“Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” Jere. 14.11-12.  Then God tells Jeremiah what will happen to the false prophets. Jere. 14.13-22.  “I [God] am weary of repenting.” Jere. 15.6c.

            2 Chr. 36.15-16: And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers ofGod, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, til there was no remedy.

Jer. 8.5-7: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return..  They were not ashamed”. See also Jer. 6.15; 8.12.

Jer. 14:11-14  Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.  Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Etc. See following verses as well.

Jere. 18.7-10: “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.”

Amos 4.6-13: God reminds Israel of all His judgments against them and in spited of those judgments, “yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”  God says, “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” V12.  The same can be said of America today.

Amos 8.1-2: “Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou?  And I said, A basket of summer fruit.  Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.”

The book of Matthew falls into three principal divisions:

I. The manifestation to Israel and rejection of Jesus Christ the son of David, born King of the Jews, 1.1-25.46.  The suibdivisions of this part are: (1) the official genealogy and birth of the King, 1.1-25; (2) the infancy and obscurity of the King, 2.1-23; (3) the kingdom “at hand,” 3.1-12.50 (the order of events of this subdivision is indicated in the text); (4) the mysteries of the kingdom, 13.1-52; (5) the ministry of the rejected King, 13.53-23.39; (6) the promise of the King to return in power and glory, 24.1-25.46.

II. The sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham, 26.1-28.8.

III. The risen Lord in ministry to His own, 28.9-20.

See N1 p997—Deals w/Jesus as prophet, priest, and king.

            N1 p1028 to Mt. 21.4 (The King’s final and official offer of Himself according to Zech. 9.9.  Acclaimed by so unthinking multitude whose real belief is expressed in verse 11, but with no welcome from the official representatives of the nation, He was soon to hear the multitude shout: “Crucify Him.”)

N1 p1011 to  Mt. 11.20 (the Kingdom of Heaven has been morally rejected. The places chosen for the testing of the nation, Chorazin, Bethsaida, etc., having rejectied both John and Jesus, the rejected King now speaks of judgment.  The final official rejection is later (Mt. 27.31-37).

N1 & 2 p 1011—The new message of Jesus.  The rejected King now turns from the rejecting nation and offers, not the kingdom, but rest  and service to such in the nation as are conscious of need.  It is the pivotal point in the ministry of Jesus.

N2 p1012 to Mt. 12.18 (Significant: The rejected King of Israel will turn to the Gentiles).

N1 p1013 to Mt. 12.41. Again, the rejected King announces judgment * * *.

The King announces judgment of Israel. Mt. 12.41-5 & N1 p1013 thereto.

N2 p1013: Rejected by Israel, His “kinsmen according to the flesh” (cf. Rom. 9.3), our Lord intimates the formation of the new family of faith which, overstepping mere racial claims, receivers “whosoever” will be His disciple (vs. 49, 50. Cf John 6.28, 29).

The final offer of the Son of man as King to Israel, His rejection and sacrifice. Lk 19.45-23.53.

The official presentation of Jesus as King (Zech. 9.9; Mt. 21.1-77; Mk. 11.1-11; Lk. 19.29-38). N1 p1028 to Mt. 21.4 (The King’s final and official offer of Himself according to Zech. 9.9.  Acclaimed by so unthinking multitude whose real belief is expressed in verse 11—“This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee”)—but with no welcome from the official representatives of the nation, He was soon to hear the multitude shout: “Crucify Him.”)

            N1 p1029  to [Mt. 21 “43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”] “Note that Matthew here as in verse 31 uses the larger word, kingdom of God. (Cf. Mt.6.33, note.) The kingdom of heaven (Mt. 3.2, note 1 Cor. 14.24, summary) will yet be set up.  Meantime the kingdom of God and His righteousness is taken from Israel nationally and given to the Gentiles (Rom. 9.30-33).

N1 p1056 to Mk. 8.23.  (Most significant action of our Lord.  Having abandoned Bethsaida to judgment (Mt. 11.21-24), He would neither heal that village, nor permit further testimony to be borne there (v26). The probation of Bethsaida as a community was ended, but He would still show mercy to individuals.  Cf. Rev. 3.20.  Christ is outside the door of that church, but “If any man hear My voice,” etc.)

Jn. 19.14-15: The final rejection of the King by the Jewish authorities and people.

Headnote to Acts: “Acts is in two chief parts: In the first section, i. 1-9.43, Peter is the prominent personage, Jerusalem is the centre, and the ministry is to Jews.  Already in covenant relations with Jehovah, they had sinned in rejecting Jesus as the Christ. The preaching, therefore, was directed to that point, and repentance (i.e., “a changed mind”) was demanded.  The apparent failure of the Old Testament promises concerning the Davidic kingdom was explained by the promise that the kingdom would be set up at the return of Christ (Acts 2.25.31; 15.14-16). This ministry in the martyrdom of Stephen, the Jews sent after th king the message, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”

N1 p1150 to Acts 2.14 (“The theme of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost is stated in verse 36.  It is, that  Jesus is the Messiah. * * *”).

Acts 3.12-26 is Peter’s second sermon.  See N1 p1153 (“The appeal is national to the Jewish people as such, not individual as in Peter’s first sermon (Acts 2.38, 39).  There those who were pricked in heart were exhorted to save themselves from (among) the untoward nation; here the whole people is addressed, and the promise to national repentance is national deliverance; “and he shall send Jesus Christ” to bring in the times which the prophets had foretold (see Acts 2.14, note). The official answer was the imprisonment of the apostles, and the inhibition to preach, so fulfilling Lk. 19.14 (“But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.”))

Note a (the 2^nd a on that page) p1158: “They had brought false witnesses against Stephen: he bears true witness against them, quoting the testimony of writers they owned to be Inspired.  He speaks of the persistent rejection of God and His servants by the nation till at last it is brought home to themselves, and arouses the maddened enmity of their hearts.  It was the final trial of the nation.”

Paul said to the Jews in Corinth when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” Acts 18.6.