The apostles, as judges in heaven, are to have jurisdiction, not over the Gentiles, but only over Jews. "Ye, also, shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the _twelve tribes of Israel_" (Matt. XIX:28).
The angel who announced Jesus' conception to Joseph said that "He shall save _His people_ from their sins"--not the whole world or "all nations" (Matt. I:21). So the angel who announced the conception of Jesus to Mary said that God should give unto Him the throne of His father David, and that He should "reign over the _house of Jacob_ forever" (Luke I:32, 33).
One of the first recorded utterances of Jesus is: "Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the prophets. I am not come to _destroy_, but to _fulfill_" (Matt. V:17). The converted Paul, with the over-zeal that often marks converts, conceived that his own mission was to _destroy_ the old Jewish law, and worked most successfully towards that end, overcoming the opposition of Peter, James, John and other intimate associates of Jesus (Gal. Chap. II). But Jesus, in adhering to the old Law, necessarily excluded from His scheme of redemption all Gentiles and others who did not practice circumcision and similar obligatory rites of the Jewish faith.
Finally, we have Jesus' own clear and positive declaration of His understanding of His mission. "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. XV:24).
As against this explicit statement of His position, the two ambiguous references to some future (apparently after His death) preaching of His Gospel "for a witness unto all nations," or that it "must first be published among all nations," can have no weight (Matt. XXIV:14; Mark XIII:10).
The evidence establishes beyond a doubt that the characterization of Jesus by Paul and others who had never heard or seen Him, as an evangel to the Gentiles and a redeemer of mankind, was not only not authorized by Jesus, but was explicitly repudiated by Him. His only mission, as He conceived it, was to bring back the Jews to the true, simple worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.[14]
That Jesus failed in this mission must be admitted. At first the people flocked in multitudes to listen to His preaching. This was due in part to their expectation of a coming Messiah and, no doubt, in part to the effect of John's work. But what the Jews expected was an earthly kingdom and a ruler who would give them victory over the heathen. They had no interest whatever in a spiritual kingdom. Their disappointment was bitter when they found that Jesus promised them only a kingdom in heaven. Nor were they affected by such miracles as healing the sick, making the blind to see, the lame to walk, etc. The miracles they demanded were those of the Old Testament, when the Lord of Hosts visited His overwhelming wrath upon the armies of their enemies.