The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 20

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14 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES God chose Israel to reveal His character to men. He desired them to be as wells of salvation in the world. To them were committed the oracles of heaven, the revelation of God's will. In the earlydays of Israel, the nations of the world, through corrupt practices, had lost the knowledge of God. They had once known Him; but because ^'they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, . . . their foolish heart was darkened. ' ' ' Yet in His mercy God did not blot them out of existence. He purposed to give them an opportunity of again becoming acquainted with Him through His chosen people. Through the teachings of the sacrificial service, \ Christ was to be uplifted before all nations, and all who would look to Him should live. Christ was the foundation of the Jewish economy. The whole system of types and symbols was a compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which were bound up the promises of redemption. But the people of Israel lost sight of their high privileges as God's representatives. They forgot God, and failed to fulfil their holy mission. The blessings they received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages they appropriated for their own glorification. They shut themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation. The restrictions that God had placed upon their association with idolaters as a means of preventing them from conforming to the practices of the heathen, they used to build up a wall of separation between themselves and all other nations. They robbed God ^ Eom. 1 : 21. J