THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The, Hope of Israel: What Is It? 215
"AFTER THIS"
Let it then be kept in mind, as we proceed with our
inquiry, that the great Jerusalem Conference was occupied
not with some future work of God, but
with what He had at that very time begun to do. For
His visitation of the Gentiles, beginning through Peter
at the house of Cornelius, and continuing through Paul
and Barnabas in various places in Asia Minor, was
the subject, and the only subject, so far as the record
discloses, that was considered at that Conference. In
view of this fact, and of other considerations hereafter
noted, it is clear that the words, "after this," do not
specify a period of time subsequent to this present
gospel dispensation
(as supposed by some), but a period
subsequent to the time when Amos spoke his
For James is giving, in verses 15-17, not a
prophecy.
prophecy of his own, but that of Amos; and he is
stating, moreover, the substance of other O. T.
prophecies. When James declared that the words of
the prophets "agreed" with what Peter had just related
concerning his mission to the house of Cornelius,
he used a word which means literally to "sound together,
to symphonize," as when the instruments of
an orchestra play in perfect harmony. Thus we are
given clearly to know that the reports which Peter,
Paul and Barnabas had brought to that Conference,
concerning God's wonderful work in visiting and saving
numbers of Gentiles, is just what had been foretold
by the prophets in general (see Rom. 15:8-12), and
particularly by Amos, whose words James proceeds
to quote. This makes it certain that the phrase "after
this" refers to some period subsequent to the days of
the 0. T. prophets, and not to a period yet future.
In