TO put Israel in the place which God puts him, to adopt the attitude of love, concern and anticipation which characterizes God's heart and mind in respect of the literal people of Israel, is to honor the word of God, to bring glory to God Himself and a rich reward of personal and instrumental blessing.

God did not change His purpose as a result of Israel rejecting Christ; it was possible for Israel to accept Him right there and then, but according to God's efficacious and permissive plan he was rejected, but through their rejection of Him God developed His plan of the church which was part of His eternal purpose. We shall never understand the mystery of this in this time; we may in eternity when our finite modes of thinking and argument will be changed and we shall be like Him (i John 3:2).

Now we would name some of the phases in the coming of Jesus having some reference to the Jews. The first thing to take place is the rapture and this may take place before the writer has finished the sentence.

The Jews return in an unconverted state to Palestine (Ezek. 22:17):

1. Because they are there (in Jerusalem) going to be judged.

2. Because it is impossible, had they come in a converted state for God to pour out his wrath upon them.

3. A second restoration is spoken of in Is. 11:11, 12, 15, 16; 66:19,20, which refers to Israel when converted and redeemed.

The signs of the times bear out these statements fully, also that the time cannot be very far off.

The results of modern missions and evangelistic efforts generally bear this out, especially Jewish missions which have been more fuitful than any. During the last century it is estimated that 250,000 Jews entered the church, and 2,000,000 heathen and Mohammedans during same period, while there are only about 12,000,000 Jews in the world.

There are more Jews in Jerusalem today than there ever have been in the history of the city.

The Jews in Europe are yearning towards the land. Hebrew is again becoming a living language. Often has the writer heard it spoken by Jews in daily converse on the streets of London and Berlin. The finest colonies in Palestine are Jewish. There has of late been a great increase of schools and colleges in Palestine especially for girls. In different parts of England this year special bazaars have been held in aid of different Jewish institutions in Palestine and were greatly patronized by rich influential Jews. 1"he rich Jews have as a rule been very indifferent to the question of returning to Palestine, but this attitude has greatly changed in the last few years.

Jos. Wolf, 1822, found only 700 Jewish families in Jerusalem. Nicolazan, 1837 (Biblical researches), estimated there were about 3,000. Wilson, 1843 (The Lands of the Bible), 3,700. In 1867 Sir Charles Warren mentions 10,000 (Underground Jerusalem). Lees, in 1893, says there were 40,000 (Jerusalem Illustrated), and Lunz in his Almanac for 1897 says there were only 28,112. According to Jewish census, 1900, there were 53,065. Jewish Year Book, 1903, gives 78,000, and according to a Haifu correspondent of the "Osmanischen Lloyd," a few weeks ago, the number of Jewish inhabitants in Palestine is 100,000, but in the opinion of the "Times" correspondent, this is much below the mark, as he thinks there are more than 60,000 in Jerusalem alone.

There are two restorations, one in unbelief, which is taking place, and the other when they shall see Jesus as the glorified one. Just as there are two stages in the coming of Jesus.

Another thing to take place is that during the absence of Christ and the church from the earth, and Israel having been gathered back in unbelief will form a union with Anti-Christ, the usurper of Christ's authority, who will reign on earth, over which will pass a great wave of anarchy and chaos.

They will probably build a temple and set up the sacrifices. Things will go smoothly for a time till Satan will cause Anti-Christ to break the entente mode, will destroy the temple and kill many Jews who will be true to God. For in every dispensation there has always been a faithful remnant among Israel. There has never been a day in the history of Israel when it so needed faithful witnesses — the 7,000 true prophets who would not "bow to Baal."

In Joel and Isaiah we have passages that point to a possible destruction of a temple. In Joel the priests weep before porch and altar.

The time of the Lord's absence is called "the great tribulation" by our Lord himself; and in Jeremiah "the time of Jacob's trouble." In the terrible desolation and destruction that takes place, two-thirds of Israel are cut off and die, but one-third is brought through, and with deep repentance and humiliation is prepared to meet the Lord when he comes. The Lord returns with his saints (Zech 14:5; Jude 14; I Thess. 3:13; Col. 3:4), when the fight is fiercest, and himself goes to war against the nations that are gathered against Jerusalem. They are, of course, conquered, and after the victory the Lord is to be the recognized king of the whole earth.

Certain physical changes take place with regard to the Mount of Olives and the near vicinity of Jerusalem. Some have objected to this literal mode of interpretation and applied these passages "spiritually" or metaphorically to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, but this does not compare in one single feature to what took place then.

1. God did not defend His people, much less conquer the enemies.

2. The people did not submit to Jehovah and a reign of peace established.

3. The Mount of Olives did not cleave in the midst.

4. The city was not safely or gloriously inhabited.

5. The Lord did not then return, coming as He said He would, to the Mount of Olives.

6. Israel was not saved or gathered, but scattered all over the world in unbelief.

When Christ comes He will judge the nations (Matthew 25) as to their attitude to His beloved Israel, the Bride of Jehovah, the one that had as wife been divorced, but received back again as a pure, untainted virgin, but not until He had first judged the Jewish nation for their sins in rejecting Christ as Savior so long and their union with anti-Christ. They will be seized with a sense of deep shame something of the nature of the shame that must have seized the brothers of Joseph when they recognized him. No doubt such shame, terror, grief and compassion will take hold of them when they see that the Great Deliverer, Jehovah, the hope, trust and help of Israel was no other than the despised and hated Nazarene. But as Joseph, in spite of the treatment, he had had of his brethren, embraced and kissed them, wept for and embraced Benjamin, so will Jesus, the greater and nobler than Joseph do likewise with His brethren, and thus when Jesus shall have revealed to them His love and mercy. His preaching, grace and overwhelming mercy, fear, awe and terror will be replaced by deep contrition and self-abasement. Faith, love and joy shall break forth out of regenerated hearts made new and forever made the property of their Lord and God.

1. The Jewish nation will become a united nation, Judah and Israel made one, all the twelve tribes joined together (Isa. 49:18; Zech. 10:6; 8:4).

2. The original territory which was promised Abraham and which has never been fully possessed by Israel, will be inhabited. Extending from the shores of the Mediterranean to the borders of the Euphrates and from the entrance of Hamath, and the river shall be given to the nation (Numbers 34:8; Ezek. 47:15-20).

4. Jerusalem shall be made a new city, called Jehovah Shammah, in which judgment will take place (Zech. 8:4).

5. The land will be most wonderfully fertile and life will be greatly prolonged (Amos 9:13-15; Jer. 33:1216,31:27,28).

The temple will, according to God's plan, be rebuilt. When the Jews returned to Palestine they built one in unbelief and according to their own ideas, but was destroyed by anti-Christ. Now in belief and according to God's plan as set forth in Ezekiel, they built a glorious temple. The church of Christ, the body consisting of Jews and Gentiles, saved in this dispensation, will be in association with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem, in which there is no temple, and the bride of Christ, which is Israel, will occupy the earthly Jerusalem. But this of necessity takes place after the millennium.

During the millennium Christ and His church reign over Israel. We need have no jealousy of Israel's future glory, for when Jesus will reign over them we shall reign with Him. The millennium, which is the name of Christ's reign of 1,000 years on this earth, will be a great age of missions — we are only playing at missions just now. As the church should be now a nation of priests unto God, so the Jews will become a royal missionary society; the results of their world-wide labors will be national conversions. This is a dispensation of individual conversion; the first individuals to be saved were Jews; workers, all Jews, so in the millennium; first nation, Jewish nation, then other nations, the missionaries all regenerated and consecrated Israelites.

Even today we have a foretaste of that coming glory. Even in this dispensation, as in the old and as shall be in the future, some of the greatest workers for Jesus were Jews.

One thinks of great missionaries, such as:

Joseph Wolf, the great pioneer of Abyssinia, Arabia and Africa is now only to be equaled by a Livingstone. Dr. Stern, missionary in Abyssinia; Bishop Lecherschewsky in China; Bishop Helmuth in Canada; Bishop Alexander in Palestine. Then great teachers, such as Dr. Capadose and Dr. Costa in Holland, who saved the Dutch church from socialism; Dr. Cassel and Dr. Neander in Germany; Dr. Edersheim, Saphir and Ginsburg in Great Britain; Pere Hyasinth in France, and others which space prohibits mentioning.

There are many objections that one would like to have dealt with, but the most vital are part and parcel of a system which tries to explain psychological truth, called the Post-millenial theory. They believe that Christ must come after the millennium and that the millennium itself ushers in Christ. Some in this school even deny the personal coming of Jesus, and as a rule mix up, spiritualize and confuse the meaning of the plain text of Scripture. This theory is based on the idea that the world is getting better and better and that in time the. world will be converted and when universal peace is established Christ will come.

But facts all around and the clear witness of God/s word prove that this is not the case, and that our Lord must come before the millennium, for Jesus is the center and the substance of it. The events happening in the Balkan States and in the world at large are fatal to the post millennial theory; in fact, it is on the verge of absolute bankruptcy. The idea that the world's condition is improving is nothing less than absolute fiction. Men are not learning to love each other more. The forming of "Entente Cordiale," union of peace, between English speaking peoples, etc., are only things that appear at first sight, but when thoroughly looked into is only political foam on the surface of the world's ocean. What is the real condition of things? A few months ago a terrible war was just narrowly averted between Great Britain, France and Germany. France is busy in subduing Morocco. Then there is the terrible war between Turkey, just closed, and now there is Turkey, and the Balkan States, at each other's throats.

Then there is friction between Great Britain and America over the Panama Canal. The writer was standing and listening to an English army officer speaking on the necessity for compulsory military training the other day in Leeds, England, and among many things he said was that Ave did not know how far the Panama Canal business would go. Anyhow, he said we must be prepared to send warships to enforce our demands should they be refused. This after talking of peace union between the two nations.

In Great Britain just now there is a great wave of anarchy; feeling between the classes is running high and men like Governor Mann is urging the mob to kill and murder those set in authority over us. There is also this same spirit abroad in Europe. In the face of these facts is the millennium so near? One thing we do believe that Jesus is coming and very soon. May we in walk and behavior respond, "Even so come Lord Jesus."

The End.