Israel's restoration, all was well, for all was in
the Father's hands. Their part was to witness faithfully, even though `Israel be not gathered'. Their enduement
included a witness to `the end of the earth'. What the Lord did not say to the disciples in so many words is very
vividly brought before the mind by the event that immediately followed:
`And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of
their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in
white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven' (Acts 1:9-
11).
Further questioning concerning the hope of Israel is thus referred to the second coming. The words `shall so
come in like manner', would make the apostles realize not only that the restoration of the kingdom to Israel would
be fulfilled when Daniel 7 was fulfilled:
`I saw ... the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven ... and there was given him dominion' (Dan. 7:13,14).
but that the angel's statement also had Zechariah 14:4 in view:
`And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east' (Zech.
14:4).