In 1 Cor. 10:3232Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32) the apostle furnishes us with a classification of mankind which greatly helps not only to the understanding of prophecy but to the whole word of God. " Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God." Here we have the three great spheres in which the glory of Christ is displayed. As it respects man's condition before God in reference to eternity, there are but two classes, the saved and unsaved-those who have been really born again, and those who are still in nature's darkness and unbelief. But with regard to God's government of the
world there are three classes-Jews, Gentiles, and the church; and no one can rightly divide the word of God who overlooks this division. To trace through scripture God's purpose concerning these three classes is the surest way to ascertain the order of God's dispensations, and the harmony of all portions of the holy scriptures with each other. At present we can only refer to a few passages of scripture by way of introducing the reader to this threefold purpose of God.
1. "The Jews." In Gen. 12:2, 32And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:2‑3), " The Lord said unto Abram.... I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." We have a further development of this purpose, in chapter xiii. "And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." In chapter xv. the boundaries of the land are defined. In Deut. 28 we have the blessings promised them in case of obedience, and the curses denounced against them in case of disobedience. But, alas! the highly favored people proved themselves a disobedient and stiffnecked race. " God exercised great forbearance towards them; but after they had rejected and stoned the prophets, His servants, whom He sent unto them, He sent His Son, the heir of all things. Him they crucified and slew, and thus filled up the measure of their iniquities, and sealed their doom. On this account wrath came upon them to the uttermost; their city and temple were destroyed: their country pillaged, its population put to the sword, or else carried away captive; for nearly two thousand years they have been monuments of God's displeasure against sin, suffering the aggravated and complicated woes denounced against sin."
2. " The Gentiles." From the time that Abraham was called to be the father of God's peculiar people, He did not deal directly with any nation upon the earth, save the Jews. Until Nebuchadnezzar's time God's throne and presence were in the midst of Israel. From the time that the Jews were carried away captive into Babylon, "the sovereign power in the earth ceased to be immediately exercised by God, and was confided to man, among those who were not His people, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. This was a change of immense importance, in respect of both the government of the world, and God's judgment of His people. Both led the way to the great objects of prophecy developed at the close-the restoration, through tribulation, of a rebellious people, and the judgment of an unfaithful and apostate Gentile head of power."
We have an account of this great change in the prophet Daniel (chap. 2), " Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." The times of the Gentiles begin here. The power which was thus bestowed on the Babylonish king, descended to the Medes and Persians; from thence it passed into the hands of the Greeks, and then to the Romans, the last kingdom represented by the image. The Roman empire, though after a while it was broken up into a number of separate kingdoms, continued its name in these kingdoms, and will continue it till the coming of the Lord. It is by this power that the Jews have been so fearfully wasted and oppressed. At the end of their seventy years' captivity a portion of the Jews returned to Jerusalem, but they were mere tributaries of the Persian king, they never afterward had any independent government of their own. They were under the Roman yoke when Christ appeared amongst them, and they could not put their Messiah to death without the consent of the Roman governor, and the assistance of Roman soldiers. A second time their city and temple were destroyed by the Gentiles, and the Savior Himself declared that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24).
But these times will not last forever. God hath not cast off His people whom He foreknew. He will fulfill in due time the covenant of grace that He made with Abraham their father. They will yet be a great nation, and the head of all other nations-the center from which blessing shall flow out to all the nations of the earth.
3. " The church of God." The church, it will be seen, is something altogether distinct from both Jews and Gentiles. Christ came to the Jews-His own people, but they received Him not. He was despised and rejected of men. Jews and Gentiles united in accomplishing His death. By this act of crowning wickedness the condemnation of both was sealed. But God overruled all in richest sovereign grace. The blessed Jesus, rejected by men, having accomplished the great work of redemption, was raised from the dead, and placed at the right hand of power where He now waits till His enemies be made His footstool. So long as He is seated at God's right hand, repentance and remission of sins are to be preached through His name in all nations. Whosoever of all these nations receives this message-believes the gospel-is pardoned, saved, and becomes associated with the rejected One of earth and the glorified One in heaven. The moment the Jew receives this message of mercy, he ceases to be a Jew; and the moment the Gentile receives it, he ceases to be a Gentile. This is a point of immense importance in the dispensational ways and dealings of God. The Jew, when he believes in Christ, dies to all his liabilities or privileges as a Jew, and to all his fondly cherished hopes of an inheritance in the land. The Gentile dies to all share in the earthly power which, for a while, is lodged in Gentile hands..
What then, it may be asked, are they? They form part of the true church, and the world has no place for it. They are but strangers and pilgrims now in this world. Their home is on high. They are called to share their Lord's humiliation on earth during His absence; they will share His glory when He returns.
Another truth of great practical importance now appears very plain; namely, that the church of God, the body of Christ, had no existence in fact till after the death, resurrection, and glory of Christ in heaven. One of the popular doctrines of those who look down upon Brethren as in serious error is that "the church of God consists of all saved persons from the beginning to the end of time." The saints who compose the church, we readily admit, have many things in common with the Old Testament saints; such as, being quickened by the same Holy Spirit, justified through the same precious blood, preserved by the same almighty grace, and destined in resurrection to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son. But the wondrous distinction of being Christ's body, His bride, baptized by the Holy Ghost, and thus one with Him as the exalted Man in the glory, are blessings peculiar to the church. In place of the church consisting of all believers from the beginning to the end of time, it is limited in scripture to the assembly of true believers from the day of Pentecost-when it was formed by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven-to the descent of the Lord Jesus into the air, to receive it to Himself in the Father's house of many mansions.
It was by the cross that the middle wall of partition was broken down, that Jews and Gentiles might be formed into one body. " Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [Jews and Gentiles] one new man [not a continuation of the old, nor an improvement of the old, but ONE NEW MAN], so making peace." Eph. 2:14, 1514For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:14‑15).