Gentiles. Also Matthew, xv, 24, where Jesus says to the Canaanitish woman, "I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And also Luke, xv, 4, where Jesus speaking of the publican, a Jew, says, what man having an hundred sheep and loses one, does not leave the 99 and go after that which is lost, till he finds it; and again in the following parables of the woman who lost a piece of silver, and of the prodigal son, the inference is the same. To the Jew, to the lost sheep of Israel, is the gospel of glad tidings first offered; the Gentiles, as a nation or nations, were not to enter into any of the privileges of the chosen race till the latter refused to have Christ to reign over them, and it was not till the crowning point of the Jews disbelief had reached the climax of rebellion and apostacy by the crucifixion of their king, that nationally they were cast aside, and the glories and the grace originally reserved for them were bestowed on the Gentiles. See Romans xi. The Church is mentioned in Matthew, xvi, 18, and then only as a future body, not as one existing at that time, for Christ says, "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I WILL build my church." The Jewish disciples to whom the ministry of the gospel of the kingdom was entrusted had no knowledge at that time of the mystical body of Christ, which was to comprise the Gentile as well as the Jew; nor was it revealed unto them till after the descent of the Holy Ghost. Peter were entrusted the keys of heaven, but no special revelation was made to him concerning the body of Christ, and the mystical union of its members with Christ, as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (Ephesians v, 30). Το Paul alone was confided the manifestation of this wondrous mystery, "which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men," viz., that the Gentiles are joint heirs and joined in the same body, and joint-partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ through the Gospel, whereof Paul was made a minister by the dispensation of the grace of God, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in the Christ, even Jesus our Lord (Ephesians, iii, 2-12; v, 32; i, 9-10). We thus see the distinctive character of the mission of the twelve was to Israel alone.

To

The mission of the seventy has a prophetical aspect, and a far more extensive scope, for the testimony was not confined to the Jews as that of the twelve had been, but they (the seventy) were to go to every city and place whither Jesus himself was about to come. Now Jesus did not visit every city-his labours were chiefly confined to places round the Sea of Galilee; and it would appear that the mission here spoken of was towards the end of His ministry, for we read that "when the days were accomplishing that He should be received up into heaven, He steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem," so that the disciples could not in that limited time have visited every city and place, nor could Jesus himself have gone over them. The realisation, then, is still future, and what corroborates it more strongly is the soul-astounding observation of Jesus on the return of the seventy, that "He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Now as this was clearly prophetical-for Satan is not bound and cast into the abyss till just before the millennium (Rev. xx, 1—3)— so we are warranted in attributing the fulfilment of the other portion to a future period. See John xii, 31; Isaiah xxiv, 21, xiv, 12. These passages are evidently future, and connected with our Lord's return to earth to reign on Mount Zion; and it is clear from numerous passages in Scripture that the conversion of the world-at least of such as are saved-is brought about by the instrumentality of the Jewish nation, under the guidance of Jesus their glorified king and high priest during the millennial age. Isaiah xl, 9, "Behold your God." And again, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tinings, that publisheth peace-that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth" (Isaiah lii, 7). And again, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, for the Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec" (Psalm cx, 3, 4). It is as Melchisedec that Jesus, conjointly with the kingly power, as the Branch of the seed of David, and as the victor

See

of the world by His right hand and by His holy arm (Pšılm xcviii, 1), that He will reign over the Jewish nation in the new earthly Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously (Isaiah, xxxiv, 23; lii, 9, 10). To those who have not studied the subject, it may not be displaced to add, that during the thousand years of Christ's personal reign numerous heathen nations will be living on the earth in an unconverted state, and it is to these nations, cities, and places, that the mission of the seventy has reference. Satan being bound during this period, millions will be brought into the fold of Christ's flock through the missionary efforts of the believing Jews, and peoples and kings will come up year by year at the Feast of Tabernacles to present offerings and worship Melchisedec as King and Priest (Zechariah, xiv, 16).

This, I think, is the high office and explanation of the mission of the seventy. The number also is suggestive of deep import, and is one intimately connected with Jewish history. The nations at the time of the dispersement consisted of seventy. Seventy souls went down to Egypt with Jacob. This alone is sufficient to establish the number as a representative of the whole race. Seventy elders represented "all Israel" in that wonderful scene related in Exodus xxiv. Seventy elders were selected by Moses to judge the people at the instigation of his father-in-law— Jethro—and as everything in the Old Testament is typical of what shall occur hereafter, the encampment of the Israelites at the waters of Elim (Exodus xv, 27), where there were seventy palm trees and twelve wells (or literally fountains), seems to symbolise the subject under review. The disciples going through the cities of Judæa, baptising the people with the water of regeneration, and healing their infirmities, finds its emblem in the living fountains of Elim, from whence the disciples drew with joy water out of the wells of salvation (Isaiah xii, 3), and in the restorative mercies of Jehovah in the healing of the waters of Marah, where he is called the "Healer" (Exodus xv, 23-26). The seventy palm trees, emblematic of constancy, fruitfulness, and prosperity, seem intended to show forth to the children of Abraham God's undeviating love, his stores of plenty, and his assurance of victory over all their enemies.

See Revelations xiv, where Christ accompanied by the 144,000, a representative number of Jews redeemed from

the power of Antichrist, or perhaps the martyrs slain for their testimony to Jesus, go from city to city with the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth, and sea, and foundations of waters."

JONAI, III, 10.

"And God repented of the evil (or, of the affliction), that He said that He would do unto them; and He did it not."

God is long-suffering, and willeth not that any should perish. "Why will ye die, O house of Israel." The Bible is full of instances of this nature; each displaying the boundless and ineffable love of God to his fallen people. Every one who reads the Bible knows that the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, and that God spared them. God is represented as one that cannot lie, nor the Son of Man that He should repent. "Hath He said and shall He not do it; or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?" (Numbers, xxiii, 19). These and other similar passages show God's inflexible purposes, and others representing forgiveness of sins, present difficulties to some minds; but to the believer they only serve to give hope and comfort, for they clearly demonstrate to those who lay hold of Jesus and accept the unspeakable gift of His blood, which He shed for us; that there is no condemnation; we are brought from death into life, and are accepted in the beloved; but to those who obstinately and persistently refuse to accept God's gracious gift in the person of His dear Son, there is nothing left but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation" (Hebrew, x, 27).

There is generally, if not always, an implied condition in the denunciation of God's vengeance, by the satisfaction of which it might be, as in this instance, stayed (see chap. iv, 2). As a case in point, see also 1st Kings, xxi, 27-29, where Ahab, the worst of Israel's kings, humbled himself before God and was pardoned; and again, because Jehoram,

Ahab's son, wore sackcloth, and humbled himself, therefore did God grant him deliverance from the thraldom of Syria; and other instances.

GENESIS, XLI, 45.

"And Paraoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt."

The history of Joseph throughout is typical of Christ, but here we have a glimpse of millennial times. The King gives Joseph a Gentile bride, i.e., the Church; her name is Asenath, signifying peril or temptation-an adumbration of the trials she has to endure through the world before entering into glory. Joseph, when exalted from deep humiliation to high honour, or, in gospel terms, seated in the heavenlies, is in a position to call his brethren-the Jewish nationfor Jacob and the sixty-nine souls that went down into Egypt, into the goodness and fatness of the land, represented the entire nation. Thus we have Joseph and his Gentile bride-Christ and the Church. In Joseph's brethren we have the sons of Israel, who had sold him, now reconciled and brought into blessing, as Israel will be after the rapture of the Church; and after the tribulation they as a nation must go through prior to being restored to their land. In the Egyptian we have a picture of the nations who are yet to bow the knee to Jesus (Isaiah, xlv, 23); when they will confess that Christ, whom they crucified, is the author and giver of all blessings; even, as the Egyptians acknowledged that they were indebted to Joseph for the blessings they enjoyed under his rule in the land of Goschen.

RUTH, IV, 5.

"Then said Boaz (whose name signifies 'in him is strength'), that day thou buyest the field of the hand of Noami, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."

Boaz is a type of Christ, and we see Christ in the parable (Matthew, xiii, 45) buying the Pearl of great price,