The Development of Christianity

I shall never forget the light, help and blessing that came to my soul when, after having read several times the interesting Bible accounts of these three Roman officials, I began to understand the doctrinal significance attached to each of the records. Two of the Roman Gentiles were centurions. The third Roman Gentile was “the deputy of the country.”

The first of these Roman officials was the first Gentile man to whom the Lord Jesus ministered while He was here among His people. The second of the Roman officials was the first Gentile man to whom Peter ministered seven or eight years after Christ’s death and resurrection. The third of these Roman officials was the first Gentile man to whom Saul of Tarsus ministered (so far as there is any Bible record) about twelve years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCERNING THE FIRST ROMAN OFFICIAL

“AND WHEN HE HEARD OF JESUS, HE SENT UNTO HIM THE ELDER’S OF THE JEWS, BESEECHING HIM THAT HE WOULD COME AND HEAL HIS SERVANT. AND WHEN THEY CAME TO JESUS, THEY BESOUGHT HIM INSTANTLY, SAYING, THAT HE WAS WORTHY FOR WHOM HE SHOULD DO THIS: FOR HE LOVETH OUR NATION, AND HE HATH BUILT US A SYNAGOGUE.” “WHEN JESUS HEARD THESE THINGS, HE MARVELED AT HIM, AND TURNED HIM ABOUT, AND SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOWED HIM, I SAY UNTO YOU, I HAVE NOT FOUND SO GREAT FAITH, NO, NOT IN ISRAEL.” Luke 7:3 to 5 and 9.

CONCERNING THE SECOND ROMAN OFFICIAL

“THERE WAS A CERTAIN MAN IN CAESAREA CALLED CORNELIUS, A CENTURION OF THE BAND CALLED THE ITALIAN BAND, A DEVOUT MAN, AND ONE THAT FEARETH GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE, WHICH GAVE MUCH ALMS TO THE PEOPLE, AND PRAYED TO GOD ALWAY.” “AND THEY SAID, CORNELIUS THE CENTURION, A JUST MAN, AND ONE THAT FEARETH GOD, AND OF GOOD REPORT AMONG ALL THE NATION OF THE JEWS, WAS WARNED FROM GOD BY AN HOLY ANGEL TO SEND FOR THEE INTO HIS HOUSE, AND TO HEAR WORDS OF THEE.” Acts 10:1, 2 and 22.

CONCERNING THE THIRD ROMAN OFFICIAL

“THE DEPUTY OF THE COUNTRY, SERGIUS PAULUS, A PRUDENT MAN, WHO CALLED FOR BARNABAS AND SAUL AND DESIRED TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD.” Acts 13:7.

Surely the account of a prudent politician who desires to hear the Word of God is not an ordinary story. In fact, when you have carefully scanned the stories of these three gentlemen under consideration, you will agree with me that they were Gentiles who were different from the average run of Gentiles who lived in the days of Christ and His apostles.

To the person who loves the Lord Jesus and wants to understand the Bible, surely the development of Christianity as taught by the experiences of Christ and His apostles with these three Roman officials should be of unusual interest. So we present the full stories.

THE FIRST CENTURION

“Now when He had ended all His sayings in the audience of the people, He entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the elders of the Jews, beseeching Him that He would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus they besought Him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom He should do this; For he loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him, Lord, trouble not Thyself; for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.” Luke 7:1 to 10.

“When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:10 to 12.

THE SECOND CENTURION

“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on Him he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And He said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter.” “Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek; what is the cause wherefore ye are come?” “And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation: but God hath spewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.” “When they heard these things they held their Peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Acts 10:1 to 5— Acts 10:21 and 25 to 28— Acts 10:34 and 35— Acts 10:44 and 45— Acts 11:18.

THE THIRD ROMAN OFFICIAL

“And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man: who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith, Then Saul (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:6 to 12 and 46 to 48.

THE FIRST CENTURION

By carefully studying the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we shall learn that this Roman centurion was not only the first Gentile man to whom Christ ministered, so far as the Bible Record is concerned, but that he was the only Gentile man who received a blessing in connection with the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. This was then an unusual case, and the case of an unusual Gentile.

Christ did bless another unusual Gentile, a Greek woman. Like the centurion she was a Gentile of great faith. The story is related in Mark 7:24 to 30 and Matthew 15:22 to 28. To that Gentile woman Christ made two significant statements.

“Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled; for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it unto the dogs.” Mark 7:27.

“He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24.

Yes, these statements are full of meaning for the student of the Scriptures. “Let the children first be filled.” Gentiles were not children. The Jews were the children.

About fourteen years after Christ uttered these words, Paul said to the Jews, “it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46.

Later on we shall endeavor to show the full import of these most interesting and significant words, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” But remember the words of the Lord Jesus to the Gentile woman, “let the Jews first be filled.”

Then note the words of the Lord Jesus to the Gentile man concerning the children: “BUT THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE CAST OUT INTO OUTER DARKNESS; THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.” Matthew 8:12.

This meant that Divine judgment was in store for the children. The Jews were headed for trouble. This trouble for the Jews meant blessing for the Gentiles. Then about twenty-eight years later the Holy Spirit directed this statement to Gentiles:

“FOR AS YE IN TIMES PAST HAVE NOT BELIEVED GOD; YET HAVE NOW OBTAINED MERCY THROUGH THEIR. UNBELIEF.” Romans 11:30.

All through the Book of Acts, in the development of Christianity, God’s program was suggested by Christ’s experience and words with the only two Gentiles who received a kingdom blessing from Him while He was here on earth.

“LET THE CHILDREN FIRST BE FILLED.” “THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE, CAST INTO OUTER DARKNESS.” All through the Book of Acts period God’s order was, “to the Jew first.” At the close of the period God’s terrible judgment was pronounced upon the Jews. Read the awful judgment of darkness in Acts 28:25 to 28.

“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Spirit by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive; For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.” Acts 28:25 to 28.

But now for the other statement: “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24.

Note also Matthew 10:5 to 7 and 10:23:

“These Twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 10:5 to 7.

“And when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Matthew 10:23.

Then note why the publican received a blessing from the Lord Jesus: “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as, he also is a son of Abraham.” Luke 19:9.

Now we see why the case of the centurion was an unusual case. He was not a son of Abraham. He was not numbered among the lost sheep of Israel. He knew his place. But he loved the Jews and had paid for their religious house of worship. He did not presume to approach Jesus of Nazareth. He acknowledged himself to be an unworthy Gentile. He asked the Jews to go to their Messiah for him. They did and they told their Messiah that the centurion was worthy. He was of great faith. He received the unusual from Israel’s Messiah. Let us remember the words of Romans 15:8:

“NOW I SAY THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS A MINISTER OF THE CIRCUMCISION FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD, TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE FATHERS.”

Compare this with another verse in the same chapter:

“THAT I SHOULD BE THE MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE GENTILES, MINISTERING THE GOSPEL OF GOD, THAT THE OFFERING UP OF THE GENTILES MIGHT BE ACCEPTABLE, BEING SANCTIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.” Romans 15:16.

Now once again think of the words of the Lord Jesus on earth and compare them with Paul’s word, nearly fifteen years later. “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”

Why did they turn? Because the Jews put it from them.

CONCERNING CORNELIUS, THE GENTILE

If any man ever deserved to be saved, surely Cornelius did; for he feared God, and prayed to God; he was just and devout and was in good standing with God’s nation Israel. But he was uncircumcised. Unto Peter was committed the gospel of the circumcision. Galatians 2:7. By a wonderful vision God sent Peter to preach to Cornelius.

It is interesting to compare the two statements of Peter in Acts 10:28 and in Acts 10:34 and 35. In Acts 10:28 Peter declared that it was an unlawful thing for a man that was a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation. But God, in a vision, told Peter that He was now ready to depart from the old order; so Peter said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” Acts 10:34 and 35. This was the Word which God sent to Israel in Judaea. Acts 10:36 and 37.

Later on, God sent a different word to the Gentiles, by Paul: “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:4 and 5.

Quite different words from Acts 10:34 and 35.

Note the reaction on the part of the other apostles and Jewish brethren, when they heard that Peter had preached to Cornelius, the God-fearing, Jew-loving Gentile: “And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.” Acts 11:1 to 3.

They did not approve of the new Divine movement toward the Gentiles. But after Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, we read these words “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Acts 11:18.

We emphasize “then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” When? About seven or eight years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

PETER AND PAUL

In the light of these Scriptures, and the fact stated in Acts 11:19, we learn that during the first nine chapters of Acts, God’s order was the same as during the years of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, “to the Jew only.” After Saul became Paul, and thereafter throughout the Book of Acts, God’s order was “to the Jew first” and “also to the Gentile.” But this order ceased after Paul, in Rome, became the prisoner of Jesus Christ for Gentiles.

“FOR THIS CAUSE, I PAUL, THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR YOU GENTILES, IF YE HAVE HEARD OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME TO YOU-WARD: HOW THAT BY REVELATION HE MADE KNOWN UNTO ME THE MYSTERY.” Ephesians 3:1 to 3.

It is quite interesting to compare Peter’s statement in Acts 15:7 with the statement concerning Peter’s ministry in Galatians 2:9:

“AND WHEN THERE HAD BEEN MUCH DISPUTING, PETER ROSE UP, AND SAID UNTO THEM, MEN AND BRETHREN, YE KNOW HOW THAT A GOOD WHILE AGO GOD MADE CHOICE AMONG US, THAT THE GENTILES BY MY MOUTH SHOULD HEAR THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL AND BELIEVE.” Acts 15:7.

“AND WHEN JAMES, PETER AND JOHN, WHO SEEMED TO BE PILLARS, PERCEIVED THE GRACE THAT WAS GIVEN UNTO ME, THEY GAVE TO ME AND BARNABAS THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP; THAT WE SHOULD GO UNTO THE HEATHEN, AND THEY UNTO THE CIRCUMCISION.” Galatians 2:9.

After God selected Peter to preach to the household of Cornelius He decided that Peter should confine his testimony to the Jews. The only time that Peter was out of the land of the Jews, according to the “Acts” record, he certainly proved that he was not the man of God to preach to Gentiles

“For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.” Galatians 2:12.

Let us keep in mind the fact that Peter and the Eleven remained in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 and Acts 15:2. Christ promised them twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. The Twelve were to go over the cities of Israel. Matthew 10:23. They preached to devout Jews out of every nation under heaven. Acts 2:5. But it was Paul who assumed the responsibility of preaching to the Gentiles, the gospel of the uncircumcision and the unsearchable riches of Christ. Galatians 2:7—Romans 15:16—Ephesians 3:8—II Timothy 1:11—I Timothy 2:6 and 7—Romans 11:13. It was Paul who declared that under his supervision and God-given authority, the gospel had been preached all over the world, to every creature under heaven. Colossians 1:5 to 7 and Colossians 1:23.

Twelve apostles stood up on the day of Pentecost and preached to the twelve tribes of Israel. Acts 2:14 and 2:36. One of the Twelve was killed in Jerusalem, James, the brother of John. Acts 12:1 and 2. That murder occurred several years after Cornelius was saved.

Now, consider two interesting facts. First, there is no record in the Book of Acts, after the death of James, concerning the activities of the Twelve, only as Peter and James and the other nine apostles had dealings with the. Apostle Paul. And again: There is no record in the Book of Acts that any of the Twelve preached outside of the land of the Jews, or that any of them, (except Peter’s message to Cornelius) preached to any other Gentile during the “Acts” period. They agreed to go to the Jews. Galatians 2:9. Twelve apostles to twelve tribes. One apostle of the Gentiles. Romans 11:13. The Twelve are to have a ministry to the twelve tribes in the future. Matthew 19:28—Revelation 21:12 to 14.

Now note the statement of James and Peter concerning the salvation of the household of Cornelius:

“AND AFTER THEY HAD HELD THEIR PEACE. JAMES ANSWERED, SAYING, MEN AND BRETHREN, HEARKEN UNTO ME: SIMEON HATH DECLARED HOW GOD AT THE FIRST DID VISIT THE GENTILES, TO TAKE OUT OF THEM A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME. AND TO THIS AGREE THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS; AS IT IS WRITTEN, AFTER THIS I WILL RETURN, AND WILL BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH IS FALLEN DOWN: AND I WILL BUILD AGAIN THE RUINS THEREOF. AND I WILL SET IT UP: THAT THE RESIDUE OF MEN MIGHT SEEK AFTER THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES UPON WHOM MY NAME IS CALLED, SAITH THE LORD. WHO DOETH ALL THESE THINGS. KNOWN UNTO GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD.” Acts 15:13 to 18.

God visited Cornelius in agreement with Amos’ Prophecy. Read Amos 9:11 to 15. Amos’ prophecy concerning Gentile salvation was quite different from the unsearchable (unprophesied) riches of Christ which Paul preached to the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:8) concerning the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6. “Same Body” should be translated “JointBody.” This “Joint-Body” may be called in Ephesians, “the Church of the Mystery,” “the dispensation of the mystery which was hid in God.” Ephesians 3:9

It was one thing for God to visit the Gentiles to take out from them a people for His name It is quite a different thing for God to make of Jew and Gentile the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6, “the One New Man” of Ephesians 2:15. We must he careful not to confuse the prophesied Gentile program of Acts 15:13 to 18 with the unprophesied Gentile program of Ephesians 2:15 to 3:11.

The kingdom program of the Lord, under the Twelve, recorded in Acts, chapters two to eleven, was something of a pattern of what is going to take place on this earth after God has finished His eternal purpose concerning “the dispensation of the mystery.”

“And to make all men see what is the fellowship (dispensation) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God. Who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:9 to 11.

Note God’s purpose in this age:

“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11 to 13.

Note in Acts 2:16 to 18—Acts 2:27 to 35—Acts 3:19 to 25—and Acts 15:13 to 18, that Peter presented God’s prophesied kingdom program, with Christ on David’s throne. Joel’s Prophecy fulfilled, the times of the restitution of all things prophesied by prophets.

“Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many is have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Acts 3:24.

Peter preached concerning Israel’s kingdom days and Israel’s prophets spoke concerning these days.

Israel’s prophets did not speak concerning these days, concerning the Body of Christ. the Church of the Mystery. We must know the difference between God’s prophesied kingdom and the unprophesied Body of Christ.

This surely was an important distinction in the mind of the Holy Spirit when He dictated the words of II Timothy 2:15:

“STUDY TO SHEW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.”

Perhaps we sometimes want to give a hearty “Amen” to Peter’s words concerning the profound truth which the Lord revealed to Paul:

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” II Peter 3:15 and 16.

Let us not follow the blind leaders who insist that there is no difference between the “gospel of the circumcision,” which was committed to Peter and “the gospel of the uncircumcision,” which was committed unto Paul. Galatians 2:7. But let us understand that the word “gospel” covers many phases of Divine Truth, and that both Peter and Paul, and all the other saved Jews and Gentiles, have been saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Two serious blunders have been made by the majority of Bible teachers, by even those who are recognized leaders among Fundamentalists. They erroneously have the Old Testament (Covenant) begin with the first part of Genesis instead of with the twentieth chapter of Exodus, 2500 years later. “The law was added.” Galatians 3:19. “The law entered.” Romans 5:20. The Old Testament was added 2500 years after Adam sinned.

Another serious blunder that is responsible for confusion, controversies, and fanaticism among God’s redeemed people, is the erroneous teaching that the “dispensation of the mystery” began with Peter and Pentecost instead of with Saul after his name was changed to Paul. Acts 15:13 and Ephesians 2:15 are two different programs.

One champion of this faulty dispensationalism, who is a recognized leader among Fundamentalists, writes that the new dispensation of the mystery began with Peter. Then he writes in another message: “A dispensation then is a period of time in which God is dealing with men in some way in which He has not dealt with them before. Moreover there may be degrees of revelation.” “Only when a new revelation from God is given, does a dispensation change.” “The whole counsel of God was not made known until Paul received this revelation of the mystery.” “It was a special revelation given not to the Twelve, but to him as the apostle of the new dispensation.“

In spite of these statements, this man of God teaches that the new dispensation began with Peter on the day of Pentecost before he received the housetop vision. Contradiction as well as blunder.

THE THIRD ROMAN OFFICIAL

In the thirteenth chapter of Acts is recorded one of the most interesting and significant stories in the Bible, including what some one has called, “a dispensational miracle.” Here we have the story of two Jews and a Gentile, “Barjesus,” “Saul” and “Paulus.” Bar-jesus was an unbelieving Jew, filled with all subtilty (guile). He tried to turn the Gentile away from the faith. Saul was a believing Jew, filled with the Holy Spirit. He tried to turn the Gentile unto the faith. But Saul himself had been a blaspheming, unbelieving Jew. Note his own testimony: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” I Timothy 1:13. Bar-jesus then was not one whit worse than Saul. Both Bar-jesus and Saul were blind spiritually, and both of them were visited with physical blindness and had to be led about by another.

Note concerning Saul: “they led him by the hand … and he was three days without sight.” Acts 9:8 and 9.

Note concerning Bar-jesus: “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand” Acts 13:11. Note what happened to Paulus, the Gentile, because of the unbelief and blindness of Barjesus

“THEN THE DEPUTY, WHEN HE SAW WHAT WAS DONE, BELIEVED, BEING ASTONISHED AT THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.” Acts 13:12.

Here we have the very same Divine Truth that we have in Romans 11:7 to 11 and Romans 11:25 to 30. Concerning Israel, God gave them eyes that they should not see: “Let their eyes be darkened.” “The rest were blinded.” “A blindness to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” “For ye (Gentiles) in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.”

When God sent blindness upon Israel, He cast away Israel, and that meant reconciliation for the Gentiles. That caused Paul to exclaim: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33.

Note again Acts 13:12: “Then the deputy, when he saw what was done. believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” Then note Acts 14:27:

“AND WHEN THEY WERE COME AND HAD GATHERED THE CHURCH TOGETHER, THEY REHEARSED ALL, THAT GOD HAD DONE WITH THEM, AND HOW HE HAD OPENED THE DOOR OF FAITH UNTO THE GENTILES.”

Perhaps we can now sec why the Divine judgment (blindness) upon Barjesus, has been called “a dispensational miracle,” for it marked one of the most radical dispensational changes in all of God’s dealings with the human race.

When Paulus beheld the miracle. he was astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. and believed unto salvation. Saul became “Paulus” the apostle to the Gentiles. Romans 11:13. He took the name of the Gentile convert, This was most significant. It is in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, following; the salvation of Paulus, that we find the apostle’s significant statement, “lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Note why he said this in Acts 13:45 and 46. It was because the unbelieving Jews blasphemed. Then followed the important news of Acts 14:27, that God had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

The doctrine of the Lord, in connection with Israel, and their blindness. which has continued unto this day, should cause every Gentile to believe God and His Word, and to take advantage of God’s gracious offer of reconciliation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:10.

“And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” II Corinthians 5:18.

Note the contrast between two Jews, Nathanael and Bar-jesus. Concerning Nathanael, Jesus Christ said, “behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” John 1:47. Christ saw Nathanael under the fig tree. Nathanael replied: “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” John 1:48 and 49. Nathanael means “the rift of God.” Concerning the future salvation of Israel, the Scriptures declare: “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Romans 11:27 to 29. The fig tree in the Bible speaks of the nation Israel. In the coming Kingdom age, under the guaranty of the New Covenant. God is going to take all guile out of Israel. and “they will look on Him Whom they pierced.” They too shall say, “Thou art the King of Israel.”

The Son of God is yet to be the King of Israel, and He will plant His people in their own land and no one shall ever pluck them up again. Amos 9:11 to 15. Note Ezekiel 36:25 and 37:25:

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever; and My servant David shall be their prince for ever.”

Bar-jesus had an excellent name, but he was a “child of the devil,” “the enemy of all righteousness.” He was full of guile. Acts 13:10. He was exactly what Nathanael was not. But he was what Israel, in her blindness and rebellion, now is. Nathanael was what Israel is to be in the coming golden age on earth. “Bar-jesus” means “tile child of Jehovah Saviour.” What a splendid name! That was the place and responsibility of Israel. Israel was the child of Jehovah Saviour, chosen to turn Gentiles unto faith. Isaiah 43:1, 7 and 10. But like Bar-jesus, they turned them away from the faith.

In almost every city where Paul went preaching the Word of God. the unbelieving Jews, did all in their power to keep the Gentiles from believing. Note the general charge against them in I Thessalonians 2:14 and 15: “Ye also have suffered like things of your countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God. and are contrary to all men.”

Remember that Bar-Jesus, the child of Jehovah, was to be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. This is Israel’s predicament. Blind, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:25. And then Malachi 4:2 will be fulfilled. “But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Then note the blessed condition of Israel as told in Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 8:11: “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.”

Surely this should cause us to diligently study the eleventh chapter of Romans as never before and know that it is one of God’s dispensational chapters, one of His great dispensational chapters, the truth of which was foretold in the dispensational miracle of Acts 13, the story, of a blind Jew, whose blindness caused the Gentile to turn to the Lord for salvation.

But we know that the Gentiles were also blind; they were in spiritual darkness. The blindness of the Gentiles is told in Romans also: “Because that. when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:21. The corruption of the Gentiles is told in Romans 1:18 to 32. Note Romans 1:29: “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers.” God gave them up. When God gave up the Gentiles, centuries before Jesus Christ came from heaven, then He created a new thing for His glory, the nation Israel: “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.” Hebrews 11:12. God cut off all nations but Israel. Gentiles had to come under the covenant of circumcision. and become affiliated with Israel, to receive God’s blessing. God dealt with all nations through one elect nation.

With the Gentiles given up and Israel set aside, what would happen to the human race? Would God bring an end to the human race, or bring in the reign of grace? The answer is Titus 2:11 to 13—Ephesians 2:7—Romans 5:21—and Romans 5:1 and 2.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Now I sincerely trust the reader sees the dispensational truth taught in the experiences of these three Roman officials, and that the beginning of this present dispensation of grace marked God’s changed attitude toward Gentiles who can have God’s special favor, righteousness, and eternal glory, without religion, yea, even “without a cause.” The word “freely” in Romans 3:24, is “dorian” and means literally “without a cause.” But let us also by faith appropriate the necessary grace for every test, trial and task, remembering II Corinthians 9:5:

“And God is also able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

In our last lesson we closed with reference to the doctrine of “alienation,” “reconciliation” and the “new creation.” We learn, by looking into the Scriptures, which deal with these Divine truths, that the doctrine of “identification” is likewise associated with them, that is, the reconciled believer’s identification with Christ.

But now let us compare Ephesians 4:18 and Ephesians 2:12 to 17 with Colossians 1:20 and 21: “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

“BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS YE WHO SOMETIMES WERE FAR OFF ARE MADE NIGH BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, FOR HE IS OUR PEACE WHO HATH MADE BOTH ONE AND HATH BROKEN DOWN THE MIDDLE WALL OF PARTITION BETWEEN US; HAVING ABOLISHED IN HIS FLESH THE ENMITY, EVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS, CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; FOR TO MAKE IN HIMSELF OF TWAIN ONE NEW MAN, SO MAKING PEACE; AND THAT HE MIGHT RECONCILE BOTH UNTO GOD IN ONE BODY BY THE CROSS, HAVING SLAIN THE ENMITY THEREBY: AND CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU THAT WERE AFAR OFF, AND TO THEM THAT WERE NIGH.”

Now note Colossians 1:20 and 21:

“AND HAVING MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, BY HIM TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF; BY HIM, I SAY, WHETHER THEY BE THINGS IN EARTH, OR THINGS IN HEAVEN. AND YOU THAT WERE SOMETIME ALIENATED AND ENEMIES IN YOUR MIND BY WICKED WORKS, YET NOW HATH HE RECONCILED.”

In Ephesians 2:12 we find the Gentiles alienated and without hope. In Ephesians 4:18 we find the Gentiles alienated from the life of God. In Ephesians 2:17 we read that the Lord sent His servants to preach peace to them which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Those who were afar off were the Gentiles who were dead in trespasses and sins. Between them and the Jews there had been a middle wall of partition. This was erected at Sinai. It was a wall of law, ordinances, and religion. The Jews, or Israelites, were nigh. They were called “the Commonwealth of Israel.” In Ephesians 2:15 and 16, we learn that Jesus Christ, by His death on the cross. broke down the middle wall of partition, the law of commandments in ordinances; that He might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one Body by the cross.

This same truth is recorded in Colossians. In Colossians 2:14 we read

“BLOTTING OUT THE HANDWRITING OF ORDINANCES THAT WAS AGAINST US, WHICH WAS CONTRARY TO US, AND TOOK IT OUT OF THE WAY, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS.”

Note again Colossians 1:20 and 21: “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.

If we did not have other Scriptures to teach us otherwise, we might decide that the risen Christ, immediately after His death, sent His apostles to preach the ministry of reconciliation to Gentiles; that the twelve apostles knew that the law had been nailed to the cross and that all religious barriers had been removed and all national preferences and racial distinctions had been obliterated. But in studying the first thirteen chapters of Acts, in the ministry of the Twelve, we learn that this is contrary to fact. In Acts 10:28 we have the words of Peter that it was not lawful for him to preach to Gentiles, some seven or eight years after the death of Christ on the cross, and by carefully studying those first chapters of Acts, we learn that Peter and his fellow-apostles did not preach to Gentiles. Note Peter’s message in Acts 5:29 to: 12. There Peter preached to Israel that God had raised Christ from the dead to be Israel’s Prince and Saviour, to give that people repentance and forgiveness of sins.

If we will compare Acts 5:29 to 32 with Ephesians 1:19 to 23, we will find quite a difference. In Acts 5 we learn that God raised Christ from the dead to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins, whereas, in Ephesians 1:19 to 23, God raised Christ from the dead to he Head over all things unto the Church which is His Body. the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

RECONCILIATION WHEN?

The first mention of the ministry of “reconciliation” for Gentiles appears in the Bible about twenty-five years after Christ died on the cross. Let us carefully note the verses:

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:10 and 11.

“And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to as the ministry of reconciliation, To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. II Corinthians 5:18 and 19. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” Romans 11:15.

Studying these Scriptures, together with their immediate context, we learn when and why the Lord Jesus Christ committed to Paul the ministry of reconciliation and the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles; and Romans 11:15 is certainly a key verse. So we observe that the gospel of reconciliation for Gentiles is first mentioned in connection with the first mention of Adam in the New Testament Scriptures and in connection with the casting away of Israel. Israel was not cast away until after the death of one of the twelve apostles, some years after the Pentecost of Acts Two. In Acts 12:1 and 2, we learn of the death of James, the brother of John. James was one of the Twelve. Until the time James died there were twelve apostles; Peter and the Eleven. Twelve men stood up on the day of Pentecost. The number “12” is a representative number and speaks of Israel, which was made up of twelve tribes. Note the reference in Acts 2:36, “all the house of Israel.”

Paul declared that salvation was sent unto the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy; that the Gentiles obtained mercy because of Israel’s blindness and unbelief. Romans 11:11 and 30. Reconciliation was sent to Gentiles when and because Israel was set aside. Romans 11:15. Peter was not in this program, for, according to Galatians 2:9, even after Peter had preached to the household of Cornelius, he agreed to go with his message and ministry to Israel. Peter and his associates did not preach salvation to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. They preached to Israel and Cornelius concerning Jesus of Nazareth and what he did on earth. Acts 2:22 and 10:35 to 38.

But in connection with the message of “reconciliation”and “the new creation,” Paul says. concerning Jesus Christ, “henceforth know we Him no more after the flesh.” II Corinthians 5:16. Peter preached “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit;” “Repent and God will send Christ back from heaven,” “Restitution.” This was quite different from Paul’s gospel of grace, and it is indeed interesting and instructive to learn that after the mention of “Adam” and “reconciliation” there is no record in the Scriptures of any one receiving water baptism. Surely there is a reason for this.

Israel was God’s religious nation. When God set aside that religious nation, the time of reformation arrived (Hebrews 9:10) and God was through with His religious program. Whatever interpretation or significance may be attached to water baptism, all must admit that it is a religious ceremony or ordinance.

When Jesus of Nazareth was on earth He was dealing with the children of Abraham, preserved and protected by the Abrahamic Covenant. The Covenant of Circumcision was binding. Genesis 17:7 to 17. Acts 7:8. Any Gentile who received God’s Divine blessing had to come under the Covenant of Circumcision and become it proselyte to the Jews’ religion.

ADAM—CHRIST—RECONCILIATION

Note why the diseased woman of Luke 13:16 received her blessing. She was the daughter of Abraham. Note why the publican of Luke 19:8 to 11 received his blessing. He was the son of Abraham. Christ did not mention Adam in connection with salvation while He was Jesus of Nazareth on earth, when, by His own word, He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), and when He told His twelve Israelitish messengers to go not into the way of the Gentiles. Matthew 10:5. In that same tenth chapter of Matthew, the twenty-third verse, note what Christ said to His twelve apostles: “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not (may not) have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come.” Matthew 10:23. Then note what He told them in Matthew 19:28: “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

This may explain the “why” of the question of these men in Acts 1:6: “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” This may explain why, as far as we have any record in the Book of Acts, the twelve apostles did not preach in other cities than the cities of Israel and why there is no record in Acts that they preached to any Gentiles, except to the household of Cornelius. Any Gentile who may have been saved while Jesus Christ was on earth as the Minister of the Circumcision (Romans 15:8) became a Jew by religion.

But now for reconciliation in Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the reconciliation,” (Not “atonement”—it should he “reconciliation.”) “Wherefore”—Wherefore what? “As by one man—sin and death.” Who was that one man? Adam. “Reconciliation”—“Wherefore”— “Adam”—“sin”—“condemnation”—“alienation”—“death.” “As in Adam all die.” I Corinthians 15:22. In Christ; by Christ—”justification,” “righteousness,” “reconciliation,” “life”. In Romans 1:18 to 32 we have the record of God’s wrath visited upon the Gentiles just before God elected Abram, at the time when universal idolatry and ungodliness prevailed. God gave over, gave up, the Gentiles at the time God cast them away. That was more than 1900 years B.C.

God gave up the Gentiles about 1900 B.C. He gave up the nation Israel about 1900 years ago. When God turned from Abram’s seed, Israel, and cast them away, about 1900 years ago, God turned to the Gentiles with the ministry of reconciliation and with the dispensation of the grace of God. Paul was His human instrument: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office” Romans 11:13.

Most assuredly the Lord did not instruct Peter and the Eleven to inaugurate this Gentile program on the day of Pentecost; and those who have “the dispensation of the grace of God,” “the dispensation of the mystery,” begin with Peter and the Eleven, on an Israelitish religions feast day, do greatly err. These men are largely responsible for the faulty dispensationalism that is taught by the sectarian leaders and by most of the “Premillennial” Fundamentalists of the day. Peter and the Eleven in their recorded “Acts” ministry preached concerning the Abrahamic Covenant. To them was committed the gospel of the circumcision. Galatians 2:7. Paul was the Lord’s apostle of reconciliation. His testimony in Acts 20:24 and in Ephesians 3:1 to 3, is, that the Lord committed to him the gospel of the grace of God, the dispensation of grace.

After Paul wrote of “Adam” and “reconciliation” in the fifth chapter of Romans, he wrote to the saints in the sixth chapter, that they had died and had been buried and had been raised to walk in newness of life; that their old man had been crucified. So new creation and identification follow reconciliation. Our great commission is this side “the fall of Israel.” Read it in II Corinthians 5:18 to 21.

Thus we see how alienation is linked with Adam and the old creation, and how it is mentioned in Corinthians with “reconciliation”, Christ and “the new creation.” We can likewise see how “identification” is linked with reconciliation and the new creation. Again, in II Corinthians 5:12 to 21, “the new creation,” “reconciliation” “and identification” are all linked together. The sinner belongs to the old creation: he is identified with Adam and he is alienated from the life of God. Judgment and condemnation are his portion. With the new creation in Christ everything is different.

At the time of the flood when Noah’s family went into the ark, God destroyed all the children of Adam, except Noah’s family. There was a new beginning with the human race after the flood. Several centuries later the awful judgment of Romans 1:16 to 32 fell upon the Gentiles. They were cut off and given up by God. Abram was circumcised; then followed the birth of the nation Israel. The Gentiles were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel about that time. Israel lost her place of governmental political control about 600 B.C. But until about the middle of the first Christian century, Israel continued to be God’s religious nation, with spiritual authority. Then Israel was set aside, about 1900 years ago. It was at that time that the Lord’s special apostle was sent with the message of reconciliation and grace to the alienated children of Adam. He found the wicked Gentiles twice alienated, alienated in Adam from the life of God by wicked works, and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. First alienated in Adam, and again alienated from the commonwealth of Israel after the call of Abraham.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, the children of Adam, other than the children of Abraham, were still alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and from the life of God. Christ, on earth, was not sent to them. He told His twelve apostles not to go in their way. But some years later Christ spoke from heaven. He said to Paul, “Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem” “I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Acts 22:17 to 22. The Twelve remained in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1. Their message was to the children of the covenant. Acts 3:25. Galatians 2:9.

With the turn from Israel, from the children of the covenant, with the gospel of reconciliation to the Gentiles who were strangers from the covenant, the Lord Jesus in heaven gave Paul a commission and a ministry that superseded the so-called “great commission” of Matthew 28:19 and 20, committed to Peter and the Eleven, and the gospel of the circumcision committed to them. Galatians 2:7. Note Paul’s commission in II Corinthians 5:18: “And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Ephesians 3:1 to 3 and 8: “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,).” “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

These Divine orders were given by revelation; and with these orders remember the testimony of the apostle in Romans 11:13: “I magnify mine office . . . for I am the apostle to the Gentiles.” And also remember his testimony in I Corinthians 1:17, “Christ sent me not to baptize.”

In the Scriptures, where the message of reconciliation is mentioned, the Holy Spirit speaks of the One Divine Baptism; but never of water baptism. Note Romans 5:10 and 11 with Romans 6:3 to 6. Note Colossians 1:20 and 21 with Colossians 2:12. Note Ephesians 2:13 with Ephesians 4:5.

It is interesting to prayerfully consider Ephesians 1:9, concerning God’s revelation of the Mystery

“HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE, WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN HIMSELF.”

This confirms the truth of Ephesians 1:5:

“HAVING PREDESTINATED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL.”

Note, “according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself” and “according to the good pleasure of His will.” He hath made known the mystery of His will. This will is God’s predestinated purpose.

In studying the Pauline messages we must be very careful not to confuse God’s prophesied plan and program with His “predestinated purpose,” the mystery of His will concerning the position and possessions of members of the Body of Christ, revealed to and through the Apostle Paul.

Now let us note some very interesting factsin Ephesians; namely, that all of the spiritual benefits and blessings, which the believer has in Christ Jesus, are:

1. ACCORDING TO GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE IN CHRIST. Ephesians 3:11.

2. ACCORDING AS GOD HATH CHOSEN US IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. Ephesians 1:4.

3. ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE. Ephesians 1:7.

4. ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY. Ephesians 3:16.

5. ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT OF CHRIST. Ephesians 4:7.

6. ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTUAL WORKING IN THE MEASURE OF EVERY PART. Ephesians 4:16.

7. ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL. Ephesians 1:5. 8. ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN HIMSELF. Ephesians 1:9.

9. ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKETH ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL. Ephesians 1:11.

10. ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. Ephesians 1:19.

11. ACCORDING TO THE GIFT OF THE GRACE OF GOD GIVEN UNTO PAUL BY THE EFFECTUAL WORKING OF GOD’S POWER. Ephesians 3:7.

12. ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US. Ephesians 3:20.

After carefully considering these verses, which tell the source and measure of all the believer’s benefits and blessings, we should be filled with wonder, amazement and thanksgiving, but not with any skepticism or doubt as to what God can do and does do for the sinner saved by His infinite, matchless grace, love and mercy, and why God bestows such unspeakable and manifold blessings upon those of the children of Adam who are willing to be the recipients of His grace.

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE—PREDESTINATION

Note Romans 8:28 to 31:

“AND WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, TO THEM WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW HE DID ALSO PREDESTINATE, TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. MOREOVER WHOM HE DID PREDESTINATE, THEM HE ALSO CALLED: AND WHOM HE CALLED THEM HE ALSO JUSTIFIED:

AND WHOM HE JUSTIFIED THEM HE ALSO GLORIFIED. WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN TO THESE THINGS? IF GOD BE FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”

This causes us to cry out with Paul: “ O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?” Romans 11:33 and 34. In all the Scriptures, where the purpose of God is mentioned, it is mentioned in connection with predestination, as the purpose which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. II Timothy 1:9. It is God’s eternal purpose purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. God’s spiritual program under the dispensation of the mystery is according to His eternal or predestinated purpose; that which God purposed in Christ Jesus before Abraham, or even Adam, was created.

Now note carefully and prayerfully Ephesians 1:3 to 5:

“BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO HATH BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES IN CHRIST; ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE: HAVING PREDESTINATED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL:’

1. Blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.

2. According as God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

3. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.

4. According to the good pleasure of His will.

Here we have the grace and glory purpose of God, the dealings and doings of the sovereign God of all grace; all in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and all for Christ’s sake. It is easy to remember the three “p’s”. It is according to God’s purpose, God’s pleasure, and God’s power.

Now note three other “p’s” in the matter of salvation. Note Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Those who are members of the Body of Christ are God’s workmanship, created by God in Christ unto good works. God is the expert Workman. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are in God’s “saint” factory. We learn in this Epistle, in the matter of making saints, “the people,” “the process,” and “the product. “

1. THE PEOPLE, or human material with which God must work. Note Ephesians 4:18—Ephesians 2:1 to 3— Ephesians 2:12. They are “alienated from the life of God.” They are “dead in trespasses and sins.” They are “walking according to the course of this world.” They walk according to Satan’s control. Their conversation is in the lusts of the flesh. They. are by nature the children of wrath. They are in the world without God and having no hope. This is almost waste material. Now we can see why only the grace and power of God can transform such helpless, sinful, human creatures into saints.

2. THE PROCESS—The Divine process—“But God Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us.” Ephesians 2:4. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8 and 9. God’s workmanship. The Creator creates anew. God creates, or recreates, by the one Divine baptism of Ephesians 4:5. By this baptism the believing sinners are taken out of Adam and placed in Christ and identified with Him as the Head of the New Creation.

3. THE PRODUCT—“To the saints”—“Believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 1:13. “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God, And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner Stone; In Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19 to 22.

“We are members of His Body.” Ephesians 5:30. We are alive. We are raised up with Christ. We are seated with Him in the heavenlies. The Holy Spirit intends that the children of God should read the Epistle to the Colossians with the Epistle to the Ephesians, for they give us very much the same precious truth, but one is the complement and commentary of the other. Both of these Epistles deal with alienation, reconciliation, and the new creation. In each of these Prison Epistles of Paul we have the message of grace and glory. As to the future of grace and glory, note Colossians 3:3 and 4: “For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Ephesians 2:7. “‘That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Thus we see something of God’s eternity of grace.

PAUL’S DISTINCTIVE MINISTRY

Now let us read Colossians 1:20 and 21: “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.” Note Paul’s words in Colossians 1:23, “Whereof I Paul am made a minister;” in Colossians 1:29, “Whereunto I labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.”

Paul was neither conceited nor deluded. Paul was in earnest. He was truthful and sincere. The risen Christ had given him a distinctive, unique ministry, something entirely different from any program or ministry or message which he had committed to Peter and the Eleven. Paul, in his Bible ministry, uses the first person pronoun more than one thousand times in speaking of himself.

According to Colossians 1:20 to 28, Paul was made a minister by Christ and was working and striving by that Divine power within, to testify the gospel of the grace of God which he received from Christ, to finish his course with joy, according to Acts 20:24; to make known the message of reconciliation; to fill up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ in His flesh, for His Body’s sake, to fulfill (or complete) the Word of God with God’s secret, which God had never mentioned to any prophet. priest, king or apostle until the glorified Christ made it known to this man Paul.

Perhaps you are saying, or thinking, “What strange language!” The language way seem strange. but it has been in the Bible all these years; and the strange thing is, that people and pastors alike have paid no attention to it. In fact. the majority of Christians do not know it is in the Bible.

But note in Colossians 1:23, Paul declares that the gospel was preached to every creature under heaven. Then note the three verses that follow:

“WHO NOW REJOICE IN MY SUFFERINGS FOR YOU, AND FILL UP THAT WHICH IS BEHIND OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST IN MY FLESH FOR HIS BODY’S SAKE, WHICH IS THE CHURCH: WHEREOF I AM MADE A MINISTER ACCORDING TO THE DISPENSATION OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN TO ME FOR YOU, TO FULFIL THE WORD OF GOD: EVEN THE MYSTERY WHICH HATH BEEN HID FROM AGES AND FROM GENERATIONS, BUT NOW 1S MADE MANIFEST TO HIS SAINTS.” Colossians 1:24 to 26.

What does this mean?

Was not the suffering of Christ sufficient? In what sense did Paul supplement the sufferings of Christ? Certainly not, for the sinner’s redemption. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust that He, might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but. quickened by the Spirit.” The Lord Jesus Christ settled the sin question on the cross and then abolished death and entered into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 9:10.

We might ask also how we are to reconcile Paul’s statements in I Corinthians 3:11 and I Corinthians 3:10. In verse eleven, Paul declares that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. But in I Corinthians 3:10 he says. “as a wise masterbuilder I have laid the foundation . . . let us all take heed how we build together thereupon.”

No spiritual saint can faithfully study the Pauline Epistles and fail to observe that the Apostle Paul had a very special and important part to play in announcing for God the casting away of Israel, which brought the ministry of reconciliation for Gentiles, the beginning of the dispensation of the grace of God, the proclamation of the unsearchable riches of Christ for Gentiles, the revelation and the proclamation of the mystery of God’s will, His eternal predestinated purpose given in Christ before the world began. All of these truths are related to the building up of the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6, and they were revealed and proclaimed so that all might see the dispensation of the mystery.

Note very carefully this statement of Paul, in Colossians 1:25 and 26: “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God: Even the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints.” This special dispensation of God was given to this special apostle, who was not one of the Twelve, for a very specific task, and a most important duty; namely, to complete the Word of God with the mystery, with it Divine message and spiritual program concerning which all the preceding ages and generations had been ignorant, as well as silent.

When the Lord Jesus saved, and first called Saul of Tarsus into service, He said, “I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15. And what a sufferer he was! In his last Epistle he said, “according to MY GOSPEL, wherein I suffer as an evil doer even unto bonds.” II Timothy 2:8 and 9.

The Lord ordained and willed that the capstone of Divine Truth, called “the Mystery”, should be added to prophecy, and the fulfillment of prophecy, to complete the Word of God, with intense suffering on the part of this chosen vessel. So the Lord restrained Paul from writing his Epistles which tell His secret in detail, until he was suffering in the prison at Rome. But years before that, he had suffered intensely for preaching the gospel of the uncircumcision to Gentiles. Note his sufferings in II Corinthians 11:22 to 28. Then after all this, read his testimony in II Corinthians 12:1 to 9, concerning his thorn in the flesh, which came with the revelations from Christ. Paul mentioned the mystery in I Corinthians 2:6 to 7 and Romans 8:28 to 30, but not in detailed explanation.

Years before Paul reached the Roman prison, he told us Gentiles of his uncompromising bold stand against the other apostles and disciples, “that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Galatians 2:5. How he struggled, and laboured and fought and suffered to keep religious men from covering up God’s grace message with religion. You try this today if you want to know what a task it is. I wonder if Paul’s sufferings are appreciated by us, or if we really understand or appreciate the gospel of the grace of God, to say nothing of the dispensation of the Mystery.

But until our neat lesson, in our study of the Epistle to the Ephesians, just a few words about alienation, reconciliation, and the new creation, as they are mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians. We read in Ephesians 4:18 and in Colossians 1:21, that the children of Adam, who were not the children of Abraham, were alienated from the life of God. But in Ephesians 2:13 to 18 and in Colossians 1:20 and 21, we learn that Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of His cross and by this work God reconciled alienated Gentiles. The reconciled Gentiles were made new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Compare the truth of Acts 2:22 with the truth of Ephesians 1:19 to 23:

“YE MEN OF ISRAEL, HEAR THESE WORDS: JESUS OF NAZARETH, A MAN APPROVED OF GOD AMONG YOU BY MIRACLES, AND WONDERS, AND SIGNS, WHICH GOD DID BY HIM IN THE MIDST OF YOU, AS YE YOURSELVES ALSO KNOW.” Acts 2:22.

“AND WHAT IS THE EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO USWARD WHO BELIEVE ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER, WHICH HE WROUGHT IN CHRIST WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, AND SET HIM AT HIS OWN RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLIES, FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY, AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED, NOT ONLY IN THIS WORLD, BUT ALSO IN THAT WHICH IS TO COME. AND HATH PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET, AND GAVE HIM TO BE THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY, THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL.”

God approved Jesus of Nazareth, a Man in the land in the midst of Israel, by miracles. When He died, these words were written above the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” In Matthew, Mark and Luke, we find the expression “on the earth” eleven times. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we find the expression “in the heavenlies” five times. There is a difference between the King of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth, His Israelitish Kingdom, on the earth, and the Lord Jesus Christ seated in the highest heavens, Head of the Church which is His Body, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile.

In Ephesians it is not the mighty power of God in working miracles by His Son Jesus Christ in the land of the Jews, but the mighty power that God wrought in Christ when He raised Christ from the sepulchre, and placed Him far above everything and everybody. And do not forget the truth in this connection, that this same mighty power is toward members of the Body of Christ, for they too have been raised from their death and burial and seated with Christ in the heavenlies far above. Ephesians 2:6.

From the heavens the ascended Christ gave gifts unto men: Read Ephesians 4 8 to 13:

“HE THAT DESCENDED IS THE SAME ALSO THAT ASCENDED UP FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS, THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS. AND HE GAVE SOME APOSTLES; AND SOME, PROPHETS; AND SOME, EVANGELISTS; AND SOME, PASTORS AND TEACHERS; FOR THE PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS, FOR THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY, FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.”

In this connection note I Corinthians 3:9 and 10

“For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.”

“But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon,” literally, “how he buildeth TOGETHER thereupon.”

The Lord Jesus chose the Apostle Paul to be the masterbuilder. Paul declared himself to be the Lord’s pattern for believers. I Timothy 1:16. He instructs believers to follow him as he followed Christ. I Corinthians 11:1. Philippians 3:17. We must closely examine God’s “building” plans in the Epistles of Paul, if we would take heed how we labor together and build together.

If we take heed according to God’s eternal purpose, we shall not try, in this age, to establish on earth that Kingdom which the King will build when He comes back to the earth as King.

Making the “One New Man,” building up the Body of Christ, the fulness of Him Who is the Head far above in the heavenlies, is a Divine program, so different from God’s prophesied Kingdom plans that it is difficult to understand why the saints of the Lord so confuse these two entirely different and distinct institutions. Although in His essential and eternal Deity the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, His relationship, and His ministry for those over whom He shall reign as King on this earth, is entirely different from His present relationship to the members of His Body, with whom He is, or is to be, one flesh. His ministry as King of the Jews is different from His ministry as Head of His Body. Note Romans 15:8:

“Now I say that Jesus Christ WAS a Minister of the circumcision for the Truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”

“Jesus Christ WAS the Minister of the circumcision.” We could not say that He IS the Minister of the circumcision. He is doing something entirely different during this present dispensation. He is to again be a Minister of the circumcision and fulfill all prophecies concerning His Kingship and Kingdom, His earthly reign of righteousness, and peace on David’s throne. But let us not confuse David’s throne with the Father’s throne, where Christ is.

CHRIST IS FAR ABOVE

Note again Ephesians 1:21, where Christ was raised by the mighty power of God, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. In Ephesians 4:10 we read that Christ ascended up “far above” all heavens, that He might fill all things. This was accomplished by the mighty power of God. We remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, in John 10:17 and 18: “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” What mighty power! Yea, Almighty power!

SATAN AND THE HEAVENLIES

There is another power in the heavenlies operating against God and Christ in the heavenlies, and against any of the Lord’s servants who desire to know, or to make known, the Truth concerning Christ and His Body seated together in the heavenlies

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN THE HEAVENLIES.” Ephesians 6:12.

“TO THE INTENT THAT NOW UNTO THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN THE HEAVENLIES MIGHT BE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD.” Ephesians 3:10.

We learn in Ephesians 2:2, that the unsaved person is controlled by the prince of the power of the air. This same power that controls the unsaved sinner is the power against which the saint wrestles. Against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against “spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies.”

We soon learn by experience that Satan uses every imaginable weapon against the servant of the Lord Jesus who endeavors to obey Ephesians 3:9 and 10, to “make all see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”

This is Divine Truth that is according to the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Satan is determined that members of the Body shall not know this blessed and glorious Truth and he has been indeed successful in his efforts; for even many of the most spiritual “Fundamentalist” leaders strenuously, and even bitterly, oppose the Truth of “the Mystery,” which is the most blessed and glorious Truth in the Bible for saints. They cannot say, with Paul, concerning Satan, “we are not ignorant concerning his devices.”

We are warned in Ephesians 6:11 and 12, against the wiles, or tricks, of the devil in his spiritual activities in the heavenlies. Paul himself was the victim of this Satanic opposition, for he tells us in this same sixth chapter of Ephesians, that he was in jail for obeying Ephesians 3:9 and 10.

Paul suffered as an evil-doer for “the Mystery.” Read II Timothy 2:7 and 8, and Ephesians 6:19 and 20. But Paul would not compromise to please men. Galatians 1:10.

Every servant of the Lord who consistently, uncompromisingly, and fearlessly attempts to make known the “Mystery” of Ephesians, is conscious of a mighty power working against him. But there is a spiritual armour provided, according to Ephesians 6:11 to 20. So many human agencies are active in the opposition that it is difficult for the servant of the Lord to believe that he is not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the heavenlies. The member of the Body of Christ who believes that God has made known “the mystery of His will,” concerning His predestinated, or eternal purpose (Ephesians 1:9 and 11), and attempts to pass on the knowledge to others, realizes that he has a conflict in the heavenlies. But let us remember that although there are mighty powers above us, there is ONE far above those powers, Who is our Head. To Him we are forever united.

Let us note again the truth concerning the believer’s position in Christ as revealed in Ephesians 2:6:

“GOD HATH RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLIES IN CHRIST JESUS.”

Think this over seriously, spiritually and frequently. This is a profound Truth.

As a Christian, do you realize your position in the heavenlies, the identification and union of each member of the Body of Christ with the Head, in the heavenlies, and with every other member in the Body Note the word “together” in this statement; “raised up together”; “sit together in the heavenlies in Christ.” Then note, in verse 5, “God hath made, us alive together with Christ.” Then note verses 21, 22 and 4:16: “ . all the building fitly framed together,” “ye are builded together”—”the whole Body fitly joined together.” This is indeed union and unity and excludes any suggestion or thought of sectarianism or schism in the Joint-Body of the Mystery.

BLESSED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES

Note Ephesians 1:3 to 5:

“BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO HATH BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES IN CHRIST: ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE; HAVING PREDESTINATED US UNTO THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY JESUS CHRIST TO HIMSELF, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL.”

So we learn that not only is our position in the heavenlies together with Christ, and our conflict in the heavenlies, not only are we to show the manifold wisdom of God to the powers in the heavenlies, but we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Let us couple this wonderful .statement with the truth of Ephesians 1:18 to 20

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies.”

“To us-ward,” who are members of Christ, is the mighty power of the Almighty God. Think of it!

But it is needless to try to estimate this power. It is infinite, incomprehensible, and illimitable. Who can begin to inventory or enumerate the spiritual benefits and blessings that are included in the “all spiritual blessings” of Ephesians 1:3? But quietly, seriously, spiritually, prayerfully, try to take it in and dare to believe this guarantee from the infallible God Who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named! “The Father of glory.”

ALL BLESSINGS—THE SECOND BLESSING—PHYSICAL HEALING

One of the first lessons that the member of the Body Church learns when the eyes of his understanding are enlightened, and he knows the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is God’s exceeding power toward him, and that he is blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, is not to cry “back to Pentecost”—not to be led into the heresy of seeking for a second blessing, or the power of Holy Spirit baptism, because he has all blessings. All God’s power is available the moment he is saved.

When the sinner, saved by grace, has received God’s Divine baptism, which joins him to the eternal, Almighty, glorified Christ, and makes him an heir to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hid in Christ, and endows him with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, and empowers him with all the mighty power of God, described in Ephesians, what folly to tell him to seek another baptism, or to tarry for the second blessing!

As the Truth of Ephesians is the corrective for all of the fanaticism concerning Holy Spirit baptism, all of the erroneous teaching of the second blessing religious people, and that of the Divine healers, it is the Scriptural remedy for every ill and ism with which the Church of Jesus Christ is afflicted: “That we be no more children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.” Ephesians 4:14.

Spiritually speaking, the members of Christ’s Body are truly multimillionaires. But the Body of Christ is not Israel, God’s earthly people, living in Canaan and guaranteed Divine blessings of earthly prosperity and physical healings. We can say, with Paul, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” But we must also say, “though our outward man perish (or thoroughly decay), yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” II Corinthians 4:16 and 17.

Many, many times the Apostle Paul wrote that Christ on the cross suffered for sins, died for our sins, put away sins, bare our sins, but never once did Paul even intimate that Jesus Christ on the cross died for our sicknesses. He told Timothy, his most intimate and dependable fellowworkers, to take a physical remedy for his physical disease. I Timothy 5:23. To this same faithful man of God. Paul wrote, “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. “ II Timothy 4:20. In that same Second Epistle to Timothy, Paul wrote Timothy to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.”

No man of God rightly divides the Word of Truth when he teaches that, physical healing for the saint, under the dispensation of the grace of God, is guaranteed in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. As some servant of the Lord has truly said, “if physical salvation is guaranteed to believers in the work of Christ on the cross, then incorruptibility could be experienced by members of the Body of Christ without the return of Christ.’’ Paul’s words: “. . though our outward man perish” is the negation and refutation of the foolish theories concerning physical health taught by even some sincere spiritual Christians. So also is Romans 8:23: “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Bodies of believers, like bodies of unbelievers, are, and will be, corruptible bodies of humiliation until the day of redemption, when out of heaven shall come the Lord Jesus Christ to change the believers’ bodies of humiliation, in the twinkling of an eye, to be fashioned like unto His body of glory. Philippians 3:20 and 21.

We would not, for one moment, convey the idea that the Almighty God and Father of the lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Father of all members of the Body of Christ, does not hear and answer prayer in behalf of those who are sick. We are taught the truth of elective healing in Philippians 2:25 to 28. Sometimes the faithful saints are restored to health and strength. Sometimes they are left sick. Sometimes they die, The death rate of the human race, for both saint and sinner, is one apiece, and this will continue until the day of redemption. If and when God hears prayer in behalf of His sick children, and answers the prayer by restoring His sick child to health, it is on the grounds of the shed blood o£ the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the only sense in which it can be stated that healing is in the atonement. Atonement is not God’s Word in Pauline Truth. The word translated “atonement” in Romans 5:11, is “reconciliation.”

We have no record in the New Testament Scriptures that any Gentile had Divine authority to impose hands for healing, or for any other Divine blessing. Neither do we have any record of the use of oil on Gentiles. Let us remember the words of James, in Acts 15:19, when applying the “oil anointing” of James 5:14; and let us not forget that this Epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes of Israel, and read Galatians 2:9.

Let us again emphasize the absence of any reference to signs, sign gifts, healings, tongues, etc., in any of Paul’s Epistles written after the pronouncement of God’s Divine judgment in Acts 28:25 to 28. Signs are peculiarly associated with Israel, “for the Jews require a sign.” In Paul’s ministry in the “Acts” period, God’s order was, “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” In Paul’s Prison Epistles God’s order is, “to the Gentile and also to the Jew.” In this day of grace condemned Jews, like condemned Gentiles, must come to the Lord for salvation, not as the children of Abraham, but as the children of Adam. Now, “no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. “

In another message we shall consider some of the spiritual blessings mentioned in detail in the Epistle to the Ephesians, all included in the ALL spiritual blessings in Ephesians 1:3. In the four verses that follow, we learn:

1. That we are holy and without blame before God in love.

2. That we have been adopted into God’s family and are His children by Jesus Christ.

3. That we have been made accepted in Christ the Beloved.

4. That by Christ’s shed blood we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. For these blessings we say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What has this world to offer that will begin to compare with these spiritual blessings, these eternal benefits? If we do enjoy “fame,” “fortune,” and “fun” in this life, “health,” “wealth,” and “worldly pleasures,” when we consider God’s Divine Truth, “it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment,” how can the unsaved have any peace or joy in their souls? Conscious of the wrath to come, because they have failed to receive God’s gracious gift of salvation by Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, and therefore because their sins are all piling up for the day of judgment, how can the unsaved be happy?

Remember, God will have all men to be saved. Receive Christ as your Saviour.

The Epistle to the Ephesians is one of Paul’s Prison Epistles. It was written by Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God “to the saints which are at Ephesus,” and to the, faithful in Christ Jesus.

After presenting the glorious Truth in Chapters One and Two, the Apostle writes: “FOR THIS CAUSE, I PAUL, THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR YOU GENTILES.”

At the time Paul wrote this wonderful message, he was in the jail at Rome. We can truthfully say that Paul was in jail for telling a secret. The word “mystery” occurs five times in the Epistle. The Greek word is “musterion,” which literally means “secret.” Some translate the word “sacred secret.”

After telling of the believers’ warfare with evil heavenly spirits and describing the believer’s spiritual armour, the apostle closes with the words,

“PRAYING ALWAYS WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT, AND WATCHING THEREUNTO WITH ALL PERSEVERANCE AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS, AND FOR ME, THAT UTTERANCE MAY BE GIVEN UNTO ME, THAT I MAY OPEN MY MOUTH BOLDLY, TO MAKE KNOWN THE MYSTERY (SECRET) OF THE GOSPEL, FOR WHICH I AM AN AMBASSADOR IN BONDS; THAT THEREIN I MAY SPEAK BOLDLY, AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK.”

Ephesians 6:18 to 20.

Thus we see that the Epistle to the Ephesians deals with that peculiar phase of Divine Truth, designated by the Holy Spirit, “the Mystery,” or “God’s secret.”

But we read in the first chapter, verse nine,

“HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN HIMSELF.”

Of course, a secret revealed should no longer be considered a secret. But it is sad to know that this most profound Divine Truth of Ephesians is still a secret so far as the majority of members of the Body of Christ are concerned.

There are six chapters and one hundred and fifty-five verses in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Unlike Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians, to the Philippians, to the Thessalonians, and others, in the Epistle to the Ephesians there is little reference to the local assembly at Ephesus, no specific reference to Paul’s ministry in that city, only a hint or two.

Ephesians deals with the Church, as the Body of Christ, the entire Body, specifically setting forth God’s spiritual program under “the dispensation of grace”; namely, the building up of the Body of Christ. This is according to the eternal purpose of God. The fact of the matter is, that the word “Ephesus” is missing in most of the original manuscripts. God’s program is stated in Ephesians 4:10 to 13. Read these verses carefully and prayerfully,

The Epistle to the Ephesians is addressed “to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” The writer of Hebrews says, “strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (perfect).” “Every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.” Hebrews 5:13 and 14. The Lord desires that believers be established in the Truth contained in Ephesians.

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried away with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” Ephesians 4:11.

The great majority of Christians never get beyond the milk diet. There is much strong meat in Ephesians. However, the saving gospel of grace is clearly presented in very simple language

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:8 to 10 and 13.

And there are some very plain instructions in Ephesians concerning the believer’s walk and behaviour, messages for what we call practical Christianity.

The Holy Spirit would not have directed Paul to write to the Corinthians the profound Divine Truth contained in Ephesians. He did write to them: “Behold, I shew you a mystery.” I Corinthians 15:51. But about all he could say about the mystery of Ephesians, he said in I Corinthians 2:7:

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”

The explanation is found in I Corinthians 3:1 to 3:

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”

When Paul preached at Corinth and at Ephesus, he found the same kind of ungodly sinners in both cities. He preached to them that Christ died for their sins and was buried and was raised again. The sinners at Corinth are described in I Corinthians 6:9 and 10. What awful sinners they were! But note the great change: “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11. Note I Corinthians 12:2: “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” The sinners at Ephesus are described, in Ephesians 2:1 to 3 and Ephesians 2:11 and 12. What awful sinners they were! But note the great change in Ephesians 2:13 and 19: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

Thus we see the human material out of which the God of all grace makes saints and the Divine process by which they are made. The believing sinners at Corinth, saved by grace, became saints. The believing sinners at Ephesus, saved by grace, became saints. Note how Paul opens each Epistle

“Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours; Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 1:2 and 3.

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:1 and 2.

A saint is a sinner saved by grace. Every saved sinner is a saint. Only the Tri-Une God can make a saint out of a sinner. The believing sinner becomes a saint the very moment he believes unto the saving of his soul.

But what a difference between the carnal sectarian saints at Corinth, who walked as men, and could not take the meat of God’s Word, and the faithful at Ephesus, to whom Paul wrote, “wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.” Ephesians 1:15.

Note the contrast in I Corinthians 6:7 and 8: “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.” They were carnal. There was a sin among them. They defrauded one another. There was division. There was some real sinning. I Corinthians 5:1 to 5. Some of them drank judgment unto themselves at the Lord’s Table. Some of them denied the resurrection. Some of them ate meat offered to idols. There was confusion in their assemblies in speaking with tongues. There was little love for all saints and for one another in the local assembly. But, in spite of all their faults and carnality, they exercised all the sign gifts: “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” I Corinthians 12:8 to 10.

It is obvious then that the presence of the sign-gifts among Christians did not prove that those Christians were unusually spiritual or extraordinarily faithful; for undoubtedly we have observed that not one of these sign-gifts are mentioned in the Ephesian letter, to the faithful in Christ Jesus.Now a little visit to God’s “saint factory.”

TO THE SAINTS—AS BECOMETH THE SAINTS

Let us note Ephesians 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, TO THE SAINTS which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” And Ephesians 5:3 and 4: “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, AS BECOMETH SAINTS; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” “TO THE SAINTS.” “AS BECOMETH SAINTS.” It was one thing to become a saint. It was something different to behave as becometh a saint. So in Ephesians we are taught that lesson, which every believer should learn, “becoming a saint” and “as becometh a saint. “

In Ephesians 2:4 to 9, we are told how a sinner becomes a saint. By grace through faith, because of God’s great love and rich mercy. By the blood of Christ. What results? Note Ephesians 4:32:

“And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

Then in Chapters Three, Four, Five and Six, the saint is instructed how to behave “as becometh a saint.” Note Ephesians 2:10:

“FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.”

The sinner, by faith, must become God’s workmanship before he can be God’s workman and walk in the good works whereunto he is ordained.

“NOT OF WORKS”—“UNTO GOOD WORKS”—The sinner becomes a saint by believing the gospel of his salvation. Ephesians 1:13. Note this wonderful truth in II Timothy 1:9 and 10:

“Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But now is made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

Then note II Corinthians 9:8:

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

And Ephesians 1:19:

“And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”

“All grace” and “all Divine power,” available for the sinner saved by grace, to enable him to behave “as becometh a saint,” to walk in the good works unto which he is ordained.

Thus we learn that not one religious ceremony, one moral deed, one single human endeavor, is necessary to make a saint out of a sinner, which is one hundred per cent the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit when the sinner believes the truth. Note how this is stated in II Thessalonians 2:13: “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth.”

After salvation by grace the believer is called to a life of separation. Note the instructions in Ephesians 4:1:

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”

We are not saved because we behave, or because we walk well pleasing to the Lord, but we should behave and walk well pleasing because we are saved, by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; because we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works that God hath foreordained that we should walk in them.” Let us always remember these gracious words, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

GRACE, MERCY, PEACE

Refer to Paul’s Epistles, and see how frequently he uses a salutation similar to Ephesians 1:2: “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Grace to you” and “peace.” In other Epistles he adds “mercy” and “ peace.” Beautiful words! Even in the sound. Even more beautiful because of the meaning. What an awful predicament the sinner is in! What a fool the unbeliever is! God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s peace are available for any kind of a sinner because of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Romans 3:24, we read the good news, that the believing sinner is declared righteous without a cause, by God’s grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ by His blood is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. The Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasteth death for every man. God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. God is called “the God of all grace.” I Peter 5:10. God is called “the Father of mercies.” II Corinthians 1:3. God is called “the God of peace Who brought from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 13:20. In Romans 5:21 we learn that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In Colossians 1:20, we learn that Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. In Ephesians 2:4 and 5. we learn that God, Who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith He loved us, when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore grace be to you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians, God is called “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “the Father of glory.” Ephesians 1:3 and 17. The Divine message of Ephesians is the message of grace and glory. The spiritual benefits and blessings guaranteed to the members of the Body of Christ, in Ephesians, are “according to the riches of God’s grace” and “according to the riches of His glory.” Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 3:16. In Ephesians 1:7 we learn that it is “according to the riches of God’s grace” the believer has redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sins. In Ephesians 4:32 we learn that the believing sinner’s sins are forgiven “for Christ’s sake.”

To the praise of the glory of His grace, the Father hath made the believer accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6. Remember, this is to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, not of works, lest any man should boast.

But compare with this statement the statement of II Corinthians 5:9:

“WHEREFORE WE LABOUR, THAT WHETHER PRESENT OR ABSENT, WE MAY BE ACCEPTED OF HIM.”

Here we learn of the acceptance of the believer, because of the believer’s endeavors. But let us not accuse the Holy Spirit of contradiction. The Holy Spirit does not confuse salvation with service. He does not confuse salvation as a gift with reward for the believer’s good works. As Noah was saved, and secure, because he was in God’s judgment-proof ark, so also is the sinner saved and secure, because he is in Christ.

About eighty times Paul uses the expression “in Christ”—“in Christ Jesus”—“in Him”—“in Whom.” In Ephesians the believer “is saved”—“he is sainted or sanctified”—“he is sealed”—“he is seated in the heavenlies “—“he is secure.” It is all of grace, and because he is in Christ Jesus; God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

Let us see how the truth of II Thessalonians 2:13, which we quoted, agrees with the truth of Ephesians 1:13 and 14: “In Whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also on believing (pisteusantes), ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” The individual is chosen unto salvation by God through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: “Ye heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Whom on believing (not, after that ye believed) ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” That Holy Spirit sealing is the believer’s earnest until the redemption of the purchased possession, and he is sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.

Salvation is of the Lord. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Eternal life is the free gift of God. God’s Word is Truth. God’s Son said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” The sinner who believes the Truth is chosen unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. Note Hebrews 10:10: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.” When this takes place the believer is indeed sanctified once for all; he is sealed once for all; he is anointed once for all; he is baptized once for all; he is joined to the risen Christ in an eternal and inseparable union once for all. This is all accomplished by the One Divine baptism of Ephesians 4:5. Ephesians is God’s message of union and unity.

Note the truth of Ephesians 5:31 and 32: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” The Father’s will is expressed in Ephesians 4:15: that His children should grow up unto Him in all things, which is the Head, Christ. There is One Head and One Body, as there is One Father and One Spirit.

It is interesting to note that the One Body is called, in Ephesians 3:6 (in the Greek), the “Joint-Body.” The members of the Body are joined to the Head: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Romans 12:4 and 5.

Let us keep in mind God’s purpose in Ephesians, as we study this wonderful Epistle. God’s purpose is to build up the One Body of Christ, to make the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15. God is completing His Household, “in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in Whom ye also are buildeth together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:21 and 22.

If you have tried to give an intelligent Scriptural answer to the question,“what is the Kingdom of God?”, you have found yourself dealing with a very difficult task. After diligently searching the Scriptures for the Scriptural answer, perhaps you are agreed with me that we might liken “the Kingdom of God” to the United States government. An employee of the United States government might be in the Post-office, the Cabinet, the House, the Senate, the Navy, the Army, the Secret Service, the Diplomatic Service, the Legal Department, or some other department. All of these employees of uncle Sam are under the one Federal government, but in different departments.

In the Scriptures there are different phases and departments of “the Kingdom of God.” In “the Kingdom of God,” God is King of the Kingdom. Note several statements quoted from the Law and the Prophets

“And when ye say that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your King.” I Samuel 12:12. “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.” Psalms 47:7. “For the Lord is our defense: and the Holy One of Israel is our King.” Psalms 89:18. “For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King: He will save us.” Isaiah 33:22. “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel your King” Isaiah 43:15. “The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.” Zephaniah 3:15. “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts; and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” Malachi 1:14. “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord and His name one.” “And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” Zechariah 14:9 and 16 and 17. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Jeremiah 23:5. “This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” Psalms 24:6 and 7.

When Jesus Christ stood before Nathanael, that Israelite in whom there was no guile said. “Master, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel. “ Surely Jesus Christ was Israel’s Messiah and He is the King promised in Jeremiah 23:5 and in Zechariah 14:9, the King of glory promised in the Twenty-fourth Psalm. Therefore, we know that Jehovah was Israel’s King long before Jesus Christ was born in the city of David to occupy the throne of David and to reign over the house of Israel for ever. Luke 1:33. Jesus Christ is coming back to be a reigning King on earth.

In Zechariah 9:9 we learn that Israel’s King was to come riding on the colt of an ass. In Luke 19:30 to 35 we read that Jesus of Nazareth did that very thing. Pilate asked Israel’s rulers, “Shall I crucify your King? They answered. “We have no king but Caesar.”

Because Israel rejected Christ and His offered kingdom, He said to Israel: “Therefore say I unto you, ‘The Kingdom of God’ shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Matthew 21:43.

In Matthew 8:12 we learn that the Jews, whether they received or rejected Christ as Messiah, were called “the children of the kingdom.”

It is interesting to note that the expression “the Kingdom of God”, is found 35 times in the Gospel of Luke, whereas, “the Kingdom of Heaven” is found more than 30 times in Matthew. The Kingdom of Heaven and “the Kingdom of God” frequently are used synonymously and interchangeably, but. not always.

THE KINGDOM AT HAND

Compare Mark 1:15, Matthew 4:17, Matthew 10:7 and 8, Luke 10:9 and 11, and Luke 11:20.

“AND SAYING, THE TIME IS FULFILLED, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND: REPENT YE, AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.” Mark 1:15. Matthew 4:17: “FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.” Matthew 10:7 and 8: “AND AS YE GO, PREACH, SAYING, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.” HEAL THE SICK, CLEANSE THE LEPERS, RAISE THE DEAD, CAST OUT DEVILS; FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE.” Luke 10:9 and 11: “AND HEAL THE SICK THAT ARE THEREIN, AND SAY UNTO THEM, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU.” “EVEN THE VERY DUST OF YOUR CITY, WHICH CLEAVETH ON US, WE DO WIPE OFF AGAINST YOU: NOTWITHSTANDING BE YE SURE OF THIS, THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU.” Luke 11:20: “BUT IF I WITH THE FINGER OF GOD CAST OUT DEVILS, NO DOUBT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME UPON YOU.”

In these Scriptures we learn that. “the Kingdom of God”, then at hand, was the same as “the Kingdom of Heaven” that was at hand. The prophesied Kingdom was at hand because the prophesied King was in the midst of Israel.“The time was fulfilled.” The King and the Kingdom prophesied in the Davidic Covenant of II Samuel 7 were at hand. The Church, which is the Body of Christ, in which there is neither Israelite nor Gentile, was not at hand. Speaking scripturally correct, the Lord Jesus is called the Head of His Body rather than the King of that particular Church; although the members of that Body have been translated into the Kingdom of Christ. (Colossians 1:13) and are laborers in the Kingdom of God (Colossians 4:11). They are being preserved unto the heavenly Kingdom. II Timothy 1:9.

But now let us compare several statements in the Gospel of Luke concerning “the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 16:16: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time “the Kingdom of God” is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Luke 10:9: “And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, “The Kingdom of God” is come nigh unto you.” Luke 11:20: “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt “the Kingdom of God” is come upon you.” Luke 17:20 and 21: “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when “the Kingdom of God” should come, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! or lo, there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 19:11: “And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear.” Luke 21:31: “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that “the Kingdom of God” is nigh at hand.” Luke 22:18: “For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until “the Kingdom of God” shall come.”

Surely before John the Baptist and Jesus were born, God was the King of Israel and there existed “the Kingdom of God.” But in Luke 16:16 we learn that beginning with the ministry of John the Baptist, “the Kingdom of God” was at hand in a sense that it was never at hand in the period covered by “the Law and the Prophets.”

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND PAUL’S GOSPEL

When the King, Jesus of Nazareth, was approved by God in the midst of Israel, by performing miraculous healing and other supernatural signs, “the Kingdom of God” had come nigh to Israel. The Lord Jesus said, “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. “ “The Kingdom of God has come nigh unto you.” But remember the words of Christ in Matthew 15:24: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This is all so different from the Lord’s proclamation by the pen of Paul in Titus 2:11: “FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION HATH APPEARED TO ALL MEN.” And Colossians 1:5 and 2:1 to 2:“For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the Word of the truth of the gospel.” “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister: Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body’s sake, which is the Church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfil the Word of God: Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The King, in physical form on earth, presenting the prophesied Kingdom of God to His “Kingdom” nation, Israel, and healing all manner of diseases, was quite different from “the grace of God” at hand for aliens of the commonwealth of Israel, heathen all over the world. The truth Paul proclaimed concerning them and to them was quite different from the Messianic Kingdom for Israel, promised by all the holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19 to 21.

This was the Kingdom of God for which Joseph of Arimathea was waiting. Luke 23:51. This was the Kingdom that was in the mind of the twelve apostles, in Acts 1:6: “When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?”

Now note carefully Luke 19:11: “And as they heard these things He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear.”

Jews, familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures, knew that their Messiah would set up His Kingdom and their Kingdom at Jerusalem. They were wholly ignorant of God’s predestinated and eternal purpose concerning the Body of Christ. This truth and spiritual program was God’s secret, withheld from Israel’s prophets. Therefore they knew nothing of this parenthetical “grace” period, which began after Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13.

The Jews had the right to think that the Kingdom was at hand after Christ had proclaimed it, and when Jesus was nigh to Jerusalem. They thought the King of glory would enter in.

THE KINGDOM AGAIN OFFERED

In Acts 3:19 to 21 the Kingdom was again offered to Israel. But again the rulers rejected the resurrected Messiah. They sinned against the Holy Spirit. But God did not bring hasty judgment against them. Jerusalem was not destroyed until more than thirty-five years after the Lord Jesus pronounced the judgment of Luke 21:21 to 24.

But how literally that judgment has been fulfilled.

Where is Israel? Exactly where Christ said they would be in Luke 21:20 to 24. In what spiritual condition is Israel? In exactly. the condition the Holy Spirit in Romans 11:25 and 26 declared they would be. Surely the supernatural preservation of Israel should convince any skeptic that the Bible is the infallible Book of the infallible God. What about Jerusalem? Simply read Luke 21:20 to 24 and the headlines in the newspapers in 1940 A.D. We are all waiting. Israel is waiting for the fulness of the Gentiles to come in, for the fulfillment of “the times of the Gentiles.”

CHRIST NOT A KING ON DAVID’S THRONE

In the meantime, where is Christ?

“THAT THE GOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE FATHER OF GLORY, MAY GIVE UNTO YOU THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM, AND REVELATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM: THE EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED: THAT YE MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING, AND WHAT THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF HIS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS. AND WHAT IS THE EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO USWARD WHO BELIEVE, ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. WHICH HE WROUGHT IN CHRIST WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, AND SET HIM AT HIS OWN RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES. FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED, NOT ONLY IN THIS WORLD BUT ALSO IN THAT WHICH IS TO COME: AND HATH PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET, AND GAVE HIM TO BE THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY, THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL.” Ephesians 1:17 to 23.

Note the position and possessions of the believing sinner who is at peace with God

“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches, of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:6 and 7. “In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.” Ephesians 1:11 and 12. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13.

All of this is so different from Christ’s earthly ministry to the Jews in the land of the Jews. While on earth the Lord Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is significant in Luke’s Gospel that outside His immediate family the announcement of the birth of the Shepherd-King was made to shepherds while they were in charge of the flock “And the angel said unto them, Fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10 and 11. The heavenly messengers were careful to mention the city of David. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus Christ is Israel’s Shepherd-King, not Head of the Church. Note the “fear not” of Luke 12:32:

“Fear not, little flock: for it is, your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.” Luke 12:32 and 33. Note also verses 22 and 29:

“And He said unto His disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on .” “And seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Note also Luke 9:3: “And He said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.” Luke 9:3. “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” Luke 6:35. “He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.” Luke 3:11. Note also Matthew 5:40 to 42: “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”

If Christians, especially those with a number of little children, should obey all of these instructions and dispose of all their property, give away their money, retain only one coat, and divide their bread, certainly they would want to hear the voice of the Lord say, “fear not.”

They might hear Him say, “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” I Timothy 5:8.

Members of the Body of Christ are to obey Romans 12:13: “Distributing to the necessity of saints: given to hospitality.” But they are not to have a Kingdom communism such as God ordered for Israel.

Let us note the “communism” program in Acts 2:44 and 45: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” Acts 4:34 and 35: “Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold.” “And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

From these Scriptures we learn that the same Kingdom program; as to the disposition of earthly possessions, which was God’s order while Jesus the King was in the midst of Israel, continued to be God’s order during the several years that the twelve apostles and the Holy Spirit were witnesses to Israel in the land of the Jews concerning the Messiahship and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Surely we know that this was a Messianic “Kingdom” program and not God’s spiritual program for members of the Body of Christ, under the dispensation of the grace of God, while the Kingdom is in abeyance. This should teach us not to begin the postponement of the Kingdom until after the message of Acts 5:29 to 32: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him.”In Romans 14:17 the Holy Spirit has given to members of Christ’s Body an interpretation and meaning of “the Kingdom of God” different from “the Kingdom of God” which was at hand when Jesus, the King, was here. That phase of the Kingdom of God will again be at hand with the fulfillment of Luke 21:27 to 33.

Many sermons have been preached on “the unpardonable sin,” using as the text Matthew 12:31 and 32.

Before quoting these verses, let us note three other messages to Jews or Hebrews. 1. Note Stephen’s words to the Jews in Jerusalem, some months after the death of Jesus Christ.

“YE STIFFNECKED AND UNCIRCUMCISED IN HEART AND EARS, YE DO ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT: AS YOUR FATHERS DID, SO DO YE. WHICH OF THE PROPHETS HAVE NOT YOUR FATHERS PERSECUTED? AND THEY HAVE SLAIN THEM WHICH SHEWED BEFORE OF THE COMING OF THE JUST ONE; OF WHOM YE HAVE BEEN NOW THE BETRAYERS AND MURDERERS.” “THEN THEY CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE, AND STOPPED THEIR EARS, AND RAN UPON HIM WITH ONE ACCORD.”Acts 7:51, 52 and 57.

2. Note Paul’s words to the Jews, in Acts 18:5 and 6:

“PAUL WAS PRESSED IN THE SPIRIT, AND TESTIFIED TO THE JEWS THAT JESUS WAS CHRIST. AND WHEN THEY OPPOSED THEMSELVES, AND BLASPHEMED, HE SHOOK HIS RAIMENT, AND SAID UNTO THEM, YOUR BLOOD BE UPON YOUR OWN HEADS; I AM CLEAN: FROM HENCEFORTH I WILL GO UNTO THE GENTILES.”

3. Note Hebrews 10:26-29 to 31:

“FOR IF WE SIN WILFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS.” “OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISHMENT, SUPPOSE YE, SHALL HE BE THOUGHT WORTHY, WHO HATH TRODDEN UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, AND HATH COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHEREWITH HE WAS SANCTIFIED, AN UNHOLY THING, AND HATH DONE DESPITE UNTO THE SPIRIT OF GRACE? FOR WE KNOW HIM THAT HATH SAID, VENGEANCE BELONGETH UNTO ME, I WILL RECOMPENSE, SAITH THE LORD. AND AGAIN, THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE. IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD.”

If any man so despises the grace of God that he refuses to trust Jesus Christ and accept His once-for-all sacrifice for sins, the vengeance of God will be his portion. But note the salvation condition, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.

“THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS.” Do not misinterpret Hebrews 10:26 and teach, as some Christians have believed and taught, that the Holy Spirit said, “if a Christian sins wilfully after he has been saved, “there remaineth no more FORGIVENESS of sins.” No such statement is made in the Bible. On the contrary, God’s message to Christians is: “If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” I John 1:9 and 10. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” I John 2:1.

The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians and to unsaved religious Hebrews. Some of them wanted to supplement the redemptive work of Christ with a religious program, adding something of Judaism to the finished work of Christ. The priests and religions Jewish leaders were still carrying on in the temple, at Jerusalem, teaching the religious Jews to continue their faith in the blood of animals. offered on their altar, according to the law of Moses. It was to these Jews that the writer wrote, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.”

As we study the message of Stephen to the Jews, in Acts 7:46 to 56, and Paul’s message to the Jews, in Acts 18:5 and 6, we see that the Jews were very definitely committing the unpardonable sin mentioned in Matthew 12:31 and 32. To this we shall presently refer. But first let us note, in Romans 11:8, Romans 11:11, Romans 11:30 and Romans 11:15, that when and because Israel committed the unpardonable sin. God sent Paul to the Gentiles with the ministry of reconciliation and the gospel of grace.

THE GENTILES AND THE GRACE OF GOD

Just a few words about the Gentiles and the gospel of the grace of God. “And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:6 to 10. Here we learn that Gentiles who had been aliens from Israel were saved. How? By grace. What does this mean? Read verse 4. “But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us.” God’s work—God’s workmanship. What was man’s part? Not of yourselves. Not of works. What was man’s condition? Dead in trespasses and sins. In the world without God and without hope. Ephesians 2:12. Alienated from the life of God. Ephesians 4:18. What could such a dead man do for himself? Nothing. What did such a dead man have to do to be saved? Some say, “repent.” Yes, “repent” means “change your mind.” But God had to work on them. God, Who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loved us when we were dead hath made us alive.

Think of all the sins charged to those ungodly wicked Gentiles. They learned the truth of Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” How many of their sins were forgiven? Read the answer in Colossians 2:13 and Acts 13:39:

“AND YOU, BEING DEAD IN YOUR SINS, AND THE UNCIRCUMCISION OF YOUR FLESH, HATH HE QUICKENED TOGETHER WITH HIM, HAVING FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES.”

“And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

Yes, every sin, thought, word, and deed, including the sin of unbelief was forgiven when those ungodly Gentiles believed the gospel of grace and received Christ. Note what happened— “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. Their sins were forever put away; all of their sins. Moreover, they stood in the presence of God as though they had never committed one sin.

All of their sins were pardoned. Which one of their sins was unpardonable? Some one says, the sin of unbelief. They were all guilty of that sin, but when all of their sins were pardoned that sin was included. When they believed there was no sin of unbelief, All of their sins were unpardoned until they were saved by grace. Then all of their sins were pardoned. If they had resisted the Holy Spirit, blasphemed against Him, and not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, all of their sins would have remained unpardoned; but none of them would have been unpardonable.

CAN A CHRISTIAN COMMIT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?

Let us note what happened to the saints who sinned in Corinth. “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, THAT WE SHOULD NOT BE CONDEMNED WITH THE WORLD.” I Corinthians 11:29 to 32.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” These sinning saints could not be condemned with the world. Note again the sin of the Corinthian saints, in I Corinthians 6:6 to 8:“But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.” In spite of their sins. the Holy Spirit wrote to them—“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” I Corinthians 6:19.

But how about Hebrews 6:4 to 6?—“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”

How about Hebrews 6:17 and 18. God cannot lie. He promised us eternal life before the world began. Titus 1:2. And note II Timothy 1:9—“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” God wants Christians to know that they have eternal life. “These things have I written unto you than believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” I John 5:13.

If a man receives Jesus Christ and accepts His sacrifice on the cross, he receives the Holy Spirit. If he could fall away, he could not be renewed.

Now read carefully, Galatians 6:1, Luke 17:3 and 4 and I John 2:1. Can a so-called backslider, a Christian who has sinned, be renewed? Most assuredly. Then why do Christians try to use the hypothetical case in Hebrews 6:4 to 6 to do their utmost to make the Bible contradict itself? Every Christian believes that a penitent backslider who confesses his sins will be renewed. Therefore Hebrews 6:1 to 6 does not refer to such an one.

Now read again Matthew 12:31 and 32. And read with these verses Luke 23:34—Acts 3:15 to 15 and Acts 3:25 and 26.

ISRAEL’S UNPARDONABLE SIN

“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

“Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what to do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.”

“And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled.”

“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

Here then is the story of the pardonable sin of Israel, the sin against the Son of man. Gentiles did not sin against the Son of man. Note Acts 3:13 and Matthew 15:24.

“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; Whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.”

“But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Pilate sinned; but Christ said to him: “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.”

The Jews committed an awful sin when they had Jesus Christ put to death. Israel sinned against the Son of man. Note I Thessalonians 2:14 to 16—“The Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

The Lord Jesus pronounced an awful judgment upon Israel before He went to His death.

“Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:31 to 33. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38.

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” Luke 21:20.

“But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Matthew 22:7.

This seemed to be the end of the nation Israel. But something happened, for note the difference in the message of Acts 3:17—“And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Then the first three words of Acts 3:19, “REPENT YE THEREFORE.” Your rulers did it through ignorance. And note Acts 3:18, the death of Christ had to be. In other words, the Son of man had to be sinned against.

“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Acts 2:22 and 23.

“The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, Whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Acts 4:26 to 28.

So Israel, in fulfillment of Scripture, rejected Christ and slew Him with wicked hands. Note Matthew 26:24

“The Son of man goeth as it is written of Him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Christ’s prayer availed. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” As a result, note Peter’s message to the rulers who ignorantly sinned against the Son of man.

“‘Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and SO IS ALSO THE HOLY SPIRIT, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” Acts 5:29 to 32.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36. Now compare Matthew 23:33 and 38, with Acts 3:25 and 26.

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”

“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

Before the Jews killed Christ, they were “serpents.” After their awful deed they were tenderly addressed as children. That sin was pardonable.

The Holy Spirit was God’s witness to Israel that He had made Jesus both Lord and Christ; that He had exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

But now, if Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit, what? The unpardonable sin. They did resist and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and sinned. As the result of the unpardonable sin Israel was set aside. There was a very great difference between “the generation of vipers and serpents” of Matthew 23:33 and “the children of the covenant and the prophets” in Acts 3:25. Now let us compare John 12:37 to 40 with Acts 28:25 to 28.

“But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him; That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report: and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”

“AND WHEN THEY AGREED NOT AMONG THEMSELVES, THEY DEPARTED, AFTER THAT PAUL HAD SPOKEN ONE WORD, WELL SPAKE THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ESAIAS THE PROPHET UNTO OUR FATHERS, SAYING, GO UNTO THIS PEOPLE, AND SAY, HEARING YE SHALL HEAR, AND SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND SEEING YE SHALL SEE, AND NOT PERCEIVE: FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE IS WAXED GROSS, AND THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING, AND THEIR EYES HAVE THEY CLOSED; LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND SHOULD BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM. BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT THE SALVATION OF GOD IS SENT UNTO THE GENTILES, AND THAT THEY WILL HEAR IT.”

The judgment of God was postponed until Israel had another chance, the opportunity to commit the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem was not destroyed until the year 69 or 70 A.D. The Lord’s prayer on the cross caused God to postpone the fulfillment of Matthew 22:7. Note this verse, “But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his, armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Israel’s house was not left desolate at the time Christ spoke that judgment. Note Acts 11:19 “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to none but unto the Jews only.”

For some years after the death of Christ the disciples and apostles preached to none but Jews only. Christ came unto His own and His own received Him not. John 1:11. Some of His own received Him while He was on earth. More of His own received Him during the first seven years after the Pentecost of Acts 2.

But since the judgment of Romans 11:6 to 11 and Acts 28:25 to 28, Israel has been an outcast nation. But some day there will be the fulfillment of Hebrews 8:10 to 12

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people; And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

Thus we see that no unsaved Gentile in this day of grace ever commits the unpardonable sin. Israel committed the pardonable and the unpardonable sin, one before Christ went to Calvary and the other after the Holy Spirit came as a witness to Israel. Acts 5:32.

The Soul of Man

All Bible Christians believe that the Bible is the living Word of the living God; that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” II Timothy 3:16.

All Christians are agreed as to the virgin birth and the eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are agreed that the unsaved man is “in Adam”; in sin; dead in trespasses and sins; impotent, helpless, and irrevocably lost apart from the grace of God and faith in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This redemptive work of Christ means His once-for-all sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. His death, burial and resurrection, His appearing in the presence of God for believers, and His coming again to redeem the bodies of those who are saved by grace through faith.

It is to be deplored that even spiritual Christians are disagreed as to some other Bible doctrines such as the eternal security of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the millennium. Holy Spirit and water baptism, concerning the sign-gift’s of I Corinthians 12:8 to 11, spiritual healing for the body, and other truths.

Christians greatly err when they magnify some personal religious experiences and interpret the Bible to agree with those experiences, or when they substitute human reasoning influenced by personal desire or preference for God’s principle of diligent and spiritual Bible study, comparing spiritual with spiritual, and “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15. Moreover, any Christian is very foolish to follow the Scriptural interpretation of some human leader without submitting his teachings to the critical but intelligent test employed by the Bereans to whom Paul preached. “‘they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11. And let us ever remember I John 2:26 and 27: “These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you. and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things. and is truth, and is no lie. and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.”

Of course all Bible Christians believe the truth stated in Acts 24:15, “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” They know that this resurrection has reference to the bodies of the just and unjust. Any intelligent student of I Corinthians 15 knows that the subject of that great chapter is the resurrection of the body: and when the Holy Spirit. declares that those who are Christ’s will be made alive at His coming, the reference is to the bodily resurrection of believers. I Corinthians 15:22 and 27. This is clearly taught in the fortyfourth verse: “It is sown a natural body: it is raised a spiritual body.”

In John 5:24 we learn that believing sinners pass out of death into life before they reach the grave. This same truth is expressed in Ephesians 2:1 and 5. “You hath He made alive; who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Christ said, “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” John 6:47. “The end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:9.

Note Hebrews 10:39—“We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to THE SAVING OF THE SOUL.”

Note again James 5:20:—“Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall SAVE A SOUL FROM DEATH, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Here we learn of saving faith, the saving of the soul. We learn of a soul saved from death.Now let us note I Thessalonians 5:23:

“I PRAY GOD YOUR WHOLE SPIRIT AND SOUL AND BODY BE PRESERVED BLAMELESS UNTO THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.”

By this verse and many other Scriptures we know that the soul of man differs from the spirit.

“THE DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT.” Hebrews 4:12.

It is interesting to note several statements concerning the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross. “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when thou shalt MAKE HIS SOUL AN OFFERING FOR SIN.” “He shall SEE OF THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL, and shall be satisfied.” “Because He hath POURED OUT HIS SOUL unto death.” Isaiah 53:10 to 12.

Then note Acts 2:27 and 31:

“BECAUSE THOU WILT NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HELL, NEITHER WILT THOU SUFFER THINE HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION.” “HE SEEING THIS BEFORE SPAKE OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, THAT HIS SOUL WAS NOT LEFT IN HELL, NEITHER HIS FLESH DID SEE CORRUPTION.”

Christ bare our sins in His own body on the tree. I Peter 2:24. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10. Christ poured out His soul unto death. His soul was made an offering for sin. Knowing that He was going to the cross Christ said, “MY SOUL IS EXCEEDING SORROWFUL UNTO DEATH.” Mark 14:34.

Then note the words of Christ in the hour of death, “FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT.”

We have learned that there is a difference between the soul and spirit; that man is body, soul and spirit. At death where did Christ’s body go? It went to the sepulchre. That sepulchre was not the sheol or hades to which Christ’s soul went. No intelligent person would even suggest that the Bible teaches that. Christ’s body and soul were one and went to the same place at death. Christ’s spirit was committed into the hands of His Father.

Note the words of martyred Stephen as he died, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:59 and 60.

The Lord received the spirit of Stephen. He fell asleep. Here we have the truth of Ecclesiastes 12:7.

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it.”

However, there is not the slightest suggestion that Stephen’s soul fell asleep.

ASLEEP IN JESUS

Note I Thessalonians 4:13 to 18:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Here we read of them which sleep in Jesus. God will bring them with Him when the Lord Jesus descends. They are called “the dead in Christ.” They shall rise first. Are believers dead in Christ? They are alive in Christ. They have been made alive. Ephesians 2:1 and 5. They have received eternal life, the salvation of their souls. They have passed out of death into life. They have already been raised to walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 and 5. They are risen with Christ. Christ is their life. Colossians 3:1 and 3. Christ is in them. The Holy Spirit is in them. They are under the control of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:2. They have been recreated. They are not dead. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not dead, except in the sense that David is dead according to Acts 13:36—“he fell asleep and saw corruption.” David’s body saw corruption, but not David’s soul. Therefore it was David’s body that fell asleep, not his soul. “David is not ascended into the heavens.” Those who are Christ’s at His coming will be made alive. This refers to the body. I Corinthians 15:21 to 24.

PUTTING OFF THE TABERNACLE

Note the words of Peter in II Peter l:14:

“Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.”

Something within Peter was going to put off his body, in fulfillment of John 21 18 and 19. Peter had received the salvation of his soul, God’s free gift. eternal life. His body saw corruption. Like Stephen, Peter fell asleep. But it, was his tabernacle that he put off; that fell asleep. It is only concerning the corruptible body in the grave, and not the soul and spirit of man, that Ecclesiastes 9:5 and 10 are true, “the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” “For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave (sheol), whither thou goest.” This tenth verse is the principle verse used by some Christians, and more religious people, to support: their teaching that the soul of man is unconscious, or asleep, between the moment of death and resurrection. Some Christians, who are uncompromisingly opposed to those who teach soul-sleeping, admit that generally the “sheol” of the Old Testament Scriptures referred to the temporary abode of the soul; but they say that in Ecclesiastes the Holy Spirit recorded the words of the natural man even when his human theories were contrary to Divine truth.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Note the story of the rich man and Lazarus, in Luke 16:19 to 31—“There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores.” “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried.” “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” Luke 16:20, 22 and 23.

The soul-sleepers reject the generally accepted interpretation of Luke 16:19 to 31, which shows the consciousness of both the saved and unsaved, by declaring the story to be a parable with an entirely different meaning, but they are by no means agreed in their fantastic interpretation.

When asked concerning Christ’s statement to the dying thief, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43), the soul-sleepers say the comma is in the wrong place. It should read. “I say unto you today, thou shalt (some day) be with Me in paradise.” But when they are referred to II Corinthians 5:8 and Philippians 1:23, they do some very queer juggling and twisting of the Word of God. Note these two verses:

“WE ARE CONFIDENT, I SAY, AND WILLING RATHER TO BE ABSENT FROM THE BODY, AND TO BE PRESENT WITH THE LORD.” “FOR I AM IN A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO, HAVING A DESIRE TO DEPART, AND TO BE WITH CHRIST; WHICH IS FAR BETTER.”

The words “present with the Lord” literally mean “at home with the Lord.” This is very plain language. “Absent from the body”, “at home with the Lord.” In other words, when the saint puts off his tabernacle, he departs to be with the Lord, which is far better. This does not. mean that his soul goes into a coffin beneath the sod, where worms destroy his body. He departs to be with the Lord. He sets out to sea to be with Christ. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

THE SOUL NOT UNCONSCIOUS

In Acts 15:24 we learn that false teaching subverted souls. The bodies of these deceived people were not subverted. .Something within was subverted. When a sinner believes the gospel, he receives the end of his faith. the salvation of his soul, Hear God’s Word in Isaiah 55:3, “hear, and your soul shall live.” The soul of the believer lives. But note the condition of his body in Romans 8:23 and II Corinthians 4:16.

But this question is asked, “Is not man alive when he is asleep?” “Is not the person asleep in bed alive but unconscious?” “Cannot, the soul be both alive and unconsciously asleep between physical death and resurrection?”

We certainly cannot answer this question Scripturally until we learn from the Scriptures that, the soul of man is more than the breath which keeps him alive physically. When the believer receives the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul, his body may be at the point of physical death, and something more than breath is saved.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOUL AND SPIRIT

It is a most difficult task, if not an impossible one, for the human experts in philosophy and psychology to draw a very fine line of distinction between the soul and the spirit. Moreover theologians have tried and failed, for there are many statements in the Bible where the two words seem to be used synonymously and interchangeably. The Word of God, however, is sharp enough to divide asunder the soul and spirit, thus affirming that there is a difference. Hebrews 4:12. All who have given much time to this study know that it is a most intricate study.

The Hebrew word translated “soul” is “nephesh”. The verb is “naphash” and means “to breathe”. Therefore, it is generally taught that any breathing creature has a soul, or is a soul. The Greek word is “psuehe”. The verb is “psucho” and means “to breathe”, The Hebrew and the Greek have the same identical meaning.

It is interesting to note that the Greek, “psuchikos”, is translated “natural”. It is twice translated, “sensual”. Jude 19 and James 3:15.

The word “psuehe” is translated “soul”, in the New Testament Scriptures, more than 50 times. In Ephesians 6:6, “psuehe” is translated “heart” In the Old Testament the word “nephesh” is translated “soul” more than 400 times. It is translated “life” more than 80 times, Note very carefully this statement: the word “psuehe”, in the New Testament Scriptures, is translated “life” more than 30 times.

In Revelation 8:9 we read, “the creatures which were in the sea, and had life (psuche), died.” In I John 3:16, “He (Christ) laid down His life (psuche) for us.” In Matthew 20:28, Christ said, “He came to give His “life” (psuehe) a ransom for many.” When Christ died He “gave up the “ghost” (pneuma),” John 19:30. Note Christ’s words, in Mark 3:4,” Is it lawful on the sabbath day to save “life” (psuehe), or to kill?”

In Acts 20:24 Paul said, “I count not my “life” (psuehe) dear unto myself.” In Philippians 2:30 it is stated that Epaphroditus did not regard his “life” (psuehe). Of course this had no reference to his concern about the salvation of his soul, but to physical death. But some say “soul death” and “physical death” are identical; for soul is breath, and the cessation of breathing means physical death.

The Hebrew word translated “spirit” is “ruwach”. The Greek word is “pneuma” Again these two words are identical in meaning and come from verbs meaning “to breathe”.

We referred to I Corinthians 15:44, “the natural body” and the “spiritual body”. The Greek “natural” is “psuchikos”. The Greek “spiritual” is “pneumatikos”. Here we have the dividing asunder of “soul” and “spirit”. Hebrews 4:12. Note also I Corinthians 2:14 and 15, concerning “the natural man” and “the spiritual man.”

The earthly house, the corruptible body of humiliation, is called “a natural body”. The incorruptible house from heaven, the glorified body is called “the spiritual body”,

ADAM BECAME A LIVING SOUL

Let us carefully read Genesis 2:7:

“AND THE LORD GOD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, AND BREATHED (NAPHASH) INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH (NESHAMAH) OF LIFE (KHAHEE); AND MAN BECAME A LIVING (KHAHEE) SOUL NEPHESH).”

It was God’s breath into man that made man a soul. In speaking of every creature, animals, birds, and men, Genesis 7:22 reads: “All in whose nostrils was the breath (neshamah) of life, died.” In Job 41:21 we read, “His breath (nephesh) kindleth coals.” So we learn in the Bible that man became a living soul: and that man has a soul.

ELIJAH AND THE DEAD CHILD

Now let us read the very interesting story of Elijah’s ministry in the home of the widow of Zarephath, recorded in I Kings 17:17.

“And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath (neshamah) in him.” I Kings 17:17. “And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul (nephesh) COME INTO HIM AGAIN. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and THE SOUL (NEPHESH) OF THE CHILD CAME INTO HIM AGAIN, and he revived.” I Kings 17:21 and 22.

“Let this child’s soul come into him again.” For a short time the child was minus his soul. But his soul came back. It is folly to say that this simply meant that the breath returned to the child, that is, to try to make “breath” synonymous with “soul” with no deeper meaning.

It is not man’s breath that is healed or saved from death when man believes with his heart, according to Romans 10:9 and 10.

In the Hebrew and the Greek a different word is used for “heart”. Heart and soul are not synonymous in the Bible. The Hebrew for “soul” is incorrectly translated “mind” eleven times. The Hebrew for “spirit” is translated “mind” eight times. But the soul, the spirit, the mind, and the heart of men are all different; and in man’s physical and spiritual life they are all indefinable and indescribable.

MAN IS A LIVING SOUL – MAN HAS A SOUL

In the first Book of the Bible we read that Adam became a living soul. In the last Book of the Bible we read, “and every living soul died in the sea.” Revelation 16:3. The creatures of God, human and otherwise, are called “souls”. In the seventh chapter of Leviticus we read several times, “the soul that eateth”, and “the soul that toucheth.” The soul, as generally understood, could not eat or touch that which we call physical or material. The human being is called “a soul”. Note Acts 2:41: “And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

From these statements some Christians say that man is a soul, but that he has a spirit. The rich man, of Luke 12:19 said, “I will say to my soul.” He was talking to himself. But what about such statements as Deuteronomy 11:18, Genesis 34:3, Psalm 23:3, Isaiah 55:3, I Peter 1:9, Job 14:22, Habakkuk 2:10, Psalm 41:4?

“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul.” “ And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob.” “He restoreth my soul.” “Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live.” “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” “But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.” “And hast sinned against thy soul.” “Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.”

“His soul within him shall mourn.” Here we learn that man has, a soul as be has a body and a spirit, and that man’s soul can be healed though he may be diseased or afflicted in his body. Note the words of Christ, in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Man’s body can be killed by men, but not his soul. In the Bible we learn that the soul loves and hates and rejoices and mourns.

THE NATURAL MAN—THE SPIRITUAL MAN

Let us carefully read I Corinthians 2:14 and 15 and I Corinthians 15:44.

“But THE NATURAL MAN receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But HE THAT IS SPIRITUAL judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

Here we read of the “natural man” and the “spiritual man”; of the “natural body” and the “spiritual body”.

In these statements we have a definite example of that difference of soul and spirit, mentioned in Hebrews 4:12.

The Greek word “natural” is “psuchikos “, from “psuche” soul. The Greek word “spiritual” is “pneumatikos” from “pneuma” spirit.

What a contrast; what a difference between the “psuchikos” man and the “pneumatikos” man! And surely there is a difference between the corruptible body, the “natural body”, and the spiritual body”.

Note again James 3:15—“This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” “Sensual” (psuchikos). “Earthly”, “sensual” and “devilish” The word “sensual” is the same Greek word translated “natural”. Some have translated this word “soulish”.

We have seen that the definition, function, and destiny of the soul is no superficial study. We read in Ezekiel 18:4, “THE SOUL THAT SINNETH IT SHALL DIE.” We read in Hebrews 10:39 of those who believe “unto the saving of the soul”. The soul of the sinful person is saved when that person believes; but his body will not be saved until the day of redemption. There are those who claim to be Bible Christians and teach that the soul and body go to the same place and are unconsciously dead between physical death and the resurrection of the body.

The number “twelve” is used quite frequently in the Bible. It is a significant number. There must have been some Divine reason why there were twelve tribes of Israel. The number of these tribes must have had something to do with the fact that the Lord selected twelve apostles. If we believe Matthew 19:28, we believe that twelve apostles, in the coming kingdom age, will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Note Paul’s testimony in Romans 11:13.

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.”

We may be sure that. Paul will not occupy one of those twelve thrones.

In Galatians 2:7 to 9 we have some very interesting information. Note it carefully

“But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter: (For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.”

In Galatians 2:9 we learn that James, Peter and John seemed to be the pillars. This James is called, in Galatians 1;19, the Lord’s brother. He is the James who persuaded Paul, about 60 A.D., to become a Jew, as one under the law, to the Jews at Jerusalem. Acts 21:18 to 28. James, the brother of John, was killed about 44 A. D. “And he killed James, the brother of John with the sword.” Aside from this record of the death of James, not one of the Twelve is mentioned by name in Acts after the first chapter, which was before the day of Pentecost, except James, Peter and John who represented the twelve. They were sent to Israel. Galatians 2:9.

In the first chapter of Acts we learn that Matthias was chosen to take the place of Judas. Why did any man have to take the place of Judas? In the Book of Acts we are told of the death of two of the twelve, Judas and James. In the case of Judas, before Peter preached to a Gentile, a successor must be selected. In the case of James, after Peter preached to the household of Cornelius, no successor need be selected. Then this is an evident and significant fact; there were twelve apostles from the day of Pentecost until after the statement of Acts 11:19. God’s program required twelve apostles. Note Acts 11:19: “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that, arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to none but unto the .Jews only.” Then followed the death of James. Acts 12:2. Then a radical change; the launching of a new program with the commission of Acts 13:2:

“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.”

After the death of James and this new order to Barnabas and Saul there is no further reference in Acts to any of the acts of any of the twelve apostles except as they had dealings with Paul. In the last sixteen chapters of the Book of Acts Paul is mentioned more than 120 times.

Right after Saul received and obeyed the commission of Acts 13:2, his name was changed to Paul. Acts 13:9. With this change of name a very important and significant event took place, the story of a blindness that brought blessing. We have written of this in another message. But let us observe that Saul was converted about 35 A.D., or sooner. He went right to work for Christ in the synagogue in Damascus. Acts 9:20. Then note his testimony in Galatians 1:17 and 18 and 22:

“Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.” “And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ.” Saul received his commission of Acts 13:2 about ten years after he was converted. We know little of his work during those ten years. Also we know little of Paul’s work during the several years between the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of Acts. But when the Holy Spirit said, “separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”, He was calling them to a new work. Up to this time we find the record in Acts of one company of Gentiles who had heard and received the Word of God, the household of Cornelius. But in Acts 11:19 we read that the disciples preached the Word to none but to Jews only. It was not lawful for the Lord’s Jewish messengers to go to Gentiles. Acts 10:28. When Peter, about seven years after Pentecost preached to Cornelius, a Gentile who loved the Jews, a God-fearing man whose prayers had ascended to heaven as a memorial, the other eleven apostles criticized Peter. Acts 11:1 to 5.

In referring to his message to the household of Cornelius, Peter declared some years later, “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the gospel, and believe.” Acts 15:7. We emphasize “by MY mouth”, because so far as we have any record in the Book of Acts, Peter’s mouth is the only mouth of the Twelve that God used to preach to Gentiles. Our appeal is to the Book of Acts and not to man’s church history. Remember the Lord’s words to them in Matthew 10:23, “ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Then read Acts 8:1: “And Saul was consenting unto His death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Here we note that the Twelve remained in Jerusalem. So far as there is any record in the Book of Acts the Twelve did not preach outside of the cities of Israel. Remember again: “ And when James, Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.’’ Galatians 2:9.

PAUL IN ASIA AND EUROPE

Now note Colossians 1:5 and 6 and Colossians 1:23, “the gospel which is come in all the world,” “the gospel which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.” We may be puzzled at such a record concerning the twelve apostles in the light of the so-called “great commission” of Matthew 28:19 and 20, and Mark 16:14 to 18. Were not the Twelve to disciple all nations? The answer is Galatians 2:9, “they went to Jews.” Were they not to preach the gospel to every creature? Paul assumed the responsibility for the regions beyond the cities of Israel and for Gentile evangelization. The Twelve remained in Jerusalem.

Note Christ’s words to Paul: “And it came to pass when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance.” “And He said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Acts 22:17 and 21.

When the resurrected Christ gave the great commission there were only eleven apostles. Judas was dead. Note Matthew 28:16 and Mark 6:11. But first note Acts 2:14: “But Peter standing up WITH THE ELEVEN.” Peter and the Eleven stood up. Twelve apostles stood up. Note their audience: “devout Jews from every nation under heaven.” Acts 2:5. If these Jews, representing every nation under heaven and their rulers, had repented and received the message of the Twelve, Jesus Christ would have returned to be Israel’s Messiah and King and those penitent and converted Jews would have preached the gospel of the kingdom to all nations. Acts 3:19 to 21, Zechariah 8. Some day a company of Jewish disciples will do this very thing.

But again, why was it necessary to have “Twelve” standing on the day of Pentecost? Note Acts 2:36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” “All the house of Israel.” “Twelve tribes.” “Twelve apostles.” Note again Matthew 19:28: “twelve thrones “, “twelve tribes”, “twelve apostles.” Then note the twelve times twelve in Revelation 7:5 to 8. Then note Revelation 21:12 to 14: “And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

BACK TO PENTECOST

We hear much in these days of the Pentecostal Church with the slogan “back to Pentecost.” But in the Pentecostal assemblies we do not find twelve men standing up preaching to the twelve tribes of Israel, but quite frequently one woman speaking to Gentiles and calling for the repetition of the supernatural phenomena that took place fifty days after Christ arose from the dead. This Divine visitation, or supernatural demonstration was only a little sample of what is to take place in Israel’s “last days”. The blessings promised to Israel in the prophecy of Joel shall surely take place in Israel’s last days. Acts 2:16 and 17 and Joel 2:3.

But let us not get “the last days” of Israel confused with “the first days” of the Body of Christ. Let us not follow the serious blunder of others who begin “the dispensation of the grace of God” for Gentiles on a Jewish feast-day, and preach that the Pentecostal feast of Leviticus 23 spoke of the birthday of the Body of Christ. Many of these same messengers in their very next message emphasize the fact of the Body of Christ and the truth concerning that Body, was God’s secret in Old Testament times, the mystery concerning which Israel and Israel’s prophets and apostles were silent and ignorant. Any and all truth concerning the hope and calling and spiritual program of the Church of the mystery, called in Ephesians 3:6, “the Joint-Body”, was God’s unrevealed secret until some years after the Lord Jesus Christ went back to heaven. Then, as Paul said, “having made known the mystery of His will.” Ephesians 1:9. Most Christians apparently have no desire to get beyond the “childhood” truth of Corinthians.

It is sad, but true, that the great majority of Christians, even the outstanding Bible teachers, are still silent and ignorant concerning this mystery. The Lord Jesus Christ disclosed His Father’s secret in the days of Paul. That glorious and blessed truth at first was even hard for Peter to understand. II Peter 3:15 and 16. But every Christian should pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand the revealed mystery of God’s will. Ephesians 1:17 to 19. And should then join with all other Christians in making all to see what is “the dispensation of the secret” which was hid in God until revealed to us through the apostle Paul. Ephesians 3:9.

Acts 28:25 to 28 has been called Israel’s “Ichabod.” Note these verses:

“AND WHEN THEY AGREED NOT AMONG THEMSELVES, THEY DEPARTED, AFTER THAT PAUL HAD SPOKEN ONE WORD, WELL SPAKE THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ESAIAS THE PROPHET UNTO OUR FATHERS, SAYING, GO UNTO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, HEARING YE SHALL HEAR AND SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND SEEING YE SHALL SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE: FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE IS WAXED GROSS, AND THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING, AND THEIR EYES HAVE THEY CLOSED; LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND SHOULD BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM. BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT THE SALVATION OF GOD IS SENT UNTO THE GENTILES, AND THAT THEY WILL HEAR IT.”

These words were first given to Isaiah to proclaim to Israel at the time of spiritual declension. They are found in Isaiah 6:9 and 10. Then when Jesus Christ was on earth as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of man, in the midst of Israel. After Christ had spoken of Israel’s unpardonable sin, in Matthew 12:31, He quoted these Isaiah verses in Matthew 13:14 and 15. Again they are recorded in John 12:37, 39 and 40:

“BUT THOUGH HE HAD DONE SO MANY MIRACLES BEFORE THEM, YET THEY BELIEVED NOT ON HIM.” “THEREFORE THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE THAT ESAIAS SAID AGAIN, HE HATH BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HARDENED THEIR HEART; THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, NOR UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM.”

The fact that this same Divine judgment was spoken three different times to Israel, and each time when they rejected a very definite testimony from the Lord, seems significant. Each pronouncement seems to have marked a crisis in the history of Israel. So also did Romans 11:15 and Acts 18:5 and 6.

There are many Bible teachers who, though they fix the historical beginning of the Body of Christ in the second chapter of Acts, teach definitely and dogmatically that there was just as definite an offer of the kingdom to Israel in Acts 3:19 to 21, as there was in any of the Four Gospels before Christ’s death and resurrection. Some say that this offer was withdrawn with Stephen’s message in the seventh chapter of Acts. Others extend the offer to the tenth chapter of Acts. But the so-called “Ultra-dispensation-lists” say that the words of Acts 28:25 to 28 prove that the offer of the kingdom continued until this Divine judgment was pronounced by Paul in Rome, and that any Church before the close of the “Acts” period was different from the Church, which is called the Body of Christ, in Ephesians.

The Christian who teaches that the nation Israel was set aside with the words of Christ in Matthew 23:31 to 39, that that pronouncement marked the postponement of the kingdom, is guilty of a very serious blunder. Israel was addressed in Matthew 23, as “fools,” as “hypocrites,” as “blind guides,” as “serpents,” as “a generation of vipers.” But Israel was very affectionately and tenderly addressed, in Acts 3:25 and Acts 3:17: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Something transpired between the message of Matthew 2:3 and the message of Acts 3. It was Christ’s prayer on the cross: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. And the Father postponed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews for about 35 years.

Then note again the significant words of the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:30 to 32: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, Him hath God exalted with His right, hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” Here Christ was again presented to Israel as Prince and Saviour. Israel had not then committed the unpardonable sin and salvation had not yet been sent to Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy.

Thus we learn of these definite offers to Israel. First: during the days of their prophets in the Old Testament. Second: during the days of the Son of man. Third: during the “Acts” testimony of the Twelve to Israel. Read the parable of the Vineyard in Matthew 21:33 to 46.

It is also significant that the Book of Acts closes before the acts of the Apostle Paul were finished. It was several years after the close of the “Acts” period when Paul said, “I have finished my course.” The last sixteen chapters of Acts is the record of the spiritual activities of this one apostle, and only those who had dealings with him are mentioned in those chapters. Why then did the “Acts” end before Paul’s acts ended? Why did Paul write about one-half of his Epistles before the close of Acts, and about one-half after they closed? Why is it that in the Epistles of Paul, written after the close of the “Acts” period, there is no mention of any of the sign-gifts of I Corinthians 12:8 to 11? Why no mention of signs, miracles, tongues and physical healing? Why, in Acts 19, did Paul perform miracles of healing and then some years later leave Trophimus at Miletum sick and write faithful Timothy to take wine for his sickness? II Timothy 4:20, I Timothy 5:23.

Many men of God, have learned from diligently studying the Scriptures that a change in God’s spiritual program took place after the close of “Acts”; that God then sent salvation to the Gentiles as had never been done before. A few men have gone so far as to imagine that anew and entirely different Church of God began after the close of the “Acts” period.

We here present some of the Scriptures which they use:

1. Acts 28:20

“For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you and to speak with you: because that for THE HOPE OF ISRAEL I am bound with this chain.”

2. Romans 15:27

“It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made PARTAKERS OF THEIR SPIRITUAL THINGS, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.”

3. II Corinthians 3:6

“Who also hath made us able MINISTERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.”

4. Acts 26:21 and 22

“For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE PROPHETS AND MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME.”

5. I Corinthians 12:28

“AND GOD HATH SET SOME IN THE CHURCH, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

6. Galatians 4:26

“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” 7. I Corinthians 12:17

“If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? “If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?”

8. Romans 11:17

“And if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”

9. Acts 14:22

“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

10. Acts 17:7

“Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus.”

11. Galatians 3:7

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM.”

Presently we shall consider Paul’s statement “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” But now let us consider the statement always used by these “extreme” brethren in defense of their theory concerning two Bodies.

“SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE PROPHETS AND MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME.” Acts 26: 22.

Now let us do what they seldom do, let us study verse 22 in the light of verse 23: “That Christ should suffer, that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people (Israel) and to the Gentiles.”

These brethren frequently quote the “none other things” of Acts 26:22; but they generally fail to quote the qualifications in verse 23. Paul was referring to very specific Divine Truth. He was in trouble for preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for telling the Jews that the resurrected Jesus had sent him to the Gentiles. Acts 22:17 to 21. Acts 23:6.

Again note Acts 26:22 and 23. Paul there stated that Israel’s prophets said that Christ should suffer, that He should be the first to rise from the dead, and should show light unto Israel and to the Gentiles. Paul was not in any way making any dogmatic statement that all of the spiritual program, which he received from Christ and presented in Thessalonians, Corinthians, Acts, Galatians and Romans, was prophesied by Israel’s Old Testament prophets. Such an idea is absurd and erroneous. Paul did not even hint at such an affirmation; for such a statement would have been contrary to fact.

UNPROPHESIED TRUTH

In Paul’s statement in Romans Six and Eleven and in II Corinthians 5, we have the negation and repudiation of any such foolish claim. Note Paul’s statement in Romans 11:15:

“FOR IF THE CASTING AWAY OF THEM (ISRAEL) BE THE RECONCILING OF THE WORLD, WHAT SHALL THE RECEIVING OF THEM BE, BUT LIFE FROM THE DEAD?”

The casting away of Israel meant the reconciling of the Gentiles as proclaimed in II Corinthians 5:16 to 21 and in Romans 5:9 to 11. No prophet of Israel ever mentioned or knew anything concerning the dispensational change stated in the eleventh chapter of Romans. That radical change brought in the unprophesied ministry of reconciliation.

We may observe that reconciliation, in Romans 5:10 and 11, is mentioned in connection with the two men, Adam and Christ. Reconciliation is related to the old creation and the new creation.

Surely no prophet of Israel foretold the truth recorded in the sixth chapter of Romans; that by one Divine baptism the believer, whether Jew or Gentile, would be joined to Christ, identified with Him in death, burial and resurrection, under grace, and not under law. The reign of grace mentioned in Romans 5:20 and 21, is identical with the dispensation of grace in Ephesians 3:1 to 3, which was God’s mystery until revealed to Paul. The Divine baptism of Romans 6:3 is identical with the Divine baptism of Colossians 2:12 and Ephesians 4:5. The “MY GOSPEL” of Paul, in Romans 2:16, and Romans 16:25, is identical with the “MY GOSPEL” of Paul in II Timothy 2:8.

No prophet of Israel ever had the slightest intimation and therefore, said absolutely nothing concerning much of the “Acts period” ministry of the apostle born out of due season. The brethren who teach that the “Post-Acts Church” was a different Church from the “Acts” Church declare that the Body of Ephesians and Colossians is not the Body described as follows in I Corinthians 12:12 and 13.

“FOR AS THE BODY IS ONE, AND HATH MANY MEMBERS, AND ALL THE MEMBERS OF THAT ONE BODY, BEING MANY, ARE ONE BODY: SO ALSO IS CHRIST. FOR BY ONE SPIRIT ARE WE ALL BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY, WHETHER WE BE JEWS OR GENTILES, WHETHER WE BE BOND OR FREE; AND HAVE BEEN ALL MADE TO DRINK INTO ONE SPIRIT. FOR THE BODY IS NOT ONE MEMBER, BUT MANY.”

However, we know that the Church is still one Body and that every sinner saved by grace becomes a member of this one Body by the Divine baptism which unites all believers together, one in Christ and members one of another. But these brethren ask “how about I Corinthians 12:28? Where are the sign-gifts?” These signs and miracles and gifts are missing. Is this because present-day members of the Body of Christ are not as spiritual and not as faithful as were those Corinthian saints, or have they been dropped from God’s spiritual program somewhere along the line, by God’s will? Did God begin a new Church when the signs and miracles ceased?

We learn as we read all of the two Corinthian Epistles, that the Corinthians were the least spiritual and the most carnal of any saints to whom Paul ministered. They were carnal; they defrauded one another. They misbehaved when they partook of the Lord’s Supper. They were divided. But remember, they exercised all of the sign-gifts. I Corinthians 12:8 to 11.

Thus we see that performing miracles, tongues, healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead, etc., was not the proof of extraordinary faith, or spiritual conduct. But note I Corinthians 13:8: “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail: whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” The verbs in this verse have the same thought “shall be done away.”

None of the Corinthian saints were more spiritual or more faithful than Trophimus, Epaphroditus or Timothy. Let us read II Timothy 4:20: “Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” Philippians 2:27: “For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” And I Timothy 5:23: “Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities.”

Note here, three faithful saints were sick. One was raised up in answer to prayer; one was told to take a physical remedy; and one was left sick. But not a trace of any “sign” healing or miraculous healing by Paul or any other Christian with the gift of healing. A great change! When did it take place? Again we affirm that the judgment of Acts 28:25 to 28 marked a crisis in God’s dealings with Israel and a change in God’s spiritual program. But there is no scriptural proof that an entirely new and different Body began after the close of Acts.

NONE OTHER THINGS—Acts 26:22

The so-called “Extremists,” “Bullingerites,” .. Welchites,” or “Hyper-dispensationalists” use the statement of Paul in Acts 26:22 to prove that during the “Acts” period, in Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians and Romans, all written before Paul’s statement in Acts 26:22, Paul taught only such Divine truth as was in fulfillment of prophecy mentioned in the thirty-nine Books, from Genesis to Malachi. They claim that every message of Paul’s, as well as of the Twelve, in the Book of Acts, was a “confirmation” message; that nothing of the Church of the Mystery was revealed to or by Paul in his pre-prison Epistles. If Paul knew anything about the Mystery of Ephesians and Colossians, “the unsearchable riches” of Ephesians 3:8, before he reached Rome, they declare that he never said anything about it during the “Acts” period. They try to prove by Acts 26:22 that the Church of God of the “Acts” period, was an Israelitish prophesied Church and not “the Church of the Mystery,” the Body of Christ, described in Ephesians.

Israel’s prophets were silent and ignorant concerning Paul’s message and ministry of grace recorded in Romans, Galatians and Corinthians. They were as wholly ignorant and silent concerning “the reconciliation,” “the new creation,” “the identification” and “the one Divine baptism” of Paul’s “Acts” ministry, as they were concerning the one Body of Romans 12:4 and 5 and I Corinthians 12:13.

In Romans 8:28 to 30 the Holy Spirit directed Paul to write concerning the eternal purpose of God, which is the very heart of the mystery, the same eternal purpose declared in Ephesians 3:11, 1:4 and 5 and 11, and in II Timothy 1:9.

Read I Corinthians 2:6 to 8 where Paul wrote of that which was ordained to our glory before the world was, that which was hidden, that which was the mystery.

The carnal babes of Corinth could never have received the profound truth later addressed to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1:1 and 2. Moreover, there is no Bible proof that Paul wrote during the “Acts” period of some of the phases of the mystery which are recorded in Ephesians and Colossians.

But this by no means proves that the “Acts” Church had an Israelitish hope and that a new Church, with a different hope and calling, began with the close of the “Acts” period.

THE HOPE OF ISRAEL

Just what did Paul mean when he said, “BECAUSE THAT FOR THE HOPE OF ISRAEL I AM BOUND WITH THIS CHAIN?” In Ephesians 3:1 and 2, Paul calls himself the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for Gentiles. In Ephesians 6:19 and 20 and in Colossians 4:3 and 4, he declares that he is bound for the mystery. Most assuredly Israel’s “Kingdom” hope was different from “the Mystery,” After reading Paul’s Epistles the diligent student will believe, as many Bible teachers teach, that Paul experienced more than one imprisonment in Rome.

In I Timothy 1:1, the Apostle Paul called the Lord Jesus, “our hope.” As members of His Body we are to look for His glorious appearing, which is our blessed hope. Titus 2:13. His death on the cross is called, in Hebrews 7:19, “the better hope.” By His resurrection from the dead believers have been begotten into “a living hope.” I Peter 1:3 to 5. With the realization of the blessed hope, Christ, our life will appear and we will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:3 and 4.

Note Christ’s words spoken while He was in the midst of Israel: “Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John 11:25 and 26. Then note I Corinthians 15:13 and 17: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.” “And if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The believer’s hope is the resurrection hope. No resurrection; no hope.

Paul, in Acts 28:20, when referring to “the hope of Israel” was speaking of resurrection. When did he become a prisoner? The answer is in Acts 21 to 26. Hear His own words: “Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question.” Acts 23:6. “Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:14 and 15. Note the charge against Paul: “But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, Whom Paul affirmed to be alive.” Acts 25:19. Now note Paul’s words to Agrippa: “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Acts 26:6 to 8.

You now can easily answer the question, What is meant in Acts 28:20 by “the hope of Israel.” Here we have Paul’s own explanation of his statement of Acts 28:20. Let us consider another hope of Israel in the statement of Romans 11:26

“AND SO ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED: AS IT IS WRITTEN, THERE SHALL COME OUT OF SION THE DELIVERER, AND SHALL TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

What is the meaning of the statement, “all Israel shall be saved?” We read in Jeremiah 31:31 to 37 and in Hebrews 8:7 to 13 that God will make the New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah: “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least to the greatest.” Hebrews 8:11.

Certainly we know, in the light of the second chapter of Romans and many other Scriptures, that every individual Israelite is not going to be saved. But we do know from Jeremiah 30:11 and other Scriptures, that Israel is going to be saved out of the great tribulation. We do know from the vision of the resurrected dry bones of Ezekiel. 37 and from Amos 9:11 to 15, and scores of other prophecies, that the House of Israel is going to be reestablished in the land of Canaan. We do know that the twelve apostles are yet to sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. We do know that God’s ancient people shall fulfill Zechariah 12:10: “They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced.” And we do know that a nation shall be suddenly born: “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Isaiah 66:8.

Note Ezekiel 37:21 and 22: “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be King to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”

I WILL BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID

Then there is scriptural authority for believing and teaching that building again the tabernacle of David and again planting Israel in Canaan, never to be uprooted, is “the hope of Israel.” Of course, all Christians, in dealing with the subject of Israel’s future, “see through a glass darkly” as to the kingdom place of Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah and Shem. They were not Israelites and they were not members of the Body. No one seems to know whether or not Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, and Daniel, and others, are going to reside on earth in Canaan in their resurrection bodies. If these Israelites are to live as human beings on the earth, then surely their bodies must be quite different from the bodies of the redeemed Israelites who will be alive during the great tribulation and who will not die. These living Jews will go to the holy land in bodies of flesh and blood, and live in earthly houses in their land, eat and drink, and worship the King of Jerusalem. Of course we know, from Ezekiel 36:26: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” So the “Kingdom” Israelites will experience the new birth.

But Paul, in Acts 28:20, was not in any way referring to Israel’s restoration and occupation of Canaan when he mentioned the hope of Israel.”

Before Paul uttered these words in Rome, he had written to the Romans, Jews and Gentiles, concerning the one Divine baptism that had joined them to Christ and had made them members of the one Body. Note the strangers of Rome present at Pentecost. Acts 2:10. Paul had written that henceforth they should not know Christ after the flesh; that they were now new creatures. II Corinthians 5:16 and 17. He had written I Thessalonians 4:13 to 18 concerning the rapture of the sleeping and living saints. He had written that believing Jews and Gentiles had been baptized into one Body by one Spirit. I Corinthians 12:13. Hence it is the height of folly to teach that the hope of believers in Thessalonians, Corinthians and Romans was Israel’s “Canaan”. hope. “The hope of Israel,” which Peter presented to Israel’s rulers in Acts 3,19 to 21 proved by the statement of Acts 3:24, was not the hope presented in I Thessalonians 4:13 to 18.

Some of the so-called “Ultra-dispensationalists,” who are frequently called “Bullingerites,” but who really follow the more extreme “dispensationalism” of Mr. Chas. Welch, of London, England, state that there was another hope of Israel during the “Acts” period. They teach that there was an “Israelitish Church” until after the pronouncement of Acts 28:25 to 28, and it might be called “a body,” but that it was neither the Church, nor the Body, mentioned in Paul’s Prison Epistles. They claim that the members of the “Acts,” “Israelitish Church” was not an earthly hope, but a heavenly hope. However it was not the super-celestial hope of “the Church of the Mystery.”

Because Paul said, “we are able ministers of the New Covenant” and that New Covenant was made with Israel, Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning their place in “The New Covenant Israelitish Church.” They quote Romans 11:24: “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?” They attempt to prove by the eleventh of Romans, the saved Gentiles became a part of an Israelitish Church, which was separate, different, and distinct from the Church of Ephesians. They think they can prove this with the statement in Romans 15:27, where it is stated that the saved Gentiles were made partakers of Israel’s spiritual things.

They have neglected to compare this statement with the “joint-sharers” of Ephesians 3:6, which repudiates their fallacy.

TWO FATHERS—ONE FATHER

But they ask how are we to reconcile the statement of Romans 4:16 with the statement of Ephesians 4:6? In Ephesians 4:6 we are told that we have “one Father,” whereas in Romans 4:16 we are told that Abraham is our father, and in I Corinthians 8:6, we are told God is our Father. Therefore during the “Acts” period members of the Israelitish Church had two fathers. We might refer them to the two statements of the Lord on earth. Note John 8:39 and 41, where the Jews said first “Abraham is our father.” Then they said, “We have one Father, God.” Then note what Christ said, `And call no man your father upon the earth: for One is your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9. And yet Christ acknowledged that Abraham was the Jews’ father.

Then note Galatians 4:26: “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” And Hebrews 12:22: “But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.” These brethren link up these statements with the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:2 to show the sphere of blessing and distinction of the “Acts” “Israelitish Church.” They prove that it is “Israelitish’.’ by the “twelves” in Revelation 21:12 to 14, “twelve gates,” “twelve angels,” “twelve tribes of Israel,” “twelve apostles.”

Of course you and I should ask ourselves this question, “what does this city have to do with Paul’s message and description of the Church of the Mystery in Ephesians and Colossians?” As we should ask ourselves how any one can place “the Church of the Mystery” in the first three chapters of the Revelation?

These brethren teach three spheres of blessings, three hopes: 1, “terrestrial,” 2. “celestial,” and 3. “super-celestial.” Some of them say when Paul spoke of “the hope of Israel,” be was not referring to the first,” the terrestrial,” but to the second, “the celestial.” But they affirm that when Paul uttered the words of Acts 28:20, the Lord had not yet revealed to him “the super-celestial” sphere of blessing, mentioned in Ephesians 1:3 to 23, where Christ is in the “far above heavenlies.” It is specifically to this “super-celestial” sphere of blessing that Paul refers in Ephesians 4:1: “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” They affirm that this hope and calling has nothing to do with the hope and calling of the “Acts” Israelitish Church. This makes the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ different redeemed groups. These brethren declare that the rapture of the saints, in I Thessalonians 4:13 to 18 refers to the Lord’s “parousia” and is quite different from the blessed hope of Titus 2:13 and Colossians 3:3 and 4.

Those who teach that “the hope of Israel” was their “Canaan” hope, quote Acts 17:7, where Paul taught that there was another King, Jesus. He was proclaiming the Canaan Kingdom hope here. They confirm this by the statement in Acts 14:22 that the people had to enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation, as Israel will go from their great tribulation to Canaan.

THE BODY OF I CORINTHIANS 12:103 NOT THE BODY OF EPHESIANS

The disciples of Dr. Bullinger and Mr. Welch claim that the Body of Ephesians could not be the Body of I Corinthians 12:13, for several reasons. One we have noted, I Corinthians 12:28, that God does not set these gifts in the Body today. Again they claim that human beings made up the head of the Body in I Corinthians 12:14 to 23, whereas only the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body in Ephesians.

But we have observed that the one Divine baptism of Romans 6:3 and 4, that joins believers to Christ, is the one Divine baptism of Ephesians 4:5 and Colossians 2:12. And we learn by comparing the result of the one Divine baptism in Romans 12:4 and 5, as to the one Body, joined to Christ, and joined to one another, is the same as the “Ephesians” baptism and one Body. The same unity of the same Body is set forth in both Epistles.

These brethren have failed to note the dispensational change taught in Romans 11:15.