them. Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind! prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord YAHVEH, Come from the four winds, O Wind, and breathe in these slain, and let them live! So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came in them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, a very great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are divided into parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord YAHVEH, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you to the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am YAHVEH, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live; and I will place you upon your own land: then shall ye know that I, YAHVEH, have spoken, and performed, saith YAHVEH.” (Ezek. xxxvii.)

For the lost sheep of Israel there is a Good Shepherd; for dead and buried Israel there is a Reviver. YAHVEH the Good Shepherd sends Jesus the Good Shepherd; YAHVEH the Reviver sends the Reviver. To the gainsaying Jews Jesus said (John v.), "Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever things He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that He himself doeth: and He will show him greater works than these [the miracles of healing], that ye [Israel] may marvel. For as the Father raiseth the dead [Israel] and reviveth them; even so the Son reviveth whom he will. For the Father [directly] judgeth no one, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who hath sent him. Verily, verily, 1 say to you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has passed out of death into life."

Throughout this discourse, Jesus uses the figure of death and resurrection in strict conformity to Ezekiel's vision. The whole twelve tribes are treated as dead. The Jews were dead, but not buried; Israel was both dead and buried. The dead Jews who

heard Jesus speak might be enlivened by the Spirit there and then, -pass from death to life; from a state of condemnation to a state of justification which would result in their salvation when the ransomed of YAHVEH return to Zion. Hence he adds, "Verily, verily, I say to you, The hour comes, and now is, when the dead [Jews] shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear [believe, John vi. 60] shall live.”

As the lost sheep were to hear the voice of the Shepherd, so the dead were to hear the voice of the Reviver. But the sheep did not all hear to obey. Jesus said to some, "Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep." (John x. 26.) So likewise the dead did not all hear; for "they are not all Israel who are of Israel." (Rom. ix. 6.)

"For as the Father hath life in himself [as a fountain to supply the destitute, Ps. xxxvi. 9], so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." He is the promised heir of David. (2 Sam. vii.; 1 Chron. xvii.; Ps. lxxxix., cx., cxxxii.; Isa. ix. 6, 7; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, xxxiii. 15.)

Jesus, when he spoke to the lost sheep of the Jewish fold, failed not to mention the "other sheep" which were more completely lost: so, when speaking to the dead Jews, he did not forget the other dead, the dead and buried. "Marvel not at this;" marvel not that I am come to revive you from your dead condition; for there is a still greater work. "The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth."

But although buried Israel are brought out of the graves of twenty-five centuries, yet, as in the case of the Jews to whom Jesus spoke, many a son of Belial will be "purged out" from among them, so as not to "enter into the land of Israel." (Ezek. xx. 38.) Their resurrection is one of condemnation, not of life. They that have done good, to a resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to a resurrection of condemnation."

66

"YAHVEH, thou hast delighted in thy land,
Thou hast turned back the captivity of Jacob.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
Thou hast covered all their sin.

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath,

Thou hast turned from the fierceness of thine anger.

Turn us, O God of our salvation,

And cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us forever?

Wilt thou continue thine anger to all generations?
Wilt thou not turn and revive us,

That thy people may rejoice in thee?
Show us thy mercy, O YAHVEH!

And grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what the mighty YAHVEH speaketh;
For he will speak peace to his people and to his saints,

And they will not turn back to folly.

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met!

Righteousness and peace have kissed!

Truth from the earth shall spring forth,

And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, YAHVEH shall give the promised good,

And our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall walk in his presence,

And shall place us in the way of his steps." (Ps. lxxxv.)

WHY TO THE GENTILES?

IF Jesus was not sent to bless any of the nations except Israel; if Israel is first in the order of Divine favor, and is to be saved before the Gentile age begins; if "the children are first to be filled," until which time the Gentiles are limited to "the crumbs that fall from the table,”—why was the Gospel sent to the Gentiles? Why was Peter sent, manifestly against his own will (Acts x.) and against that of his brethren "of the circumcision" (Acts xi. 2, 3), to the centurion Cornelius, and to "his kinsmen and near friends"? Why was "the gift of the Holy Ghost poured out on the Gentiles also"? (Acts x. 45.) And, above all, why was he of Tarsus, "a Hebrew of the Hebrews," arrested in his raging career of “threatenings and slaughter," struck to the earth by a light brighter than noon, filled with the Holy Ghost, and given

this commission: "Depart; for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles"? (Acts xxii. 21.) Why?

This was a "mystery" in the days of the apostles, revealed to one man only; to the man selected by Jesus as "the apostle of the Gentiles." From his Roman prison-house writes "Paul the prisoner of Jesus the Anointed for you Gentiles: If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me for you; how that by a revelation he made known to me the mystery, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in the Anointed by the Gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power. To me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Anointed." (Eph. iii.) The preaching of the mystery' of the Anointed to the Gentiles was a mystery.

Although Paul was made to understand this mystery, yet it was not lawful for him to utter the explanation. (2 Cor. xii. 4.). But he wrote it for us in these last days. (Rom. xi.) That it was not comprehended in that generation is attested by Peter. "Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, hath written to you; (as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things;) in which are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstable pervert, as they do also the other writings, to their own loss." (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.) All that Peter understood of the matter is expressed in seven words: "Account the forbearance of our Lord salvation." (2 Pet. iii. 15.) "All Israel shall be saved." (Rom. xi. 26.)

But

This mystery is now solved. Jesus came to save Israel. where was Israel? Hosea answers: 66 'Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the peoples. Israel is swallowed up,-wanderers among the nations." How, then, could they be reached unless the Gospel was sent to the Gentiles? In the light of YAHVEH'S plan the mystery becomes a necessity. The Gospel to the Gentiles is really the Gospel to Israel. It is the Good Shepherd seeking the lost sheep. It is the life-giving voice reverberating in the valley of dry bones.

Had not this been pre-announced by Moses? Was it not written

in his dying song? After referring to Israel's departure from YAHVEH into black idolatry, he says:

"And when YAHVEH saw it, he abhorred them,

Because of the provoking of his sons and his daughters.

And he said, I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end is:

For they are a very froward generation;
Children in whom is no faith.

They have moved me to jealousy with No-God!
They have provoked me to anger with their Vanities!
And I will move them to jealousy with No-people!
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation!"

(Deut. xxxii.)

By the Gentiles in the Roman Empire YAHVEH would provoke Israel to jealousy. Paul preached the Gospel "from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum," and in the capital city, to provoke Israel to jealousy by a foolish nation. And so he wrote, "Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? [that Israel should no longer be God's chosen people?] Far be it: but through their mishap, salvation is come to the Gentiles, for to provoke them [Israel] to jealousy. Now if their mishap is the riches of the world, and their loss is the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness! [If Israel in their lowest estate indirectly bless the Gentiles, how much more will they bless them when "their fulness," the fulness of Ephraim, comes to the promised inheritance!] For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles (I magnify my office), if by any means I may provoke to jealousy my flesh. As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. ["I am YAHVEH! I change not! therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Mal. iii. 6.] For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also [the tribes of Israel] now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." (Rom. xi.)

On his first missionary visit to Pisidian Antioch, Paul justified the preaching to the Gentiles by quoting Isa. xlix. 6: "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a