Summary of Part I,

I. Prophecy is silent concerning any interval between the appearance and reign of Messiah.

II. Jesus teaches very little concerning an interval between his earthly ministry and earthly reign.

Part II,

IN their attitude toward the gospels, spiritual men vary, from the strict dispensational teacher who declares that our Lord's ministry was to the Jew and his teachings Jewish, to the good brother who believes that John the Forerunner was the founder of the Baptist church, and that the words of Jesus are the fountain-head of pure church teaching. Forsaking the ground of controversy, we will look at the problem from an entirely different angle: not, where does church teaching begin? but, where does church living begin?

At what point in the history of the gospel do we see men forsake the ceremonies of the temple and the sacrifices of Moses, to gather in assemblies for the worship of God and the preaching of the gospel?

Whatever bearing the teachings of Jesus may have on church life. He, Himself, as a Jewish babe, boy, man and prophet, fulfilled the law of Moses: not only the moral law, but also the ceremonies. His ministry was largely in the synagogues; he cleansed the temple; spake often in its precincts; and moved among men a pattern of Mosaic perfection. With his disciples he attended the feasts and they gathered around the table at the last supper in strict obedience to the law of the passover. His divine interpretation of the law often clashed with the traditions of the elders but never, as against Paul, did they bring the charge that "thou teachest all the Jews . . . to forsake Moses." He brought new teachings, but wrought no changes in the religious customs and forms of worship of his day. With a multitude of such facts before me, I wish to assert humbly that, as the disciples received the great Commission, to their minds it involved no change of religious environment; as John and Jesus had preached the good news of the kingdom, so also were they to preach the new gospel, in harmony with the law and the customs. Let us now take up, the third proposition in the argument.

3. No new order came in at Pentecost,

Jesus lived and taught in strict conformity to the Mosaic law and so did the Pentecostal church. It was a body of Jewish believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who had not abandoned a single detail of their former religious life; they differed from other Jews only in their views concerning the resurrected Lord and Messiah.

They were a Jewish sect.

In Acts 2:46 we read: "And day by day continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple";— in the temple, with its altars and sacrifices, burnt offerings, sin-offerings, purifications and solemn assemblies, ministered by priests, Levites and singers. If continuance in the apostles' fellowship and teaching for that day is a qualification for church membership in this day, we need a Mosaic revival.

The man was healed at the beautiful gate as Peter and John were going — not to church or a meeting of the assembly — but up into the temple at the hour of prayer. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith, according to Acts 67; and spirit-filled believers administered the ordinances of a passing age. Peter had to defend himself vigorously for even eating with the uncircumcised during his mission to Cornelius. Christianity still dwelt beneath the parental roof.

Pentecostal preaching dealt largely with the resurrection and Lordship of Jesus. The kingdom which had been offered to the Jew by Jesus, the Humble, was again offered by the disciples of Jesus the Resurrected. At Pentecost, as on the ascension mount, their minds were firmly set on a kingdom for Israel. Peter concludes his sermon on Solomon's porch with these words: ^'Repent ye therefore and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old." As in the preaching of John, seasons of refreshing, the Christ, and the prophetic restoration of all things are "at hand'': Peter virtually offers them the kingdom, if they will repent.

In this transition period, the faith of the church was Christian; their life and religious practice Judaism, and their hope an imminent prophetic kingdom.

Now as we turn from the period in which the Pentecostal impulse dominated church life, we see that, —

4. Our present religious faith and practice, where Jew, Gentile, bondman, freeman, come boldly to the throne of grace without any reference to the sacrifices and ritual of Moses, was unheard-of five years after Pentecost; not officially sanctioned for twenty years; and never universally practiced in apostolic days.

For about five years after Calvary, the gospel was confined within the walls of Judaism. Then came the incident of the founding of the church at Antioch, the first breach in the walls. Apparently up to this time no one had even advanced the idea that the gospel was intended for Gentiles, except individual instances. Let us read from the eleventh chapter of Acts the record of the founding of the first church of the uncircumcision: ''They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews. But there were some of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord and the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch: who when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all; that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord: for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith: and much people was added unto the Lord and he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul; and when he had found him he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that even for a whole years they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,"

The church at Antioch was not the result of a well directed missionary effort along the lines of the great Commission was but the result, from the viewpoint of man, of the almost accidental preaching of the gospel to a few Greeks: and "the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number turned unto the Lord." Someone has well said that the Acts of the Apostles should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Here we have the first instance of a large body of Gentiles undeniably sealed by the Holy Spirit, ''and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch'': and the first Christian church on record, separate and distinct from Judaism, began to flourish in virgin soil.

This statement seems to trouble some people, but remember the third division of this study — no new order came in at Pentecost. Nothing is more certain than that you and I worship, teach and preach under a different order than did Ezra and Nehemiah and the question is: where did our present religious faith, and order of worship, begin? Men gloat with pride over the fact that their sect is modeled after the Pentecostal church; another with bluer blood says: "We go back to the church in the upper room"; and a good old brother is credited with the statement that he can rattle the chain, clear back to Jesus Christ. Brethren! Jesus, the disciples and the Pentecostal church could worship in the same temple and practice the same ordinances as did Gamaliel; but that eminent doctor of the law would scarcely recognize a modern church service as an of f spring of his own form of worship. The first Christian church, the primitive model of what we call a church is found at Antioch with Paul and Barnabas joint pastors.

Here the gospel was of salvation full and free by the faith, to all nations, independent of the restrictions of the law. x\t Jerusalem the first step after conversion was to become a Jewish proselyte. Only too soon such widely differing doctrines must clash; "and certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren: 'Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses ye cannot be saved/'

"Except ye be circumcised!" Pardon a digression, that we may all see how pregnant with meaning are these words, and what a tremendous issue was involved. The ordinance itself was a trifle, without intrinsic importance for good or evil; but as frequently referred to in the epistles it is synonymous with the Jewish religion and is denounced as an enemy of grace because it includes in its meaning conformity to every jot and tittle of the law as then practiced by Christ-rejecting and Christ-accepting Jews. The Jewish religion was exclusive and the uncircumcised had no more right to perform the ordinances of Moses than an infidel has to come to the Lord's table; or an atheist to enter the baptismal waters. "It shall be a token of a covenant betwixt you and me, and the uncircumcised male shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.'' As the initial ordinance of Judaism it was a term for the religion itself. It was an absolutely essential preliminary to law conformity, and law conformity was never preached in apostolic days except from behind the bulwark of circumcision.

These men, who came down from Judea, were not wolves in sheep's clothing, crept in with a vicious error. They could openly dispute the position of Paul and Barnabus; and their arguments against the two pastors were weighty. At this time the church at Jerusalem enjoyed a tremendous prestige; it was the mother church; the apostles were there, and the brethren of Jesus; practically all of the organization of the early church consisted in the recognition of its authority, and the church at Jerusalem uncompromisingly observed the law. The brethren from Judea could ask Paul and Barnabas such pertinent questions as these:

Has the church at Jerusalem given you or anyone else authority to neglect the teaching of law? No.

Does the church at Jerusalem practice it? Yes. ' Do Peter and the apostles? Yes.

Are you recognized as an apostle or as having authority to change such practices? No.

Their protest was so serious and apparently so well founded that the church at Antioch was forced to call upon the church at Jerusalem to settle the controversy. While they loved Paul and Barnabas, they could not go against all recognized authority without sufficient grounds. The two pastors must go up to Jerusalem and obtain the sanction of the church for their teaching.

The proceedings of this council are recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts and represent a crisis in church history. The question before the council is not one of abstract doctrine: whether salvation is by faith or works, but must a Gentile become a Jew in order to be saved? Is the gospel to be nurtured by the ritual and ceremonies of Israel? Must the church exist within the walls of Judaism? Does God want the gospel, the gem of the ages, to shine in a setting of law, or a setting of grace? This problem had followed the gospel into many lands; little Antiochs were springing up, likewise many miniatures of the church at Jerusalem; the church was growing and the question must be settled now.