In a commentary on the book of Daniel Acts 2 dispensationalist J. Dwight Pentecost writes that "there is an interval between the 69th and 70th 'sevens.' Christ's crucifixion, then, was in that interval, right after His Triumphal Entry, which concluded the 69th 'seven.' This interval was anticipated by Christ when He prophesied the establishing of the church (Matt. 16:18). This necessitated the setting aside of the nation of Israel for a season in order that His new program for the church might be instituted" (Walvoord & Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament [Colorado Springs: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1985], p.1363-4).

Dr. Pentecost is absolutely correct. Before the Lord could begin to build the Body of Christ it was necessary for Israel to be temporarily set aside as the Lord's special people. Ever since the Lord redeemed the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt they were a "special people…above all people that are upon the face of the earth":

"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth" (Deut.7:6).

However, today there are no special people unto the Lord except those who are members of the Body of Christ. And in the Body all national distinctions have been done away with:

"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal.3:27-28).

Since in the Body of Christ there is no difference between the Jew other people that means that at some point in time national Israel was temporarily set aside. That is because the Lord cannot act at the same time upon two wholly different and incompatible principles. In other words, He cannot deal with the Jews as a special people at the same time when He declares that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Therefore we can conclude that before the Lord could begin to build His heavenly Church He must have first temporarily cast aside national Israel. The following evidence from the Scriptures reveal that on the day of Pentecost Israel had not yet been set aside so therefore it was impossible that the Body of Christ had its beginning on the day of Pentecost.

On the Day of Pentecost Peter addressed the following words to the nation of Israel:

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, that the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you" (Acts 3:19-20).

Alva J. McClain, a noted Acts 2 dispensationalist, writes: "If they will repent and turn again, their sins will be blotted out, and Jesus shall be sent from heaven to restore all things spoken by the Old Testament prophets. And in confirmation of the bona fide character of this reoffer of the kingdom, we find early in the Acts period many of the miraculous signs and wonders which we associated with our Lord's own original offer of the kingdom...there is the continued proclamation of the coming kingdom as an immediate possibility, depending on the attitude of the nation of Israel" (McClain, "The Greatness of the Kingdom," Biblioteca Sacra, Oct. 1955; Vol. 112 # 448, p.305,307).

Since the kingdom being restored to Israel was an immediate possibility "depending on the attitude of the nation of Israel" common sense dictates that Israel had not yet been set aside on the day of Pentecost. Therefore it is a certainity that the Body of Christ did not exist on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2 dispensationalist Stanley D. Toussaint offers the following comments on Acts 3:19-20: "Peter's exhoration, as in his Pentecost sermon (2:38), was to repent. Was Peter saying here that if Israel repented, God's kingdom would have come to earth? This must be answered in the affirmative for several reasons..." (Walvoord & Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary; New Testament [Colorado Springs: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1983] p.361).

Dr. Toussaint certainly understand that on the day of Pentecost the nation of Israel was not yet cast aside because he affirms that if Israel had repented then God's kingdom would have come to earth. Sir Robert Anderson makes the following remarks in regard to these words of Peter at Acts 3:19-20:

"To represent this as Christian doctrine, or the institution of ‘a new religion’, is to betray ignorance alike of Judaism and of Christianity. The speakers were Jews -the apostles of One who was Himself ‘a minister of the circumcision’. Their hearers were Jews, and as Jews they were addressed. The Pentecostal Church which was based upon the testimony was intensely and altogether Jewish. It was not merely that the converts were Jews, and none but Jews, but that the idea of evangelising Gentiles never was even mooted. When the first great persecution scattered the disciples, and they ‘went everywhere preaching the Word’, they preached, we are expressly told, ‘to none but to the Jews’."

"The Jerusalem Church, then, was Jewish. Their Bible was the Jewish Scriptures. The Jewish temple was their house of prayer and common meeting-place. Their beliefs and hopes and words and acts all marked them out as Jews...Nothing was further from the thoughts of these men than ‘founding a new religion’. On the contrary, while hailing the rejected Nazarene as their national Messiah, they clung with passionate devotion to the religion of their fathers" (Anderson, The Silence of God [Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1978] pp. 75-76; 77-78).

Next