In a world of heightened Middle East tensions, Christians are asking, "What is to become of Israel? Does God still have a plan for the people he once called ''the apple of my eye''?"

With refreshing clarity Ian Heard proposes that God has provided, in that self-described Pharisee and zealot Saul of Tarsus, a "type"--indeed, an archetype, for his people. In his turning, under the sovereign hand of the Almighty, Saul became Paul, the great missionary-evangelist to the gentile world.

In addition he became pastor, theologian, apologist, and defender of the faith. In that event and life, God has given us, in embryo, a beautiful illustration, or "type", of a far larger and greater turning for Israel.

On scriptural foundations and integrity, culminating in an exciting scenario, the author shows how some of the baffling prophecies of Zechariah and others may come to a profound conclusion.