That there should have been a further opportunity for repentance given to Israel as a nation after the crucifixion of Christ seems a thing incredible to some. But if we look at the Gospel of Matthew, is it not clear that He came as Israel's King and Messiah; that John, His forerunner, was the herald of whom the prophets wrote (Isa. 40 :3; Mal. 3:1), and that every thing was presented indue order for the establishment of the earthly kingdom ? Is it not equally clear that after His crucifixion, His death having laid the righteous foundation on which the kingdom could then be established, the Holy Ghost makes a last appeal through the disciples, as recorded in the early chapters of Acts ?
The day of Pentecost was the Feast of Weeks, with which the Jews were perfectly familiar, as following fifty days after the Feast of the Passover and First-fruits. Christ was the true Passover Lamb; and His offering up was at the time of the Passover Feast-a striking fact;-for the leaders of the people, while plotting His death, had said, "Not in the feast, that there be not a tumult among the people " (see Matt. 26:1-5). But His hour had come, and, spite of themselves, their satanic purpose is carried out at the time they would not.
The Day of Pentecost was the fiftieth day from resurrection. As the resurrection took place on the first day of the week (answering to the sheaf of first-fruits), so the outpouring of the Spirit was on the first day of the week also (Lev. 23:15, 16). This marked the beginning of a new epoch in God's dealings, but whether for Israel or the Church did not at that time appear. At the birth of Christ the Gentiles came with their gifts to the new born King, thus owning their allegiance to Him-as in the kingdom all nations must do (Zech. 14:16). Similarly at Pentecost there were Jews gathered at Jerusalem from every nation, as, when the kingdom comes, they will be gathered from all countries (Isa. 11:11).
The outpouring of the Spirit at this time was no part of the yet unrevealed mystery of the Church, but was, as Peter tells them, that which the prophet Joel had predicted as taking place when the day of the Lord comes, which prophecy must yet be fulfilled in connection with that day when the nation will receive their King.
In Acts 3 Peter makes the healing of the lame man an occasion of appeal to the people, and doubtless
this miracle is a picture of what the Lord stood ready to do for the nation, both morally and physically, if they would repent and be converted, so that Christ might return to them, and the times of refreshing and restitution might come. " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isa. 35:5, 6).
After His resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God. Stephen sees Him standing there,
even as prophesied in Hosea (chap. 5:15), "I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge
their offence, and seek My face." The confession of their guilt would open the fountain of cleansing
to them, as Zechariah tells (chap. 13:i).Therefore Peter exhorts them to repentance, that the times of refreshing should come and the promised kingdom be established.
But, it is objected, How could Israel have had opportunity to repent when the Church (that great mystery and purpose of God) must first be brought to Christ ? Among other answers, When God in His counsels of wisdom introduced the formation of the Church where He did, did He not foresee what Israel, in their national responsibility, would do ? What subject more attractive than to watch the fulfilment of God's sovereign purposes without interfering in the least with man's responsibilities. The two go side by side, as the two rails of a railway track. Had John been received, he would have been the Elijah of the prophets (Matt, n:14). He was not, and Christ must come the second time preceded by the Elijah testimony and by a second preaching of the gospel of the kingdom by Jewish disciples (Mal. 4:5; Matt. 24:14). So there must also be another day of Pentecost in the same immediate connection with the Jewish nation, when the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh, when the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. So must there also be a fulfilment of that second psalm, which is partly quoted in Acts 4:25, 26.
Earth's kings and rulers have already plotted against the Lord's Anointed, and accomplished their wicked design in putting Him to death; but the second psalm anticipates the very opposite result of their plotting. This passage then, as also the quotation from Joel, will be fulfilled in the future. Then the opposing kings and rulers will be had in derision of Him who sitteth in the heavens, and the true King will be made King in Zion.
In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira are immediately cut off for their sin, as though the principles of the earthly kingdom were beginning to be enforced, when sin will meet with the speedy judgment of God (see Isa. 65 :20). In chapter 7 Stephen rehearses their whole history, only to meet with rejection, stoning, and death at their hands. They had resisted God when He spoke to them through the prophets; they resisted the Son of God when He came in person to them; and now they resist the Spirit of God, who had also come in personal presence into their midst. The Church is scattered from Jerusalem, the gospel is preached to the Gentiles, and though Paul, in his ardent love for Israel, continues his testimony to them to the end of the book, it is with the certain knowledge that they will not receive his testimony to Christ (Acts 22:18). With their three-fold rejection of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, they are nationally given up to reap the bitter fruit of their own choice.
And they have been reaping it through all the centuries to the present moment, when we are approaching the second coming of Christ, and the world is manifesting, perhaps, as never before, its dire need of the just and rightful Ruler over men. R. B. E.