2:1. [Unto] BY the angel.—The special messenger in the Harvest of the Jewish Age was St. Paul. A Hebrew of the Hebrews (Phil. 3:5), he was a free‐born Roman citizen (Acts 22:25‐29), highly educated (Acts 22:3), spoke Greek (Acts 21:37) and Hebrew (Acts 22:2), and was presumably a member of the Sanhedrin at the time of St. Stephen’s death. (Acts 7:58; 8:1; 26:10.) Chosen before his birth (Gal. 1:15), he was supernaturally inducted into the Body of Christ (Acts 9:1‐22) to take the place of Judas (Psa. 109:8; Acts 1:20), was privately instructed in the fullness of the Gospel (Gal. 1:11, 12, 17), was specially commissioned to explain this Gospel to the brethren at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1, 2), did not hesitate to correct the erring Peter (Gal. 2:11), was acknowledged by St. Peter as filled with Heavenly wisdom (2 Pet. 3:15, 16), wrote over half of the books of the New Testament, carried the Gospel into Europe (Acts 16:9), supported himself with his own hands while he preached (Acts 20:32‐35), and suffered almost unbelievable hardships of every description—besides having “the care of all the churches.” (2 Cor. 11:24‐28.) What a service and honor, here and hereafter, Judas missed by his love of money! St. Paul was beheaded by Nero, A. D. 66. Of the church [of] IN Ephesus.—The first age of the Church began at Pentecost in the spring of A. D. 33, and ended in the spring of A. D. 73. “It may be proper to mention also what things occurred that show the benignity of that all‐gracious Providence, that had deferred their destruction for forty years after their crimes against Christ.” (Eusebius’ _Ecclesiastical History_.) “On the 15th of Nisan, i. e., of April, in the year 73 A. D., the first day of the Easter festival, the same day on which, according to tradition, the God of Israel had led His people out of Egyptian bondage into freedom, the last bulwark of Israel’s liberty had fallen, and Israel was delivered into bondage.” (Cornil’s _History of the People of Israel_.) “Masada attained great importance in the war with the Romans.... With the fall of Masada the war came to an end, on the 15th of Nisan, 73.” (_The Jewish Encyclopedia_.) “The capture of Masada, a Jewish fortress on the southwestern shores of the Dead Sea, put a termination to one of the fiercest struggles recorded in history (73 A. D.)”—Morrison’s _Jews Under Roman Rule_.