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GOD'S PLAN IN THIS DISPENSATION

REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D.

I am asked to speak on "God's Plan in This Dispensation," and I commence by reading the words of James, the brother of our Lord, as recorded in the 15th chapter of the Acts, beginning at the 13th verse: "Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.'

To understand these words, and to place them where they belong in the divine program, we need to go back for nearly a thousand years before they were spoken. David is seated upon the throne of Israel, and God has given him rest from all his enemies around about. Jerusalem is his capital. It has become the city of David, and he

would make it the city of God. The ark has been brought up there, and now he would build a house for the ark; but God will not permit him to do so, and sends to him His prophet Nathan to inform him of that fact.

The words of Nathan are recorded in the 7th chapter of 2 Samuel, where God, through him, says to David: "I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.

Also the Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build an house for My name, and I will stablish the throne of His kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son."

Notice that God is here speaking of a period in the history of Israel which has not yet been seen upon this earth, for He says, "I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more." They were in a place of their own at the time these words were spoken, for they were in Canaan; but they were called upon to move some centuries afterwards, and although some of them returned again, once more were they called upon to move, and they have been kept moving from that day until now. But a time is com

ing, when they will be planted in a place of their own and move no more.

In that day also shall the children of wickedness afflict them no more. The children of wickedness, that is, the Gentile powers of the earth, have been afflicting them in all the centuries, but God's Word is true and the affliction will some day end. The day it will end is indicated in the words, "Also the Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house;" not a material house of wood or stone, not even a spiritual house, as though one were to take these words symbolically as indicating the church of Christ; but a house in a sense of a dynasty, a kingdom upon this earth. Thus He adds, "When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom."

Some might say, this means Solomon, but a greater than Solomon is here, for the next verse declares that God "will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever." This was not true of Solomon, but, to settle it beyond a peradventure, he adds, "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son." This passage is quoted in the New Testament and applied definitely to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. You will find it in the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer is showing the superiority of Christ over the angels, and says in the course of his argument, "Unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten

Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?" The inference is that He said this not to any angel, but to Him alone who is described in that same chapter, as "the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person."

Here, then, we have a prophecy that Israel is one day to be returned to her own land, to be removed no more, and to be afflicted no more, and that in that day the kingdom of David shall be set up, over which his Son shall reign, that Son being none other than Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

THE LAPSE OF CENTURIES

Hundreds of years have now elapsed since David's death. Solomon has succeeded him. Solomon has died and Rehoboam has succeeded him. Iniquity and idolatry have entered the nation, and in chastisement God has divided them. Ten tribes have seceded under Jeroboam and are known as the kingdom of Israel, and only two tribes have remained loyal to the House of David and are called the kingdom of Judah.

Iniquity and idolatry increase in Israel, and she is carried into captivity by the Assyrians, never to return again as a distinct nation to her own land. The kingdom of Judah remains in her territory a century and a half longer, but at length, and for the same reason, Babylon comes down against her and carries her into captivity.

But the Lord had promised that Judah would return after seventy years, which was fulfilled, although the nation thereafter remains a vassal, first to Persia, then Greece and then to Rome.

One day, when the nation has thus been returned, a great event takes place, as recorded in the first chapter of Luke. The angel of God came into a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel said, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of his father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end."

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Surely the time has at last come when God is to fulfil His prophecy to David! But, alas, we are mistaken. The Son has been born, and He is great, and He is called the Son of the Highest, but the Lord God has not yet given unto Him the throne of His father David, and He does not as yet reign over the house of Jacob for ever. And why? You know the answer. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They hid, as it were, their faces from Him.

He was

"despised and rejected of men." "We will not

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