THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

CHAPTER I
THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION.
The writer seeks, at the very outset of this study,
to impress the reader with the immense importance of
the question we are about to examine.
It is not merely a question of the true explanation
of prophecies concerning the Jews, the Gentiles and
the Church of God, however so interesting and important
these may be, for one may entertain mistaken
ideas as to such matters without harmful consequences.
But it is far otherwise with the question discussed in
this volume; for the truth concerning the gospel of
Christ and the salvation of man is involved in it. And
the work of the evangelization of the Jews
specially,
(which, in the opinion of many, including the present
writer, the coming again of the Lord awaits) is vitally
affected by it. . .
What lies directly in the path of our present inquiry
is a system of doctrine which, though of recent origin,
is now widely accepted amongst strictly orthodox
Christians, "Fundamentalists," according to which doctrinal
system the promise of God to Israel through
their prophets was that the coming Messiah would restore
the earthly kingdom of Israel, would give it a
glory far surpassing that of the days of David and
Solomon, and would exalt the Jewish nation to the place
of supremacy over the nations of the world. The leading
authority for this new system of teaching states it
thus: "When Christ appeared to the Jewish people,
the next thing in the order of revelation as it then
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