Lord's resurrection. Now in one day Peter wins and baptizes three
thousand. Thence onward the number of believers grows, till it numbers
thousands and thousands. But all these are yet Jews, or else
proselytes. The next step in this third period is the official opening
of the door to the Gentile world. This took place at Caesarea, and to
Peter was given the joy and privilege of admitting Gentiles without
their first becoming Jews. Through Pentecost and the experience at
Caesarea was in large measure fulfilled to Peter the "promise of the
keys" (Matt. 16:19), for he it was who received the Jews at Pentecost
into the church, and he too it was who opened the door of the church
to the Gentile world. How great this portion of Period Three, and how
significant to us, is apparent as soon as we realize that but for the
advance in Caesarea we in this day would first have to become Jews
before we could be members of the living church. Had the Jews been
willing to receive the Nazarene as their Messiah, there is no telling
what sweeping measure of blessing they might not have received.
Certain it is that their history from that day to this would have been
very different from what it has been. Their rulers cried, "We have no
king but Caesar," and from that time many of their people have had few
to rule over them but Czars, Sultans, Emperors, and hostile rulers.

#108. Fourth Period.#--_The Times of the Gentiles. In this period we
now are._ Here it behooves one to speak guardedly, for opinions
differ. The writer gives his interpretation of what the Word says.
When the Jews refused to receive Jesus as their Messiah, the Apostles
plainly said, "We turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). On account of
their hardness of heart, blindness came to Israel, and a veil fell
before their eyes. "A hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom. 11:25). Our Lord alludes
to this same truth when he predicts that Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled
(Luke 21:24). That Jerusalem from the days of Titus to the present day
has been thus trodden under foot of the Gentile world is only too
manifest to all who know its sad history.

In this period our lot is cast, and thus we become actors in the great
Divine drama of the New Testament. Solemn thought, and one calculated
to make us feel the serious nature of our responsibility.

#109. Fifth Period.#--This is