======================================================================== WRITINGS OF JOHN C OHAIR - VOLUME 1 by John C. Ohair ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by John C. Ohair (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. O'Hair, John C. - Library 2. S. CONDEMNED ALREADY 3. S. EVEN AS SO LIKEWISE 4. S. HAPPY ARE YE IF YE DO THEM 5. S. HE SHOWED UNTO THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE Joh_20:20. 6. S. IS PHYSICAL HEALING PROVIDED IN THE ATONEMENT? 7. S. LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD 8. S. SO RUN THAT YE MAY OBTAIN 9. S. THE SAVIOR OUT OF HEAVEN 10. S. WERE THE LAST DAYS THE FIRST DAYS? 11. S. A BRIEF COMMENTARY ON A COMMENTARY 12. S. A BUNCH OF KEYS 13. S. A CHALLENGE TO FUNDAMENTALISTS 14. S. A DISPENSATIONAL STUDY OF BIBLE CHARACTERS 15. S. A Division Because Of Jesus 16. S. A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE BIBLE IN TEN LESSONS 17. S. A PARTAKER OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE GOSPEL 18. S. A SCRIPTURAL EXAMINATION OF ANGLO-ISRAELISM 19. S. ABRAHAM 20. S. ABRAM - ABRAHAM 21. S. ACCORDING TO GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE 22. S. ACTS . . . THE BOOK BETWEEN 23. S. ADAM 24. S. ADAM - ABEL - SETH - ENOCH- NOAH 25. S. ADAM - NOAH - ABRAHAM - PAUL 26. S. AFTER WE LEAVE THIS WORLD 27. S. ALL THINGS OF THE GREAT COMMISSION 28. S. AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION 29. S. AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION 30. S. AN ELEMENTARY LESSON FOR BEREANS 31. S. ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 32. S. APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION 33. S. ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? 34. S. ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? - BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION 35. S. ARE WE NEARING THE END? 36. S. ARE YOU A HOPE-SO CHURCH MEMBER OR A KNOW-SO BIBLE CHRISTIAN 37. S. BACK TO JESUS - ON TO PERFECTION 38. S. BEHOLD ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH 39. S. BELOVED FOR THE FATHER’S SAKE 40. S. BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRITBLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT 41. S. BULLINGERISM OR ULTRADISPENSATIONALISM 42. S. BY ADAM - BY MOSES - BY CHRIST 43. S. BY THE GRACE OF GOD 44. S. CAESAR - THE GENTILES - AND THE JEWS 45. S. CHRIST CAME UNTO HIS OWN 46. S. CHRIST’S MIRACLES - THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47. S. CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM 48. S. CONCERNING THE BIBLE 49. S. CONCERNING THE DEATHS OF TWO SIMEONS 50. S. CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL 51. S. Christ Coming - End of the World 52. S. Christ and Little Children 53. S. Creation of Light, Genealogy of Adam Through Abram 54. S. DECLARED RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A CAUSE, BY GRACE 55. S. DID THE CHURCH BEGIN WITH PENTECOST OF Act_2:1-47? 56. S. DIFFERENT GOSPELS 57. S. DISPENSATIONAL NOWS 58. S. DIVIDING THE WORD AND DIVIDING THE BRETHREN 59. S. DIVINE HEALING - WATER BAPTISM - THE LORD’S SUPPER 60. S. FACTS AND QUESTIONS FOR YOUR MEDITATION AND ANSWER 61. S. FAITHFUL DR. LUKE 62. S. FAR OFF-BUT BROUGHT NIGH 63. S. FOLLOWING THE LORD IN BAPTISM 64. S. FOUR CHURCHES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES 65. S. FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF JESUS 66. S. FULFILLED-FINISHED-PERFECTED 67. S. From Adam to Moses 68. S. From Egypt to Canaan 69. S. From Gethsemane To Calvary 70. S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS 71. S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS 72. S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS 73. S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS 74. S. GLORYING IN THE LORD 75. S. GOD ALMIGHTY - THE I AM 76. S. GOD AND CHRIST IN SALVATION 77. S. GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION 78. S. GOD WILL HAVE ALL TO BE SAVED 79. S. GOD'S STANDARD OF PERFECTION 80. S. GOD-S WORKMANSHIP-GOD'S WORKMEN 81. S. GOD’S ECONOMY DURING THIS AGE 82. S. God Rested, The Serpent Beguiled, Man Sinned 83. S. HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT SINCE YE BELIEVED? 84. S. HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOREVER 85. S. HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST 86. S. HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM 87. S. HOW CHRIST WAS MADE MANIFEST TO ISRAEL 88. S. HOW LONG WAS ALL DAY LONG? 89. S. HOW TO ENJOY SALVATION AND THE SCRIPTURES 90. S. HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE 91. S. IMPOSSIBLE 92. S. INTO GOD'S MARVELOUS LIGHT 93. S. IS IT UNSCRIPTURAL TO GIVE A PUBLIC INVITATION TO SINNERS TO ACCEPT CHRIST? 94. S. IS THE ONE BODY OF ROMANS THE ONE BODY OF EPHESIANS? 95. S. IT IS THE LAST TIME 96. S. Israel in Deuteronomy and Job 97. S. Israel in Egypt 98. S. JESUS CHRIST THE SAME 99. S. JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER 100. S. JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF ABRAHAM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. O'HAIR, JOHN C. - LIBRARY ======================================================================== O’Hair, John C. - Library S. A Brief Commentary On A Commentary, By Pastor Harry Bultema S. A Bunch Of Keys, By Pastor Henry Bultema S. A Challenge To Fundamentalists S. A Dispensational Study Of Bible Characters S. A Division Because Of Jesus S. A General Outline Of The Bible In Ten Lessons, Lesson Number Five S. A Partaker Of The Afflictions Of The Gospel S. A Scriptural Examination Of “Anglo-Israelism” S. Abraham S. Abram - Abraham S. According To God’s Good Pleasure S. Acts—The Book Between S. Adam S. Adam - Abel - Seth - Enoch - Noah S. Adam - Noah - Abraham - Paul S. After We Leave This World S. All Things Of The Great Commission S. Ambassadors Of Reconciliation S. Ambassadors Of Reconciliation S. An Elementary Lesson For Bereans S. Another Interpretation Of The Unpardonable Sin S. Apostolic Succession S. Are The Dead Conscious? S. Are The Dead Conscious? S. Are We Nearing The End? S. Are You A “Hope So” Church Member? S. Back To Jesus - On To Perfection S. Behold Israel After The Flesh S. Beloved For The Father’s Sake S. Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit S. Bullingerism Or Ultradispensationalism S. By Adam - By Moses - By Christ - The Law Of Sin And Death S. By The Grace Of God S. Caesar - The Gentiles - And The Jews S. Christ and Little Children S. Christ Came Unto His Own S. Christ Coming - End of the World S. Christ’s Miracles - The Gospel Of John S. Christian Life And The Ten Commandments S. Circumcision And Baptism S. Concerning The Bible S. Concerning The Deaths Of Two Simeons S. Condemned Already” S. Consolation Of Israel S. Creation of Light, Genealogy of Adam Through Abram S. Declared Righteous Without A Cause, By Grace S. Did The Church Begin With Pentecost Of Acts Two? S. Different Gospels S. Dispensational “Nows”, When Did Christ Reveal The Mystery Of Colossians 1:26? S. Dividing The Word And Dividing The Brethren S. Divine Healing - Water Baptism - The Lord’s Supper S. Even As”, “So Likewise” S. Facts And Questions For Your Meditation And Answer S. Faithful Dr. Luke S. Far Off—But Brought Nigh S. Following The Lord In Baptism S. Four Churches In The New Testament Scriptures S. From Adam to Moses S. From Egypt to Canaan S. From Gethsemane To Calvary S. Fulfilled All That Was Written Of Jesus S. Fulfilled—Finished—Perfected, “Teleo”—”Epi-Teleo”—”Pan-Teleo” S. Gleanings From The Book Of Acts, Lesson Five S. Gleanings From The Book Of Acts, Lesson Number Seven S. Gleanings From The Book Of Acts, Lesson Seven S. Gleanings From The Book Of Acts, Lesson Six S. Glorying In The Lord S. God Almighty - The I Am S. God And Christ In Salvation S. God Is Not The Author Of Confusion S. God Rested, The Serpent Beguiled, Man Sinned S. God Will Have All To Be Saved S. God’s Economy During This Age S. God’s Standard Of Perfection S. God’s Workmanship—God’s Workmen S. Happy Are Ye If Ye Do Them” S. Have Ye Received The Holy Spirit Since Ye Believed? S. He Showed Unto Them His Hands And His Side” John 20:20 S. He That Doeth The Will Of God Abideth Forever S. Household Baptism S. How Christ Was Made Manifest To Israel S. How Long Was All Day Long? S. How To Enjoy Salvation And The Scriptures S. How To Study The Bible S. Impossible, Hebrews 6:4-10, By Chas. F. Baker S. Into God’s Marvelous Light S. Is It Unscriptural To Give A Public Invitation To Sinners To Accept Christ? S. Is Physical Healing Provided In The Atonement?” S. Is The One Body Of Romans The One Body Of Ephesians? S. Israel in Deuteronomy and Job S. Israel in Egypt S. It Is The Last Time S. Jesus Christ In Matthew S. Jesus Christ The Same S. Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday, Today And Forever S. Jesus Christ The Son Of Abraham S. Joseph and His Brethren S. Let Him Glory In The Lord” S. Let The Children First Be Filled S. Letter From The Editor S. Light From Philippians On The Theory Of Two Bodies S. Luke And Acts S. Made Partakers Of Christ S. Matthew—Ephesians S. May Our Thoughts And Meditations Be Acceptable, By Henry Bultema S. Moses And The Law S. Mutual Rejection S. Nathanael And Bar-Jesus S. Never A Man Spake Like This Man S. Noah S. Notes From A Message S. Nothing New—All Things New S. Nothing To Pay S. One Body - One Baptism - Divided Unity And Unsaved S. Orthodox-Orthopodeo-Orthotomeo S. Our Easter Message S. Over-Abounding Grace S. Paul The Suffering Prisoner S. Paul’s Orders To Timothy S. Paul’s Own Story S. Peace On Earth - At Peace With God S. Peace On Earth—When? S. Pentecost - The Kingdom - And The Body Of Christ S. Peter And Paul S. Pure Religion—Pure Christianity S. Raised With Christ S. Reconciliation - New Creation - Identification S. Reconciliation And The Mystery S. Right Now And Bye And Bye S. Sanctifying Truth S. Search The Scriptures—“They Are They Which Testify Of Me” S. Serpents And Dogs S. Several Bible Thoughts, By Pastor Henry Bultema S. Short Messages, By Henry Bultema S. Simon Peter And The Saviour S. So Run That Ye May Obtain” S. Some Bible Facts And Dates S. Some Bible Houses S. Some Bible Thoughts S. Some Of The Benefits Of The Somatic Truth, By Harry Bultema S. Stand Fast And Steadfast S. Stephen, By Pastor Henry Bultema S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Eight, By Pastor Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Five, By Pastor Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Four, By Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Seven, By Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Six, By Pastor Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Number Three, By Pastor Vincent Bennett S. Studies In Ephesians, Lesson Two, By Vincent Bennett S. That Day-What Day?, A New Premillennialism S. That We Should Not Be Condemned With The World S. That Ye May Know That Ye Have Eternal Life S. The Beginning And The End S. The Blind Jew S. The Bride Of Christ - Who? S. The Call of Abraham S. The Children Of The Kingdom And The Gentiles S. The Christ Of Christmas S. The Christian - The Sermon On The Mount - And The Body S. The Church And The Last Days S. The Church In The Wilderness - The Prophesied Church S. The Curse, The Cure S. The Days of Noah S. The Deity Of Jesus Christ, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Dispensational Answer S. The Doctrines Of Seventh Day Adventism Spiritual Or Pernicious? S. The End Of This Present Divine Economy S. The Epistle To The Ephesians S. The Eunuch - Cornelius - Sergius Paulus S. The Exceeding Greatness Of God’s Power S. The Five Horsemen Of Revelation S. The God of Jacob S. The Great Commission, Part Four, By Pastor Chas. F. Baker S. The Great Commission, Part One, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Great Commission, Part Three, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Great Commission, Part Two, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Inspiration of the Scriptures S. The Keys Of The Kingdom Of Heaven S. The Kingdom Of God In The Gospel Of Luke S. The Kingdom Of Heaven And The Grace Of God S. The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand S. The Lord Jesus In The Midst” S. The Lord’s Supper And The New Covenant S. The Lord’s Supper, Continued From December S. The Lord’s Supper, Continued From January S. The Mystery S. The Prince Of Peace Is Coming S. The Restitution Of All Things S. The Sad Paradox—Divided Unity S. The Salvation, Dedication And Baptism Of Babes S. The Savior Out Of Heaven”, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Scriptural Answer To Those Who Teach S. The Second Coming Of Christ - The Signs Of The Times S. The Second Coming Of Christ, By Chas. F. Baker S. The Sermon On The Mount - The “Our Father” Prayer S. The Signs Of Jesus Of Nazareth S. The Son Of Man Is Lord Also Of The Sabbath S. The Son Of Man Standing In Heaven S. The Ten Commandments S. The Three Epistles Of John S. The Trial - Crucifixion And Resurrection Of Christ S. The Trial of Satan S. The True Bible Church And How To Join It S. The Twelve And Saul Who Became Paul S. The Unsearchable Riches Of Christ S. The Word Became Flesh S. Thought And Action S. Three Gospels S. Three Roman Officials Of The First Century S. Truth In Ephesians - Christ In The Heavenlies S. Vessels Of Honour In The House Of God S. Water Heretics S. We Are One S. We Wish All Our Readers A Very Happy New Year S. Were The Last Days The First Days?”, By Chas. F. Baker S. What About The Signs Of Mark 16? S. What Believers Are Made In Christ S. What Christ Was Made S. What God Foreknew And What He Foretold S. What Is The Mystery Of God’s Will? S. What Shall I Do? S. What Think Ye Of Christ? S. When I Was A Child S. When There Is No Law” - “The Law Was Added” S. When, How, Where And Why Did Paul Receive What? S. Who Are The Other Sheep? S. Who Committed The Unpardonable Sin? S. Who Is This Son Man? S. Why I Believe In Endless Punishment, By Pastor Harry Bultema ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: S. CONDEMNED ALREADY ======================================================================== “CONDEMNED ALREADY” By Pastor John C. O’Hair “BEWARE LEST THAT COME UPON YOU”. A verse of scripture that is very fre­quently quoted by Christians is John 3:18 : “HE THAT BELIEVETH ON HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED; BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT IS CONDEMNED AL­READY, BECAUSE HE HATH NOT BELIEVED IN THE NAME OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.” A verse that is seldom quoted by Christians is Acts 13:40 : “BEWARE THEREFORE, LEST THAT COME UPON YOU, WHICH IS SPOKEN OF IN THE PROPHETS.” In John 3:18, the predicament and per­ilous condition of the unbeliever is al­ready upon him. But in Acts 13:40, the predicament and condemnation has not yet come. This is all the more difficult to under­stand because we have been taught to believe that the words recorded in John 3:18 were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ while He was here on earth. Whereas, the words of warning re­corded in Acts 13:40, were spoken by His servant Paul about 12 years after Christ had died. Let us consider the verse in Acts first: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.” If language has any meaning, we learn from this verse and the verse that follows that Israel’s prophets had foretold a condemnation that was to come upon Israel. And we also learn here that that condemnation had not yet come. This should cause us to ask this ques­tion: did that condemnation come, and if so, when did it come? “Ye shall in no wise believe”, is the language found in Acts 13:41. About 18 years after these words were declared by Paul to the rulers of Israel, the judgment foretold by Israel’s prophets fell upon that na­tion. That judgment is recorded in Acts 28:25-28. And about 6 or 7 years later, the most terrific judgment that ever fell upon any nation was visited upon Israel in the destruction of their city, and their temple, when about two million Israelites perished under the hand of Titus and his army. This was in fulfillment of the words of the Lord Jesus, recorded in Matthew 22:7, which we quote: “But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those mur­derers and burned up their city.” Any careful, spiritual student of the Word of God will see that the Nation Israel was on trial before God all during the “Book of Acts” period. And inas­much as that which was spoken by the prophets had not come upon Israel, at the time Paul uttered the words in Acts 13:40, in what sense could it have been said concerning that Nation they then were condemned already, according to John 3:18? It is not difficult for us today to say to the unbelieving Jew or unbelieving Gentile he is condemned already, be­cause he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God. But we might ask this question: was that the reason why Gentiles were condemned while Jesus Christ was on earth? In the language of Romans 10:12-17, we learn that faith cometh by hearing the Word. No one can believe without hearing. But in the light of Matthew 15:24 and Matthew 10:5-8, Gentiles were not given the opportunity to hear while Christ was in the midst of Israel as Jesus of Nazareth, sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. How could they have believed on Him of whom they had not heard? Gentiles were condemned in Adam and had been given up by God. Romans 1:28. They were aliens from the com­monwealth of Israel. They were alien­ated from the life of God. Ephesians 2:11 and Ephesians 4:18. They were in the world, hav­ing no hope, because they were without Christ. Therefore, surely this question presents itself to our minds and hearts: how could they have been condemned already for not believing on Christ when they had had no opportunity to hear of Christ? This brings us back to the old ques­tion as to how we are to reconcile the “whosoever” message of John 3:16 with the exclusive message to Israel, in Matthew 15:24. Does it not seem that the intelligent answer to this question is the fact that John 3:16-21 are the words given to the Apostle John, by in­spiration, after the judgment mentioned in Acts 13:40-41 fell upon the Na­tion Israel, and salvation was sent to the Gentiles in accordance with Acts 28:28? Certainly, if we say that the Lord Je­sus preached in accordance with John 3:16 a “whosoever” message of grace to the Jews and Gentiles alike, while He was on earth, and thus interpret John 3:16-21, we find that Matthew 15:24 is a plain contradiction to this teaching. We quote Matthew 15:24 : “But He answered and said, I am not sent but un­to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Compare this with John 3:16 and name a Gentile who was saved by the gospel of grace while Christ was on earth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: S. EVEN AS SO LIKEWISE ======================================================================== “EVEN AS” “SO LIKEWISE” By Pastor John C. O’Hair It is sad but true that many of God’s true children, be­cause of ignorance or prejudice, perhaps both, ridicule with real antipathy the principle of “dispensationalism” in the appropriation, interpretation and application of Divine truth in the Bible. Undoubtedly every child of God who knows any­thing of the difference between God’s dealings with Israel “under the law”, and the Church “under grace”, rejoice that they have not again received the spirit of bondage unto fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father. We shall all have to admit that it is no easy task to def­initely separate all that is law from all that is grace in the Books which we call the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and, John. John’s Record is so different from the three syn­optic Gospels, and is so filled with the message of grace, that the task is less difficult. In the very first chapter of John we see the Lord Jesus rejected, and the witness that He is the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world. We read in that first chapter, “the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. In order to understand the grace that came by Jesus Christ, to be given to Gentiles, who were aliens from the common­wealth of Israel while Christ was on earth, we must turn to the words of grace that Christ gave to us through our Apos­tle Paul. Let us emphasize the words found in Ephesians 3:1-2 : “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 youward”. Now observe these three points: First—Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for Gentiles. Second—The dispensation of the grace of God given to Paul. Third—The dispensation of the grace of God given to Paul for Gentiles. This messenger of grace, sent by Christ to the Gentiles, wrote to the Gentiles that Jesus Christ was made under the law. Galatians 4:4. He wrote to the Gentiles, “ye are not under the law, but under grace”. Romans 6:14. Now we want to compare forgiveness for sin in Matthew, while Christ was under the law, with the forgiveness of sin for those of us who are not under law but under grace. First we quote Matthew 18:21-35. “Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times seven. “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. “And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. “But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had and pay­ment to be made. “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. “Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. “And the fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. “So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow­servant even as I had pity on thee? “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. “SO LIKEWISE SHALL MY HEAVENLY FATHER DO ALSO UNTO YOU, IF YE FROM YOUR HEARTS FORGIVE NOT EVERY ONE HIS BROTHER THEIR TRESPASSES.” Also Matthew 6:14-15 : “FOR IF YE FORGIVE MEN THEIR TRESPASSES, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL ALSO FORGIVE YOU; BUT IF YE FORGIVE NOT MEN THEIR TRESPASSES, NEITHER WILL YOUR FATHER FORGIVE YOUR TRESPASSES”. This message was given by the Lord Jesus to His disciples while He was under the law. Now we quote Colossians 2:13-14 “AND YOU, BEING DEAD IN YOUR SINS AND THE UNCIRCUMCISION OF YOUR FLESH, HATH HE QUICKENED TO­GETHER WITH HIM HAVING. FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES; “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.” And Ephesians 4:31-32 : “LET ALL BITTERNESS AND WRATH, AND ANGER, AND CLAMOUR, AND EVIL SPEAKING, BE PUT AWAY FROM YOU, WITH ALL MALICE; “AND BE YE KIND ONE TO ANOTHER, TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, EVEN AS GOD FOR CHRIST’S SAKE HATH FORGIVEN YOU.” You will notice in these two quotations, we have empha­sized the words, “so likewise” and “even as”. Now surely you and I will bow our heads and give thanks to the Lord that the forgiveness of our sins by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has been by the free grace of God, an not conditioned upon our imperfect forgiveness of our fellow man. But then our hearts should be so filled with gratitude because of what God has done for us, for Christ’s sake, that we should fully forgive those who trespass against us. Surely it takes much grace. But God is the God of all grace, an He is able to make all grace abound toward us; that we, a ways having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to ever good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8. And let us also remember that not only does God forgive; but God forever forgets. And it will not be so difficult for us to do this if we will keep in mind the difference between “ten thousand talents” and “one hundred pence.” But surely we shall not go back to legal grounds and the King’s message to Israel for our unmixed message of grace ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: S. HAPPY ARE YE IF YE DO THEM ======================================================================== “HAPPY ARE YE IF YE DO THEM” By Pastor John C. O’Hair We sincerely wish for our readers the happiest of all Happy New Years. Spiritual happiness is the true abiding happiness. This happiness comes from knowing the Word of God and doing the Word of God. “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.” Hear these words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ: “IF YE KNOW THESE THINGS, HAPPY ARE YE IF YE DO THEM.” John 13:17. Unless we earnestly, diligently, prayerfully, systematic­ally, and spiritually study the Word of God, we shall not know the Word of God. Moreover, if we would so know the Word of God as to get from its study the greatest enjoyment, profit and blessing, by intelligently appropriating, interpret­ing and applying it, we must obey 2 Timothy 2:15 and rightly divide. the Word. We are members of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. The words which were spoken by prophets, priests, kings and apostles to God’s redeemed people, who were not members of the Body of Christ, were for their obedience, practice and guidance. “God spake all these words”, so they were just as much inspired as is the truth that is addressed directly to us. But let us not misappropriate, or misapply, God’s instructions to Israel, not written to members of Christ’s Body. All Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. We are sure that the “Red Letter New Testament” was never printed by the Spirit’s leading. God who spake in divers manners to the fathers, did speak in His Son. Hearing such words from the holy Son of God, His disciples could but wonder at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth; for He spake as never man spake. But every intelligent student of the Word knows that very much of what Jesus of Nazareth spoke on earth was directly to, and ex­clusively for, Israel. Many of His messages were not addressed to the Body of Christ, nor to individual members of that Body. Christ never intended that the religious program that He presented to Israel should be adopted and practiced by the Church which is His Body. Neither did He intend that all of His commission, given to the Twelve Apostles, should be binding upon the members of His Body. Some time ago an unsaved man, who had read the Four Gospels quite thoroughly, said to me: “if a Christian today is one who obeys the commands that Jesus Christ gave to His Twelve Apostles, I have never seen a Christian.” Have you? Perhaps you will never appreciate the folly of the “anti-dispensationalists” until you take a pencil and go carefully, verse by verse, through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the Book of Acts, and mark in those five Books all of the instructions and commands of the Lord Jesus that are wholly ignored by all Christians today. Not even an at­tempt is made by the Lord’s true, spiritual messengers of grace today, to obey or practice them. Why? That’s the question. Why? If the answer is one acceptable to God, it must be, “not intended for this Divine period of special Gen­tile favor.” There should be a Scriptural explanation for a Scriptural elimination. All Christians either assent to the fact that many of the Words of Jesus and His Twelve were not intended for mem­bers of the Body of Christ, or they are wilfully negligent and disobedient. They prefer to keep silent as to why they have no place in their spiritual program whatever for fifty or more of the commands, practices, messages, signs and works of the disciples in the Four Gospels and Acts. But their silence breaks forth into loud and vigorous protests when a servant of the Lord offers the one and only Divine rule in defense of all Christians who omit from their Church creeds and their spiritual program so much that rightfully belonged to God’s people in a former dispensation. Just what dispensation is this? And where in the Bible is this present dispensation described? Where is God’s spirit­ual program for members of the Body of Christ during this dispensation? These are most important questions that we are endeavoring to answer in this magazine. We want to practice what is, with many of our Fundamentalists, more than a theory. They are sure that they are “grace” preachers, but their programs are really a mixture of grace and ..... Surely we shall find in Christ’s revelations to the Apostle Paul, the Scriptural “dispensational” key to the intelligent, spiritual understanding, interpretation and application of all of the truth of all of the Bible. If we thus know the things of Christ, happy will we be if we do them. In no other way can we be of power and of love and of a sound mind in rightly dividing the Word of truth, and thus walk worthy of the vo­cation wherewith we are called and walk well pleasing to the Lord. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: S. HE SHOWED UNTO THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE JOH_20:20. ======================================================================== “HE SHOWED UNTO THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE” John 20:20. I wonder how the lives of present-day Christians would be affected if the risen Christ should appear today as He did to His disciples after His resurrection. “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:19-21. Perhaps we are thinking that if He thus should appear in person and say, “Peace unto you.” we would never again be disturbed, no matter how many contrary winds should blow, or how much uncertainty, un­rest, lawlessness and violence should surround us. What a transformation would take place in our lives! What zeal, enthusiasm, energy, and power would take possession of us, if the glori­fied Christ should suddenly appear and show unto us His nail-pierced hands and feet and the wound in His side and then say, “As My Father sent me, so send I you!” “These wounds came to Me in the performance of My Father’s will; but I received them for you! These hands and this side mean redemption for you and they also mean, ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price. I send you to tell others that they too may be redeemed because I, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man.” To make the individual personal application, bow your head in earnest prayer; try in your mind’s eye to see the glorious Christ stand­ing before you, showing you His hands and His side, speaking peace to your heart and sending you out to witness for Him. See what the result will be. The trouble is, that so few of us believe the words that He spoke to Thomas several days later: “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John 20:29. According to 1 John 3:1-3 we are going to see Christ and we are going to be like Him. Therefore, in that Epistle, John urges us not to be ashamed before Him at His coming. 1 John 2:28. We are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall then see His hands, His side and His glorified face; and we shall give an account of deeds done in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 5:10. “There­fore” . . . Therefore what? “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” 2 Corinthians 5:11. “For the love of Christ con­straineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all that they which live should not hence­forth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be­seech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. There are so many sinners all around us. The majority of them are indifferent and unconcerned as to the truth, that Christ was wounded for our transgressions. But almost as sad is the fact, that the majority of Christians are as little concerned about getting the saving message to them. “Peace be unto you; as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:21 Christians, will you pray definitely that God will arouse you to your privilege and responsibility in the matter of telling to sinners the story of redemption through the crucified and glorified Christ? And sinner, will you right now receive Christ? “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” Romans 10:13-15. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: S. IS PHYSICAL HEALING PROVIDED IN THE ATONEMENT? ======================================================================== “IS PHYSICAL HEALING PROVIDED IN THE ATONEMENT?” BY CHARLES F. BAKER Every true Christian believes that spiritual healing, salvation of the soul from sin, is to be found only in the death of Christ, but there is disagreement as to whether His death is supposed to provide physical health also for the be­liever. Some teach that Christ bore our sicknesses upon the Cross as well as our sins, and that it is therefore as much the will of God that we be healed of sickness as to be saved from sin. Since salvation is received through faith, healing must come in the same manner, and if one is not healed it proves he doesn’t have faith. If the premise of this argu­ment is true, i. e. that Christ died for our sickness and that God is not willing that any should be sick, then the above conclusion logically follows; but we ask: Is the premise true? This teaching is based upon Matthew 8:17 : “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” a quotation from Isaiah 53:4. But the all important thing to see is that Jesus fulfilled this scrip­ture three years before His death. He was bearing their sicknesses all during His earthly ministry, but He never bore any one’s sins until He died upon the tree. Since the Bible declares that He fulfilled the work of bearing sick­nesses before His death, any teaching is proved false which claims He fulfilled that work in His death. The second important fact is found in the word “bare”. Peter tells us that Christ “bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” This word is “anaphero” in the Greek, and means to bring to the altar or to offer a sacrifice. It is used in Hebrews 9:28 : “Christ was once of­fered to bear the sins of many”; and most significantly the translators of the Septuagint chose this word in Isaiah 53:12 : “and he bare the sins of many.” But there is an entirely different word used regarding the bearing of sickness in Matthew 8:17. It is “bastazo” and means to lift or to carry or to endure. It is never used of bearing sins. This is the same word John the Baptist used in Matthew 3:11 : “whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.” Paul used it in Galatians 6:2 : “bear ye one another’s bur­dens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Paul asked Christians to do in Romans 15:1 exactly what Christ did: “bear the infirmities (or sicknesses) of the weak,” but he never told any Christian to bear the sins of another. And again, most significantly the Septuagint uses this same word in Isaiah 53:4 : “surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Thus Christ bore sicknesses in an altogether different sense from which He bore sins. The third fact is based upon logic. If healing is in the atonement to the same extent as salvation, then one possesses salvation to the extent he enjoys phys­ical health. But since all Christians in the past have died, and mostly from dis­ease, this would prove that all had lost salvation; for all surely lost health. Fourthly, Paul, the model Christian, gloried in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 11:30; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10—this word means sickness, the same word as used in Matthew 8:17). If sickness is contrary to the will of God, then Paul gloried in be­ing out of the will of God, and it was the grace of God which taught him to do it. Fifthly, this teaching denies such scriptures as Romans 8:23 : “but our­selves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop­tion, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Yes, praise God, our salvation includes a body as perfect as Christ’s own glorious body, but none will receive it until the resurrection for which we wait. Lastly, let it be noticed that God promised health to Israel along with other temporal blessings. He revealed Himself as Jehovah-Ropheca, the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26). See also Deuteronomy 28:1-14. But not one of these promises can be found di­rected to the Body of Christ, but often just the opposite. God not only prom­ised to heal but to make rich (Deuteronomy 28:11-12). Therefore if you are not rich it is just as much a sign of unfaithfulness as if you are sick. Surely we believe that God hears and answers prayer for the sick, but plain scripture forbids us to believe that heal­ing is in the atonement or that sickness brands one as unfaithful or disobedient. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: S. LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD ======================================================================== “LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD” By Pastor John C. O’Hair “That no flesh should glory in His presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:29. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:31. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Php 3:3. It generally takes a long time, and many lessons, to teach some Christians to have no confidence in the flesh, especially if they are religious Christians. Such are foolish Christians, like the Galatians, to whom Paul wrote, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit.” Galatians 5:17. In this same Epistle Paul wrote: “But God forbid that I should GLORY save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Galatians 6:14. After reading Galatians 5:19-21 and inventorying the works of the flesh, it is difficult to understand how any one, who has been redeemed by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, can trust in the flesh for one moment. As “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom­ans 8:8), there is not one thing in the flesh that commends itself to God. The most religious sinner on earth has nothing that God will accept as part payment for salvation. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” John 3:6. No man can begin to adequately appreciate the grace of God until he can and will say with Paul, in sincerity, “I know that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing.” Romans 7:18. Paul said, the commandment (law) wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.” Romans 7:8. On account of the weakness of the flesh, the Ten Com­mandments cannot aid in man’s redemption one iota, unless, as the ministration of condemnation, it convinces him of his entire dependence for salvation upon the grace of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from any works until after the Divine transformation has taken place in the believer’s soul. 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 2 Corinthians 3:9; Galatians 3:24-25. WORKS REWARDED Believers will be rewarded according to their works when they meet the Lord in glory. “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6:10. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, un­movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, foras­much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall re­ceive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” Colossians 3:23-25. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” 1 Corinthians 3:13-14. The Scriptures, which deal with the Gospel of the Grace of God, clearly differentiate between “salvation not BY works of righteousness” and “salvation UNTO works of righteous­ness. For our salvation, for our hope of heaven, for our regen­eration, or new creation, Christ must receive all of the boast­ing, one hundred per cent of the glorying. We must reach heaven as sinners saved by grace. We can never stand in God’s presence and tell Him we reached heaven by supplementing the perfect work of Christ. Then for service, we believe and act upon 2 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.” We are saved unto good works and they should daily abound in the life of every sinner saved by grace. Let us glory in the cross of Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: S. SO RUN THAT YE MAY OBTAIN ======================================================================== “SO RUN THAT YE MAY OBTAIN” WHO MAY OBTAIN WHAT? In Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9:24) the Lord instructs His people in this language, “so run that ye may obtain.” This Epistle is addressed to all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord: It is addressed to saved people. 1 Corinthians 1:2. The Lord’s redeemed people are to run in a race. They are to strive and be temperate that they might win an incorruptible crown. 1 Corinthians 9:25. The Lord offers a prize for the Christian who runs well. The Lord would not have any one be troubled or confused as to the difference between running and striving for a prize, and receiving eternal life as a free gift. Sometimes critics of the Bible state that there are contradictory statements in this Book of God. But the contradictions are not in the Bible when properly understood. They are in the confused mind of the person who is not spiritually, diligently and carefully examining the Scriptures. We read in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God is not the author of confusion. We read in Romans 6:23 that “the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Most assuredly, no individual need strive or run for that which God declares to be His free gift. In the Scripture quoted, God does not instruct an unbeliever to be temperate in all things. The unbeliever, in the Bible, is called the natural man. And in Romans 8:7-8 God’s Word clearly states that the natural man can neither please God nor be subject to the law of God, because by nature he is at enmity with God. It is useless for an unsaved man to try to conduct himself in obedience to God’s instructions given to those who have become His children by faith in His Son. In Romans 3:24 God’s Book clearly states that a believing sinner is justified without a cause, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. According to Romans 3:28 the believer is declared righteous without any endeavor on his part. Inasmuch as the Bible does not contradict itself, the Lord wants every person to know the difference between being made righteous without striving, and then striving for the mastery in a sincere endeavor to live a righteous life. Let us compare 1 Corinthians 9:24 with Hebrews 9:12 : “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” 1 Corinthians 9:24. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He (Christ) entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12. What utter confusion must be in the mind of the individual who thinks he is running a race to obtain eternal redemption when this eternal redemption has already been obtained by the omnipotent sinless Son of God Who suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18. Thus we see when the Lord said, “So run that ye may obtain”, He was speaking of the incorruptible crown which will be the reward of the faithful saint who runs well the race that is set before him. This he will do by looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot keep ourselves. None of our good works or earnest endeavors to be good will in any way help us to get to heaven. But surely they will be much to our credit when we arrive there as sinners saved by grace. So let us, as believers, run, strive and be temperate. Let us labor for the prize. From heaven’s glory Christ came down to sinful men on earth. We’ve reached another Christmas day to celebrate His birth: Eternal God in human form, the Virgin’s holy Child: The One of whom the prophets wrote, the seed of woman—undefiled. Gabriel came to Mary’s home God’s message to proclaim, To tell her of the Saviour’s birth; to give to her His name: “Call Him Jesus”, God’s command; on David’s throne He’ll reign; He’ll save His people from their sin and Israel’s rights regain. In Bethlehem’s manger He came forth—Israel’s glorious King. The shepherds kept their flock by night and heard the angels sing: “Peace on earth! Good will to men! Christ is born today!” The wise men came. to see the King; God’s star had led the way. And there was born the Son of God Who lived in Israel’s land, Who came to earth to do God’s will—all that God had planned. Christ came to set the captive free; give Satan’s slaves release; He spake the Word of God, to men, brought comfort, health and peace. By word and work Christ proved His claim; Has right to David’s throne. But Israel said, “He shall not reign”—rejected they the Stone, In the garden Christ was found, and by Judas there betrayed. Before the rulers He was led, in purple robe arrayed. Crowned with thorns they hailed Him king, in derision and disgrace They hated Him without a cause; they spat upon His face. Pilate found no fault in Him, desired to set Him free: His rulers cried, “We’ll take the blame! nail Him to the tree”. So the Lord of glory died; but He suffered not in vain. Not only was His death foretold; but He must rise again. No other way could God be just and sinful men forgive; The penalty by Christ was paid! By faith the just shall live! Eternal life is God’s free gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. And when we’re saved, God gives us work with promise of reward. And as we worship, serve and wait until we hear the call We know our labor’s not in vain; for God remembers all. He gives us grace for every day to serve by word and deed; He keeps us by his power Divine; supplies our every need. The riches of our blessed Lord are enjoyed by every one Who will obey the word of God and abide in Christ His Son. By His Spirit we are sealed until redemption day. Then the Lord Himself shall come and take His saints away. In heaven we shall then appear, in bodies glorified; All living saints who still remain and all the saints who’ve died. We’ll sing anew redemption song when we reach that happy place; Ever with our Lord we’ll be, as sinners saved by grace. Tears and crying will all be o’er; no death and never night; Eternal day for God’s redeemed; forever pure delight. It this Christmas season then, as we give to those we love, Let our hearts be fixed on Him Who lives for us above. If this message reaches one, who’s not yet saved from sin, why not take God’s Christmas Gift and let the Saviour in? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: S. THE SAVIOR OUT OF HEAVEN ======================================================================== “THE SAVIOR OUT OF HEAVEN” BY CHARLES F. BAKER “No one hath ascended into heaven, but (except) he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven” (John 3:13). The entire New Testament bears record to the fact that the Son of God found it necessary to come out of heaven in order to become the Saviour of the world. “The second man is the Lord out of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47). The preposition “ek” meaning “out of”, often translated “of, from”, proves conclusively that Christ came out of heaven once to die a redeem­ing death, and although now in heaven, will come out of heaven again. Most Christians profess to believe in His first coming out of heaven, but are ignorant of or deny the fact that He will come again, although the entire New Testa­ment with the exception of three books, Philemon 1:2 nd and 3rd John, bears wit­ness to the fact and in the same lan­guage which describes His first coming. No doubt fanatical date-setters have spoiled this glorious truth for most Christians, but such cannot alter the in­fallible Word of God. The whole philosophy of Christianity is hopeless and pessimistic apart from it; for the Bible no where holds out hope of immortality and resurrection apart from it, and if it will never occur, then Christians are of all men most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:23, 1 Corinthians 15:19). A failing and powerless Christendom surely presents to the world a defeated God, when it throws away the hope of Christ’s coming with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30). Every true Christian has been made conformable with Christ’s death (Php 3:10), i. e., has been crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:3) for the penalty of sin, and has been given the hope of having his body of humiliation made conform­able with Christ’s body of glory Php 3:21). This redemption of the body (Romans 8:23) is to be realized when Christ next comes out of heaven. We have already received everlasting life, the salvation of our souls, but we await the salvation of our bodies. Those who spiritualize or misplace this resur­rection err and overthrow the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:18). This will not be a general resurrection; for it is called an “ek (out) resurrection ek (out of) dead ones” (Php 3:11), signify­ing that some of the dead will remain in the grave after this takes place. It would seem to include only the Body of Christ. Paul had the hope of attaining to this out resurrection, not by meritor­ious effort; for the word “attain” here merely means to come to or arrive at, as is seen from its usage in Acts 26:7 “come”; Acts 25:13 “came unto”; 1 Corinthians 10:11 “come”; towards which he pressed (Php 3:12, Php 3:14). Some teach that the Body of Christ began after God set Israel aside in Acts 28:28, and therefore the hope of resur­rection in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (given before Acts 28:1-31) is not for the Body of Christ. They say our hope is found in Php 3:11, Php 3:14, Php 3:20-21 and Colossians 3:4, and claim that these passages teach that our Lord is not coming out of heaven as in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18, but that we will be called up on high, to meet Christ, not in the air, but in heaven. This theory seems to be contradicted, however, by the very scripture they use. Php 3:20 reads: “For our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence (ek ou—­out of which, i. e., out of heaven) also we look for (or eagerly await—same word used in Romans 8:19, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:25; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Hebrews 9:28) the Sa­viour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is ex­actly what the Thessalonians were do­ing: they were “waiting, for His Son from (ek—out of) heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Christ is now in heaven; we are to wait for Him out of heaven He must descend from heaven as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 before Php 3:20-21 can be realized. The day in which the Corinthians and Thessalonian event is to be realized is called “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8), and the one in which the Philip­pian hope is to be realized is called “the day of Jesus Christ” and the “day of Christ” (Php 1:6; Php 2:16). If these are two separate events, then lan­guage seems useless in making the distinction. We must, of course, recognize the distinction between His two com­ings or parousias; for there will first be a parousia or coming “for His saints” (1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1) in which the Church takes part; and then there will be the parousia “with His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). The former is called a Mystery (1 Corinthians 15:51); the latter is the subject of prophecy and not a mystery, being the Second Coming of Christ back to the earth. Our hope is not to die and go to be with Christ in heaven, but to be caught up with Him when He next comes out of heaven, and to ever be with Him where ever He is. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: S. WERE THE LAST DAYS THE FIRST DAYS? ======================================================================== “WERE THE LAST DAYS THE FIRST DAYS?” A Message by Chas. F. Baker What would you think of an exegesis which made the last mean the first? Would it not be much akin to saying that black means white, or that yes means no? But, it may be asked, who teaches that last means first? It must be admitt­ed that no one claims to teach this, but it will be left for you to judge in this study of Pentecost whether or not this is taught by those who claim that the Body of Christ began on that Jewish feast day. The Scripture is Acts 2:17. The scene is the day of Pentec­ost. The Apostle Peter is the mouth piece of the Holy Spirit, who is giving a specific account of what is transpiring upon that notable day. Now the majority of pre-millenarians, if asked to relate what happened on that Pentecost, would say that the Church which is the Body of Christ came into existence at that time. It was the birthday of the Church, or in other words, Pentecost marked the first days of the Church. Now ask the Holy Spirit what took place, and hear Him answering “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days . . . .” God says that the events of Pentecost were described by Joel some 800 years before, and that these events marked the last days. You are now face to face with the problem which has confronted many true Bereans. They had been taught, and for that reason had taught others, that Pentecost marked the first days; God said it marked the last days. Who was right? It should not take long to decide, and since God has not given any one authority to make decisions for other peo­ple, you must judge and answer for yourself. For the sake of those who believe it is a heresy to teach that the Body of Christ did not begin on Pentecost, it might be pointed out that many of the outstanding theologians, real defenders of the faith, have taught and do teach that the Church began long before Pentecost. Dr. Hodge, who represents the doctrine of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, makes the following remarks in “Outline of Theology”; in answer to the question: “How may it be shown that this visible church is identical under both dispensations, and what argument may be thence derived to prove that the infant children of believers should be baptized?” “There is no evidence whatever furnished by the apostolical records that the ancient church was abolished and a new and different one organized in its place.—Their disciples were always added to the ‘church’ or ‘congregation’ previously existing—Acts 2:47” (pg. 619). Dr. A. H. Strong, theologian of the Baptist Church, says in his ‘Systematic Theology’: ‘The church of Christ, in its largest signification, is converted upon that day could have been ‘added’ (Acts and ages, in heaven and on earth.—The church existed in germ before the day of Pentecost,—otherwise there would have been nothing to which those con­verted upon that day could have been ‘added’ (Acts 2:47).” (Pg. 887, 900). Space forbids quoting many other great Christian thinkers who are of the same opinion, namely, that the Pentecostal Church was the continuation of that church which was upon earth during the earthly ministry of Christ. And where is there to be found any intimation from the lips or from the pens of the Twelve Apostles that a new church was being inaugurated? Were they not still expecting the Messianic Kingdom to be restored to Israel (Acts 1:6; Acts 3:19-21)? Did they not have all things in common, as prescribed by the ser­mon on the mount (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32-37)? Did they not continue to meet in the Jewish Temple (Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:20, Acts 5:42; Acts 21:26; Acts 24:18)? Did they not continue to observe the Mosaic Law (Acts 21:18-26)? And what is even more conclusive and convincing, was not the Holy Spirit witness (Acts 5:32) to the fact that everything connected with the Pentecostal experiences was but the fulfillment of the Old Testament expectations (Acts 2:16; Acts 3:24), and where in the Old Testament is there to be found any expectation of a new church divorced from the nation Israel and its hopes? Whereas it is plain that the Holy Spirit teaches that Pen­tecost began the last days in the consummation of God’s prophetic program; it is just as evident that the same Spirit through Paul teaches that the Church which is the Body of Christ was a secret truth hidden in God, never before made known to the sons of men (Ephesians 3:1-9), and therefore in no way connected with God’s prophetic program. How could that which was foretold by all the prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21), be the same as that which was kept secret from the beginning of the world until made known to Paul (Ephesians 3:5 and Ephesians 3:9)? And in what sense could the last days of the Body of Christ have taken place before God even revealed that the Body was in existence? Pentecost ushered in the last days, which have to do wholly with the nation Israel. Israel was expecting a new age, but not a new church. Pentecost was bringing the old age to its consummation and making possible the realization of the Millennial hope of the return of Christ to establish the kingdom. It should be noted that Peter did not say: “It shall come to pass in the last day, but in the last days.” All of Joel’s prophecy was not to be fulfilled in one day, but was to cover a period of days, of which Pentecost was the beginning. Therefore all of Joel’s prophecy was not fulfilled on Pente­cost, but there was the beginning. There was the pouring out of God’s Spirit; but it was no secret that God would do this; for it is plainly foretold in Proverbs 1:23; Isaiah 44:3; Joel 2:28-29; Zechariah 12:10; and, Malachi 3:10. These last days did not come to completion, however, because the offer of the Kingdom which began on Pentecost was rejected, and God interrupted the Kingdom program with His secret dispensation of the Body of Christ. When God ends this secret dispensation, we have every reason to believe that He will bring to completion Israel’s last days. It is necessary to see the difference between the last days of Israel and the last days of the Church. The Apostle Paul who was made the depository of the truth concerning the Body of Christ never says that either the first or the last days of that Church began on Pentecost, but instead, some 36 years after Pentecost, points us on to some future time for its last days 2 Timothy 3:1. No where will it be found that in the last days of the Church there will be any of the miraculous sign demonstrations which belonged to Israel’s last days. A clear understanding of this subject is perhaps of more importance for the Christian of today than one would at first suppose. Firstly, it shows us that we are not living in Israel’s last days, and therefore we should not look for nor seek to make a place for the sign gifts of Israel’s last days, Secondly, it shows us that the message of those last days has been superseded by a new message for the Body of Christ. It is no longer “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and God will send Jesus Christ back to earth” (Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19-21), for Christ will never come back to earth until this present dispensation of the Mystery is completed. We are not and cannot today usher in the kingdom or bring the King back. We today have a message of unmixed grace to proclaim to a world dead in trespasses and sins, that God for Christ’s sake will not only save the sinner by grace through faith apart from all religious works, but will also make him a member of that Body of Christ which He will some day call on High (Php 3:14). Thirdly, this truth shows us that the signs which belong to Israel’s last days which must come to pass before Christ can come back to earth are not to be sought after in the last days of the Church.It does seem peculiar that many who preach on the signs of the times object to people speaking in tongues, when tongues is clearly called one of the signs (1 Corinthians 14:21-22). It is to be conceded that members of the Body may in its last days see a foreshadowing and preparation for Israel’s political and economic signs, but it is not possible for any one today to say with assurance concerning current events: This is that which was spoken by the prophet. In conclusion it may be said that it is difficult to see how or why one is not saying that last means first, although perhaps unwittingly, who places the birthday of the Body or Christ on Pentecost, or who follows the Pentecostal program for today, or who preaches the fulfillment of Israel’s signs in the present Dispensation of the Mystery. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: S. A BRIEF COMMENTARY ON A COMMENTARY ======================================================================== A BRIEF COMMENTARY ON A COMMENTARY BY PASTOR HARRY BULTEMA Dr. Lewis Sperry Shafer, President of the Evangelical Theological College in Dallas, Texas, has of late written a book on “The Ephesian letter, doctrinally considered.” The book is what it pretends to be: a brief doctrinal exposition of the Epistle to the Ephesians. It is Calvinistic and sound as we would expect from Dr. Shafer who, by the way, has written many good books. His works on Grace and on Satan are known as classics in the world of Fundamentalism. In reading through this brief Commentary on Ephesians, I was wondering what the esteemed author would say about the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5. Here it follows verbatim: “There is “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5. The New Testament distinguishes between the REAL baptism with the Spirit from the RITUAL baptism with water; and since, according to this passage, there is but ONE baptism, it is needless to inquire as to which baptism is in view. In explaining this emphasis upon the one baptism some claim that REAL baptism is so much more important than RITUAL baptism that RITUAL baptism could not be mentioned with propriety in the midst of these heaven-high verities in which the one baptism appears. Others point out that the two bap­tisms, like substance and shadow, are so closely related to each other as to form one baptism, and thus both are INCLUDED in the one. On the one hand, to those who believe that RITUAL baptism is in itself an indi­vidual, diverse, and unrelated procedure, having no relation to the baptizing work of the Spirit, this latter view will not be agreeable; and for these, in spite of the statement that there is but ONE, the question con­tinues unanswered as to which baptism is indicated in this passage. TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT RIT­UAL BAPTISM IS BUT THE OUTWARD SIGN OR SYMBOL OF REAL BAPTISM, THERE IS NO DIFFICULTY CREATED BY THIS EMPHASIS UPON ONE BAPTISM. Apparently no one ministry of the Spirit accomplishes so much for the believer as does His bap­tism, by which we are joined to the Lord, and, being thus in HIM, we are made partakers of all that He is, even every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Certainly this all-important REAL baptism is not here set aside as unworthy of consideration and as SECONDARY to RITUAL baptism that it is a unifying agency. The history of the Church is a counter-witness to this. How­ever, the REAL baptism which joins all believers to Christ is certainly a UNIFYING agency beyond measure.” A few questions to our esteemed brother Shafer. Does he himself obviate the difficulty of the two baptisms, where he still clings to a ritual baptism as the outward sign and symbol of what he calls the real baptism? Why still a little ritualism? Why still a sign after we have the substance? Has the Word of God not always bound up the signs with Israel the earthly nation? Even if the one baptism is symbolical and a shadow after the reality has come, is it even so not another baptism? And are two baptisms consistent with the one baptism? Why not lay aside that ritual bap­tism that has been so long an apple of discord among God’s dear children? Why not glorify God with the Apostle and say: “I thank God I baptized none (but a few) for God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: S. A BUNCH OF KEYS ======================================================================== A BUNCH OF KEYS BY PASTOR HENRY BULTEMA Keys are the emblem of authority, privilege, power. With keys one can ad­mit to, or exclude from, a house, or city, or treasures. In Isaiah 22:22, we have the story of the proud Sebua who had proved unfaithful. How God took the key of the house of David from him and gave it to Eliakim, signifying that this man was henceforth to be the intimate adviser of the King and admit to the royal chamber whom he wanted and excluded whom he wanted to keep out. In Revelation 3:7, our Lord has the key of David and receives and excludes whom He will to and from the Davidic King­dom and the “sure mercies of David”. To Peter, as the most prominent mem­ber of the Twelve, Christ gave the Keys of the Kingdom, Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:28; and in his Pentecostal address Peter opened wide the door for the whole Is­rael to enter into the Kingdom, while he used the key to keep Simon the sor­cerer out and also Ananias and Saphira. Acts 5:1-42. The key of knowledge had been stolen from the people by the lawyers. Luke 11:52. The figure used here is that of knowledge being a temple filled with great treasures into which the leaders should have led the people, but whose gate they shut, and kept the key with jealous care, even their commentaries rather hiding than revealing the knowl­edge of God’s will. We cannot even enter into the treas­ures of the snow, Job 38:22, unless God unlocks His treasure to us. One scien­tist photographed 10,000 separate snow flakes, and he found that every one was different from the other, although each was mathematically symmetrical; and so the scientist had not found the treasures even of this one department of nature. What shall we say then of God’s great treasure box “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Christ has also the keys of Hades and Death. Revelation 1:18. Hence death and the grave could not hold Him. He had the keys and could open the doors from the inside.” “What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord.” Let us wor­ship Him with great joy and love! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: S. A CHALLENGE TO FUNDAMENTALISTS ======================================================================== A CHALLENGE TO FUNDAMENTALISTS LET’S WAKE UP AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD LET US OBEY THE WORD OF THE LORD At this time when the world is torn asunder by strife and blood-shed would it not be wonderful if the prayer of the Lord Jesus, concerning the unity of His people, might be answered, "that they all may be one, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me"? What blessed truth is declared in Romans 12:5, "so we, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another." And we should never forget the commandment of the Lord Jesus, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another," John 13:34. And note the words of the of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:2-5, "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love: Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; one faith, one Body, one baptism," We all thank God for His loyal, uncompromising servant who are earnestly contending for the "one faith"; for the fundamentals of the Christian faith; salvation by grace through faith in the crucified and glorified Son of God, His eternal Deity, His bodily resurrection, and His premillennial coming. We all know that there is but one true bible Church during this present Divine economy and that the believing sinner becomes a member of this one Church by a Divine baptism at the time he believes unto the saving of his soul. The Holy Spirit has expressed the Divine Will in these words, "That there should be no schism (division) in the Body." 1 Corinthians 12:25. "Baptized by one Spirit into one Body." 1 Corinthians 12:13. If the men and women of God who are so earnestly contending for the one faith in the midst of the modernism, ritualism and fanaticism all about us, were as earnestly contending for the one Body and one baptism, what a united army we would have against the enemies of the grace of God and the Word of God. Has any true Bible Christian the Scriptural right to contend for a sectarian church or a sectarian baptism? And surely after all these centuries God’s true evangels know that it is a spiritual crime to follow in the steps of the foolish Galatians and pervert God’s "grace" gospel by mixing in Israel’s Old Testament re­ligious program. Moreover God’s Bible-teachers know that God has in His Book an intelligent Divine principle by which His children can know how to bring into this present economy of grace any part of the kingdom program of the Old Testament Scriptures and of the Four Gospels that fits into God’s "grace" program. Just this past week, in a series of radio messages, an evangelical messenger was earnestly contending for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. He had little or nothing to say against the modernism or ritualism or fanaticism with which the Church of Christ is being troubled on every hand. He had nothing to say against men affiliated with cults propagating unscriptural heresies and Satanic vagaries. His attack was against those who agree with him as to the verbal inspiration of the Bible, the virgin birth and eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation by faith in Christ’s redemptive work and His premillennial coming, and all of the Bible fundamentals of the Christian faith. He was attacking such of his fellow saints as do not agree with his "dispensationalism". Such of his statements as were not untrue were ungracious. The brother wanted to impress upon his hearers that he was "ultra-orthodox", "super-spiritual" and "anti-dispensational". In­stead of using the Scriptures to prove his assertions, he employed the carnal weapons which are forbidden in the very Scriptures he was defending. He ridiculed, condemned and insulted those with whom he disagreed. Perhaps it never once occurred to him just how inconsistent, or ignorant, he was when he boastfully said, "I take the whole Bible," "it is all for me to obey I do not divide the Bible up, and give some to the Jews and some to the Gentiles". He warned his hearers against those who do not agree with his principle, or lack of principle, for Bible study. Now in this counter-charge, that this dear brother is either incon­sistent or ignorant, perhaps both, we do not want to use the same carnal weapons. We would not want to be so ungracious as to say that the brother was either ignorant or dishonest. Our appeal will be to the Scriptures, to common sense logic and to our brother’s own teaching and practice as a Christian minister. We will ask you to weigh the evidence and render your own verdict. A few days before this brother was broadcasting his "castigating" message I read a letter from a Chicago pastor, who is an acknowledged leader among Fundamentalists. In his letter he said that any preacher who does not obey the commands of the Lord Jesus is a servant of Satan. After you have considered the Scriptural arguments in this mes­sage you be the jury and the judge and see whether or not this Christian warrior has called himself a servant of Satan. THE CHRISTIAN AND CHRIST’S COMMANDMENTS Undoubtedly more than ninety-nine per cent of Christians would say that a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ; a Christian is one who keeps the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then to the mind of the Berean immediately comes this question, "which of the Lord’s commandments?" Are Christians in the present economy of grace to obey all the commandments which Jesus Christ on earth gave to His disciples and to others? After we have read this message we shall think with the Jewish rabbi who said to an outstanding evangelical pastor of London, "It was not your Jesus who gave you your evangelical grace message and program. It was the apostle Paul. Your Jesus was a religious Jew under the law." Of course, that rabbi did not understand that Christ revealed to Paul the grace message and program in his Epistles. But if that rabbi had been an evangelical Christian, he would not have endorsed the red-letter New Testament which emphasizes the words of Jesus on earth above the words which He gave to Paul by revelation. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." These words were spoken to the disciples of the Lord. Then we read in Acts 11:26, "And the disciples were called Chris­tians first in Antioch." Is a Christian one who keeps the commandments of Christ? Which commandments? If Christ were on earth, would He not again put to thousands of professing Christians the same question He put to religious professors of His day? "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? (Matthew 15:3). "Ye make the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." (Matthew 15:6). "Teaching for doc­trines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9). Nearly one hundred per cent of Christians are the victims of tradition. We are so sheep-like, in that we fall into the religious habit of following religious leaders and permit them to formulate our religious creeds. Sooner or later we come to the place where we interpret, appropriate and apply the Scriptures by the rules and standards of interpre­tation and application established by certain leaders and rulers. Of course, in the hearts of Christians, who zealously follow some particular leader and accept him as final authority in Bible doctrine, there is generally a mixture of contempt and pity for fellow-Christians who they think are ignorantly following some other erring Christian leaders. Many of those who play "follow the leader" are not only zealous and loyal but they are so satisfied with their own position and so prejudiced against others that they will not even seriously and prayerfully search the Scriptures, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, to ascertain whether or not they may be mistaken. They do not ask whether or not they have substituted a few religious traditions for Divine Truth: Thus we have more than three hundred groups of Christians, with their varying and contrary religious creeds. We may be sure that the unhappy discord and divisions exist because far more than ninety per cent of Christians permit others to do their thinking for them. And there is no Christian sect in this country that has not included in its program and creed some human tradition or theory. These traditions and theories cause schisms in the Lord’s Body in disobedience to the plain command of the Lord. WHICH COMMANDMENTS? But now to the question: which of the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ are Christians to obey? Let us begin with a most import­ant command of the Lord Jesus. Read it very carefully in Matthew 23:1-3 : "Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to His disciples, Saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatso­ever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and do not." Do not hurry on. Consider seriously this command of the Lord Jesus. Is it for present-day Christians to obey? This is a very clearly stated, positive, important command. Jesus Christ told His disciples that they were to obey the crooked, hypo­critical blind fools, (Matthew 23:14-19), the scribes and the Pharisees. Why? Because they occupied Moses’ seat (cathedra). Where is Moses’ seat in this day of grace? Believers in this dispensation are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Compare Ephesians 2:5-6 with Matthew 23:1-3 Neither the radio messenger nor the Chicago pastor obeys this im­portant command. They refuse to recognize Moses’ seat in this age of grace. If they consider themselves what Christian pastors should be, faithful stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1-4), they should give such a clear Scriptural exegesis and explanation that their hearers and followers would be convinced that the Lord’s com­mand of Matthew 23:1-3 has no place in this present economy of grace. There was a place for Moses’ seat while Jesus Christ was on earth. When the Holy Spirit teaches these stewards of the mysteries of God the dispensational place of Moses’ seat, they should teach their hearers and followers why they do not obey some other commandments which the Lord Jesus gave. And just one such sane, Scriptural message should make them very careful as to their unjust, ungracious criticisms of their fellow-Christians. If they would give forth one such clear exe­gesis, taught by the Holy Spirit, they would neither say that any man who does not obey the commandments of the Lord Jesus is a servant of Satan, nor boastfully say, "I obey all of the Bible". You are beginning to see that they do not believe what they seem to think they believe. It may sound well to a Christian who does not use his mind in Bible-study to hear a leader say, "I obey all the Bible”—"It is all for me to practice" But when the Christian does think seriously, he decides that the claimant is either very ignorant, or at least a bit dishonest. Let us ask the two brethren to whom we have referred; "do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was in earnest when he gave the commandment recorded in Matthew 8:4? Now, honestly do you consistently obey it, or make even the slightest pretense to practice it?” Hear it: "Go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." Again, if these two brethren were really practicing what they are preaching, after reading Matthew 5:23-24, they would never pray the "Our Father" prayer until after they had paid a visit to their fellow Christians whom they have denounced, against whom they have brought false charges. Carefully note this plain and positive commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Do you believe that these brethren believe this commandment fits into the Pauline program of grace? If so, they, are doing nothing about it. Again, if these two brethren were sincere and honest in their claims, they would obey Matthew 6:17 when they obey the Lord and pray the "Our Father" prayer. Yes, instead of publicly condemning their fellow saints, they should with the same zeal and energy implore their hearers to obey Matthew 6:17 : "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face." This was the Lord’s command. Our brother says those who do not obey His commands are servants of Satan. WAKE UP, FUNDAMENTALISTS! Something is wrong with our Bible teaching. We do not obey such commands of the Lord Jesus as we find in Matthew 10:5-8 and we do not give any Scriptural explanation for our negligence or dis­obedience if we are guilty of either. If ever the Lord Jesus was in earnest He was when He gave that clear positive command: "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. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have re­ceived, freely give." Why is it that these dear brethren who claim to obey the orders of Christ wholly ignore these plain commands? They do not do one single thing included in this Divine command, and they cannot. They do not do one single thing to obey Ephesians 3:9. They could and they should. But instead they malign, ridicule, condemn and disfellowship other brethren who use Ephesians 3:9 to show why they make no at­tempt to obey the great commission of Matthew 10:5-8, which was God’s program in a former dispensation, but which has no place in the Lord’s present program of grace for members of the Body of Christ. Is it not a mark of ignorance for any Christian to say, "I am not a dispen­sationalist? We here quote some other commandments of the Lord Jesus and ask you if they are to be obeyed in this present dispensation? SOME OTHER COMMANDMENTS "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." "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 ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind." "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. "And He said unto them. Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece." "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet." "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." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal." How interesting it would be to examine the two brethren in the presence of witnesses and say, "I understand you bitterly condemn other men who are saved by faith in the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you say they do not obey the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now a few questions: Have you sold your property and earthly possessions? Do you take any thought for your life or lay up any treasures on earth? Have you a savings account in the bank? Do you wash each other’s feet? Do you put any money in your purse when you go away to hold a religious meeting? Do you take more than one coat? Do you love your enemies or do you hate men that disagree with your faulty dispensationalism? Do you give to him that asketh of thee? I wonder if these brethren would be satisfied to have our heavenly Father forgive them no more than they forgive Christians who disagree with water baptism theories. They should really tremble when they read Matthew 18:34-35. But they can be saved from tremb­ling by reading the "grace" message of forgiveness in Ephesians 4:32. What a difference! Yes, it would be interesting to ask the two brethren to whom we have referred why they do not obey Luke 12:33 and urge their hearers to do likewise: "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 12:33. I understand one of them has recently done the very opposite, hav­ing purchased a house and a lot. I am doing the same thing right now. How different from those Pentecostal disciples "Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices 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." Acts 4:34-35. "And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." Acts 2:45. These two brethren erroneously teach that this present "dispensa­tion of grace" began on the day of Pentecost. They get into no end of trouble because of this blunder. They consider that first Church under Peter’s authority, the ideal Christian Church. Then the message and program should be considered ideal, and they should preach Acts 2:38 and practice Acts 4:34-35. But they wholly disregard the division of property. They preach a message entirely different from Acts 2:38­—Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." They make no attempt to speak with tongues. They present no Scriptural explanation for the elimination of many of the practices of Christ and His apostles from their spiritual program. They do not even offer an apology. And yet they condemn and ridicule and malign and disfellowship other men of God who likewise eliminate certain kingdom messages, ordinances and ceremonies from the present "dispensation of grace" but who present an intelligent Scriptural ex­planation for the difference between the program of Jesus Christ and the Twelve, and the program which Jesus Christ in heaven gave through the apostle Paul to supersede His "kingdom of heaven" program. One of the very important commands which the Lord would have His ser­vants obey is 2 Corinthians 4:2, "not handling the Word of God deceit­fully. Now think for a moment of an intelligent man of God, who is con­sidered an outstanding leader among Fundamentalists, a man, regarded as a gifted Bible teacher, making the statement that any person who does not obey the commands of Jesus Christ is a servant of the devil. If this brother really believes what he says, the very first command of the Lord Jesus he should obey is Matthew 5:23-24. He knows his brother has something against him and he has not gone to that brother to be reconciled. To him that knoweth to do right and doeth it not to him it is sin. If asked why he does not obey this, he would have to confess his disobedience or prove that that command belonged to a dif­ferent dispensation. You see that he was not sincere and honest in writing his letter. Recently this same brother is doing something that he never did before. He is coming out strong for the "Our Father" prayer. He states that this is the command of Christ. But the command we have just quoted is in the same sermon of Christ, as is also another command in the same chapter wholly ignored by our brother. "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face." Matthew 6:17. Is it not handling the Word of God deceitfully to select what you please from the Sermon on the Mount and wholly ignore other commands? To say the least it is very inconsistent to practice one command and ignore the other. THE KINGDOM SETTING OF THE KINGDOM PRAYER Then let us see the "kingdom of heaven" setting of all three of these commands. The commands are in the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew. Now note carefully Matthew 4:17 and Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 10:7-8 : "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. "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." Do either of these brethren, or any other intelligent messenger of grace, preach "the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? Certainly not. They definitely preach and teach that "that kingdom of heaven" has been postponed and that God’s message today is Titus 2:11—"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Thus they claim to obey 2 Timothy 2:15 and prove that they are "dispensation­alists". Is our brother a servant of Satan because he does not obey Matthew 10:8? Suppose some evangelist would stand in his pulpit and condemn dispensationalism, and say with the radio messenger to which we have referred, "I believe the whole Bible is for us to obey and practice." So, in the series of meetings, which I am to conduct here we shall take the message and program of Matthew 10:8 during my stay". The evan­gelist would not even be permitted to finish his first message. Why? Because "the kingdom of heaven" is not at hand. The brother couldn’t heal the sick, or raise the dead, or cast out demons, or cleanse the lepers. Did not the Lord give that command in earnest? Did not the apostles obey it? Is it for us today? How about the credentials of a Christian in Mark 16:17-18? Who practices those signs in this age of grace? What became of those signs? God has an answer. God’s servants should know God’s answer. If a Christian worker owns several suits of clothes, has a savings account in the bank, owns real estate, stores fuel and food in the cellar for the winter, and refuses to give money to some one who asks him, is he not breaking the commandments of Christ? Does that mean that he is a servant of Satan? Christ said "agree with thine adversary quickly." Should we obey this? Note the positive and definite command of Christ in Luke 24:49, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Inasmuch as those disciples lived before the advent of the Holy Spirit and we live in this day of grace, is any kind of a tarrying meeting in any city in order today? When we have the Scriptural ex­planation as to why we do not have to tarry for the Holy Spirit, do we not have God’s dispensational principle by which we interpret, appro­priate and apply the Scriptures in obedience to 2 Timothy 2:15? "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth." Again referring to that petition in the "Our Father" prayer, which is dispensationally a "kingdom" prayer, "forgive us our debts as we for­give our debtors", how could either of the brethren to whom we have referred ever get into heaven, if God condemned them for their unforgiv­ing spirit as well as for their utter inconsistencies in taking two or three of Christ’s commands and entirely ignoring thirty or forty of them? If ye keep the whole law and offend in one point ye are guilty of all—Was not the anathema of God pronounced upon the religious preachers who mixed law with grace? Galatians 1:7-9. Note carefully Matthew 6:15 - "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Now in the name of the Lord, I challenge these two brethren to meet in the presence of a company of Christian brethren and prove by the Scriptures that they were sincere or Scriptural in the statements they made. We are reminded of Shakespeare’s words, "my words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go." Men of God should be very careful about misrepresenting the Lord’s servants. UNSCRIPTURAL OR UNDISPENSATIONAL There are some splendid Christians who religiously practice the washing of feet. Are they Scriptural or unscriptural? There are some splendid Christians who religiously abstain from eating pork. Are they Scriptural or unscriptural? There are some splendid Christians who anoint the sick with oil, while others use blessed handkerchiefs. Are they Scriptural or unscriptural? There are some splendid Christians who tarry for the Holy Spirit after they have received Christ for salva­tion. There are many Christians who claim visions, angelic visitations, and that they hear supernatural voices. Are they Scriptural or un­scriptural? There are thousands of Christians who break forth in some kind of a speech which they call the gift of tongues. Is it Scriptural or unscriptural to speak with tongues? I wonder if these two brethren and many others of you Christian leaders have any idea of the number of zealous, sincere Christians who are troubled to know why Christian pastors and Bible teachers wholly ignore the truth of 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 : "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily, prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” "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 gifts 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." They have the right to ask the question, "If God put them in the Body and if Christians in 1941 belong to the same Body, who has taken these gifted men out of the Body?" Men who are God’s Bible-teachers are stewards of the mysteries of God. They should rightly divide the Word of Truth, and show from the Scriptures why the most carnal saints of Paul’s time exercised all of the sign-gifts, whereas the most spiritual and gifted Christian "grace" preachers today do not even at­tempt to exercise one of these gifts. They simply ignore them without explanation or apology. Christians have the right to know whether or not they are to obey 1 Corinthians 14:39, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Corinthians 7:29 : "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues." "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." "But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none." How much of the program of Acts 19:5-6; Acts 19:11-12 is for today ? "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied." "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul; so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." This was God’s program more than twenty years after our two brethren and many of you claim that "the dispensation of grace" and "the dispensation of the mystery" began, (for they say they began on the Jewish Pentecost with the twelve apostles). What part of this program is for this present economy-of grace? We have here the last Bible record of water baptism. Imposition of hands, Holy Spirit bap­tism, speaking with tongues, miraculous healings, followed that water baptism. Should we not insist on the complete program today as the Pentecostalists do, or give an intelligent Scriptural explanation as to what right we have to take just the water baptism and drop everything else? When we find this explanation we shall find that we have no such right. "But the Christians who have done this have followed sec­tarian creeds and human traditions instead of the Word of truth rightly divided. We say again, "Wake up Fundamentalists!" Think of the wild fanaticism among the religious "healing" and "tongues" Christians. Ridicule and condemnation will not remedy the situation. God’s anti­dote is obedience to 2 Timothy 2:15 and Ephesians 3:9. In our new 320 page book, entitled "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ" we have not only made the claim, but we have proven by the Scriptures that the understanding of Ephesians 3:1-11, (the unsearchable riches of Christ), is Gods curative for every ill and "ism" with which the Church of the Lord is afflicted. A FOLLOWER OF JESUS Then we say that a Christian is one who follows Jesus Christ. Let us read carefully Luke 2:21-22; Luke 2:24— Acts 2:39 and Acts 4:16. Here we see the infant Jesus and the Man Jesus. Are we to follow Him in circumcision? Are we to follow Him to the Jewish synagogue on the Jewish sabbath? Note John 7:10 and Luke 22:11 : "But when His brethren were gone up, then went He up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret." Jesus Christ was circumcised thirty years before He was baptized with. water and about thirty-four years before His death baptism. Luke 12:50. He was a minister of the circumcision. Romans 15:8. He was sent to the circumcision only. Matthew 15:24. He said unto His twelve apostles "go not into the way of the uncircumcision". John the Baptist baptized with water that Christ might be made manifest to the circum­cision John 1:31. All the time Jesus Christ was on earth the covenant of circumcision was in full force. Acts 7:8. Genesis 17:5-15. Note the attitude of the eleven apostles toward Peter because he preached to an uncircumcised man seven or eight years after the baptism of Christ on the cross: "They of the circumcision contended with Him saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and didst eat with them." Acts 11:1-3. Note some years later how Peter still feared the circumcision: "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. Note what Paul did about that time: "Him (Timothy) would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters for they knew all that his father was a Greek." Acts 16:3. From the day John the Baptist began to baptize with water until the day Peter baptized Cornelius and his household no man was baptized who had not first been circumcised. So we may be sure that the Eunuch of Acts Eight was a circumcised proselyte. As we compare the nineteenth chapter of Acts, where we find the last Scriptural record of a baptism with water, with the twenty-first chapter of Acts, we learn that God’s Book shows that circumcision was being practiced after the last record of water baptism. From this we see the absolute folly of teaching that water baptism was instituted by the Lord to take the place of circumcision. Thou­sands of Christians have been led into this erroneous teaching and accept the error as truth because they follow their leaders without follow­ing the example of the noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were true. Then, to think of outstanding "grace" preachers who immerse little infants in a bath tub and say little Israelitish infants were immersed in the Red Sea and we should im­merse the infants of Christians in obedience to 1 Corinthians 10:1-10. Think of a Christian pastor telling other Christians that he obeys all of the Bible, that he does not give some of it to the Jews and some to the Gentiles and some to members of the Body of Christ. Did not the Lord state positively that unless a man was circumcised he should be cut off from His congregation? Genesis 17:5-15. Was this not binding at the time Jesus Christ gave the commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, at the time He taught the "Our Father" prayer, and for some years thereafter? Surely we are the victims of tradition and have substituted commandments of men for the doctrine of God rightly divided. Whenever a Christian leader holds on to a religious ceremony, he will interpret the Bible to defend his religious practice. SHOULD WE FOLLOW THE LORD JESUS IN KEEPING THE PASSOVER? "And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples?" Are we to follow the Lord Jesus and keep the Jewish feasts? We are told by some zealous religious leaders that we are to follow the Lord in baptism; but they seem never to have read Luke 12:50 and Colossians 2:11-12. Circumcision is just as essential to salvation as is baptism. No one can get into heaven who has not been circumcised or baptized with the circumcision and the baptism of Colossians 2:11-12 : "In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made with­out hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circum­cision of Christ; Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead." I am sure we are all agreed that since the days of the apostles the human race has lived in God’s economy of grace. We believe Romans 6:14, "ye are not under the law, but under grace." We are sure that God’s will concerning members of the Body of Christ, expressed in Colossians 2:16, is to be obeyed by these Body members—"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days." Any spiritual intelligent child of God knows that it is utterly im­possible for him to obey this command in Colossians 2:16, and at the same time obey the command of the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 23:1-3, with respect to the authority of those who sat in Moses’ seat. The explanation is that between the command of Matthew 23:1-39 and that of Colossians 2:16, the great event mentioned in Colossians 2:14 took place. "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." Now let us compare Ephesians 4:32 with Matthew 6:14-15 : "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one an­other, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Do you see that one is grace and the other is law? Note again Col­ossians 2:13 and Acts 13:39, and compare with Matthew 18:34-35. We quote these four verses: "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." "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Which is God’s message for us in this age of grace? RECOVERY OF TRUTH Let us remember that before John, the apostle, died the prophesied apostacy had set in. By the end of the third Christian century the or­ganized church had been plunged into spiritual darkness, which grew worse and worse until Luther’s reformation. The fundamental doctrines of Christianity had been lost to the great majority of professing Chris­tians. The church-leaders, for the most part, were unregenerated re­ligious political rulers or religious men allied with ungodly political potentates. This condition prevailed for centuries. Christendom was in an awful spiritual state. Religious teachers had departed from sound doctrine. Even the recovery of "justification by faith" produced a tremendous reformation. The people who sat in darkness saw a great light. But Luther and his co-laborers and followers recovered little or nothing of the truth of Ephesians and Colossians Concerning the Body of Christ. The church-leaders of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth cen­turies would have persecuted unto death Christians who would have dared to teach concerning the Body of Christ and the gospel of grace what "grace" preachers are proclaiming today and what John Darby taught in his day. We quote a note from the writings of the very pastor to whom we have referred in this message. This note is concerning the one Body of Ephesians "It is a great truth that the Lord is teaching many over again in the present day, after it has been buried in the rubbish of ecclesiastical traditions for centuries that God has a Church upon earth. It is our part then, not to be making churches, but to acknowledge what He has already made. The various churches spoken of in the New Test­ament are but severally the Church of God in such or such a place. Nothing is owned but this; the Church of God. Membership is in this, and not in local bodies . . . Into this membership man cannot admit, but the Lord only . . . Our part is only to bow to what He has done, and to receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now all making terms of admission is plainly out of the question, for we do not admit at all." Even now, centuries after "The Reformation", how many Christian pastors, all of whom are supposed to be stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1-4), are obeying Ephesians 3:9? "And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God." Be honest, servants of the Lord, are we to obey this command or ignore it? What are you doing about it? Christians will never enjoy the most blessed and glor­ious truth of the Bible, for them, until they see this. The pastor, who branded as servants of Satan men of God who do not obey all the commands of the Lord, and who himself ignores most of them, bitterly condemns and maligns and abuses God’s servants who are faithfully endeavoring to obey Ephesians 3:9, while he does abso­lutely nothing about it. Concerning "the dispensation of the mystery", this pastor wrote in one of his books on Paul, "how earnest was the apostle Paul in seeking to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth." How true is this statement of this pastor who is fighting this precious truth today? Note what Paul wrote in Colossians 4:2-4 "Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving: Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of ut­terance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak." This precious truth certainly got Paul into plenty of trouble. Note what he wrote in 2 Timothy 2:9 : "Wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound." Leaders among the Fundamentalists of today will certainly treat as "evil-doers" men of God who seek to follow Paul as they are commanded to do. If you are faithful in proclaiming this precious truth today you will be in plenty of trouble. This is because of sectarian prejudice re­sulting from mixing man’s traditions with God’s truth, or by using some hit-and-miss, snatch-grab method to bring some of Israel’s relig­ious program over into "the dispensation of grace" (Ephesians 3:1-3), without exegesis, explanation or apology. Thus the mystery is still a mystery. Note again several quotations from the pastor to whom we have referred: "Throughout the writings of the Apostle Paul he again and again refers to a wonderful secret, which he designates in a special way as "the mystery," or "the great mystery." "For centuries it was almost entirely lost sight of. In fact, until brought to the fore through the writings and the preaching and teaching of a distinguished ex-clergyman, Mr. J. N. Darby, in the early part of the last century, it is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon throughout a period of sixteen hundred years." "Of ordinances exalted to the place of mysteries, as in heathen rites, he will find much; but as to the mystery, which to the apostle was so unspeakably pre­cious, rarely a reference." "That a doctrine so clearly revealed in the Scriptures could have become so utterly lost is only to be accounted for by the Judaizing of the Church, and the consequent minding of earthly things that beclouded the heavenly ones." "The mystery" was not something of difficult, mysterious character, but a sacred secret never known to mankind until in due time opened up by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul." "It was not hid in the Scriptures to be brought to light eventually; but we are distinctly told it was hid in God until such time as He chose to manifest it." "This was not until Israel had been given every opportunity to receive Christ both in incarnation and resurrection. When they definitely refused Him God made known what had been in His heart from eternity, that from all nations, Jews and Gentiles, He would redeem and take out an elect company who would, by the Spirit’s baptism, be formed into one Body." "The mystery formed no part of the revelation of the previous dispensations. Had it been otherwise, Paul could not rightly have written that it was "kept secret since the world began." It was part of the good news he was commissioned to publish abroad but he learned it not from the former Scriptures, but by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory." THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST WAS NEVER MADE KNOWN IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES, NOR YET WHEN OUR LORD WAS ON EARTH. IT WAS HID. THE DIVINE METHOD OF MAKING IT KNOWN WAS BY A SPECIAL REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE PAUL, COMMITTED TO HIM TO PASS ON TO THE SAINTS. "The Divine method of making it known was by a special revelation to the apostle Paul, as he tells us in Ephesians 3:1-21. But this revelation was not for him only. It was a ministry committed to him to pass on to the saints." "How earnest was the apostle in seeking to lead Christians into the knowl­edge of this precious truth." Note carefully the statement, "That the doctrine so clearly revealed in the Scriptures could have become so utterly lost is only to be ac­counted for by the Judaizing of the Church, and the consequent minding of earthly things that beclouded the heavenly ones." If this doctrine is not utterly lost to our brother, he should be as earnest as was Paul in seeking to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth, instead of being one of the greatest hindrances to this truth in the country. If the truth is utterly lost to him, then it is because he has Judaized the Church and is minding earthly things. This is his own confession. But the explanation is that he came face to face with a decision. He had to make his choice; a tank of water for his baptism ceremony or the proclamation of the mystery. He must have decided that the water ceremony, his watery grave theory, was more precious than that truth that was so precious to the apostle who said "Christ sent me not to baptize." WAKE UP FUNDAMENTALISTS! The Body of Christ is only one phase of this precious Divine truth, which is the most blessed and glorious truth for saints in all of God’s Word. Many centuries ago the risen Christ revealed this mystery, "His eternal purpose in Christ." Ninety-nine plus per cent of Church members are as ignorant of this truth as though it were not in the Bible. It is God’s answer to the fanaticism, to all the Israelitish movements with which the Church of Christ is afflicted. It is the Divine curative for every ill and "ism" that is troubling the Body of Christ. If there is to be a revival before the Lord Jesus comes for His Church, it will be when this glorious truth is brought from under the rubbish heap and ecclesiastical tradition to which our brother referred. See why God wants this glorious truth known: "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. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men. and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Let us no longer be children—Let us obey the Lord’s command. If there is any reason why the Lord is delaying His coming for His Church, it is not because He is waiting for the revival of the Roman Empire, but because He wants His saints to see and obey Ephesians 3:9-11 : "And to make all men 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, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." LET US DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT Now let us be gracious and longsuffering and forgiving. Let us obey Ephesians 4:1-6 : "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavor­ing to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all." But in kindness let me ask you, do you think a man is honest or intelligent when he says he obeys all the Lord’s commands? We do not obey Matthew 10:8 and we cannot: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils freely ye have received, freely give." But we can, and should obey Ephesians 3:9 : "And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God." We do not, and we should not, wash one another’s feet. We do not agree with our adversaries quickly, or slowly, in obedi­ence to Matthew 5:25. We do not and cannot, speak with tongues or perform miracles. But we can, and should obey Ephesians 3:9. When we obey Ephesians 3:9, we shall see why we cannot speak with tongues, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, have visions, preach political signs to prove that Christ’s Second Coming is at hand. We do not, and should not, preach "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," or "repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But we should obey Ephesians 3:9. We do not sell our houses and lots and give the money to religious leaders, because he that provideth not well for his own household denies the faith and is worse than an infidel. WHO OBEYS Mark 16:14-18? Why did not the twelve apostles obey Mark 16:14-18? Why do not Fundamentalists obey Mark 16:14-18 today? Do you know of a single grace messenger who preaches or practices Mark 16:14-18? Do you know of a single Scripture to prove that the twelve apostles preached the gospel throughout Asia, Africa and Europe? Now before our comments carefully read Mark 16:14-18 : "Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Surely we have here in very simple and plain language a clear pro­gram presented to the eleven apostles by the resurrected Christ; "Go ye into all the world". "Preach the gospel to every creature." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "These signs shall follow them that believe." Now note Matthew 24:14 and Colossians 1:5-6 and Colossians 1:23 : "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:" "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;" Note carefully, "Whereof I Paul am made a minister." Then note 2 Timothy 4:17 : "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." The gospel preached in all the world to every creature was under Paul’s authority. But when he had accomplished this, the end men­tioned in Matthew 24:14, did not come. The end of Paul’s earthly ministry came. But he commissioned Timothy to go right on with the grace message and program. But Paul did not tell Timothy to put hands on the sick. Note carefully 1 Timothy 5:23 : "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine oft in­firmities." If you will open your Bible and turn to the Book of Acts, you will read these headings, "Paul’s First Missionary Journey." "Paul’s Second Missionary Journey" and "Paul’s Third Missionary Journey". But you will not read of Peter’s first, second or third missionary journey or of the twelve apostles’. Why? Because they did not take any such journeys, according to the "Acts" record. They remained in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 and Acts 15:1-3. How then could they have remained in Jerusalem and have preached the gospel to every creature in the world? Note carefully the Lord’s instructions to Paul: "And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that be­lieved on Thee: And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the rai­ment of them that slew him. And He said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." As we carefully examine the Divine Record telling of the ministry of the twelve apostles and Paul, we should learn why Paul said, "I am the apostle of the Gentiles." Romans 11:13.The language in Galatians 2:9 is very plain and any misunderstanding of the statement certainly seems inexcusable. Note this plain statement: "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." Again the question, how could any student of the Scriptures teach that the twelve apostles even began the task of going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature when they agreed to evangelize the Jews? Paul preached to many Jews in many different places, but he was peculiarly the Lord’s special messenger to the Gentiles. Paul empha­sized this fact time and again. 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11, Ephesians 3:8. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: S. A DISPENSATIONAL STUDY OF BIBLE CHARACTERS ======================================================================== A DISPENSATIONAL STUDY OF BIBLE CHARACTERS By Pastor John C. O’Hair We present here eight Bible char­acters for a Dispensational study: We have a colored chart of the Bible - an outline from Genesis to Revelation - showing the facts of this study in picture. ADAM Adam, the first man, lived before the fall, in the Garden of Eden, in a state of innocency; and he also liv­ed after the fall, outside of the Gard­en, in a state of sin. Adam lived and sinned about 4000 years before Christ Jesus, the Second Man, came into the world to save sinners. Read 1 Corinthians 15:45-47; 1 Corinthians 15:22. NOAH Noah lived before the flood in the same dispensation, under the same covenant, with Adam the sinner. Noah also lived after the flood under an entirely new covenant, with new promises, in a new dispensation, und­er new conditions. Noah was a preacher of righteous­ness. 2 Peter 2:5. ABRAHAM Abraham lived part of his life und­er the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood, and he lived the last hundred years of his one hundred and seventy-five years en­joying blessings guaranteed to him through Noah, but also under the new covenant which God made; that is, the Abrahamic covenant. Under this covenant he spent the first twenty-four years in uncircumcision and the last seventy-six years in cir­cumcision. It could be truly said, “The Abrahamic covenant was added to the Noahic covenant.” God made His covenant with Abram 430 years before the Law was given. MOSES Moses, the mediator of the old co­venant, spent eighty years of his life under the Abrahamic covenant of promise, and the last forty years of his life under Israel’s old covenant, that is, under the law. Moses’ life was divided into three periods of forty years each. He received from Jehovah the Law for Israel about 1492 B.C. It is a very simple matter to see that Moses spent his life under two different covenants, although the Noahic covenant and the Abrah­amic covenant continued into the Mosaic covenant. The Law was add­ed to the promise - Galatians 3:19. Read Exodus 7:7 and Deuteronomy 34:7. DANIEL Daniel lived in the same dispensa­tion of Law that was given through Moses to Israel. But Daniel lived in the Land of the Jews before the Babylonian captivity, before the “Times of the Gentiles” began; and then he lived in Babylon after the “Times of the Gentiles” began about 600 B.C. JOHN THE BAPTIST John the Baptist lived as a con­temporary of Jesus Christ for more than thirty years. As the forerunner of Israel’s Messiah, John pro­claimed the Kingdom message, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He lived long enough to know that Israel would not receive the King and His Kingdom. Therefore John lived before and after the King was rejected. SIMON PETER Simon Peter was in company with Christ for more than three years be­fore the death of Christ. During those three years both Christ and Peter were under the law. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given. John 7:39. Simon Peter lived after the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Therefore he lived in two en­tirely different dispensations; first under the old covenant, and then under the new covenant. Simon liv­ed in the days of the Son of man - then in the Holy Spirit dispensation. Read John 1:41 and Luke 5:8-11. SAUL—PAUL Paul, the Apostle, was saved be­fore Peter preached to the first Gen­tile household, that of Cornelius. Paul Lived during the “transition” period, that thirty-year period cover­ed by the Book of Acts. Then he lived and ministered for some years after the transition period had ceased, after he reached Rome as Caesar’s prisoner, delivered to that Gentile government by the Jews of Jerusal­em. There was a radical change after Acts 28:28. Saul’s conversion is recorded in Acts 9:2-15. DIFFERENT MINISTRIES All of these men had very definite dealings with the God of Heaven. The omnipotent, everlasting God re­vealed Himself to each of these eight men. God committed to each of these men a definite ministry and each was responsible to God to re­present Him on earth in the parti­cular age in which he lived. Circumstances and responsibilities differed with different dispensations and co­venants. PROGRESSIVE REVELATION Noah knew by tradition concern­ing the dealings of God with Adam; but Adam died before God revealed Himself and His new plans to Noah both before and after the flood. Abraham knew by tradition and revelation the story of Adam before he passed out of the dispensation of “Innocence” into the dispensation of “Conscience” as a fallen creature. In the same way Abraham knew of God’s dealings with Noah, the ark­builder and preacher of righteous­ness, before the flood, and of the new covenant that God made with Noah after the flood, when the hu­man race was placed by God under the dispensation of “Human Govern­ment” or “Authority.” But if you will search the Scriptures from the twelfth chapter of Genesis to the twenty-fourth chapter, you will learn that Abraham knew many things from God that neither Adam nor Noah knew. A new dispensation had been ushered in, “Promise”. During the twenty-four years before Abra­ham was circumcised he had many re­velations from the Almighty God, and during the years that followed his circumcision he received new Divine truth from heaven. Revelation was progressive—new truths con­stantly being revealed. We learn in the fifth Chapter of Genesis that Lamech, the ninth from Adam, was 56 years old when Adam died at the age of 930. Lamech was the father of Noah and died five years before the flood. Shem was 93 years old when his grandfather, Lamech, died. Shem was 98 years old at the time of the flood, which was in the year of man, 1656. Lamech was contemporary of Adam and Shem, the eleventh generation after Adam. According to the elev­enth chapter of Genesis, Shem lived 502 years after the flood and died in 2158 A.H. (year of man). Ac­cording to the same chapter Abra­ham was born in 2008 A.H. He died in 2183 A.H. Genesis 25:7. Notwithstanding the fact that Abraham was the ninth from Shem, Shem lived until Abraham was 150 years of age. See the connecting link from Adam to Abraham. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: S. A DIVISION BECAUSE OF JESUS ======================================================================== A DIVISION BECAUSE OF JESUS In the days when Christ was here on earth there was a divi­sion among the people because of Jesus. There was even a greater division after His death and resurrection in the days of the apostles. There is a still greater division in the world today be­cause of Jesus. Note the following Scriptures: “Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? So there was a division among the people because of him.” John 7:41 and John 7:43. “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a. man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.” John 9:16. “There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:19-21. “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” Luke 12:51-53. “He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” Luke 11:23. In John 7:1-53, from which chapter we quot­ed the first Scriptures, note the statement concerning the division because of Jesus: “AND THERE WAS MUCH MURMURING AMONG THE PEOPLE CONCERNING HIM: FOR SOME SAID, HE IS A GOOD MAN: OTHERS SAID, NAY; BUT HE DECEIVETH THE PEOPLE.” John 7:12. “Much murmuring”—“Some said”—“Others said.” This is still going on. Who were right, the some who said or the others who said? Some—“Christ is a good man.” Others—“Nay, Christ deceiveth the people.” Note in Matthew 27:63 that the “others” continued in their attitude toward Christ: “Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.” Matthew 27:63. To them Christ was a deceiver. To them Christ performed mir­acles by Beelzebub, the prince of demons—Note Matthew 11:19 : “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.” They called Him a blasphemer, because, being a Man, He made Himself God. John 10:33. Today intelligent Jews join with Christians in declaring that the Lord Jesus Christ was a good Man. How good? Better than all the rest. There was a time when prejudiced and ignor­ant men declared that Jesus of Nazareth was deluded. They said He was not mentally sound, therefore, He made some false claims. But today, intelligent Jews, Christians, and non-Christian Gentiles are all agreed that Jesus Christ was the most intelligent man that ever lived on earth, as well as the greatest human bene­factor that the world has ever known. What is the verdict then? The “some” who said, “Christ is a good Man,” were right. How about the statement of the “others”: “Nay, He deceiveth the people”? Did Christ deceive the people? If Christ really deceived the people, did He thereby prove that He was a good Man? In other words; could a man really be both a good man and a deceiver, especially if he continues month after month, and year after year, to deceive the people? From the beginning of His earthly ministry until His death, and again after His resurrection, Jesus Christ claimed that He was God manifest in the flesh, that He was in the beginning in the God head, that He came down from heaven, that He had glory with the Father before the world was. Christ received worship as God. Christ proved His claim to Deity by His supernatural power, by His miracles. If Christ declared that He was God from the beginning, that He had glory with the Father, that He came down from heaven, and if He really was not what He claimed, then surely He de­ceived the people. Such a deceiver could not be called a good man. We must decide by common sense logic that Jesus Christ was both God and good, or He was not God and good. The Modernists who have crept unawares into the Christian church are far more inconsistent than were the Jews who took up stones to kill Christ when He was here on earth. They stoned Him, “because He made Himself equal with God.” John 5:17-20. In John 19:7, we learn why they had Christ crucified. Because He claimed equality with God. These foolish Modernists among church members, join with religious Jews in expressing great admiration for the man of Galilee, and dote much on the ideal Man, Jesus, with His ideal philosophy and His interpretation of God and true religion. They eulogize Him, quote Him, praise Him, and preach Him to Jews and Gentiles. But with all this they ever seek to make Christ, the Holy Spirit, and all the apostles, liars, by saying that Jesus was a very good man, but that He was not born as the Bible de­clares He was born; that He did not come down from heaven; that He did not have Divine authority to forgive sins. He was not God, the Son. He was not God’s foreordained sin-bearer. His body was not raised from the dead. He is not now the resurrected Jesus at God’s right hand, as the Bible claims. Salvation is not by faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but by charac­ter, by good behaviour, by imitating Jesus, by trying to live up to the religion of Jesus. Surely you and I agree that these pretenders, who call them­selves Modernists, are only Christianized agnostics. They are far less consistent than were the Jews, who in the first century also denied the eternal Deity of the Son of God, and took a decided stand against Him, declaring that He was worthy of death. Note this law of the Jews in Leviticus 24:16 : “And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.” If Jesus Christ was not God, as He claimed time and time again, were not the Jews right when they said to Pilate “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” John 19:7? Leviticus 24:16 was the law to which the Jews referred when they spoke the words of John 19:7. Even the thinking Jews today believe that Jesus Christ was too good to have been a blasphemer. They should accept Him then as God: for God He was. Remember what Thomas said when he was fully convinced “And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:28. Christ did not say, “Thomas, you are mistaken. I am a very good Man, but I am not Lord and God.” He received the worship. And remember His own words in Luke 4:8 : “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The pseudo-Christians claim to believe in the historical Jesus. The historical Jesus is the Bible Jesus. So when they decide on the authority of the Bible Record that Jesus was a good man, they must, if intelligent and consistent, acknowledge that by the same Record He was and is God. “JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TODAY, AND FOR EVER.” Hebrews 13:8. “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:17. HOUSEHOLD DIVIDED Note again Luke 12:51 : “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” Look all about on every side, and see not only nations, cities, and communities divided because of Jesus, but families. If we could only know what is going on in homes where some members of the household are for Christ and some are against Him. Yes, there has been, and there is a division among the people because of Jesus. In the eternal ages there will be a division among the people, because of Jesus. Some will spend eternity with the Lord and His redeemed in glory. Some will be in perdition suffering the sorrows of the second death. Christ declared, “he that is not with Me is against Me.” Luke 11:23. IS CHRIST DIVIDED? “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10. “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” 1 Corinthians 3:3. “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it” 1 Corinthians 11:18. “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” 1 Corinthians 12:25. Note God’s will; that there should be no “schism”; no “divi­sion.” What a pity! Christ’s Church so divided that the apostles asked “is Christ divided?” Since that day divisions and subdivi­sions have increased, until today there are more than 300 branches of the Christian Church. The Lord said, “that there be no schism (division) in the Body.” Note Ephesians 4:3-7 : “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your call­ing; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ” Note again Romans 12:4-5 : “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.” Note again Christ’s prayer in John 17:21 and John 17:11 : “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou host sent me.” “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou host given me, that they may be one, as we are.” ONE NEW MAN When we believers reach heaven perfect unity will prevail, and there we shall learn that God’s purpose in this age is ex­pressed in Ephesians 2:15 : “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.” One in Christ. In one Body of which Christ is the Head. Again note Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Note 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 : “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 made to drink into one Spirit” As the unbeliever looks on and beholds the division, sectarianism, and lack of unity among Christians, he is asking, “Is Christ divided?” THE OMNISCIENT CHRIST I KNOW MY SHEEP “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:14 and John 10:27. We read these words in 2 Timothy 2:19 : “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” The Lord knoweth them that are His. The good Shepherd knows His sheep. He said “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:11 and John 10:15. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28. The Lord Jesus knows who is saved and who is unsaved. But God wants the believer to know that he is saved “These things have I written unto you that 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.” 1 John 5:13. We read something more about Christ the Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20-21 : “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” and in 1 Peter 5:4 : “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” So we learn that Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd and the chief Shepherd. JESUS KNEW ALL “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all. And needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25. To know all is to be omniscient. Let us read Peter’s words to the Lord Jesus, “And he (Peter) said unto Him, Lord Thou know­est all things.” John 21:17. The woman at the well said to the Lord Jesus, “. . . . . . I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” John 4:25. Note Christ’s reply, “ . . . . .. I that speak unto thee am he.” John 4:26. That sinful woman learned that day that Christ needed not that any should testify of woman; for He knew what was in woman. Christ saw Nathanael under the fig tree. But because it was not with physical eye-sight, Nathanael cried, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God.” Christ assured Nathanael that He would see greater things. John 1:46-51. In John 13:1, Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of the world. “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.” John 6:64. “For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.” John 13:11. THE CHIEF SHEPHERD AND SIMON PETER “This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee, He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” John 21:14-17. Here the chief Shepherd was instructing one of His under­shepherds to feed and tend His lambs and to feed His sheep. The Lord’s pastors are expected to feed the Lord’s sheep and lambs. Those who are faithful in this will receive a crown of glory when the chief Shepherd shall appear. Then the shepherd has another duty; he is to keep the wolves out of the flock. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my de­parting shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” Acts 20:28-29. The Lord Jesus pictures Himself as the good Shepherd in Luke 15:4 : “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” Then remember the words of the Shepherd-King in Luke 12:32 : “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Simon Peter became a faithful shepherd. He was faithful unto death. John 21:18-19 : “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” WHAT CHRIST KNEW ABOUT THE WOMAN AT THE WELL In John 4:5-26 is recorded a most interesting story of a sin­ful woman of Sychar of Samaria. Before the story, we read in John 4:4 : “And he must needs go through Samaria.” Now we see why He must needs go through Samaria. The Saviour was wearied with His journey and He sat at noontime on Jacob’s well. “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.” John 4:7. The woman was surprised that Jesus should have asked her for a drink “for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” John 4:9 : “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, ‘How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.’” Then the Lord Jesus talked to that poor sinful woman about water that would satisfy her soul. He called it “living water.” John 4:10. “’But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman saith unto him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.’” John 4:14-15. Here we think of 1 Timothy 1:15 : “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Note also Luke 19:10 : “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The Lord Jesus Christ came to be the Shepherd seeking lost sheep. He came into the world to save sinners. Almost any person will say, “I am a sinner,” because all of us are sinners. But only the Lord Himself can convince the individ­ual that he is not only a sinner, but a lost sinner. The sinner will not be much concerned about salvation until he realizes that he is lost. The Lord went right to that woman’s conscience after He had her interest and attention. He will now get right at her sin. “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Go, call thy husband, and come hither.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.’ The woman saith unto him, ‘Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.’” John 4:16-19. Another moment or two and she learned that she was in the presence of the Messiah, the Christ. Note what she did: “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, ‘Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?’ Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” John 4:28-30. Note also John 4:39 : “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, ‘He told me all that ever I did.’” She knew that the Messiah could tell all things. Now the Messiah had read her sinful heart. But here we have the confirmation of John 3:17 : “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” and 2 Corinthians 5:19 : “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.” NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE ANOTHER SINNING WOMAN In John 8:1-11 we have another interesting story of Jesus and a sinful woman: “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being con­victed by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine­ accusers, hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” Here we have in action the truth of John 1:17 : “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” and John 3:17-18 : “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he bath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” What did the law say? “Stone her to death.” Christ was without sin. He could have thrown the stone that would have meant the woman’s death. The law was the ministration of condemnation and death. 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 2 Corinthians 3:9. Under the law she deserved death. For every one under the law the law meant bondage. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20. Jesus Christ came to set the captive free. Christ did not come to throw stones at sinners. He came to judge hypocrites and unclothe the self-righteous. But undoubtedly we have noted in the Four Gospels that Christ never said an unkind word to any sinner who was willing to confess and receive pardon. To another sinful woman, who was very penitent and sought Christ and His pardoning grace, He said, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:47-48. That woman learned the truth of Romans 5:20, that “where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” Christ never once winked at sin, or condoned sin, or minimiz­ed sin in any way. When His enemies wanted to condemn Him, they said, “And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Luke 15:2. In. reply to this charge, the Lord told one of the greatest stories in all the Bible, the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We shall deal with this in our next book, but read Luke 15:20 : “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Now the words of Christ to the prodigal daughter: “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11. Carefully note the words, “Go, and sin no more.” We say that God saves us first from the penalty of sin and then from the practice of sin. “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Romans 6:2 and Romans 6:15. “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.” 1 John 2:1. “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.” 1 John 2:8-9. We read in Romans 8:1-4, that in Christ Jesus the believ­er is without condemnation by the law of the Spirit of life. And in Christ Jesus and by the same law he is enabled to walk in the Spirit and fulfill the righteousness of the law. ANOTHER COMFORTER There is perhaps more said in the Gospel of John concerning the Holy Spirit than in all the thirty-nine Books of the Old Testa­ment Scriptures. Before we look into the fourteenth and sixteenth chapters of John to study something of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, let us note John 7:38-39 : “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” “The Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet. glorified.” Now note John 16:7 : “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Again Acts 1:5 : “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be bap­tized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Here we have the information that while Christ was on earth, the Holy Spirit did not begin the work He was to do, as outlined in John 14:1-31; John 16:1-33. The Lord’s disciples had not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit when Christ was with them in His resurrection body. Most assuredly the disciples of the Lord Jesus entered into a new experience on the day of Pentecost. About four years before that time some of them had heard John the Baptist say “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Matthew 3:11. We learn in John 17:25 that the world knows not the Father. We learn in John 1:10 that the world knows not the Son. And we learn in John 14:17 that the world knows not the Holy Spirit. We quote John 14:16-17 : “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” In Galatians 3:14 and Ephesians 1:13, we learn that the believing sinner receives the Holy Spirit by believing the gospel, by receiving Christ, by going by faith to the cross of Calvary. As eternal .life is the free gift of God, so is the Holy Spirit. Note Galatians 3:2-3 : “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” We read this statement in Romans 5:5 : “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Again in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 : “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” Here we learn that the Holy Spirit is God’s gift. The believ­er does not have to labor for, or agonize for the Holy Spirit any more than he has to work for salvation, which God declared “not of works,” “it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8-9. We also learn that the believer is anointed. The word “Christ” means “anointed.” The moment the believing sinner re­ceives Christ, he is an anointed one with Christ. And note in 1 John 2:27 : “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you.” If the Holy Spirit is not in the individual’s heart, he is not saved, he is not a Christian. Strictly speaking it is doubtful if it is Scriptural to ask for a fresh or new anointing. It is altogether unscriptural to teach that in this reign of grace the believer receives the Holy Spirit with him when saved and in him when he is sanctified by a second definite Divine work. Let us not try to have an experience similar to that of the apostles, who had to wait for the Holy Spirit more than three years after they were saved. The three thousand who were saved on the day of Pentecost did not have to wait one day. The Samar­itans in Acts 8:5-16 had to wait several days. Sinners saved by the gospel of the grace of God today do not have to wait three minutes. The very moment the believing sinner accepts Christ he is sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:14 and Ephesians 4:30). He is blessed at the same time with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3). How foolish for a believer to be looking for a second blessing when he has been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. The Comforter was to come from the Father to abide in and with the disciples of Christ for ever. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was on earth to bear witness of the Father. The Holy Spirit was to come to bear witness of the Son to testify of Him. He was to teach the disciples all things and to bring to their remembrance the things Christ had spoken to them in John’s Gospel and the others. But undoubtedly the deep things, recorded in John, were less understood by the apostles than His utterances in the Synoptics. Note again John 16:12-14 : “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Here we can learn the important work of the Holy Spirit and how helpless would have been the disciples of Christ without Him. Let us note something more of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Acts and the Epistles. “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” Acts 5:32. “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Acts 13:2. “Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.” Acts 20:23. “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.” Romans 8:23. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Romans 8:14-17. “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.” 1 Corinthians 12:13. “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. THE TWO PARACLETES THE SON OF GOD AND ANOTHER COMFORTER In John 13:1-38, John 14:1-31, John 15:1-27, John 16:1-33, in John’s Gospel, we have the record of the ministry of the two Paracletes in behalf of the saints of God. Let us note the words of Christ in John 14:16-17 : “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” “Another Comforter.” The Greek word translated “Com­forter” is “Paracletos (Paraclete)”. Jesus Christ the Righteous is in God’s presence to appear for saints. Hebrews 9:24. Now note Hebrews 7:24-25 : “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priest­hood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Christ is in God’s presence in heaven representing the believers. He is the believer’s Priest,. Intercessor and Advocate. Christ ever lives to make intercession for saints. Now note Romans 8:26-27 : “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh interces­sion for the saints according to the will of God.” Here we note the wonderful intercessory work of the other Para­clete. Each Paraclete has a very definite ministry for the child of God. Note Ephesians 1:13-14 : “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that 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 indwelling Holy Spirit is the believer’s guarantee of his in­heritance, the earnest, until the redemption of the purchased possession. CHRIST WASHING HIS DISCIPLES FEET Now let us note the word of the believer’s Advocate in John 13:1-11 : “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet, only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.” “He loved them unto the end.” With this let us read Php 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” We call your special attention to two statements of Christ in con­nection with the washing of His disciples’ feet: “Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou know­est not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” John 13:7. “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” John 13:10. “Thou knowest not now.” “Thou shalt know hereafter.” Two different Greek words translated “know.” The second one means to understand, that is, after Christ’s resurrection from the dead His disciples would understand the real meaning of the wash­ing of their feet. This cleansing spoke of Christ’s work as the believer’s Advocate. “If we sin we have an Advocate with the Father.” 1 John 2:1. “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” Again we have two different Greek words translated “wash.” The first has the meaning of a washing all over; the other a subsequent cleansing. First the believer comes to Christ on the cross, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. There the believer is cleansed all over and there he be­comes the child of God. His relationship is established by the once-for-all work of Christ. At God’s right hand Christ contin­ually intercedes for the redeemed and maintains their fellowship. Let us remember His words in Luke 17:3-4 : “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven time in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” and Matthew 18:21-22 : “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Certainly Christ would not expect one of His disciples to do more forgiving than He Himself would do. Let us remember that John’s First Epistle was addressed to believers and that 1 John 1:9 is for God’s children “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. CHRIST INTERCEDING Now carefully read and study the seventeenth chapter of John, for it is one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible. There we have Christ as Priest, interceding. Note John 17:9 : “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Now note Hebrews 9:24 : “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Christ, in heaven, appears, not for the world of unbelievers but for those who have been washed by His precious blood. Note John 17:15-18 and John 17:20 and John 17:24 : “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the founda­tion of the world.” If these petitions of the Son of God speak of the present in­tercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, we can under­stand the why of the uttermost salvation in Hebrews 7:25, and we can understand Hebrews 6:19-20. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead­fast, and which entereth into that within the vail; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:19-20. CHRIST AS PRIEST IN John 17:1-26 John 17:11 : “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.” John 17:14 : “I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:15 : “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Christ said, “I pray not for the world.” John 17:9. The believer is in the world but not of the world. In John’s First Epistle are found these words: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15. Christ’s desire for His disciples was that they would touch the world but that the world would not touch them. Note again John 16:33 : “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We read in Hebrews 11:38 concerning God’s men of faith: “Of Whom the world was not worthy.” CAIAPHAS’ PROPHECY “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” John 11:50-52. It was expedient that Christ should die for His own Nation Israel and also that the children of God should be gathered to­gether. Note the words of Christ in John 10:16 : “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” Also note Christ’s words in John 12:31-33 : “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.” Also note Christ’s words in John 3:14 : “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Christ must be lifted up. He came to be the rejected King and the Corn of Wheat. “For this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27. As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilder­ness (Numbers 21:6) that the Israelites who were dying with the bite of the serpents might look, believe and live, so the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up and nailed to Calvary’s cross, that Jews and Gentile descendants of the first woman and man beguiled by the serpent in Eden might be saved from sin. “I, if I be lifted up”—“Signifying what death He should die.” ISRAEL’S BLINDNESS AND UNBELIEF THE GENTILES OBTAINED MERCY We learned in John 1:11-12, that Christ’s own rejected Him, but as many as received Him and believed on Him were born of God. We learn a most important truth in Romans 11:30 : “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” Note again Romans 11:15 : “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?” Here we learn that the unbelief and casting away of Israel brought mercy and reconciliation to the Gentiles. After this Divine truth is stated, note the words of the Holy Spirit in Romans 11:33-34 : “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?” What shall we Gentiles say? “Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.” Romans 11:19. Before we quote again from John 12:1-50, let us note Romans 11:7-8 : “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seek­eth for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.” Now note John 12:37-40 : “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias 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 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.” And here we might say again the words of Romans 11:33-34 : “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?” Therefore Israel could not believe. Here we think again of Acts 2:22-23 : “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: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” When Israel, with wicked hands, slew Jesus of Nazareth, when the rulers crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8) when Israel’s rulers killed the Prince of Life (Acts 3:14-15) the Son of God was delivered according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If Christ was God’s spotless Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-21), and if His death was in fulfillment of Scriptures (Acts 13:29) then we say that Christ’s death was not only inevitable but Christ had to die at the time that He died and in the manner that He died by the hands of His own Nation. But even so, God did not minimize or excuse the guilt of the men who had Christ put to death. Note Acts 7:51-52 : “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: 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.” and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 : “. . . 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: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always . . . . “ By carefully reading Acts 3:12-26, we learn that God was willing to forgive Israel for their terrible crime if they would repent. To those murderers the message was, “I know that through ignorance ye did it” (Acts 3:17). But when they refused to repent the crime was charged against them. But note what they did when they killed Christ “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Acts 4:28. THE KING AND THE CORN OF WHEAT “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna, BLESSED IS THE KING OF ISRAEL THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF SION: BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH, SITTING ON AN ASS’S COLT.” John 12:12-15. “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’ Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, That the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:20-24. In the twelfth chapter of John, the Lord Jesus presented Himself to Israel. “Blessed is the King of Israel.” He did not present Himself to the Greeks but sent word to them that like the corn of wheat must abide alone or die, so He must die and be buried to bring forth much fruit. About twenty years later, note what happened: “And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both to­gether into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks be­lieved.” Acts 14:1. The few Greeks were not permitted to see the King of Israel, but the multitude of Greeks were saved by believing that the corn of wheat had died and risen again. WILL DRAW ALL MEN When Christ said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me,” He most assuredly was not saying that all men would be saved. The doctrine of universal salvation or reconciliation is repudiated by many Scriptures such as John 3:36 : “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believ­eth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” God’s will in this matter is expressed in 1 Timothy 2:4-6 : “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.” When Christ was on earth, He uttered these words, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40. And remember His words of warning in John 8:24 : “If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.” QUESTIONS—LESSON THIRTY-THREE Lesson Number Thirty-Four When there was a division among the people because of Jesus, according to John 7:12, what division was expressed? According to Luke 12:51-53, what division was to be found in house­holds? If Christ was a good Man, did He deceive the people when He said, “I came down from heaven?” Why did the Jews want Christ put to death, accord­ing to John 19:7 and Leviticus 24:16? How did Thomas address the Lord Jesus Christ in John 20:28? What does that prove? State some of the things the Holy Spirit mentioned in Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians about divisions among members of the Body of Christ. Why did the Holy Spirit ask the question in 1 Corinthians 1:13, “Is Christ divided?” What was the prayer of Christ in John 17:11 and John 17:21? What instructions are given concerning the unity of the Spirit in Ephesians 4:4-7? What is God’s purpose for this age expressed in Ephesians 2:15 and in Galatians 3:28? Mention several statements in John 10:1-42 concerning Christ and His sheep. What verse in II Timothy assures us that God knows who is saved? What verse suggests that God wants the believer to know that He is saved? In what verses do we learn that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, the Great. Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd? Relate the instructions that Christ, the Great Shepherd raised from the dead, gave to Peter, Peter’s response, and what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:1-5. Who did Christ meet at the well in Sychar of Samaria? Tell something of the conversation between the two. What did the woman do after Christ told her her sin and she perceived that He was a prophet, the Messiah? What was the fruit of her testimony? Relate the conversation between the sinful woman, her accusers and the Lord Jesus Christ in John 8:1-11. What great truth are we taught there? When Christ said to the woman “Neither do I condemn thee,” what else did He say? How does this correspond with Romans 6:2 and Romans 6:15 and 1 John 1:8-9, and 1 John 2:1? Note in John 7:39 and John 16:7, we are told that the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. What did Christ say in Acts 1:5? How was that fulfilled? How does a believing sinner receive the Holy Spirit today? Does every Christian have the Holy Spirit within? Explain Romans 8:23 and Ephe­sians 4:30. What Scriptures tell us of the intercessory work of the two Paracletes? What is Christ doing as an Advocate in heaven? Explain 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 9:24 and Hebrews 7:25. What prophecy did Caiaphas make? What were the meaning of Christ’s words in John 12:31-32 : “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me?” Explain the difference between the King of Israel and the Corn of Wheat in John 12:1-50. Explain the salvation of the Greeks in Acts 14:1. How did God use the blindness and unbelief of Israel to His glory? Com­pare John 12:37 and Acts 2:22-23; Acts 4:36-37 and Romans 11:30-33. Explain. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: S. A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE BIBLE IN TEN LESSONS ======================================================================== A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE BIBLE IN TEN LESSONS By Pastor John C. O’Hair LESSON NUMBER FIVE “THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES” John 1:17. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Romans 5:13. “From Adam to Moses” is a period of time designated in God’s Word. “From Moses to Christ” is an­other specific period suggested in Galatians 3:24-25; “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” So death reigned from Adam to Moses. The Law reigned from Moses to Christ and that Law worked death to the sinner. Romans 7:13. The Law was the ministra­tion of death and condemnation. 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 2 Corinthians 3:9. Sin is the transgres­sion of the Law. The strength of sin is the Law. The Law is just. Romans 7:12. The sinner is unjust. By the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be justified in God’s sight; for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20. Let us study the “Law Dispensation” in the light of the several Scriptures we shall quote. From these Scriptures we shall see that the Law entered that the offense might abound. Romans 5:20. We shall see the time and purpose of the giving of the Law to Israel, and why it was weak through the flesh, and why God found fault with Israel under the Law, and why God’s Son was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law. Romans 8:3 ... Hebrews 8:8 and Galatians 4:4-5. I. “THE LAW WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSION TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME.” Galatians 3:19. II. “FOR THE LAW HAVING A SHAD­OW OF GOOD THINGS TO COME, AND NOT THE VERY IMAGE OF THE THINGS, CAN NEVER WITH THOSE SACRIFICES, WHICH THEY OFFERED YEAR BY YEAR CONTINUALLY MAKE THE COMERS THEREUNTO PERFECT. FOR THEN WOULD THEY NOT HAVE CEASED TO BE OFFERED? BECAUSE THAT THE WORSHIPPERS ONCE PURGED SHOULD HAVE HAD NO MORE CONSCIENCE OF SINS. BUT IN THOSE SACRIFICES THERE IS A REMEMBRANCE AGAIN MADE OF SINS EVERY YEAR. Hebrews 10:1-3. III. “FOR THE LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT, BUT THE BRINGING IN OF A BETTER HOPE DID BY THE WHICH WE DRAW NIGH UNTO GOD.” Hebrews 7:19. IV. “FOR CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH.” Romans 10:4. . . . “THE LAW WAS ADDED.” The Law was given by Moses. Jehovah added the Law by Moses. Moses was eighty years old when the Law was added. Exodus 7:7. Moses was chosen by Jehovah to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt about 1492 B.C. The Covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai is called the “Old Covenant.” Jeremiah 31:31-34. Hebrews 8:6-9. Four hundred and thir­ty years before God made that Old Cove­nant with Israel through Moses, God made the Covenant of Promise with Abram. “The promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abra­ham or to his seed through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13. The Law that was added 430 years after the Covenant of Promise did not and could not make the promise of none effect. Galatians 3:17. The “Covenant of Promise” is still effective; but the “Law Covenant” has been abol­ished. “Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:13. 2 Corinthians 3:11 and 2 Corinthians 3:13. Therefore the “Law Covenant” or the “Law Dispensation” was temporary; that is, from Sinai to Calvary. We shall see in a later lesson that there was an overlapping period for a few years after the death of Christ when the Jews which believed were still zealous of the Law. But on the Cross, when the Son of God died, the handwriting of ordinances was taken out of the way: it was nailed to His Cross. Colossians 2:14. There Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between Israel and the nations, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments in ordi­nances. Ephesians 2:15. The Law was added to the Gospel contained in the Promise made to Abra­ham and His seed. Galatians 3:8. So Moses lived eighty years before there was an Old Testament or Covenant; and then He lived forty years under the Old Covenant. Deuteronomy 34:7. So Moses lived in two dispensations; before and after the Law was given. We must be careful, if we would rightly divide the Word of truth, not to confuse the “Law Covenant” which has been abolished, with the “Promise Covenant”, preached before, which is still effective. We must likewise be careful not to fix the end of the “Old Covenant” with the birth of Jesus Christ, or even thirty years later, with the beginning of His public minis­try, as so many have done. How erron­eous it is to fix the beginning of the “Old Covenant” with the First Chap­ter of Genesis and the beginning of the “New Covenant” with the First Chapter of Matthew. No, sin entered by Adam, and sin and death were in the world from Adam to Moses, “when there is no law.” Romans 5:13. But it was about 2500 years after God stated to Adam the Law of Sin and Death, that the Law was given by Moses about 1492 B.C. It was at that time that the Law entered that the offense that entered by Adam might abound. What misunderstandings and misinter­pretations of God’s Book there have been by dealing with Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and Jacob’s twelve sons as “Old Testament” characters. Every one of Jacob’s twelve sons had died be­fore the Law was added to the Covenant of Promise. “It was added till”. Till when? Till it was taken out of the way. Till it was abolished. Till Christ be­came the end of the Law for righteous­ness to every one that believeth. God sent forth His Son, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law. Galatians 4:4. “And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament (Covenant), that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the First Covenant, they which are called might receive the prom­ise of eternal inheritance. For where a Testa­ment (Covenant) is, there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator. For a Testament is of force after men are dead: other­wise it is of no strength at all while the Tes­tator liveth. Whereupon neither the First Covenant was dedicated without blood . . . But the heavenly things themselves with bet­ter sacrifices than these.” Hebrews 9:14-18. II . . . “THE LAW HAVING A SHAD­OW . . . IN THOSE SACRIFICES THERE IS A REMEMBRANCE AGAIN MADE OF SINS EVERY YEAR.” “LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU IN MEAT, OR IN DRINK, OR IN RE­SPECT OF A HOLYDAY, OR OF THE NEW MOON, OR OF THE SABBATH . . . WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME; BUT THE BODY OF CHRIST.” Colossians 2:16-17. When we turn to the first five chap­ters of Leviticus, we read of Israel’s five offerings given them under the Law. The Burnt Offering, the Meat or Meal Offering, the Peace Offering, the Tres­pass Offering and the Sin Offering, all pointing to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the record of the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai, in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and then follows God’s instruc­tions and orders as to the construction and erection of His Sanctuary and Tab­ernacle, with the outer court, the holy place and most holy place, and the ser­vice in connection therewith given into the hands of Aaron and the Levites, all pointing forward to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was God’s true sanctuary. He became flesh and tabernacled among us. “And he (the priest) shall make an atone­ment for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” Leviticus 16:33-34. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Hebrews 10:4. “But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. “Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others; For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the ages hath He (Christ) appeared to put away sin by the sac­rifice of Himself.”’ Hebrews 9:25-26. In the shadow of the cross the Lord Jesus said, “This is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28. Then Israel’s Tabernacle, with its sac­rifices and service was a figure. He­brews 9:9. “In meats and drinks, and divers baptisms, and carnal ordinances, imposed until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10. Thus we learn that as the Law was added till Christ cried on the cross, “Finished”—when the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom—so with the Law, Israel’s religion was added until the time of reformation. That time has long since passed and so there is no place today in the program of God for the Jews’ religion. All Israelites were Jews by religion, if not Jews’ by birth. And even Gentiles became Jews by religion. Esther 8:17. The Jews were converted, together with Proselytes, from Judaism to Christianity, from Moses to Christ. The Gentile were turned to Christ from paganism without going by the way of Moses and the Law. Now believing Jews and Gentiles are dead to the Law, by the body of Christ. Romans 7:4. “Ye are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:25. Surely no Christian should desire to go back to the Shadow when he has Christ, who has done for him what the Law could not do. The Law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Under the Old Testament God said I will meet with you from above the mercy seat. It was sprinkled with blood. Exodus 25:22. Leviticus 16:15. Now God meets the believer “in Christ”. “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole Law.” Galatians 5:3. Circum­cision was instituted in Abram’s home about 1900 B.C. Genesis 17:6-12, Circumcision was to Abraham the seal of the righteousness which he had yet being uncircumcised. Romans 4:11. In the language of Christ, recorded in John 7:22, “Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers).” Inasmuch as circumcision was practiced 406 years before the Old Covenant was given, it is not Scripturally true to say that circum­cision began with the Old Covenant, but with the Covenant of Promise. It is not Scripturally true to say that circum­cision was done away with by the teach­ing of Christ while He was on earth. There were certain sabbaths given to Israel in connection with the annual feasts of Jehovah, mentioned in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, “Passover” on the fourteenth day of April, and in connection therewith the Feasts of “Unleavened Bread and First­fruits,” then about the First of June, “Pentecost,” then in October, “Trum­pets” followed by “Atonement” and “Tabernacles.” But there was a Seventh Day Sabbath given with the Ten Commandments, being one of them. Concerning the Sabbath, Jehovah said “observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” “A sign between me and the children of Israel forever.” Exodus 31:16-17. Which then is the sign of the Old Cove­nant, circumcision or the Sabbath? Both of them were taken away at Cal­vary. Christ took Israel’s Sabbath to the sepulchre with Him. Under the Law Israel had the Sabbath but no rest. In Christ the believer has rest but no Sabbath. Since the giving of the Law there have been two places Divinely ap­pointed, “Under the Law” and “in Christ.” You cannot be “In Christ” and “Under the Law.” To be “in Christ” is to be dead to the Law and not under the Law. Romans 7:4-5; Romans 6:14. III . . . THE LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT, BUT THE BRINGING IN OF A BETTER HOPE.” “The Lord Jesus Christ, which is our Hope.” 1 Timothy 1:1. “For by one of­fering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. The Epistle to the Hebrews is the Book of “Better things. The word “Better” is used thirteen times in the Epistle. In and by Christ are the better things, the better covenant, the better sacrifice, the better resurrection. The Law is just; but by the Law God could not justify a sinner. The Law is perfect; but it made nothing perfect. The Law was weak through the flesh. Romans 8:3. The strength of sin is the Law; and by the Law the whole world is guilty before God. 1 Corinthians 15:56. Romans 3:19. “Because the Law work­eth wrath.” Romans 4:15. The Law was a yoke which neither Israel nor the Gen­tiles could bear. Acts 15:10. “They could not endure that which was spoken (at Sinai).” Hebrews 12:20. Man would have to be born with a sinless nature and be wholly rid of his sinful nature in order to perfectly keep the perfect Law of God. But man by natural birth is im­perfect and wholly unable to perfectly keep God’s perfect Law, which he would have to do to be perfect, or prove that he was perfect. Christ did. “But God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ . . . BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED.” Ephesians 2:4-5. Salvation then is not because of what man could or could not do with God’s Law, but because of God’s mercy, love and grace. He sent His Son from heaven to establish a new Law, “the Law of the Spirit of Life.” Romans 8:2. Christ had power to lay down His life; and He did. Christ had power to take up His life again; and He did. John 10:17-18. Thereby He abol­ished death and in the Gospel has brought life, with the guaranty of incor­ruptibility. 2 Timothy 1:9. The new Law can do for any and every sinner what the Old Law could do for no sinner. We might say that the Law and the Old Covenant were the same. How are the New Law and the New Covenant re­lated? When the Law was given at Sinai the people stood afar off, in fear of God. When Christ died on the cross He was made sin. There was darkness on the earth. His Father forsook Him in the hour of death. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Christ on that tree was made a curse to deliver law-break­ers from the curse of the Law. Galatians 3:10-14. And by that work on the cross, the Lord has brought the blessing of Abraham to the Gentiles, righteous­ness by faith in Christ without works or religion. “But now in Christ ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. Although no redeemed sinner can say, “I do always the things that please Him,” and must, if honest, confess, “Lord, I have done the things I should not have done and have left undone the things I should have done,” yet every redeemed sinner is perfect in Christ, ac­cepted in Christ, complete in Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, without condemna­tion in Christ, the righteousness of God in Christ; that is, every believer has by God’s grace, in Christ, a perfect stand­ing. The believer has passed out of death into life; he has eternal life; and he shall never come into condemnation. John 5:24. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned.” John 3:17-18. The bringing in of the “Better Hope” has made believers perfect. Christ is in the believer, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27. By the omnipotent power of the indwelling Holy Spirit it is the privi­lege and duty of every believer to fulfill the righteousness of the Law by walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Romans 8:4. IV . . . “CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH.” The end of our faith is the salvation of our souls. 1 Peter 1:11. The end of the Law is love. 1 Timothy 1:5. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law.” Romans 13:10. “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” Galatians 5:22. Christ is the end of the Law. Love is the end of the Law. When we have reached the end, shall we go back? The Law demanded righteousness and love. Grace supplies righteousness and love by Christ and the Holy Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. Romans 5:5. “Against such there is no Law.” Galatians 5:23. The fruit of the Spirit is the fulfilling of the Law. “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” Romans 4:6. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Romans 10:10. Christ on the cross was made sin for us that we might be made the right­eousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth By Adam was the entrance of sin. By Moses is the knowledge of sin. By Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sin. Acts 13:38-39. “By Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses.” Acts 13:39. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: S. A PARTAKER OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE GOSPEL ======================================================================== A PARTAKER OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE GOSPEL What did Paul mean when he said to Timothy: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the af­flictions of the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:8. Before we answer this question let us quote Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:5 and in Colossians 1:24-25 : “The sufferings of Christ abound in us.” “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 fulfill (complete) the Word of God, the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints.” Then 2 Timothy 2:9 and 2 Timothy 2:12 and 2 Timothy 3:12 : “MY GOSPEL. WHEREIN I SUFFER TROUBLE AS AN EVIL DOER, EVEN UNTO BONDS; BUT THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT BOUND.” “IF WE SUFFER WE SHALL ALSO REIGN.” “YEA, AND ALL WHO WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION.” In 2 Timothy 1:8, Paul wrote of the afflictions of the gospel in connection with that which he called in 2 Timothy 1:12, “my deposit.” In the Greek we learn that Paul wrote of “my deposit” in this verse, “For the, which cause I also suffer these things.” Because of that ministry which Paul, in II Timothy, calls “my gospel” and “my deposit,” Paul was in jail suffering as an evil doer. We learn in Ephesians 6:18-20 and Colossians 4:3-4, that Paul was in jail for “the mystery;” for “the Mys­tery of the Gospel.” There is a difference between the gos­pel, as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and “the mystery of the gospel.” What then is “the Mystery of the Gos­pel?” Whatever “the Mystery” is, or is not, we know that it is Divine Truth that was unknown to any servant of the Lord for more than four thousand years, until it was revealed by Christ, after His resurrection, to the Apostle Paul. Ephesians 3:8-9 - Colossians 1:26. It was hid in God from the beginning of the world. It was never mentioned by any of the Old Testament prophets. It was not mentioned while Christ was on earth. It was not mentioned in the ministry of Peter and the Eleven, in Acts. But we know that the gospel by which we are saved,-the crucifixion, burial and resur­rection of Christ, was all according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. This was foretold by Israel’s prophets. Every person who has ever been saved, since the days of Abel, has been saved on the grounds of the death and resurrec­tion of Christ. Note Acts 13:29-30 : “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead.” Thus we see that “the Mystery of the Gospel” is something different from the fact that Christ died for our sins and was buried and raised the third day. As Christians, we will be spared much controversy, if we get fixed in our minds and hearts that, in addition to God’s re­demptive message for sinners, the word “gospel” covers the entire range of God’s truth in which there is any spir­itual benefit or blessing for saints. Never before the revelation to and by Paul did the Lord make known such a “grace” gospel as we find in 2 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.” The Holy Spirit calls this “God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:11. Who preached it to Gentiles? Paul. Read 2 Timothy 1:11. Of course Peter and all the uncompro­mising messengers of the Lord Jesus Christ suffered at the hands of evil-doers and most of these persecutions came from religious people who claimed that they were God’s servants. Note 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 : “. . . For ye also have suffered like things of your own 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: 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.” They suffered because they preached the gospel; but they were not in jail for “the mystery of the gospel.” “How that by revelation He made known unto ME “the Mystery. “ Then note Ephesians 3:8 : “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.” The word “unsearchable” here means “not-to-be-traced”, that is, “unprophe­sied.” “The mystery” was “Gentilish” rather than “Israelitish.” Let us think of “the Mystery of the Gospel” as “the eternal purpose of God” concerning members of Christ’s Body “being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Ephesians 1:11. The “not-to-be-traced (unprophesied)” riches of Christ for heathen was different from any message or ministry foretold by Israel’s prophets or preached by the Twelve. This Divine Truth, “the dispen­sation of the Mystery” (Ephesians 3:9), was made known after God brought re­ligion to an end with the setting aside of His religious Nation, Israel. After that time Israelites had to come for “grace” salvation, not as sons of Abraham, but with the heathen, as sons of Adam. Paul was neither deluded, pre­sumptuous, nor egotistical when he men­tioned himself in the first person pro­noun, more than ten hundred times. He spoke the truth when be said: “I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10. Note Paul’s testimony in Galatians 1:10 : “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 2:5 : “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might con­tinue with you.” Galatians 6:12 : “As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they con­strain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” Galatians 5:11 : “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.” Paul’s religious enemies were deter­mined that he and his “grace” converts should add circumcision or something re­ligious to the “grace” gospel. So far as the apostles were concerned, Paul stood alone, that there should be no mixture of anything religious with that gospel which he preached to heathen. Read Galatians 2:10-15. Such a stand caused him much suffering, but he did not compromise to please men. He would permit nothing to take away the offence of the cross. We are to fol­low Paul as he followed Christ. I Corin­thians 11:1 and Php 3:17. For the spiritual aggressive servant of Christ, it is either compromise or suffering. The less the compromise the more the suffer­ing. What folly then to try to make the “gospel of grace” popular or to pervert that gospel with religion to please re­ligious people! Little do we appreciate all that is meant by Paul’s final words: “I have fought a good fight . . . I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7. A short time ago a faithful pastor, who had suffered much from the religious friendly enemies. because of his uncom­promising stand for the “Christ-Pauline” message, said, “What we need today among our Bible teachers is some tent­makers; then perhaps so many of our Fundamentalist brethren would not keep silent concerning `the mystery of the gospel”, for the sake of personal advan­tage.” This message is not popular in re­ligious circles or with sectarian Chris­tians. and sad to say its bitterest foes are many of the outstanding preachers in the “Fundamentalist” organizations. As we study II Timothy, concerning the peculiar message and ministry of Paul, which he calls in 2 Timothy 1:12, “my deposit (paratheke) “ and compare with the statements in Ephesians 6:18-20 and Colossians 4:3-4, that Paul was in jail for “the Mystery,” as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1), we can better understand the particular sufferings to which he referred when he said: “ Where­in I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bounds; but the Word of God is not, bound.” 2 Timothy 2:9. Note again 2 Timothy 2:12 : “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” Then Paul added. “Yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer perse­cution.” 2 Timothy 3:12. There are multitudes of God’s people who are testifying daily to sinners con­cerning salvation by the death and resur­rection of Christ, who are not partakers of the afflictions of the gospel. There are a number of outstanding “Funda­mentalist” Bible-teachers and evangelists in this country, who stand for the verbal inspiration of the Bible, for the Deity, death and resurrection of Christ, preach­ing salvation by blood, who are not par­takers of the afflictions of the gospel. Some of them travel first class. They stay at the finest hotels, receive from $75.00 to $375.00 per week for their services. They never know what it is to be a “partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.” They are very careful not to jeopardize their popularity, or fearlessly speak forth some Bible truth that might offend their religious hearers, and there­by cut down their income, or hinder a return engagement. They pay little, or no heed to Galatians 1:10, concerning pleasing men rather than God. They seem perfectly willing to add it little something to take away the offence of the cross if that pleases their donors. Satan becomes very much exercised when God’s servants teach the truth concerning “the dispensation of the grace of God,” for he knows that the Pauline Gos­pel will deliver religious people from all their religious entanglements. This Satan does not want. So he ever brings pressure to bear to keep God’s servants ignorant or silent concerning this special phase of Divine Truth. Many servants who are not ignorant are silent so as to escape the afflictions of the gospel. The jail door was opened for Paul be­cause he was making known “the Mys­tery of the Gospel”. Ephesians 6:18-19. Then multitudes of those who had been saved by his preaching, turned away from him. 2 Timothy 1:15 - 2 Timothy 4:16. While suffering its an evil doer in his prison cell he asked others to pray for open doors where the Mystery might be preached. Colossians 4:3-4. Let us join in that prayer. “ALL CHRISTIANS ARE TO SUFFER” Romans 8:17-18 “And if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that. we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” 2 Corinthians 1:7 “And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the con­solation.” Php 3:10 “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” 1 Peter 3:14, 1 Peter 3:17-18 “But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.” “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 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.” Many Christian foreign missionaries have suffered much, some of them unto death. Many Christian preachers in the homeland have labored with inadequate financial support and have suffered hard­ships, self-denial, sacrifice, and persecu­tion. Yet the majority of these mission­aries and preachers have not been par­takers of that phase of the gospel to which Paul referred in 2 Timothy 1:8. Always read 2 Timothy 1:8 with 2 Timothy 2:8 and with Colossians 4:3-4, and especially with Ephesians 6:11-21. Let us note several of the verses in the sixth chapter of Ephesians: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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 6:11-12. “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 OF THE GOSPEL, For which I AM AN AMBASSADOR IN BONDS: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:18-20. Note here concerning the devil and the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. “In the heavenlies.” We find this expression in Ephesians 1:3 - ­ Ephesians 1:20 - Ephesians 2:6 - Ephesians 3:10. And in Ephesians 4:10 this heavenly place is described, “far above all heavens.” In Matthew, Mark and Luke we read a number of times, “on earth” - “on the earth”. But in Ephesians it is “in the heavenlies.” There is a great difference. The devil works as “the prince of this world,” as “the god of this age”, as “the prince of the power of the air.” In Ephesians, wherein the mystery is re­vealed, Satan is identified with principal­ities and powers in the heavenlies. In 1 Thessalonians 2:18 Paul declared that Satan hindered him. Thank God that we can believe and act on the truth of Colossians 2:15 : “And Christ having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” And God will accomplish through mem­bers of His Body, Ephesians 3:10. “To the intent that now unto the prin­cipalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the mani­fold wisdom of God.” Note the power available for Church-­members: “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.” Ephesians 1:19-23. But let us never discount the power of Satan. We should be able to say truth­fully, with Paul, “we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:11. Satan is a very clever devil. He is trans­formed into an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. With a vicious hatred the Adversary hates the truth concerning the Head and Body in the heavenlies as he hates no other truth in the Bible. He is the re­lentless enemy of “the Mystery of the Gospel.” In no other way can we ac­count for the profound ignorance and silence concerning this most blessed and glorious message in God’s Word. WHAT GRACE PREACHERS HAVE WRITTEN Hear the testimony of a man of God, who for years was an outstanding “grace” preacher. In his book “Romans” he wrote: “You can judge any man’s teaching or preaching by this rule. Is it Pauline? Does his doctrine start and end according to those statements of Christian doctrine uttered by the Apostle Paul? No matter how wonderful a man may seem to be in his gifts and apparent consecration, if his gospel is not Pauline, it is not the gospel, and we might as well get our minds settled at once on that point.” (Page 339.) “For instance, if you were to take Paul’s Epistles out of the Bible, you cannot find any­thing about the Church, the Body of Christ, for no other apostle mentions the Body of Christ.” (Page 340.) “Would that we had the grace to defend just as vigorously this great message today, for it has many enemies and even real friends who do not yet see it clearly; and there are others, who like Peter (Galatians 2:1-21), through fear of others, are ready to compromise and tone down the gospel of God.” (Page 344.) For some reason this dear brother has omitted these statements from his re­vised “Romans”. Another outstanding “grace” preacher who is pastor of one of the largest churches in America and a very popular servant of the Lord among Fundamental­ists has written many books about the Church which is the Body of Christ. This brother, in his books, touched up­on only one aspect of God’s spiritual pro­gram during this parenthetical period. In his writings he contradicted himself by stating that “the dispensation of the mys­tery” began with a new revelation which was given to Paul, (not to Peter); and in the same writings he declared that this dispensation began on the day of Pentecost, with Peter. He did seem, how­ever, to have a splendid start, going al­most as far as did John Darby, that great man of God. But something happened. The brother wrote a later book and backed up on the truth, and now he is in utter confusion. If he had gone on in his study of this blessed truth, not seeking a popular ministry, he might have been wonderfully used by the Lord in the re­covery of lost truth, for he is an out­standing “grace” preacher, with many followers. He quoted in his book on baptism a statement, by another “Brethren,” that the truth concerning the one mystical Body of Ephesians was buried under re­ligious rubbish for centuries. Surely this is true concerning “the dis­pensation of the Mystery” and humanly speaking, it is an impossible task to re­cover or uncover it, but blessed be the Name of the Lord, we are making some progress. Now note some of the written state­ments of this “grace” preacher concern­ing Pauline truth - ­ 1 - “To the epistles of Paul alone do we turn for the revelation of this mystery. He was the special vessel chosen to make known the heavenly calling. The twelve were, as we have seen, connected primarily with the testimony to Israel. Paul, as one born out of due time, was selected to be the messenger to the na­tions, announcing the distinctive truths of the present dispensation.” 2 - “Throughout the writings of the apostle Paul he again and again refers to a wondrous secret, which he designates in a special way as “the mystery,” or “the great mystery.” “For centuries it was almost entirely lost sight of. In fact, until brought to the fore through the writings and the preaching and teaching of a distinguished ex-clergyman, Mr. J. N. Darby, in the early part of the last cen­tury, it is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon throughout a period of six­teen hundred years!” “Of ordinances exalted to the place of mys­teries, as in heathen rites, he will find much; but as to the mystery, which to the apostle was so unspeakably precious, rarely a ref­erence!” 3 - “That a doctrine so clearly revealed in the Scriptures could have become so utterly lost is only to be accounted for by the Juda­izing of the Church, and the consequent minding of earthly things that beclouded the heav­enly ones.” 4 - “The mystery formed no part of the revelation of the previous dispensations. Had it been otherwise, Paul could not rightly have written that it was “kept secret since the world began.” It was part of the good news he was commissioned to publish abroad, but he learned it not from the former Scriptures, but by direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.” 5 - “Now if the mystery be for those who have faith to obey, it is certainly of vast importance that every child of God be instructed as to its true character.” 6 - “The mystery is made known in the pro­phetic writing of the apostle himself. He was the chosen vessel to whom alone it was given to set it forth “for the obedience of faith.” “Mysteries of God” Page 52. (Concerning Ephesians 3:1-3) 7 - “This is the fullest declaration, or un­folding, of this precious and wondrous mys­tery that we have in all the Bible. It is so plain that one would suppose that every spir­itual mind must see at once to what it refers. Yet the commentators and expositors generally are content to make it mean that in the present age God is extending to the Gentiles the same grace He offers the Jew, so that the former, by closing with his offer of grace, becomes a sharer in the kingdom promised to Israel.” 8 - “All God’s promises to Israel will be ful­filled. They will be blessed on earth. The Church will be blessed in heaven.” “This is the mystery; glorious, inconceivably grand, and transcendently wonderful!” 9 - “What is especially insisted on here is that the mystery is the great truth that com­pletes the Word of God.” (Colossians 1:24-27.) “It is the capstone of Scripture teaching, as the Cross is the foundation-stone of the gospel. Christ is now working among the Gen­tiles, while rejected by Israel. This, the Old Testament did not contemplate.” 10 - “The mystery” was not something of difficult, mysterious character, but a sacred sec­ret never known to mankind until in due time opened up by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul.” “It was not hid in the Scriptures to be brought to light eventually; but we are distinctly told it was hid in God until such time as He chose to manifest it. “This was not until Israel had been given every opportunity to receive Christ both in in­carnation AND RESURRECTION. When they definitely refused Him God made known what had been in His heart from eternity - that from all nations, Jews and Gentiles, He would redeem and take out an elect company who would, by the Spirit’s baptism, be formed into one Body.” 11 - “But this doctrine of the one body is never referred to by any other apostle than Paul. He calls it “the dispensation of the mystery” which he had especially been en­trusted with.” 12 - “It was the secret purpose of His heart only to be revealed after the rejection of His Son.” 13 - “Let the reader not fall into a mistake very commonly made today. The kingdom is not the Church. The latter is the Body of Christ, composed of all who, in this dispensation, are called out from Jew and Gentile, and baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. During the period in which God is doing this special work of His grace, the kingdom, prop­erly speaking, is in abeyance.” 14 - “The rejection of Messiah has caused God - not to cancel His promises made to the fathers of the Hebrews, but - to bring to light hidden purposes, hitherto unrevealed, of grace for the Gentiles during a period of undefined duration.” 15 - “That the nations would be brought to own His sway THROUGH Israel, is clearly taught; but that He would be doing a special work among them, while the Jew is set aside, was a secret hid in God. To understand it is to enter into the truth for the present dis­pensation.” 16 - “While Messiah is on the Father’s throne and the people of Israel are rejected because of their refusal of their King, God is displaying the hidden purpose of His heart in bringing in of “a new thing in the earth,” even the mystical body of His Son to share with Him all the glories He is yet to enter upon, when the regular line of prophecy is taken up.” 17 - “The mystery, on the other hand, is spiritual, and belongs to heaven. A break in God’s ways having come in, He now makes known His hidden purpose to take OUT of Jew and Gentile a people for heaven, who are to be one with Christ for eternity.” 18 - “The Old Testament Scriptures clearly predicted the calling of the Gentiles but al­ways in subjection to Israel. During the pres­ent dispensation Israel, as we read in Romans 11:1-36, Israel is set aside because of unbelief, and Christ is working among the nations, attracting weary hearts to Himself altogether apart from any thought of Jewish priority. Believing Jews and Gentiles are united by the Holy Spirit’s baptism into the one Body, and thus all fleshly distinctions are done away. The middle wall of partition is broken down. This is the mystery.” 19 - “THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST WAS NEVER MADE KNOWN IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES, NOR YET IN THE DAYS WHEN OUR LORD WAS ON THE EARTH. WE ARE TOLD DISTINCTLY IT HAD BEEN “HID FROM AGES AND GENERATIONS, BUT NOW IS MADE MANIFESTED TO THE SAINTS.” THE DIVINE METHOD OF MAKING IT KNOWN WAS BY A SPECIAL REVELATION TO THE APOSTLE PAUL, AS HE TELLS US IN EPHESIANS 3. BUT THIS REVELATION WAS NOT FOR HIM ONLY IT WAS A MINISTRY COMMITTED TO HIM TO PASS ON TO THE SAINTS.” 20 - “The whole counsel of God was not made known until Paul received this revela­tion of the mystery.” 21 - “It was a special revelation given not to the twelve, but to him as the apostle of the new dispensation.” 22 - “How earnest was the apostle in seeking to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth.” 23 - “Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and as such he magnified his office. He was not the apostle to the Hebrews.” 24 - “If I set at naught any fellow-believer I am to that extent failing to keep this unity.” 25 - “Doubtless the devil thought he had gained a great advantage when he shut Paul up in prison, but from that prison cell came at least four of the great Church Epistles, and some of the pastoral letters, which have been the means of untold blessing to millions throughout the centuries.” Our brother wrote a later book, “Wrongly Dividing The Word of Truth”. On page 66 of that book he said: “I SPEAK AS UNTO WISE MEN, JUDGE YE WHAT I SAY.” That is exactly what we now desire to do, judge what he has said in “Wrongly Dividing” by making comparison with the statements we have already quoted from his earlier writings. Let me empha­size the fact that he has recently stated that he believes all that he has written in his earlier writings and stands by all of his statements in “Wrongly Dividing.” We now quote his contradictory state­ments from this later book for wise men to judge: Page 40 and 41 1 - “The mystery then is not simply cen­tered in the term “Body” but whatever expression may be used, the mystery is that during the present age all distinction be­tween believing Jews and believing Gentiles is done away in Christ.” Concerning Galatians 3:26-29, where there is no mention of the Body of Christ, but reference to the salvation and unification of Jews and Gentiles in Christ “on the common ground of grace,” the writer writes 2 - “Is there anything in the revelation of the mystery as given in Ephesians or Colossians that goes beyond this? It is a clear definite statement of the absolute unity in Christ of those who before their conver­sion occupied different positions here on earth, some being Jews, some Gentiles, some free men, some slaves, some men, some women, but every distinction now obliterated in the new creation.” Page 39 3 - “The distinction between Jew and Gentile was abolished on the cross.” Pages 41 and 42 4 - “The greatest of all New Testament prophets is Luke himself, and in his Book of Acts the mystery is plainly made known.” Page 33 (Acts 9:5-15) 5 - “Who art Thou Lord?” and the glorified Saviour answered, “I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.” “This was the revelation of the mystery.” Page 41 6 - “Was this mystery made known by other servants besides the apostle Paul? It was. The apostle John makes it known in his account of our Lord’s ministry as given in the tenth chapter of his Gospel.” Page 41 7 - “It shows us that John, as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, had received the revelation of the mystery even before the apostle Paul did.” Page 41 8 - “Then what of the apostle Peter? We dare say this same mystery was made known to him on the housetop of Simon’s residence in Joppa.” Now reconcile our brother’s other statements with this one. This 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.” In spite of this statement of fact, this man of God teaches that the new dispensa­tion began with Peter on the day of Pen­tecost without a revelation. Contradic­tion as well as blunder. When does he state that a dispensation changes? When a new revelation from God is given. When did Paul have his revelation according to our brother’s writings? On the way to Damascus. Acts 9:1-43. When did Peter get the revelation? On the housetop in Acts 10:1-48. When did the dispensation of the Mys­tery begin according to his writings? We quote: “According to God, the new dispensa­tion, that in which we now live, the dis­pensation of the grace of God, otherwise called the dispensation of the mystery, began the moment the spirit descended at Pentecost.” In closing we quote again what our brother says about this truth, which he acknowledges was “so unspeakably precious.” “AS OF ORDINANCES EXALTED TO THE PLACE OF MYSTERIES, AS IN HEATHEN RITES, HE WILL FIND MUCH, BUT AS TO THE MYSTERY, WHICH TO THE APOSTLE WAS SO UNSPEAKABLY PRECIOUS, RARELY A REFERENCE.” “MYSTERIES OF GOD.” “THAT A DOCTRINE SO CLEARLY RE­VEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES COULD HAVE BECOME SO UTTERLY LOST IS ONLY TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE JUDAIZING OF THE CHURCH, AND THE CONSEQUENT MINDING OF EARTHLY THINGS THAT BECLOUDED THE HEAVENLY ONES.” We quote our brother’s commendation of Paul; “Lectures on Colossians,” page 59: “How earnest was the apostle in seek­ing to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth.” Paul should have been earnest in seek­ing to lead Christians into the precious truth concerning “the Mystery.” I am trying to be earnest in the matter. I wonder if our brother is earnest about leading the many members of his present church into this precious truth while he is bitterly opposing God’s servants who are doing what he is neglecting to do. In closing we ask you to remember Satan’s activity in the heavenlies and to obey Ephesians 3:9 - Ephesians 6:18-20 - Colossians 4:3-4, praying for open doors and open months for “the Mystery” and make all to see it. “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 us-ward who be­lieve, according to the working of His mighty power.” Ephesians 1:17-19. Well it cost Paul something to pro­claim this Divine Truth. He was in jail for “the Mystery of the Gospel” and if we aggressively proclaim it with convic­tion and zeal we will be partakers of the afflictions of the gospel. The devil will never cease to oppose this glorious Divine truth. But here is a challenge! Find one single sectarian Christian who preaches the Mystery. Find one single zealous bap­tizer who preaches the Mystery. You will look in vain. There is neither sectarian­ism nor water baptism in the program of the Church of the Mystery in Ephesians and Colossians. “Be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: S. A SCRIPTURAL EXAMINATION OF ANGLO-ISRAELISM ======================================================================== A SCRIPTURAL EXAMINATION OF “ANGLO-ISRAELISM” By Pastor John C. O’Hair WHERE ARE THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL? Our Gospel is hid to them that are lost. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. This includes all the unbelieving Gentiles and all the unbelieving Israelites, no matter to which of the twelve tribes they belong. Believing Gentiles and believing Israelites are one in Christ. Christ broke down the middle-wall of partition between them. Now these be­lievers, in a joint-Body, constitute the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15, Ephesians 3:6. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. Galatians 3:26-28. Identified with the risen Christ, who is now far above in the high­est heavenlies, seated with Him and blessed in Him with all spiritual bless­ings, are saved Africans, Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Turks, Greeks, Ital­ians, Germans, French, Spanish, Scandinavians, Britons, Russians, Americans, and hundreds of other nations and tribes. There are about sixteen hundred million people on this earth, according to the world census taken by the World Court. There are about sixteen million Jews; one out of one hundred, about one per cent. It has been stated that the percentage of saved Jews out of the six­teen million, is as high as the percent­age of saved Gentiles out of the sixteen hundred million. If there was any Scriptural authority for calling the saved Jews and Gentiles, united in Christ, “Spiritual Israel” be­fore God pronounced His awful judg­ment upon the Nation Israel, in Acts 28:25 and Acts 28:28, which is still a debatable question, certainly any Divine authority for such an appellation for the Body of Christ since that time is not to be found. About 70 A.D. God visited Israel with that unmerciful judgment pronounced by Christ, in Luke 21:20-24 and Matthew 22:7. Since the days of that ter­rible judgment we have been living in “the times of the Gentiles”, spiritually or religiously. “the times of the Gen­tiles” politically or governmentally be­gan about 600 B.C.. Israel, in accord­ance with Deuteronomy 28:44 has for centuries been the tail and not the head. When were Great Britain and the United States the tail? In the early Church after the death of Christ, before the Divine judgment of Acts 28:25-28, God’s order was “to the Jew first”. Acts 3:26, Acts 13:46, Romans 1:16. But all special privileges, of Israel over the other nations ceased with the declaration of the truth from Christ, concerning the “joint-Body”, made up of those, “who were afar off (Gentiles—aliens from the common­wealth of Israel) and those who were nigh (the commonwealth of Israel) Ephesians 2:11-17. Even before this full revelation of Divine truth, desig­nated “the mystery”, God’s Word of in­struction was, “give none offence neither to the Jew, nor the Gentile nor the Church of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:32. If there had been a fourth division at that time, “Israel”, different from the Jews, the Word should have been “neither to the Jews, the Israelites, the Gentiles, nor the Church of God.” Yes, the Gospel of glory is hid from lost Israelites, but so far as God is con­cerned, there are no lost Ten Tribes of Israel. These words were spoken by Jesus, on earth: “I am not sent but un­to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24. Therefore, if we speak Scripturally of lost Israel, we speak of the lost Twelve Tribes. What Jehovah said of Israel, in Hosea 5:3 is still true in 1936 A.D., “Israel is not hid from me.” If Israel is hid from Christians, it is because they have read some human theories concerning the lost Ten Tribes instead of diligently searching the Word of God. Years ago in Mexico when I was examining the ruins of the Aztecs, near the two great pyramids, I was told that the Aztecs were the lost tribes of Israel. According to traditions, the fol­lowing “peoples” have been called, the lost tribes of Israel”; the Afghans, the Japanese, the North American In­dians, the Nestorians and the Irish, and many others. Now, we want you to know from the Word of God just how and where you can definitely locate all twelve of the tribes of Israel today. Study carefully the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuter­onomy. In that chapter, which gives in detail God’s punishment of unfaithful and disobedient Israel, that message was for all the tribes. The whole house of Israel was addressed by Peter, on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:36. And by James, in his Epistle, “to the Twelve Tribes scattered abroad.” James 1:1. Jews from every nation under heaven were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Compare Acts 2:5 with Acts 2:36. Read Deuteronomy 28:28 : “thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore.” Deuteronomy 28:37 : “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” Deuteronomy 28:48 : “Therefore shalt thou serve thy enemies, which the Lord shall serve against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck.” Deuteronomy 28:62 : “And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Deuteronomy 28:64-65; “And the Lord shall scat­ter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other -­ Among these nations shalt thou find no ease”. Deuteronomy 28:53 : “Thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters: Thus scattered and punished Israel is to be the tail and not the head. Deuteronomy 28:44. Now let us bear in mind that this was spoken to all Israel. All Israel is to be saved when their Deliverer comes, that is, representatives from all twelve tribes. Romans 11:26. That Deliverer spoke of His coming as the Son of man and Is­rael’s redemption, in Luke 21:27-32. In that same chapter He confirmed con­cerning scattered Israel and forsaken Jerusalem that which was spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy. Read Luke 21:20-24. Read carefully these verses and then read in history the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D., and you will read the fulfillment in part of Deuteronomy 28:1-68, as to eating the flesh of sons and daughters. If you have read; the history of Great Britain and the United States, do you know when either of these nations ever fulfill the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy? But more of this after we set forth some of the claims of the leaders in the Anglo-Israel Movement. These statements are copied from lit­erature sent out from the “Anglo-Saxon Federation of America”, Haverhill, Mass. 1. The Bible does not state or infer that the Jews are God’s chosen people. Judah and Israel are entirely distinct and separate en­tities. 2 Chronicles 11:1-23. 2. The Bible made these prophecies and recorded these facts concerning Israel and the Jews. Israel was to find an island home and be moved no more. The Jews were to be strangers in all lands. Israel was to constitute a kingdom but the Jews were never to be a nation, until reunited with Israel. Jews were to remain under the law and Old Covenant, whereas Israel was to be a Christian people. 3. “Israel had nothing to do with the cruci­fixion of our Lord, not being in the land, ex­cept Benjamin, who accepted Him.” 4. “Ephraim” is England and “Manassah” represents the United States. Manassah was the thirteenth tribe, and that accounts for the discovery of America on October 13, 1492; and the following “thirteens” in American history. Thirteen colonies; 13 bars and 13 stars (flag); 13 letters in “E Pluribus Unum” and 13 feathers, 13 olives, and 13 arrows on American coins. First American navy, 13 ships. Cornerstone of White House laid Oc­tober 13, 1792. The 13th amendment abol­ished slavery. General Pershing born Sep­tember 13, 1860 and arrived in France for participation in the World war June 13, 1917. The first letter in Manasseh is the 13th in both English and Hebrew languages. Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis each had 13 let­ters in their names. 5. The Celtic-Anglo-Saxons are Israel, the chosen people of God. The British Isle in­habitants are descendants among others, from the tribes of Saxons (Isaac’s sons), the Danes of Dan, the Jutes of Judah, the Fresians, the Picts, and the Scots, and Normans of Benja­min. 6. “Brith” in Hebrew means “covenant”, therefore we have Britain, “covenant law”, British the “covenant man”, Britania “cove­nant ships”. “Britannia rules the waves”, con­trolling the English Channel, Gibralta, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Suez Canal, Malta, Aden, and other gates and stations. America controls practically all of the re­maining gates. This, all in fulfillment of Genesis 22:17, “thy (Abraham’s) seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” (Read Isaiah 14:1-8). The Anglo-Saxons are “Christianized Is­rael” and are fulfilling Isaiah 49:7 : “I will al­so give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” The Church is the priesthood of the nation. In 1776 A.D. the Lord divided Israel into two nations, so that God’s promises to both Ephraim and Manasseh might be realized. 7. When General Allenby, the British sol­dier, drove the Turks out of Palestine and took possession of that land, the British were the children of Israel from the north and all lands returning to the land given to their fa­thers by God, in fulfillment of Jeremiah 23:7-8. During the centuries before this return of Israel (the Anglo-Saxons) to Palestine, God had fulfilled Ezekiel 20:33-35, bringing scattered Israel with a mighty hand out of countries into the wilderness (Great Britain), and the wilderness was to blossom like a rose, and be the place prepared of God where Is­rael should be nourished. And there Israel was to fulfill Deuteronomy 32:13, and be the lion lifting himself up with the strength of the unicorn-as a great Lion. Numbers 23:24, Numbers 24:9. 8. In this latter day the New Covenant is first for the Anglo-Saxon Israelites. As un­der the Old Covenant, strangers and so­journers can become Israelites, members of the kingdom nation (Britain) and partaker of its benefits. These partakers are grafted into the Israel stock for kingdom benefits. Every Anglo-Saxon who complies with the law is recovenanted to God. The law has not been set aside, only the form of circumcision. The punishment of those refusing to comply with this law shall be destruction. The present failure of Anglo-Saxons and Americans to recognize Great Britain as the kingdom of Israel is responsible for the pres­ent misery and suffering in the two lands. Israel’s time of punishment foretold in Daniel 4:23 and Daniel 4:32, “seven times” has expired. A time was a period of 360 years, or 2520 years. Adding 2520 years to the time of Judah’s cap­tivity, about 600 B.C., we come to about 1920 A.D.. One of the chief speakers for the Anglo-Israelites declares the Lord will come for His Church September 16th, of the year (1936). 9. Only Spirit-filled Christians will be saved from the great time of trouble. The rest of the Church and all Israel (Britons) will survive until Jesus’ feet stand on the mount of Olives to save His people from destruc­tion, in fulfillment of Zechariah 14:1-3. (Howard B. Rand). The wise virgins of Matthew 25:1-46 : are the Spirit-filled Church members who will be raptured. These will know in advance the arrival of the day of their removal. This will include only a few. 10. (Rev. Wm. P. Goard) The throne of David has come down to Great Britain through a clear line of descent and, there­fore, the fulfillment of God’s promise that David’s throne would endure forever. Great Britain and America, Ephraim and Manasseh (who are to render willing obedience) are preparing the way for the coming of the King. The house of David, removed from Jerusalem in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, was brought to Ireland by Jeremiah the proph­et in the person of Tamar Tephi, thus establishing the present line of descent. The Ten Tribes came from Assyria to Europe, thence to the British Isles to be joined to the house of David. God’s Jehovah throne was estab­lished in the midst of His kingdom, Modern Israel, or Britain. An ancient King of Ire­land was married to a Jewish Princess from the East and their coronation was on Jacob’s stone, and the royal house of Britain has de­scended from that union. The present King of England, Edward, Al­bert, Christian, George, Andrew, Patrick Da­vid is the prince descended from King David, the one hundredth generation from King David, born 1076 B.C. His name was at the sug­gestion of the Marchioness of Waterford, for said she, “I believe that he will be “David your prince” foretold by the prophet, under whom we shall repossess the holy land. The royal mother replied, “Baby is called David”. The present King David is on the throne and Ezekiel 37:22-24. 11. According to Daniel 2:44-45, a Stone is to come from heaven, smite all other kingdoms, become a mountain and fill the whole earth. This Stone kingdom is to stand forever. Israel is to stand forever. Jeremiah 31:35-36. Therefore, Great Britain is the Stone Kingdom, the forever Israel. To prove this, there are two emblematic stones, the little stone in Britain’s possession and the big stone the pyramid in Egypt. This Stone in Egypt is the altar of Isaiah 19:19-20, God’s witness. The little stone now occupies the chief seat in the kingdom, the coronation chair at West­minster Abbey. The Kings of the House of David have been crowned upon this stone. During the past 130 years the Kingdom of Great Britain has expanded into the mountain and the emblematic big stone, the pyramid,, is God’s witness to Great Britain’s claim. The Anglo Israelites decide much by the structure and measurements of the pyramid. They say “When the time arrived for the kingdom to grow into a mountain, God re­vealed a mountain of Stone as a witness to the kingdom people.” “Cutting the pyramid open from north to south, the diagram of the passages gives a chronological history of Israel and Judah.” There is recorded, that the transfer of the kingdom activities was from Judah to Israel, because the Jews, and not Israel, rejected and crucified Christ. Even the very time of Britain’s ultimatum to Germany and the Anglo-Saxons’ entrance into the World War, in 1914, is told by the pyra­mid measurements, midnight, August 4th. That was the beginning of Jacob’s trouble in fulfillment according to Jeremiah 30:7. (End of statements.) By this teaching the tribulation is still on, if it has not passed. But think most of us are not conscious if the mil­lennium is here, or if we are in the midst of the great tribulation described in the Revelation. How strange that our Apostle Paul had nothing to say about this pyramid. If this program is in any way a sign to members of the Body of Christ surely we would find it mentioned in “Body” truth, in the writings of Paul. May we remind our readers that the Lord’s Church during this dispensation is designated “the Church which is His Body”. Ephesians 1:21-22, Colossians 1:24-28. In Ephesians 3:6 that Church is called the “Sussomos”, liter­ally “Joint-Body”. Let us carefully study the context, with special emphasis on Ephesians 3:1-3 and Ephesians 3:9 : Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for Gentiles­—given the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles—the mystery of the Joint-Body revealed to him. Paul was to make known the fellowship (dispen­sation) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world was hid in God. “The mystery”, mentioned twelve times in Paul’s last epistles, is always mentioned in connection with the high and holy calling, heavenly spiritual blessings of the Gentiles, as members of that Israel’s were; both silent and uninformed. ­Time and again the Scriptures remind us that Paul was Christ’s chosen minister to the Gentiles, though he him­self was an Israelite of the tribe of Ben­jamin, Romans 11:13 and Romans 11:1. To be ignorant of Paul’s messages concerning the Body of Christ is to be ignorant con­cerning the Body of Christ. In his message, leading up to the statement concerning the “Joint-Body”, Paul referred to the two “peoples” who were to make the “One New Man”, “the circumcision” and “the uncircumcision”, “the commonwealth of Israel and the aliens”, “those who were afar off and those who were nigh”. Ephesians 2:11-12, Ephesians 2:17. In referring to the new man, in Colossians 3:11, written at the same time, he refers to the “two peoples” as Gentile and Jew. Thus we see that the “Commonwealth of Israel” and the “Jew” are used synonymously and inter­changeably as they are all through Paul’s oral and written ministry. Perhaps the most inexcusable of all blunders in Bible study, is to confuse the promises which God made by the mouth and pen of His prophets to Israel, with His eternal purpose and grace giv­en to members of the Body of Christ be­fore Israel was ever brought into ex­istence, even before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 3:11, 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 1:3-4. To teach that “Anglo-Israel” or any other “Is­rael”, whose history is recorded in Old Testament prophecy, is, the Body of Christ, is worse than a travesty on sound exegesis: it is profound ignorance of the Word of God. If British Israel is the same Israel that Left Egypt, and later left Palestine as prisoners of the Assyrians, and are now preserved to be re­vealed as the Body of Christ, God’s chosen priesthood, seated with Christ the Head in the heavenlies, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, according to Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 1:3-4, then all of Paul’s claim concerning “the mystery”, the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles, and His reve­lation concerning the “Joint-Body”, was but an empty dream. But Paul’s words were Christ’s words and Anglo-Israelism is the empty dream. How could any servant of the Lord make known “the dispensation of the mystery” and make known Anglo-Israel­ism. Ephesians 3:9. Ignorance of the truth of Ephesians is responsible for every “ism” with which God’s true Church is troubled; that is, the one true antidote for all of the fallacies op­erating in the name of Christ’s Church is the “mystery” truth of Ephesians and Colossians. If we should accept the foolish teach­ing of Anglo-Israelism that the English races are not Gentiles, then we would have to acknowledge our great blunder is having appropriated for ourselves and applied to ourselves, or rather mis­appropriated and misapplied all of the messages of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, directed to Gentiles. We would have to teach that those glorious truths contained in the Epistles to the Ephe­sians, Colossians, and II Timothy, con­cerning the mystery among the Gentiles, and the unsearchable riches among the Gentiles, and the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus, was intended for the Greeks, Italians, Turks and African Negroes, but not for us. I hope you will see the utter nonsense of their unscrip­tural teaching. To Paul was committed the gospel of the uncircumcision; to Peter, James and others, the gospel of the circum­cision and Paul referred to them as the “Twelve Tribes”. Acts 26:7. Paul did not testify unto Two Tribes of Jews; but unto Twelve Tribes of Israel. In testifying to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, he told Israel’s rulers that John the Bap­tist had testified to “all the people of Israel”. Acts 13:24. Both Peter and Paul declared that it was Israel’s rulers who condemned Christ and put Him to death. Acts 13:17 and Acts 13:26-27. Acts 4:10. “All the people of Israel”, Acts 4:27. Peter addressed his epistle to the “dis­persion”, “the Twelve Tribes”. 1 Peter 1:1. James addressed his epistle “to the Twelve Tribes”. James 1:1. Both Peter and James were ministers of the circum­cision. Galatians 2:9. This had noth­ing whatever to do with the spiritual circumcision to which Paul referred in Php 3:3. The Twelve Tribes and “the circumcision” were synonymous. The Twelve Tribes still practice relig­ious circumcision. God’s division is still the Jew, the Gentile and the Church of God. Israel and the Jew are one and the same in this dispensation. Read carefully Romans 9:27 and Romans 9:29 what Isaiah cried and concerning whom he cried. Read also Romans 9:31 and all of Romans 10:1-21, and say whether or not Paul was referring to one or two tribes. Then turn to Isaiah, the prophet to the Jews, who used the word “Israel” 92 times, and never used “Jew” except to describe the language of his people. Christ was the King of Israel, sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He was the glory of His people Israel. John 1:49, Matthew 15:24, Matthew 10:6, Luke 2:32. Nicodemus was a master of Is­rael. John 3:10. Christ entered Jeru­salem as the King of Israel. John 12:13. Read Luke 1:68. Why did Christ choose twelve apos­tles? If they were preaching to only two tribes of Israel would the Lord have been so particular about selecting a suc­cessor to take the place of Judas, that there might be twelve apostles on the day of Pentecost? Peter with one would have been sufficient, if numbers in the Bible are symbolic. But the record is Peter with the Eleven, speaking to all the house of Israel. Acts 2:36 and Acts 2:14 and Acts 2:22. And who were they? Devout Jews from every nation under heaven. Jews from every nation under heaven and all the house of Israel are synonymous. To say that Israel did not crucify the Prince of life, after reading Acts 2:22-23; Acts 2:36, Acts 4:26-27 and Acts 5:30-32, and Stephen’s message in Acts 7:1-60, is to be either grossly ignorant or to handle the Word of God deceit­fully. He was the Stone of stumbling for both houses of Israel. Isaiah 8:14. (To be Continued) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: S. ABRAHAM ======================================================================== ABRAHAM By Pastor John C. O’Hair HUMAN GOVERNMENT - PROMISE Abraham, the son of Terah the idolater, was born about 2008 A.H. About 2083 A.H., when Abram was seventy-five years old, God call­ed him to leave his land and home and people, and he did. Hebrews 11:8. Genesis 12:4. In Romans 4:13, we read, “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Again in Galatians 3:18, we read: “For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Again we read in Hebrews 6:13 : “When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swear by Himself.” He confirmed the promise by an oath. Hebrews 6:17. By referring to Genesis, Genesis 12:1-20, Genesis 13:1-18, Genesis 14:1-24, Genesis 15:1-21, Genesis 16:1-16, Genesis 17:1-27, and Genesis 21:1-34 and Genesis 22:1-24, we learn of the great promises God made to Abram and Abraham and also of the oath of confirmation at the time Abraham offered to God his only begotten son, Isaac. “I will make of thee a great na­tion.” Genesis 12:2. “I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2. “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” Genesis 12:3. “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:3. “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” Genesis 13:15. “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.” Genesis 13:16. “I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” Genesis 17:2. “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee . . . And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee . . . I will give thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:1-8. “Ye Shall Circumcise,” Genesis 17:11 “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circum­cised in the flesh.” Genesis 17:24. THE OATH “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord.” Genesis 22:17. “Thy seed shall possess the gate of His enemies.” “And in thy seed I shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 22:16-17. ABRAHAM’S DEATH “And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, and hundred three score and fifteen years.” Genesis 25:7. BEFORE AND AFTER THE COVENANT Abraham was neither a Jew nor an Israelite when he was called at the age of 75. He was an Hebrew. The covenant which God made with Abraham—His oath-sup­ported promises—was made 430 Years before Israel and Jehovah en­tered into their mutual law contract. Galatians 3:17. Abram, the uncircumcised, believ­ed the promises of God. He believed God, and it was counted, or reckon­ed to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6. Romans 4:3. Galatians 3:6. Abraham’s circumcision was the seal of the righteousness which he had yet being uncircumcised. Romans 4:11. Declared righteous in un­circumcision that he might be the father of the uncircumcised Gentile believers. Romans 4:11. “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Galatians 3:9. “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7. Christ died on the cross, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.” Galatians 3:14. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the pro­mise.” Galatians 3:29. The natural or physical seed of Abraham went to Canaan, because of the Abrahamic covenant. The same seed of Abraham, the nation Israel, will yet possess all of Canaan, be­cause of the Abrahamic covenant. God gave it to Abraham by promise. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Roman 11:29. God will therefore take away Israel’s sin and save that nation. Romans 11:25-31. “Thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.” Isaiah 41:8. “Fear not thou worm Jacob.” Isaiah 41:14. Read also Jeremiah 31:25-26. ABRAHAM NOT UNDER THE LAW We must be careful not to confuse the Abrahamic covenant with the covenant which God made 430 years later when He took Israel by the hand and led them up out of the land of Egypt. Hebrews 8:8-10. While all of the failures of Israel under that Sinai covenant cannot an­nul God’s covenant of grace made with Abraham, yet we must see that our failure to differentiate between the Abrahamic covenant for Israel and all nations of the earth and the Sinai covenant with Israel, demand­ing an earthly religious program and a seventh-day sabbath, will lead us into untold confusion and error. To the covenant or promise the Law was added because of trans­gression till the Seed should come. Galatians 3:19. The Seed is Christ. He came. “He taketh away the first.” Hebrews 10:9. The “first” was not the Abrahamic covenant but the Old Covenant made with Israel. Hebrews 8:13. 2 Corinthians 3:7-13. The Abrahamic covenant is not taken away. It is being fulfilled in part. It will be fulfilled in whole - not only concerning Abraham’s spiritual seed today, but also concerning Israel in Canaan. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose name became Israel, all died several centuries before the Old Testament was established. So did: Israel’s twelve sons. Moses was born under the dispensation of Promise, eighty years before there was an Old Test­ament, so Abraham and his great grand children were not Old Testa­ment characters. Abraham died in 1820 B.C. The Old Testament was established about 1492 B.C. Read carefully Luke 1:27-74 of the birth of Christ as the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David and learn the purpose of that birth. THE INHERITANCE IN THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT AND OATH What mean these words found in the last verse of Amos: “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall not more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord?” What mean these words: “All Israel shall be saved . . . This is my covenant with them . . . the gifts and calling of God are with­out repentance?” Romans 11:25-32. Here is the reason: “Beloved for the fathers’ sake.” Romans 11:28. Beloved for the fathers’ sake. Let us not forget this most important state­ment. Israel will be redeemed and reestablished in the Land of Canaan, as a nation, for the fathers’ sake. Abraham was the first father. Hear God’s word to this father: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land where­in thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting posses­sion: and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:14. The Law; under which Israel was so unfaithful, cannot disannul that promise. Galatians 3:17. This pro­mise was not to Abraham or his seed, through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13. What part of the inheritance are we Gentiles interested in? “For if the inheritance be of the Law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Galatians 3:18. “The blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.” Galatians 3:14; This is our inheritance. It is through Jesus Christ, the promised Seed. Here is the oath-supported covenant or promise: “By myself have I sworn saith the Lord. . . . In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 22:18. This is the gospel that was preached for us even before Abram became circumcised Abraham. Genesis 12:3. When Abram believed God, it was counted unto him for righteousness. Galatians 3:6. And in the promise the Scripture foresaw that God would declare believing Gentiles righteous without a cause. Galatians 3:8. Romans 3:24. The blessing of Abraham is “RIGHTEOUSNESS” for believing: Gentiles through Jesus Christ. This is our inheritance. It is evidenced by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Galatians 3:14. The moment a sinner believes the gospel, he is righteous, and at the same moment he receives the Holy Spirit; not by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith. Galatians 3:2. He instantly becomes Christ’s, Ab­raham’s seed and an heir according to the promise. Galatians 3:29. Heirs of salva­tion as spiritual seed. But not heirs of Canaan, as the natural seed. “THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALSO A WITNESS TO US” In the tenth chapter of Hebrews (Hebrews 10:15), the Holy Spirit is declared to be the witness of the benefit for the individual, guaranteed to Israel under the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was made with Israel when that nation left Egypt, about 1492 B.C. Hebrews 8:9. The New Cov­enant was promised to them in Jeremiah 31:31-35, about 600 B.C. This New Covenant guarantees na­tional salvation. Hebrews 8:11. ­Christ’s blood is the blood of the New Covenant. Matthew 26:28. This New Covenant was not made with Gentiles, but the Gentiles get salvation under it to provoke Israel to jealousy. Romans 11:11. In this age, saved Gentiles, together with saved Jews, are being joined to the Lord as members of His Body. When this present purpose of God shall have been accomplished then the Covenant will be fulfilled in the salv­ation of Israel. The individual be­lieving Gentile during this age of grace, enjoys some of the benefits of this New Covenant, which is a better covenant established upon better pro­mises than the Old Covenant. Hebrews 8:6. Therefore, the believer today, whether Jew or Gentile, is perfected and sanctified forever by the one offering Christ made on the cross. Hebrews 10:14. The witness of this perfection and sanctification under the New Covenant is the same as the witness of the righteousness, which is the blessing of Abraham; namely, the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit the believer is sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30. HE TAKETH AWAY THE FIRST, THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THE SECOND Hebrews 10:9 “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.” This is a most interesting statement. Per­haps we should defer the considera­tion of this statement until we come to the end of the “Law” dispensa­tion. But because of the fact that so many Christians have failed to differentiate between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Old Covenant, we shall study the meaning of this state­ment. Christ took away the first. Christ established the second. The first and the second. It was by the one offering of Christ on the cross that the first was taken away and the second was established. If the first refers to the Law and its sacri­fices, then we must see that these were not taken away until the death of Christ. They were not taken away at the time Christ was preaching His Sermon on the Mount. But the first had been taken away for some years when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians. In the Epistle to the Galatians we learn that the Abrahamic Covenant has. not been disannulled or made ineffective by the Law Covenant that was added. Abraham also sacrificed animals. Such sacrifices have passed away, since Christ offered Himself once-­for-all on the cross. But, as Gentiles, we know that we are not being saved because of the promises under the Law Covenant. But the gospel for us was included in the promise which God made to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed.” In Hebrews 8:13, we read this statement concerning the Old Cov­enant: “in that He saith a New Covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:13. This is likewise spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3:13-14 as, “That which is abolished.” . . . . “Which is done away.” The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ brought the “Law” dispensation, the Old Covenant, to an end. He is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 10:4-5. The first and the old are the same. The Abrahamic Covenant has not been taken away. The promise is daily be­ing fulfilled in the salvation of indi­vidual Gentiles and the promise and oath will be fulfilled for Israel when the Son of God returns to restore the kingdom to them. The Gentile believer saved under the Abrahamic promise is saved on the basis of the blood of the New Covenant. We therefore see that the Abrahamic Covenant and the Old Covenant are not the same. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers referred to in Romans 11:28, were not Old Testament characters. They lived and died un­der the Promise, before the Law was added. Now before we proceed to the study of Moses and the Law, let us consider several verses of Scripture: ISRAEL IN EGYPT “He said unto Abram, Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. Aft­erwards shall they come out with great substance.” Genesis 15:13. “All of the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives were threescore and six.” Genesis 46:26. The adults of the children of Israel that went up out of Egypt were six hundred thousand. Exodus 12:37. Guaranteed in the Abrahamic Covenant was Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Israel was miraculously preserved in Egypt, as Israel has been miraculously preserved ever since, and is being today. Israel in Egypt grew from fewer than seventy souls in the year 1706 B.C. to more than six hundred thousand souls in the year 1492 B.C. When the four hundred years were fulfilled, or when the fulness of time was come, “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Exodus 2:24. His gifts and calling were without repentance; so He sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt. It is still true that the gifts and calling are without repent­ance in this respect and a Deliverer is to come out of Zion and deliver Israel. Romans 11:26-29. Moses was eighty years old when God call­ed him to be Israel’s deliverer. Exodus 7:7. It was at that time that God took Israel by the hand to lead them up out of the land of Egypt and entered with them into that mu­tual contract of “doing.” Jeremiah 31:31-32. Moses was one hund­red and twenty years old when he died. Deuteronomy 34:7. Therefore it is obvious that Moses lived in two different dispensations, first, for eighty years under the Pro­mise, and then for forty years under the “Law” dispensation. “FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.” John 1:17. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: S. ABRAM - ABRAHAM ======================================================================== ABRAM - ABRAHAM Abraham Was Declared Righteous In Uncircumcision “WE SAY THAT FAITH WAS RECKONED TO ABRAHAM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Romans 4:9. “HOW WAS IT THEN RECKONED? WHEN HE WAS IN CIRCUMCISION, OR IN UNCIRCUMCISION? NOT IN CIRCUMCISION, BUT IN UNCIRCUMCISION. AND HE RECEIVED THE SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION, A SEAL OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE FAITH WHICH HE HAD YET BEING UNCIR­CUMCISED; THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FATHER OF ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE, THOUGH THEY BE NOT CIRCUM­CISED; THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS MIGHT BE IMPUTED UNTO THEM ALSO.” Romans 4:10-11. These are important truths to enable us to understand other important truths. Comparatively few Christians have under­stood Paul’s words in Galatians 2:7 : “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Just what was the difference between Peter’s gospel of the circumcision and Paul’s gospel of the uncircumcision? This is for a later lesson. But this study will prepare us for that lesson. Now let us read Acts 7:8 and Genesis 17:10, Genesis 17:24, Genesis 17:14 and Genesis 17:5. “And He gave him (Abraham) the cov­enant of circumcision; and so Abraham be­gat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.” “This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.” “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.” “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abra­ham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” God gave the covenant of circumcision when He changed Abram’s name to “Abraham” when Abraham was 99 years old. Isaac was born one year after un­circumcised Abram became circumcised Abraham. Genesis 21:5. Isaac, the prom­ised son, was the child of circumcised Abraham. Then note that Isaac and Jesus of Nazareth were both circumcised when eight days old. Genesis 21:4 and Luke 2:21. Isaac, the promised son, was a type of Jesus Christ, the promised Son. From circumcised Isaac came Jacob (Israel), his twelve sons, Israel and the Jews, called “the circumcision”. Romans 15:8. “Jesus Christ was a minister to the circumcision.” Romans 15:8. While on earth He did not minister unto the Gen­tiles. (One Greek woman and one Roman man. Matthew 8:1-12 and Matthew 15:21-24.) Peter and the Eleven were sent to Israel in the cities of Israel. Matthew 10:5 and Matthew 10:23. Peter and the Eleven are to minister to Israel in the coming kingdom age. Matthew 19:28. Peter and the Eleven remained in Jeru­salem during the period covered by the Book of Acts. Acts 8:1. On the day of Pentecost Peter and the Eleven spoke to Jews from every nation under heaven. Acts 2:14-15. About fifteen years later they were still mes­sengers to the circumcision. Galatians 2:9. From Genesis 17:14 (about 1900 B.C.) to Acts 10:47 (about 40 A.D.) the cir­cumcision of men was a Divine require­ment for fellowship with God’s people. To Peter was committed “the gospel of the circumcision”. Galatians 2:7. No one was ever saved except by the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross; but the word “gos­pel” covers much more than the salvation of the individual sinner. THE GOSPEL OF THE UNCIRCUMCISION Abraham was circumcised. But Abra­ham was not a Jew. Abraham descended from Noah, Shem and Eber. Abraham was an Eberite. Abraham became the father of one branch of the Semitic race. Abraham’s father was Terah. Terah lived in Chaldea and was an idolater. The word “Jew” in the Bible has a double meaning. Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (Israel), had twelve sons. The fourth son was Judah. Speaking of the Jews, as a race they were Judahites. But when Jesus Christ said, “salvation is of the Jews”, He was not thinking of just one of the twelve tribes. The Israelites were all Jews by religion. Galatians 1:14. Jesus Christ was a Jew by race and by religion.. He is called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Revelation 5:5. NOTE THE 430 YEARS But note Galatians 3:8 and Galatians 3:17 : ­“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Here we understand what Paul meant when he said the gospel of the uncircum­cision “was committed unto me.” Four hundred and thirty years before Moses was on Sinai, receiving the law and the Jews’ religion, uncircumcised Abram did something. What he did was to be­lieve. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness:” Galatians 3:6. The doing was God’s part. The believing was Abram’s part. God declared uncircumcised Abram righteous. Note Genesis 12:4 and Genesis 15:6 - “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.” When was Abram circumcised to be­come Abraham? When he was 99 years old. When was Abram called? Twenty-­four years before he was circumcised. His circumcision was the seal of the righteousness which he received in uncircumcision. Romans 4:9-11. So Abram’s circumcision did not contribute to his righteousness or improve it. He had God’s righteousness. God’s righteous­ness is perfect and cannot be improved. The one thing Abram did to receive God’s righteousness was to believe God. THE SCRIPTURES FORESAW Note again Galatians 3:8­ “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” What people were seen when the gospel was preached to Abram 24 years before he was circumcised, and 430 years before the law was added to the gospel (Galatians 3:19)? The heathen (Gentiles) of Paul’s day. What was seen? That the uncircumcised heathen would be declared righteous without circumcision, without the law, without any religious observ­ances. Just as Abraham was, by faith without works. “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” “But to him that work­eth not, but believeth on Him that justi­fieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:3 and Romans 4:5. Christ in heaven revealed to the Apos­tle Paul that the covenant of circumcision was not binding on the Gentiles. For some years after Paul received his Divine commission to preach, God per­mitted the Christian Jews to continue the practice of circumcision. (Acts 16:3 and Acts 21:25). But later on a new interpretation of circumcision was given. “For we are the circumcision, which wor­ship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” “In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead.” Php 3:3 and Colossians 2:11-12. God’s message is Galatians 6:15 and Galatians 5:3 : “IN CHRIST JESUS NEITHER CIR­CUMCISION AVAILETH ANY THING, NOR UNCIRCUMCISION, BUT A NEW CREATURE.” “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” Every member of the Body of Christ has been circumcised with the circumci­sion not made with hands. Colossians 2:11. Jesus Christ was circumcised in the flesh when He was eight days old. Luke 2:18-21. Some Christians speak of following Jesus Christ in baptism, but they say nothing about following Him in His cir­cumcision or about following His exam­ple in the matter of going to the Jewish synagogue on the Jewish sabbath. Luke 4:16. Christ’s death baptism took place on the cross. Luke 12:48-52. Members of His Body, who have been circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands, have also been baptized into the baptism (death) of Christ with a Divine baptism not made with hands, the opera­tion of God. Colossians 2:12. For the believer there is one circumcision and one baptism. Thus we learn that as uncircumcised Abram was justified by faith before God gave to Israel the ten commandments and their religious program, so any uncircum­cised heathen in the United States or in the heart of Africa can be justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished redemptive work. God’s message of grace is, “being declared righteous without a cause by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: S. ACCORDING TO GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE ======================================================================== ACCORDING TO GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE 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 facts in Ephesians; namely, that all of the spiritual benefits and blessings, which the believer has in Christ Jesus, are: ACCORDING TO GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE IN CHRIST. Ephesians 3:11. ACCORDING AS GOD HATH CHOS­EN US IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. Ephesians 1:4. ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE. Ephesians 1:7. ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY. Ephesians 3:16. ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT OF CHRIST. Ephesians 4:7. ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTUAL WORKING IN THE MEASURE OF EVERY PART. Ephesians 4:16. ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL. Ephesians 1:5. ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEAS­URE WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN HIMSELF. Ephesians 1:9. ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKETH ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL. Ephesians 1:11. ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. Ephesians 1:19. ACCORDING TO THE GIFT OF THE GRACE OF GOD GIVEN UNTO PAUL BY THE EFFECTUAL WORKING OF GOD’S POWER. Ephesians 3:7. 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 8:28-31 : “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 11:33-34. 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. 2 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 1:3-5 : “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 2:1-3 - 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 2:8-9. 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 2:19-22. “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 3:3-4 : “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 1:20-21 : “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 1:20-28, 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 IS MADE MANIFEST TO HIS SAINTS.” Colossians 1:24-26. 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 1 Corinthians 3:11 and 1 Corinthians 3:10. In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul declares that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. But in 1 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 1:25-26 : “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.” 2 Timothy 2:8-9. 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 2 Corinthians 11:22-28. Then after all this, read his testimony in 2 Corinthians 12:1-9, concerning his thorn in the flesh, which came with the revelations from Christ. Paul mentioned the mystery in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 and Romans 8:28-30, 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 2:13-18 and in Colossians 1:20-21, 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. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: S. ACTS . . . THE BOOK BETWEEN ======================================================================== ACTS . . . THE BOOK BETWEEN “THIS IS THAT” The Book of Acts covers a period of about thirty years; from the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, about 33 A.D., until after Paul’s arrival in Rome as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ on earth, was a minister of the circumcision; sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Romans 15:8, Matthew 15:24. Paul was the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for Gentiles. Ephesians 3:1. He was the Apostle to the Gentiles, sent to them by Christ, with the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God? Galatians 1:11-13, 1 Timothy 1:11, 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11, Romans 11:13. The Book of Acts is the “Book Between” the earthly ministry of the Son of God, which closed about 33 A. D., and those Epistles of the Apostle Paul, written after he had reached Rome; Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Timothy, Philemon, Titus and II Timothy. Inasmuch as “The Mystery “ is mentioned twelve times in those Epistles, we could refer to them as “The Mystery Epistles”, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians were written about 64 A.D. or about thirty-one years after the Lord Jesus had gone back to heaven. Let us then study the Book of Acts as the “Book Between” Matthew, Mark and Luke, on the one side, and Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, on the other side. It is interesting to note that the Book of Matthew has twenty-eight chapters; and that the Book of Acts has twenty-eight chapters. That the Book of Matthew is decidedly Jewish, no student of the Word of God will deny; but many students of the Word of God will be surprised to know that the following words are found only 86 times in the Book of Matthew and just 250 times in the Book of Acts: Jews, Jerusalem, Sabbath, Moses, Law, Temple, Synagogue, Israel. How Jewish, then, is the Book of Acts? In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Son of God was on earth. He was born King of the Jews; He entered Jerusalem on the ass, as the King of Israel; He was crucified as King of the Jews. In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, the Son of God is seated in the upper-heavenlies, as Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body. Ephesians 1:19-22. Now the question, if the Lord Jesus is the King of Israel in the first three Books and is the Head of the Body in the last three Books, just which of the two is He in the “Book Between”? Is He both? That the Lord Jesus Christ, when an earth, offered to Israel a Kingdom which was different from the Body of Christ described in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, no intelligent student of the Word of God will deny. The character of that Kingdom offered to Israel is described in the first chapter of Luke. Christ was born to take David’s throne. Luke 1:28-33. Christ was coming to deliver the Nation Israel. Luke 1:67-77. In His offer to establish His Kingdom in the midst of Israel, Christ was fulfilling the Word which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Luke 1:70. Luke was also the human author of the “Book Between”. Is it not significant that in the Book of Acts, Christ was raised from the dead to take David’s throne? Acts 2:25-31. Was there not also in the Book of Acts God’s offer to Israel, upon the condition of repentance, to establish the same Kingdom, promised by all of the holy prophets since the world began? Acts 3:21. Note the language of Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21, and you must conclude that the same Israelitish Kingdom is referred to in both Scriptures. Let us note three verses in the first three Books referred to; that is, one verse from Mark, one from Matthew and one from Luke; all concerning the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven. Mark 1:15 Jesus said; “THE TIME IS FULFILLED”; “THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND”. Matthew 21:43 Jesus said; “THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHALL BE TAKEN FROM YOU”. Luke 21:31 Jesus said; “THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE AT HAND”. (When the Son of man shall return in the clouds) Luke 21:27. The Kingdom was at hand; in fulfillment of the Scriptures. The Kingdom was taken away; in fulfillment of the Scriptures. Matthew 21:42. The Kingdom of God will be at hand; in fulfillment of the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, died and was raised the third day; in fulfillment of the Scriptures. Luke 24:25 and Luke 24:46. When Peter and the Eleven preached concerning the two great events, on the day of Pentecost, the resurrection of Christ and the advent of the Holy Spirit, they said that both events were in fulfillment of the Scriptures; in fulfillment of prophecies that God had made concerning Israel’s Kingdom, by Joel and David. Neither of these prophets had any word about the “The Mystery” of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. But both of them had much to say about the Kingdom of Acts which was the Kingdom of Matthew, Mark and Luke. So did Amos: Acts 15:13-18, Amos 9:11-15. Concerning the advent of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the Eleven said, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Acts 2:16. We can know the character of Joel’s message, if we will read just one verse: Joel 2:18. Joel referred to the same Kingdom of God that Christ announced at hand; the same kingdom that Christ said would be taken away from Israel and that would be given back to Israel when the Son of man shall return. Joel’s prophecy awaits complete fulfillment. Joel had not one word to say about the Body of Christ. Neither did any one of the holy prophets, who had spoken since the world began, refer to the Body of Christ. Concerning the “Body” message of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, it could not be said, “this is that” which was spoken by Joel, Isaiah, Daniel, David, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Malachi, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, or any other Old Testament prophet. We are so instructed in Ephesians 3:5-9 and Colossians 1:24-27. But all of them spoke of the Kingdom of Matthew, Mark and Luke and of the same Kingdom referred to in Acts 3:19-21. Read carefully Acts 3:24 concerning “these days”. “These days” of Acts 3:19-25 differ from “these days” of Ephesians 2:11-17. When the Lord Jesus proclaimed His Kingdom in Mark 1:15, “the Kingdom of God is at hand,” He said, “the time is fulfilled.” He could have well said; “This is That” which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Joel 2:15-18. He could have said, “this is that” which was spoken by Isaiah; in Isaiah 62:1-4, or in Isaiah 35:3-6. He could have said; “this is that” which was spoken by Zechariah, Daniel, David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, Amos, and so on. When the Son of man shall return in power and great glory to restore again the Kingdom to Israel, He can and will say: “this is that” which was spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began; for the same Kingdom that Christ proclaimed at hand shall then be at hand. This includes the prophets to whom Peter referred in the Book of Acts; Joel, David, Amos, (Acts 15:14-18), Moses, Samuel and all the prophets (Acts 3:22; Acts 3:24 and Acts 10:43). It is of interest to note that there are about thirty-five quotations from Israel’s Scriptures in the Book of Matthew, and about twenty-five quotations from Israel’s Scriptures in the Book of Acts. The Old Testament prophecies are quoted in both Matthew and Acts. Surely they were Kingdom messages and not messages referring to the Body of Christ, which was “The Mystery” not made known to the sons of men in other ages. Ephesians 3:5. Colossians 1:25-26. Ephesians 3:9. According to Matthew 4:17, the Lord said; “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” In Mark 1:15, we read; “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Kingdom of Heaven of Matthew at hand and the Kingdom of God of Mark and Luke at hand were identical. The Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, foretold by Israel’s prophets, was at hand, because the King was at hand. Every where the Kingdom message was for the Nation Israel, and the message was accompanied by Kingdom signs. When John the Baptist sent word to know if Jesus was the One to come, the Lord sent word to John, that the healing miracles of Isaiah 35:4-5 were being performed by Him; therefore, He was Israel’s God, Messiah and King, promised in Isaiah 35:1-4. When the Lord Jesus sent forth His twelve apostles to preach saying, “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”, He said; “Heal the sick, Cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, etc.” Matthew 10:7-8. They went preaching the Gospel and healing everywhere. Luke 9:6. What Gospel were they preaching? The Gospel of the Kingdom. Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 24:14, and Mark 1:14. Included in the Lord’s Kingdom program was not only the Kingdom signs, but the Kingdom parables, the Kingdom prayer, given to the Kingdom Nation. The instructions of the Lord to His apostles were: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles; go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 10:5-6, Matthew 15:24. When the Lord shall come as the Son of man and establish His Kingdom on earth, the Twelve are to sit on twelve thrones and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. For some reason, God instructed the Twelve to limit their ministry to the circumcision, after the conversion of Cornelius. Galatians 2:7-9. All Premillennialists are agreed that the Kingdom of God was offered to Israel; that the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel; and that the Kingdom of God shall yet be given to Israel. They are agreed that while the Kingdom is in abeyance the Body of Christ is being completed. They are agreed that, “All Israel shall be saved”. Romans 11:25-26. They are agreed that the redeemed Nation shall yet have peaceful possession of their land under the reign of the true King David, in fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic and the New Covenants; because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Romans 11:25-31. But the Premillennialists are by no means agreed as to just when the Kingdom of God was taken away from the Nation Israel. But they are agreed that the Body of Christ began historically after the death of Christ. Some say that the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel, when the Lord Jesus pronounced that awful judgment upon that Nation, as recorded in Matthew 23:31-39 : “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers”, “Your house is left unto you desolate”. Others say that the Kingdom offer was not withdrawn until after Stephen saw the Son of man standing at the right hand of God and Peter was sent to Cornelius: Acts 7:54-56, Acts 10:34-46. Others say that the Kingdom of God was not taken from Israel until that Nation was set aside by the Lord after the words of rejection and judgment pronounced by the Apostle Paul, in Acts 28:25-28. It is because of this division of opinion that we ask the question; is the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Book of Acts, in the “Book Between”, the King of Israel or is He, in that Book, the Head of the Church, which is His Body? Of course, this is equivalent to asking, “Is the Church of God to which the three thousand were added on the day of Pentecost the same Church mentioned in Ephesians, the Body of Christ?” Or again this question; “Did the Church, which is His Body, begin historically on the day of Pentecost?” We know that we have no Scripture stating specifically that the Body of Christ did begin on the day of Pentecost; neither is there any Scripture stating that that Body did not begin on the day of Pentecost. We must study the scriptures diligently, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to answer this question, rather than follow some man’s interpretation or accept the creeds of Historic Christianity. We seem to be agreed that Israel’s seventh-day Sabbath is no longer binding on members of the Body of Christ. We learn that truth by the study of several Scriptures, in not one of which is the definite statement made that the member of the Body of Christ should regard the first day of the week, as a sanctified day, instead of the seventh ­day, which was given to Israel. Surely Sabbath-keeping, anointing with oil, signs and ceremonies continued to be practiced by Israelitish believers during the Acts period; and then for some reason they ceased to be God’s order for the members of the Body of Christ. We should be able to give an intelligent Scriptural explanation for their cessation, in accordance with 2 Timothy 2:15. We should be able to give an intelligent Scriptural explanation as to why the Body of Christ did or did not begin on the day of Pentecost. We should not believe it, simply because some leading Bible teacher has so declared. If it is not stated in any chapter of the Book of Acts that the risen Lord is the King of Israel and if it is not stated in that Book, that He is the Head of that Church which is His Body, how can we answer the question? In Mark 16:14-18 we find recorded the instructions given to Peter and the other apostles by the risen Lord. They were to go preach the Gospel. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Certain signs were to follow them that believe. The Eleven went out preaching the Gospel that was given to them; and “signs following.” Mark 16:20. Kingdom signs continued. Were they preaching the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God. to which Paul referred in 1 Timothy 1:11? In 1 Timothy 5:23, the Apostle Paul told that faithful saint to take a physical remedy for his physical disease. Therefore, Kingdom signs were not following the Gospel message which Timothy was preaching. The signs of Mark 16:17-18 followed Paul up to Acts 28:28. The signs of Mark 16:17-18 are not following the preaching of the Gospel by anyone today. Neither do Grace preachers preach, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” A radical change has taken place since the days of Mark 16:14-18. Is the change only in the signs, or in the Message? Should the servant of the Lord today preach what Peter and the Eleven preached to Israel on the day of Pentecost, or what Peter preached eight years later to Cornelius? What messenger of the Grace of God is today preaching, with the approval of God, “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins?” What such messenger is preaching to individual Gentiles today what Peter preached to the Nation Israel, in Acts 3:19-26? Peter preached to Israel and to Cornelius concerning Jesus of Nazareth in the land of Israel. Acts 2:22. Acts 10:36-40 To be sure, in all of these messages there was the element of grace; but Israel’s Kingdom was in view and saved Israelites continued with an Israelitish religious program throughout the “Acts” period. The “Book Between” is a book of signs, miracles and supernatural visitations. Should we, or should we not, earnestly endeavor to recover for the church today the signs, ceremonies and visions of the “Book Between”? Does the “Sign” program of the Book of Acts correspond with the “Sign” program of Matthew, Mark and Luke, or with the “Signless” message of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians? After God has accomplished His purpose in this age. “to make of the twain One New Man,” (Ephesians 2:15), the Son of man will return in the clouds in power and great glory, and then, for Israel, the Kingdom of God will be at hand. Luke 21:27-31. Then the Son of man will sit as a King on the throne of His glory. Matthew 25:31-35. He will be Wonderful, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, on David’s throne. Isaiah 9:6-7. In the meantime the Lord Jesus is seated in the upper-heavenlies far above principality and power; and the members of the Church which is His Body are seated with Him in the upper-heavenlies; not blessed with millennium Kingdom blessings, but with all spiritual blessings in the upper-heavenlies. Ephesians 2:5-6. Ephesians 1:3. In Acts 7:54-58, the Lord Jesus is seen as the “standing” Son of man. He is not the Son of man to the Church which is His Body, but in His Kingdom dealings with Israel, that Nation Stephen was addressing in the seventh chapter of Acts. Then the question; “In Acts 7:54-58, was the Lord Jesus seated in the upper-heavenlies as Head of the Church which is His Body, as He was in Ephesians 1:19-22, and as He is now? In Matthew, Mark and Luke there was one baptism, baptism for Israel unto repentance for the remission of sins; water baptism that Christ might be made manifest unto Israel. John 1:31. In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians there was one baptism; that baptism by which the believer is identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and heavenly seat. That is not water. In the “Book Between” there were two baptisms, water and Holy Spirit. Why is it that true messengers of the Grace of God prefer to turn to the messages of Paul for the Gospel rather than go to Matthew, Mark and Luke? Because in those three Books we do not find the clear, unmixed Gospel of Grace for Gentiles, but rather Grace mixed with the Gospel of the Kingdom. We prefer to leave the “strive to enter in”, or “he that endureth to the end shall be saved”, or “bring forth fruit meet for repentance”, or “they take the kingdom by violence”, or “if thy right hand offend you cut it off” (all of which were the Lord’s messages to Israel) and go on to the unmixed messages of Grace in Romans 3:24-28, or in Ephesians 2:8-9, or in Titus 3:5-6 : “Being justified (declared righteous) without a cause by God’s Grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”; “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”; “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us”. As the Gospel of the Kingdom was a message different from Paul’s unmixed Gospel of Grace, so did the messages of Peter and his associates, in the Book of Acts, differ from these pure Grace messages The message of Peter on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:38, differed very much from Paul’s Grace of Christ Message to the Gentiles. What Gospel preacher today would preach to Gentiles the Message of Repentance and Restitution that Peter preached to Israel, according to Acts 3:19-21? There was much grace in that message. but it was not the Message of Reconciliation which the risen Lord later committed to Paul. Peter preached to Cornelius, “In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him”. Acts 10:35-36. Compare this with Titus 3:5-6; Ephesians 2:8-9. What Gospel preacher of today would follow the order of Philip’s ministry in the City of Samaria, recorded in Acts 8:5-15? Not one. It is agreed by all dispensational students of the Word of God, who preach the Gospel of Grace, that the order of Acts 19:3-12, in the year 54 A.D., is not God’s order for today among the members of the Body of Christ. Paul declared that he persecuted the Church of God. Galatians 1:13. There is no Scriptural proof that that Church of God began on the day of Pentecost. It was the Pentecost Church of God that he persecuted, and it either began on that day or before that day. There were no Gentiles in the Church of God which Paul persecuted, except the proselytes referred to in Acts 2:10. The first company of Gentiles to be brought in was the household of Cornelius. Acts 11:18. Up to that year, about 41 A.D., it was unlawful for the Jewish apostles to go to a Gentile. Acts 10:28. Concerning this company of Gentiles, who were granted repentance unto life, Peter afterward said, “God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.” Acts 15:17. The Lord’s permission for Peter to preach to the Gentiles came with the vision of the sheet let down three times. Acts 10:8-18. In the light of the so-called Great Commission given to the Eleven, in which they were to disciple all nations, it is difficult to understand several facts; first, why was the housetop vision necessary to authorize Peter to preach to one family of religious, Godfearing Gentiles; second, why was it that it was by Peter’s mouth, rather than by the mouths of all of the Eleven commissioned in Matthew 28:19-20, that the Gentiles were to hear the word of the gospel; third, why was it that after Peter’s declaration in Acts 15:7 he was instructed to confine his ministry to the circumcision. then his name dropped from the Book of Acts and the responsibility of evangelizing the Gentiles was given exclusively to Paul and his associates? Galatians 2:7-9. This also leads us to ask why Paul declared that the Gentiles received mercy because of Israel’s unbelief (Romans 11:30 and Romans 11:11 and Acts 13:46) instead of because of the terms of the so-called Great Commission? When Peter declared that God had made choice that by his mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, James added these words: “Simeon hath declared how for the first time God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name.” Acts 15:13. And the next verse: “To this agree the words of the prophets.” Or, “this is that which was spoken by Amos.” Acts 15:14-17. Amos 9:11-15. And even in his Epistle to the Romans Paul declared Gentile salvation, during the Acts period, was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s Kingdom prophecy. Read carefully Romans 15:10-14. Now it is of interest to study the declaration of Simeon and James, concerning the Gentile salvation, the outgathering from the nations, in fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy, and the Gentile salvation, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, in the light of Ephesians 3:5-6 and Ephesians 3:9. In Ephesians 3:9, the Apostle Paul declared that the risen Lord instructed him to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles. The word “unsearchable” means “untraceable”, or “not to be tracked”. That message to which Paul was referring in Ephesians 3:9 was somewhat different from the message to which he referred in Romans 15:10-14, because that “Romans” message was traceable; it could be tracked through Isaiah. In Ephesians 3:6 the Apostle Paul mentioned Gentile salvation in a joint-Body; the Gentile jointheirs. He declared, in Ephesians 3:5, that this particular Gentile salvation and Position in the Body of Christ was not made known to the sons of men in other ages; in other words, “this is not that” to which Peter referred in Acts 2:16, in Acts 3:19-26. in Acts 10:43 and in Acts 15:13-17. The mystery among the Gentiles, “Christ in you the hope of glory,” was not made known to other generations. Colossians 1:25-27. The “Ephesians” and “Colossians” Body truth was unknown to all of Israel’s Prophets and was not the message of the Twelve to Israel before the death of Christ, or during the “Acts” period. For this reason it is called “The Mystery” or “The Secret.” Paul received it by revelation. Ephesians 3:3. If the Church of God, which Paul persecuted, was the subject of prophecy and the Ephesians “Church which is His Body” was not the subject of prophecy, were they not different Churches? Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 2:5-6. If Pentecost was the birthday of the Church which is His Body, surely that was the ideal Church for this age. Then the message and program of that Church must be considered the ideal message and program for the present-day Church; and we should join with the modern Pentecostal Church in their determination to recover for twentieth-century saints and sinners the message, program and order of Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19-26, Acts 8:5-15, and Acts 19:3-12. But the fact is that most Fundamentalist Grace preachers know that that first message and program of the Twelve is not God’s order for today. Ask one of them why he does not preach Mark 16:16 or Acts 2:38? The Pentecost Church must not be the Body of Christ. Let us summarize, in closing: “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15, “This is that”. “The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you.” Matthew 21:43. “This is that”. “The Kingdom of God shall be at hand.” Luke 21:31. “This is that.” This Kingdom was promised by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began. Luke 1:70. Matthew 25:31-35 : “When the day of Pentecost was fully come,” “This is that” which was spoken by “Joel.” Acts 2:1 and Acts 2:16. “Repent (Israel) and God will send Jesus Christ.” “This is that spoken by Moses, Samuel and all the prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19-25. Send Jesus Christ to bring about the restitution of all things. “ . . God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name:” Acts 15:14. “This is that” which was spoken by Amos and others. Then Ephesians 3:1-11 : “This is not that”. In Colossians 1:24-27, “this is not that”. Is Christ the Head of the Church which is His Body in the “Book Between”? If so, with what chapter did this Headship begin? Why did God permit Israel’s Jerusalem temple to stand and let them continue their religious activities and ceremonies in that temple during the years covered by the “Book Between”? Why did He instruct Paul to become a Jew to the Jews during those years? Why in the “Book Between” was God’s order “to the Jew first”? Acts 3:26, Acts 13:46, Acts 18:6. Was Israel’s house left desolate with Matthew 23:31-39 or thirty years later with Acts 28:25-28? The Nation was not set aside until Romans 11:25 and Acts 28:28. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: S. ADAM ======================================================================== ADAM By Pastor John C. O’Hair INNOCENCE - CONSCIENCE In the image of God, in a sinless state, the first man dwelt in unbrok­en fellowship with God, His Maker in the Garden of Eden. The coven­ant is set forth in Genesis 1:26-28. Adam became disobedient unto death, believed the lie and was con­demned, was driven from the Garden, in a state of sin, under the sentence of death. Admittedly a great change. A complete change, under entirely new conditions. “Under the curse,” with the promise of the coming Redeemer, Adam found himself, where we should find him, under a new dispensation, and deprived of his rights under the first covenant. But God entered into a new-covenant. Adam was not an Old Covenant or Old Testament character. As to whether or not Adam was a saved man may be a debatable question. But under that same covenant, in which there was the offer of righteousness by faith, without religion, Abel was saved. Seth was saved. Enoch was saved. Enoch was a prophet, and foretold, the coming of Christ with His saints in judgment. Jude 1:14. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: S. ADAM - ABEL - SETH - ENOCH- NOAH ======================================================================== ADAM - ABEL - SETH - ENOCH- NOAH Every member of the human race has come from Adam and from Noah. Adam was the only man created in the image of God. The Lord Jesus, of course was the effulgence of His glory, and the ex­press image of His person. But we are referring to all other men. Adam was not born as a baby, but God created him as a man. Genesis 1:26-28. Noah and his family were saved in the ark. At that time all other human beings were destroyed in the flood. Genesis 7:1 and Genesis 7:21. Concerning Adam and Eve, we read in Genesis 5:4 that sons and daughters were born unto them. But we mention three sons of Adam - CAIN - ABEL - AND SETH In Hebrews 11:4 we read concerning Abel - ”By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” In 1 John 3:12 we read concerning Cain - ”Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” Note Jude 1:11 concerning apostate preachers who go in the way of Cain. Cain rejected salvation by blood. Thus we see that the first man born of woman murdered his brother. There are other lessons in the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-8 and Genesis 4:16-17. “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his coun­tenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch; and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.” Cain and Abel were under “the law of sin and death.” Genesis 2:17. Romans 8:2. Cain was self-righteous and sought deliverance from sin and death by the works of his own hands. It is interesting to read, in this con­nection, Romans 10:1-3 - “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s right­eousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not sub­mitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Abel submitted himself unto the right­eousness of God. He acknowledged that his own righteousness was not acceptable to God. He knew that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6) ; and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8). Abel’s offering prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, “the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. Note 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 3:24. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Abel, being dead yet speaketh; or is yet spoken of. The Evangelical Christians are today op­posed by the so-called Liberals or Modern­ists in the evangelical denominations. The Evangelicals teach salvation by the blood of the Son of God, justification by faith, and by grace. The Liberals teach salva­tion by character and conduct, without the shedding of blood. That controversy was settled by God in favor of the Evan­gelicals in His acceptance and rejection of Abel and Cain, and is dogmatically and clearly shown all through the Bible. SETH THE SUBSTITUTE “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth; for God, said she, hath appointed me an­other seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 4:25-26. “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth; And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years; and be begat sons and daughters. “ Genesis 5:3-4. Seth begat Enos, Enos begat Cainan. Note in Genesis 5:1-32 - Adam -. Seth - Enos - Cainan - Mahalaleel - Jared - Enoch - Me­thuselah - Lamech - Noah. NOTE THE RECORD OF ENOCH “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundreds years, and begat sons and daughters; And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:22-24. By faith Enoch was translated and by faith Enoch pleased God. Hebrews 11:5. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Be­hold, the Lord cometh with ten thou­sands of His saints.” Jude 1:14. Enoch was the father of Methuselah. Methuselah was the oldest man who ever lived on this earth. He died at the age of 969 years. (Genesis 5:27.) ENOCH - METHUSELAH - NOAH Methuselah was Enoch’s son and Noah’s grandfather. Noah was 600 years old when God destroyed the world with the flood. (Genesis 7:6.) As we study the fifth chapter of Genesis we learn that the flood was on the earth the year 1656 A. H. (year of man), or about 2344 B. C. So the flood was on the earth about 4284 years ago. This was the year that Me­thuselah died. “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 2:5. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteous­ness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7. “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:26-27. Note the moral condition of the human race when Noah was called into the ark. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. Note concerning Noah’s sons. “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. “ Genesis 9:18-19. “And Noah was five hundred years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. “ Genesis 5:32. “These are the generations of Shem; Shem was an hundred years old, and be­gat Arphaxed two years after the flood.” Genesis 11:10. NOAH AFTER THE FLOOD “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.” And all of the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.” Genesis 9:28-29. By carefully studying Genesis 5:1-32 we learn that the flood was upon the earth 1656 A.H., the year of man. That was about 2344 B.C. Noah died about 1994 B.C. Abraham was born about 1990 B.C. Shem died about 1840 B.C. Genesis 11:10-11. Abraham died about 1817 B.C.Genesis 25:7. God called Abraham 430 years before He gave the ten commandments to Israel, by Moses. Galatians 3:16-19. The covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai by Moses is called now, “the Old Covenant”, “the Old Testament”. Moses received the law, the Covenant, from the Lord between 1490 B.C. and 1500 B.C. Thus we see that none of those men of God who lived before the flood were Old Testament saints. Abraham died more than 300 years before God entered into the (Old) Covenant with Israel. Abraham did not live under the Old Testament. Not one word concerning the Old Cov­enant or Old Testament is recorded in Genesis. The record of the giving of the (Old) Covenant is in Exodus 20:1-26, Also we learn that Abel, Seth, Enoch and Noah were neither Jews nor Israel­ites, except as they prevailed with God - Jacob’s name was changed to Israel several centuries after the flood. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: S. ADAM - NOAH - ABRAHAM - PAUL ======================================================================== ADAM - NOAH - ABRAHAM - PAUL With Adam God began the human race. With Noah God began the human race anew. With Abraham God began the Jewish race. With Paul God began “the dispensation of the grace of God” for Gentiles. Ephesians 3:1-3. Let us compare what God said to Adam with what He said to Noah. “SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CRE­ATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM. AND GOD BLESSED THEM, AND GOD SAID UNTO THEM, BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH, AND SUBDUE IT; AND HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND OVER THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND OVER EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH. AND GOD SAID, BEHOLD, I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERY HERB BEAR­ING SEED, WHICH IS UPON THE FACE OF ALL THE EARTH, AND EVERY TREE, IN THE WHICH IS THE FRUIT OF A TREE YIELDING SEED; TO YOU IT SHALL BE FOR MEAT.” Genesis 1:27-29. “AND GOD BLESSED NOAH, AND HIS SONS, AND SAID UNTO THEM BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY, AND RE­PLENISH THE EARTH. AND THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE DREAD OF YOU SHALL BE UPON EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH, AND UPON EVERY FOWL OF THE AIR, UPON ALL THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH, AND UPON ALL THE FISHES OF THE SEA; INTO YOUR HAND ARE THEY DELIVERED. EVERY MOVING THING THAT LIVETH SHALL BE MEAT FOR YOU; EVEN AS THE GREEN HERB HAVE I GIVEN YOU ALL THINGS.” Genesis 9:1-3. God very definitely began things with Adam. Adam was given headship by God. Satan appeared on the scene. The serpent beguiled Eve through his sub­tilty. 2 Corinthians 11:3. Adam sinned with Eve. Note the Divine judgment “And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.” Genesis 3:17-18. What happened? “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12. With Adam sin began. The first man born of woman (Cain) was of the devil and murdered his brother. 1 John 3:12. After sixteen cen­turies, what was the condition of the human race? “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:5-8. Note then what God did: “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 2:5. “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” Genesis 7:7. “And every living substance was de­stroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” Genesis 7:23. God began anew with Noah and his family. But then note what happened to the human race within a few centuries. “And the whole earth was of one lan­guage, and of one speech:” Genesis 11:1. “And the Lord said, Behold, the peo­ple is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language; that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city.” Genesis 11:6-8. “Professing themselves to be wise, they be­came fools.” Romans 1:22. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wick­edness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, de­spiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without un­derstanding, covenantbreakers, without na­tural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:28-32. They became alienated and enemies by wicked works. Colossians 1:21. They were alienated from the life of God. Ephesians 4:18. ABRAM CALLED Out of the human wreck God called a man who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. His name was Abram. With Abram God began a new movement for the human race. God said to Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a bless­ing: And I will bless them that bless thee, And curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall fall families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3. Then God gave to Abram the covenant of circumcision. Acts 7:8 - Genesis 17:10-17. Then Isaac was born. From Isaac came Jacob (Israel) and his twelve sons, the nation Israel. “But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend.” Isaiah 41:8. “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” Isaiah 43:1. “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.” Isaiah 43:15. “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art My servant: I have formed thee; Thou art My servant; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Isaiah 44:21. “For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.” Isaiah 45:4. “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” Isaiah 45:25. God declared in Isaiah 43:7 that Israel was created for His glory. Then we read in Luke 2:32 that Jesus Christ was the glory of Israel. Note carefully Romans 9:4-5. “Who are Israelites; to whom pertain­eth the adoption and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” Something new very definitely began with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The rest of the human race was cut off. They be­came aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Ephesians 2:12. They were alien­ated from the life of God. ISRAEL IN THE SCRIPTURES The first eleven chapters of Genesis deal with the human race from Adam to Abram, 2083 years. The remaining 39 chapters of the first Book of the Bible and all of the other thirty-eight Books, from Genesis to Malachi, deal with the one people, Israel, the children of Abra­ham; and only such other nations and individuals as had dealings, during those centuries, with Israel. This is likewise true concerning the contents of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In this connection note Romans 15:8, Matthew 15:24 and John 1:11. “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.” “He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” “ He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” We quoted Romans 9:5 concerning Christ and Israel, “of whom as concern­ing the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Here we learn the truth, that God was a Jew on this earth for about 33 years. Christ was born King of the Jews. Matthew 2:2. Christ was saluted “King of Israel.” John 1:49. Note Christ’s instructions to His twelve Jewish messengers. “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.” Matthew 10:5-6. “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; for verily I say unto you, ye shall (may) not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Matthew 10:23. Plain instructions these, “go not into the way of the Gentiles”, the children of Adam. “Go to the children of Abra­ham.” “Ye may not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come.” Then note again, those twelve apostles remained in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1. Those twelve apostles are yet to sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. After the twelve apostles had preached in Jerusalem something happened. In the Jerusalem temple the Apostle Paul was met by the Lord Jesus Christ. Note what happened “And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concern­ing me.” “And He said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gen­tiles.”Acts 22:17-18 and Acts 22:21. A new movement this. Christ spoke to Paul: “I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Note Galatians 2:7­: “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was com­mitted unto me, as the gospel of the cir­cumcision was unto Peter.” No such pro­gram had ever been carried on before. This man of God, who was born out of due time (1 Corinthians 15:8), received orders from the Lord Jesus Christ to go to uncircumcised Gentiles with “the gos­pel of the uncircumcision.” Then Paul made known the truth of Romans 4:9-10 and Galatians 3:8, the fact that Abram was declared righteous by faith, years before he was circum­cised. That was 430 years before the law was added. “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Galatians 3:17. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom, the prom­ise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” Galatians 3:19. This truth, that Abram was declared righteous by faith, without works or re­ligion, when he was Abram and not Abraham, 24 years before he was circum­cised. and 430 years before God gave the law to Israel, was revolutionary truth when Paul went forth to proclaim it. Genesis 12:1-6, Genesis 15:4-8, Gala­tians 3:8, Romans 4:9-11. Since the time of Genesis 17:10-17, no uncircumcised Gentile could have fellow­ship with God or His people. God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Acts 7:8. A NEW MESSAGE But now what? Christ, by revelation, gave Paul a new message. Galatians 1:11-12. What did Paul do? He went up to Jerusalem. “And I went up by revelation, and com­municated unto them that gospel which I - preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.” Galatians 2:2. When Paul went up to Jerusalem he did not receive his gospel from those who were apostles before him. “But contrari­wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. Do not lose the force of “But contrariwise”. Then and there Peter and the other Jewish disciples of Christ learned that Paul had received a new and different message. It was not that any one had ever been, or ever would be, saved apart from the shed blood of the. Lord Jesus Christ. But in the Lord’s revelation to Paul He told him why Abram, the heathen, was justified in uncircumcision. Note again Galatians 3:8 - “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abra­ham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Abram was 75 years old when he was called by God. Genesis 12:1-5. Note Genesis 15:6­: “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:6. Then note Genesis 17:13-14 and Genesis 17:24 : “He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.” “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” All of this is so important for us to know, if we are to understand Galatians 2:7. When Abram was called and justified years before he was circumcised and be­came “Abraham”, the Scriptures fore­saw the new message and ministry that Paul was to receive by revelation from Christ to inaugurate “the dispensation of grace.” The Scriptures foresaw that God would declare heathen righteous by faith, without circumcision or religion, during the time the circumcision people were set aside. Although the Scriptures foresaw this, no man foresaw it. Paul learned it by revelation. He went forth to proclaim “the gospel of the. uncircumcision”. But everywhere he went other missionaries followed him and preached the gospel of the circumcision. “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Acts 15:1 and Acts 15:5. “Forasmuch as we have heard, that cer­tain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, say­ing, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment.” Acts 15:24. In spite of that conference and the important decisions there reached, the zealous, religious preachers continued to mix law and circumcision with grace. Note Paul’s words - “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel; Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would per­vert the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-7. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is debtor to do the whole law.” “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything.” Galatians 5:1-3 and Galatians 5:15. Concerning these religious missionaries with their perverted gospels, Paul wrote: “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circum­cision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trou­ble you.” Galatians 5:11-12. WHAT A DIFFERENCE In Genesis 17:10-17, we learn that those who did not preach and practice circumcision were to be cut off. In Gala­tians, we learn that those who did preach and practice circumcision were to be cut off. What is the explanation? Different Divine economies, with different Divine programs. The Greek text of Php 1:10, is, “test things that differ.” Another example, note Colossians 2:16 - “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” What would have happened to any man who had preached such a doctrine while Israel was under the law, from Moses to John the Baptist? He would have been stoned to death. Jesus Christ Himself was made under the law. Galatians 4:4. No one was authorized by Him to preach Colossians 2:16 while He was on earth. Paul wrote to members of the Body of Christ “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 12:4-5. “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. In closing this message, let us compare Romans 15:8 and Luke 2:21, Luke 4:16 and Matthew 5:17, with Paul’s words in Galatians 2:7, Romans 11:13-14. CONCERNING JESUS ON EARTH “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.” Romans 15:8. “And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before He was con­ceived in the womb.” “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” “Think not that I am come to destroy, the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” CONCERNING PAUL’S MINISTRY “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 I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I mag­nify mine office.” “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” A great difference between “the Min­ister to the circumcision” and “the apos­tle to the Gentiles.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: S. AFTER WE LEAVE THIS WORLD ======================================================================== AFTER WE LEAVE THIS WORLD A well known author once wrote these words: “the path of glory leads but to the grave.” Then a more famous author once wrote a letter in which he stated that the path of special suffering leads to glory beyond the grave. They call him Saint Peter. The path of most of the people who have gone on to the grave was anything but a path of glory. Only God knows how many people have left this world and have gone to the grave. But men have guessed the number to be over twenty billion. Of this number more that ten billion have been uncivilized, unevangelized and uneducated heathen. Most of them have died in poverty, and misery and degradation. Perhaps you have read the first Book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis. In the first chapters of that first Book we read of a wonderful man, a man made in the image and likeness of God. That wonderful man was in a wonderful Paradise, communing with Almighty God. Then something happened. What was that something? Three letters tell us. S - I - N. Sin has played havoc with the human race. “The wages of sin is death.” As we come to the last chapter of that first Book we read the biography of another wonderful man. His name was Joseph. This is the way the chapter ends—“So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” What a contrast! Adam in the image of God in Paradise. Joseph in a coffin in Egypt. If Adam had not sinned, Joseph would not have been in Egypt or in a coffin. Yes, Joseph was about as fine and noble as any man who ever lived on this earth. But he went to the grave. “To the grave.” Not a very happy thought, but the funeral cars are constantly passing us on the way to the cemetery to keep us reminded that we, too, are on the way to the cemetery, whether we are numbered among the noble or just the ordinary. There was another very noble man, a great king, in whose life there was much glory. But the time of his departure arrived. He said, “I go the way of all the earth.” “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. (1 Kings 2:10). Let’s read the account in 1 Kings 2:1-3—“Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.” More that one thousand years after that great king died another great and noble man died; perhaps, with one exception, measured by true values, the greatest man who ever lived on this earth. Note his farewell message: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). Where is this great man now? Is Paul forever dead? It was Paul who wrote—“Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8). But note again his words in 1 Corinthians 15:19—“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” As we think of David, and Paul, and our loved ones, who have gone to their graves, the old questions of Job are ever new: “Man giveth up the ghost and where is he?” “If a man die, shall he live again?” Who has the answer? The first question, “Where are the dead?” causes us to think of these strange words, recorded in Ecclesiastes 12:3-7—“In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the door shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit return unto God Who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” Let us read with these words the story of a great Christian hero, Stephen. “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:59-60). Paul might well have thought of Stephen when he wrote 2 Corinthians 5:8-9—“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.” There were times when Paul wanted to depart to be with Christ (Php 1:22-23). That meant that his path led to glory beyond the grave. Therefore he said: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18). “When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4). Now let us compare the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, when He was here on earth, with that wonderful truth He later revealed to Paul. “ Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28-29. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. The grave is simply a stop on the way. We are all either on the way to eternal glory or to eternal perdition. The wonderful, startling news is, that some are going to eternal glory without going to the grave. Think of the joy of the redeemed ones who will be raptured in the twinkling of an eye. No funeral. No grave. But glory eternal. Did Moses make a mistake in his choice? “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” Hebrews 11:25-26. Moses was not near-sighted. He looked far beyond the pleasures of sins and the treasures of earth. He believed the truth of 1 John 2:1-29” - 1 John 2:16-17—“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Every life is a sacrifice. The sinner sacrifices heaven and eternal glory for fun, fortune or fame. The Christian sacrifices the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life for an eternity with Christ in glory. Yes, the Christian is going to heaven to share the glory of Christ, because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. 1 Peter 3:18 “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:” Romans 5:8-9 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Can you imagine that any person living in the United States does not know what is beyond the grave; or that any one in this country does not how to escape eternal perdition? Hear these solemn words in John 3:36—“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.” Hear again Hebrews 10:39—“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” The time we spend this side of the grave is a nothing compared with the unending eternity after we leave this world. But we must decide on our eternal destiny and destination before we die of before Christ comes. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 After death and the grave, what? Judgment—the wrath of God. Not probation or another chance. You can settle the matter of your eternal destiny right now. “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 2:8-10. Be wise and receive Christ right here and now. WHEN I SAY GOODBYE When to this world I say goodbye, Whether Christ shall come or I shall die; I shall not fear my future state, Nor yet resign my soul to fate; ‘Tis neither boast no carnal pride Nor natural worth I have inside; My trust is not in human creeds, Nor in my good religious deeds. If man, by works, could heaven gain, Then ‘tis true, Christ died in vain. There was no power on earth could save, Nor offer hope beyond the grave. Salvation is from heaven above; God’s book declares that God is love. God loved the world and sent His Son To die for sinners, for every one. Christ tasted death for every man: It was God’s own redemption plan. On Calvary’s cross the debt was paid, For there on Christ our sins were laid. In death the Saviour bowed His head, There His precious blood was shed. God has for sin no other cure. By Christ’s shed blood the way is sure. When Christ had put our sin away, In Joseph’s tomb His body lay. But on the third day Christ arose To conquer thereby all His foes; Then He ascended through the sky To take His Father’s throne on high. Now in the Father’s presence there Unceasing is the Saviour’s prayer. Still He prays, “All Thine are Mine,” Forever kept by power Divine. Christ promised to prepare a place For all who will receive His grace. Some day the age of grace will end; The Lord from heaven shall descend. The dead in Christ will hear the shout, And from their graves they will come out. The living saints shall with them rise, And meet the Saviour in the skies; And we shall then His glory see, And like the Saviour we shall be. When we reach our heavenly home, Throughout the ages yet to come, God’s grace in Christ the saints shall know, For God has promised this to show. Eternal life, God’s gift, is free ‘Tis all by grace for you and me. So in God’s Word I rest my case, Trusting His unfailing grace. God cannot lie, His word is sure; And in His Son I am secure, Because Christ’s work has satisfied, And by that work I’m justified. God has pardoned every sin; My hope of glory, Christ within. I am prepared my God to meet, For in His Son I am complete, And sealed unto redemption day. So if by death, or I’m caught away. I shall not fear my future state, But, loving Christ, I’ll serve and wait. By J. C. O’HAIR ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: S. ALL THINGS OF THE GREAT COMMISSION ======================================================================== ALL THINGS OF THE GREAT COMMISSION By Pastor John C. O’Hair Matthew 28:19-20 : “ . . . TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU . . .”? A spiritual Christian will practice what he preaches. He should not con­demn his fellow-Christian for not preaching the so-called Great Commis­sion for this day of grace unless he is sure that He himself is practicing as well as preaching the observance of all things whatsoever Christ, on earth, had com­manded His disciples. “All things” does not mean “some things” or “most things”. When the Lord said “all things” He meant “all things”. Included in the “all things”, the Lord taught His disciples: “Give to every man that ask­eth of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.” Luke 6:30. A very lovely Christian gentleman in Chicago, a lawyer by profession, is a very severe critic of those who do not teach and preach the Great Commis­sion of Matthew 28:19-20. He condemns his fellow Christians unmerci­fully. He has written a book against them. And by the way, instead of obey­ing Matthew 10:8, “freely (for nought) ye have received, freely (for nought) give,” he wilfully disobeys that com­mandment of the “all things” and asks the people to send 25 cents for his printed message. He doesn’t intend to be inconsistent, but all Christians are, when they take his position with respect to the Great Commission. But as a law­yer, and a real conscientious just man, as he is, what advice would he give to a Christian whose goods had been taken away, and who sought his services in an endeavor to recover them? He would say “ask them not again”. Now, I am going to send a copy of this message to this spiritual man of God, this man who has publicly condemned me because I do not agree with his in­terpretation of Scriptures, and my ap­peal is that he give me $100.00, or more if he is able. To be consistent, if he really practices what he preaches, he will not alibi: he will send me that money. Could any commandment of Christ be more clearly presented than this one: “Give to him that asketh thee”? When I receive the gift from this beloved brother, I will publicly acknowl­edge receipt and present another of the “all things” for his obedience. How can our brother honestly and conscientiously represent his clients, un­der the law of Illinois, and obey Matthew 5:40, “if any man will SUE thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also?” I can prove, by competent witnesses, that this inconsistent Christian lawyer does not obey Matthew 5:25, “agree with thine adversary quickly.” Of course you understand I am not condemning this brother for his inabil­ity, or unwillingness, or neglect, in the matter of disobeying or ignoring these commandments; but simply calling his attention to a little lesson about the beam and the mote. Matthew 7:3-5. Perhaps he is trying to be honest. Then the answer must be, “ignorance” of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s meth­od of interpretation. How can a Christian carry a bank balance or buy houses and lots in the light of Acts 2:45 and Acts 4:34? I would like to ask this dear brother how much time he spends at the morgue in the death-chamber or at the cemetery, practicing what he wants God’s servants to preach in this day of grace, “raise the dead”. Matthew 10:8. This is not sarcasm. This is simply a reply to his ungracious, unspiritual, unjust criti­cisms and condemnation of other Chris­tian brethren who disagree with him as to the place of the commission of Matthew 28:19-20. He brands as “higher-critical”, “ultra-dispensational”, “heretical”, those who do not agree with him concerning the Great Commission. Included in the noble servants of the Lord who fall under our brother’s ana­thema, so far as the Matthew Commis­sion is concerned, are Dr. James M. Gray, Dr. A. C. Gaebelein, Dr. Wm. L. Pettingill, Mr. John Darby, and many others. Our brother should more prayer­fully meditate and hesitate before bringing his charges against men whose min­istries have been so fruitful. These servants are, or were, “grace” preachers. They would not tell a rich man to “sell all that thou hast, and dis­tribute unto the poor”, to be saved. Luke 18:22. They should not tell a sinner to “strive (agonize) to enter in at the straight gate.” (Luke 13:24). They would preach, “to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.” “By grace are ye saved, through faith—not of works.” Remember the words of the Commis­sion, “teaching them to observe ‘all things’ which I have commanded you.” Where would our lawyer friend be; where would I be; where would you be; if we were governed by Matthew 18:34-35, instead of by Ephesians 4:32, “be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.” and Colossians 2:13, “you, hath He made alive, having forgiven you all tres­passes.” Now, compare with Matthew 18:34-35 : “The Lord wroth—deliv­ered debtor to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every brother their trespas­ses.” This dear brother should rejoice with me that He is not with Jesus un­der the law, obeying the Scribes and Pharisees in “Moses”‘ seat (Matthew 23:1-3), but under the reign of grace, or he would land in the hands of tormen­tors for what he is doing to God’s faith­ful servants. Is our brother disobedient, dishonest, or ignorant when he claims that he is teaching and practicing the “all things” which the Son of God, “un­der the law” (Galatians 4:4, Romans 15:8), sent only to the lost sheep of Is­rael (Matthew 15:24) taught in connec­tion with the kingdom of heaven which was at hand? Let him answer concern­ing some of these “all things” Jesus was circumcised when He was 8 days old. Jesus’ custom was to worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Luke 4:16. Jesus kept the feasts of the Jews. John 7:10, Matthew 26:17. He instructed men to take a Jewish offering to the priest. Matthew 8:4. Leave your gift at the altar. Matthew 5:24. Sell that ye have, and give alms. Luke 12:33. Jesus gave the loaves and fishes to his disciples to distribute. 5000 hun­gry were well fed. 12 baskets of frag­ments. John 6:1-13. “Greater works than these shall he do”. John 14:12. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Matthew 10:8. And Peter obeyed,:—“sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed EVERY ONE.” Acts 5:16. “Also if ye shall say unto this moun­tain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” Matthew 21:21. Take NOTHING for your journey ­Neither have TWO coats apiece. Luke 9:3. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth. Matthew 6:19. Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. Luke 12:29. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. Luke 12:22. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. Matthew 6:34. 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. Under Matthew 28:19-20 the dis­ciple is obligated to observe “all things”. If he observes 10-11-12-13-14-15 above, has he the authority of Christ to carry life-insurance, to put up fruit for the winter, speculate for profit, carry a bank balance, worry about an income, have two coats so long as a fellow-man is without one? Love ye your enemies and lend, hop­ing for nothing again. Luke 6:35. “They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.” Peter walked on the water. Matthew 14:29. Peter saw Moses and Elijah in a vision. Matthew 17:4. Peter drew in the net full of fish. Luke 5:6. “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14. I ask for your decision. Is a brother consistent who condemns fellow-Chris­tians for not practicing commandments which he makes no attempt to observe? I trust our dear brother will see our dif­ficulty and why we would prefer to suf­fer his anathema, sarcasm and insult, rather than follow his inconsistencies. We accept every blessed truth that our dear Lord spoke on earth, and desire to practice all that is compatible with Romans 6:14, 2 Corinthians 5:16 and 2 Timothy 2:15. We would like to ask this dear brother, if the Lord Jesus, in giving either the keys of the kingdom to Peter, or the Great Commission to the Eleven, gave to them the gospel of the uncircumcision revealed to Paul years later (Galatians 1:11-12 and Galatians 2:7-9), or the min­istry of reconciliation, (2 Corinthians 5:17-21), or the “dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles.” Ephesians 3:1-6. The answer is Matthew 15:24, Matthew 10:5-8. Is it not profound ignorance, in the light of these revelations to Paul, to teach that either Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:6 or Mark 16:14-18 were the last commissions given by Christ; or, in the light of 2 Timothy 2:2 and 2 Timothy 4:1-14, to say that the preachers of the “grace” gospel today have no orders or authority later than the commissions given by Jesus to the ministers of the circumcision? (Galatians 2:7-9). Where is the true servant of the Lord today who preaches faith and baptism for salvation, and has the signs follow­ing? Mark 16:14-18. Surely our brother places a big premium on ignorance. We cannot follow his stupidity. Who would preach to Gentiles, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, “bring forth fruit worthy of repent­ance”? Luke 3:8. Certainly no intelli­gent servant of the Lord would tell a man to bring forth any kind of fruit until he received the Holy Spirit, by whom fruit is produced. The dead sin­ner must first be made alive by grace. Ephesians 2:1 and Ephesians 2:6. Two Gentiles received blessings from Christ on earth, because of “great faith”, Matthew 15:21-27, Luke 7:1-10. In Paul’s gospel any kind of a Gentile was blessed with all spiritual blessings because of God’s great love. Ephesians 2:4. What a dif­ference! God says distinguish between things that differ. Php 1:10. (Gr.) We would ask our brother to carefully study Acts 14:27 and Romans 11:30 and Ephesians 3:8 and Acts 20:24, to learn about “Gentile salvation” and see how Paul could have worked under the “bap­tizing them”, in Matthew 28:19-20, when he plainly declared “Christ sent me not to baptize.” 1 Corinthians 1:17. As to the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, “healing”, “miracles”, “discerning of spirits”, “tongues” and “interpretation of tongues”, our lawyer-Bible-teacher will acknowledge that he has none of these gifts, although they are particu­larly mentioned as belonging to the most carnal Church of Paul’s day. The saints at Corinth were defrauding one another. They were walking as men. There was utterly a fault among them. They were ungracious, unkind, censorious, and even cruel toward Paul. But they had all the gifts. So those gifts were not pres­ent because of a high spiritual standard and practice. Neither are they absent today because of the lack of spiritual Christians. They are not to be found among the most spiritual. There must be a dispensational explanation of the absence of certain sign-gifts found in the Church at Corinth. We have that explanation. Our brother will only con­tinue to encourage and abet the awful fanaticism and delusions of Pentecostal­ists and fake healers. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: S. AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION ======================================================================== AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION In Great Britain, France, Mexico and other countries, the United States maintain ambassadors; that is, this great nation is represented by ambassadors. Such a representative of the United States is called “minister plenipotentiary and ambassador extraordinary.” As a servant of this country he is a servant full of power or authority, and, being the personal spokesman for more than 120 million people, with the President, the cabinet, the congress, the army and the navy behind him, he is truly a representative extraordinary. Of course, the man selected for such an important ministry should be fully qualified for the position. In order that he may honorably and uncompromisingly protect the interests of his nation and people at the foreign court he must be exceedingly careful about receiving personal favours, concessions and gifts from official representatives of that foreign nation. In the important act of establishing treaties and agreements between his own government and the foreign nation that has received him as United States representative, this ambassador is forwarded a government document from Washington, bearing the seal of the United States of America, signed by the President and the Secretary of State. In dignity, accompanied by his official attendants, the ambassador presents the document to the foreign court for the signature of the Ruler and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus treaties of possession, commerce and peace are made. It is deplorable when such a representative is chosen, not because he is qualified for the post but to pay a political debt. Surely it is a great privilege and a great honor to be an ambassador representing the United States. It is not an easy task to persuade people that it is a greater honor and a greater privilege to be an ambassador for Christ, and the Kingdom of God. Note the statement of the Apostle Paul, recorded in 2 Corinthians 5:20. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” This same apostle, in Php 3:20, says: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “conversation” here could be translated “citizenship” or even “politics”. There is a sense, then, in which the citizenship and politics of every representative of Christ is in heaven. But while here on earth, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, those who belong to Christ have the very difficult task of trying to be pleasant among sinners, while at the same time being governed by Galatians 1:10; “for do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” In His wonderful prayer, recorded in John 17:16 the Lord Jesus said concerning His disciples: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The qualification for an ambassador is set forth in Colossians 1:12-15 : “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” In verse 12 the expression “hath made us meet” could be translated “hath qualified us”. In other words, before we can acceptably represent Christ we must qualify. We must be delivered; we must be redeemed. In Colossians 1:20 we are told how this is accomplished. It is through the blood of His cross. Here we note that by the blood of the cross of Christ the believer is reconciled and is at peace with God. We quote Colossians 1:20-22 : “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 the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight:” Here we note that alienated enemies are made wholly unblamable and unreprovable because of what Christ did through death. Peace and reconciliation by the blood of His cross. What a wonderful message God’s ministers have to proclaim to lost sinners. And what glorious good news the sinner may receive and be saved for time and eternity. We go back now to the last five verses of the fifth chapter of II Corinthians: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us 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. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him:” Here we note that the ambassador for Christ is a new creature. According to Ephesians 2:10 he is God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus. Man by nature belongs to the old creation. He is identified with Adam, the sinner. The most important transformation that can come to any man is to get out of Adam and in Christ; that is to be identified with “The Last Adam” Who is now the glorified Man in heaven. All who are in Adam are in sin, in the flesh, and under condemnation. If any man be in Christ there is a new creation. The new creature is no longer dead in sin. He is dead to sin. The believer’s old man has been crucified with Christ. He is in the Spirit. He is made accepted in Christ, the Beloved. He is complete in Christ. He is waiting to appear with Christ in glory. His citizenship is in heaven. He is in the world, but not of the world. And now he has a new responsibility. For unto him is committed the word of reconciliation. To him is given the ministry of reconciliation. In these closing verses of the fifth chapter of II Corinthians we observe that it is not the sinner seeking God; but God, through ambassadors of Christ, seeking the sinner, and beseeching the sinner, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God. There is no more definite statement of the gospel, no clearer announcement of saving truth than we find in the twenty-first verse: “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him:” When the Lord Jesus Christ cried “finished”, and yielded up the Ghost on the cross, He was crowned with a crown of thorns, the emblem of the curse. He was made sin, although He knew no sin. The God of all grace ordained and permitted the cruel death of the sinless Christ, yea, offered up His well-beloved Son, so that poor unrighteous men might, by His infinite grace, through faith, be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Man’s only place of security and Divine blessing is in Christ. This ministry of reconciliation is distinctively a Pauline ministry. More than a dozen times that great apostle emphasized the fact that he was the apostle, the preacher, and the teacher of the Gentiles; that unto Him the risen Christ committed the “dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles”; the “unsearchable riches of Christ for Gentiles”; “the mystery among the Gentiles”; and the “dispensation of the mystery.” Romans 11:13; Ephesians 3:1-3; Ephesians 3:8-9; Colossians 1:24-27. According to Galatians 2:8, God was mighty in Peter in the apostleship of the circumcision. Peter received from Christ the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the so-called “great commission.” In his ministry, recorded in the early chapters of Acts, Peter preached unto Israel repentance and restitution; the gospel of the kingdom; the promises, and blessings of the covenants which God made concerning Israel; but never once did he preach reconciliation to Gentiles. He did not refer to Adam. Never once did Peter preach to Israel, in those chapters, concerning the “old man” and the “new man”; concerning the “old creation” and the “new creation”. Peter did not preach concerning the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial and resurrection; blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Peter had no authority from Christ to even refer to uncircumcised Abram from whence came Paul’s gospel of the uncircumcision. It was unto Paul that the risen Lord committed the gospel of the uncircumcision, (Galatians 2:7; Galatians 3:8) the ministry of reconciliation and the mystery concerning the Body of Christ. Invariably when we have the ministry of reconciliation we find linked with it the ministry of the new creation and the truth of the believer’s identification; out of Adam, into Christ. The word “atonement” in Romans 5:11 is a mis-translation. It should read “reconciliation”. Then follows the story of Adam and Christ, the old creation and the new creation, and the new creature’s identification with Christ. Romans 5:12 to Romans 6:12. Our mission today is to beseech sinners to believe the word of reconciliation; to believe that the document has been signed and sealed; that the Lord Jesus Christ provided this reconciliation and made peace by the blood of His cross. Truly with such a ministry we should know that we are ambassadors extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary. How willing and eager sinners should be to accept this glorious gospel message, be at peace with God, reconciled to God, and be redeemed for time and eternity. If you are troubled to know under which one of the Lord’s commissions you are to labour, remember these words of Paul, “the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me (Paul) as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. And again Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:2. “And the things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Again in Ephesians 3:1-2, “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles”. . . “the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward”. Again, “the gospel which was preached of me is not after man . . . taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:12. “That I (Paul) should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles—I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.” Romans 15:16 and Romans 15:20. Note what Paul says concerning himself, in 1 Corinthians 3:10 : “According to the grace of God which is given unto me (Paul), as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation.” When the risen Christ gave the so-called great commission, in Matthew 28:19-20, to Peter and his associates, he never hinted at the gospel of uncircumcision, the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles, or the ministry of reconciliation which some years later He committed, by revelation, to Paul who then declared, “I am the apostle of the Gentiles; I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13. The pity is that the Lord’s ambassadors today minimize Paul’s office instead of magnify it. Well, fellow-Christians, our commission and message today is the word of reconciliation. That reconciliation message was not the commission of Matthew 28:19-20, because Israel had not yet been cast away and God’s word instructs us in Romans 11:15, “the casting away of them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world.” After Christ had been raised from the dead Peter declared that He was raised from the dead to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel. Acts 5:30-31. Christ raised from the dead to give Israel repentance is quite different from the reconciling of the world because Israel was cast away. Now here is sufficient Divine authority for our ministry for the Lord, “hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:19, “Hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18. In the context note our identification with Christ-verse 15—And also note why we labour as ambassadors of reconciliation: “the love of Christ constraineth us”; “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.” 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 2 Corinthians 5:11. Let us not be guilty of the spiritual crime of perverting the glorious Divine message of grace. Let us not tell sinners to get on their knees and beg God for salvation. In the message of reconciliation sinners are not to beg God to be reconciled to them and save them. Carefully note verse 20: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” God beseeches the sinner. We pray the sinner. This is not the sinner seeking God and salvation. This is God beseeching the sinner to accept the perfect work of redemption accomplished by Christ. When He was made sin on the cross, God was reconciled. The reconciliation becomes mutual the moment the sinner believes God and receives Christ. We have a blessed ministry, a great responsibility, and a glorious privilege as ambassadors of reconciliation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: S. AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION ======================================================================== AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION In Great Britain, France, Mexico and other countries, the United States maintain ambassadors. Such a representative of the United States is called “minister plenipotentiary and ambassador extraordinary.” As a ser­vant of this country he is a servant full of power or authority, and, be­ing the personal spokesman for more than 120 million people, with the President, the cabinet, the congress, the army and the navy behind him, he is truly a representative extraordinary. Of course, the man selected for such an important ministry should be fully qualified for the position. In order that he may honorably and uncompromisingly protect the interests of his nation and people at the foreign court he must be exceedingly careful about receiving personal favours, concessions and gifts from official representatives of that foreign nation. In the important act of establishing treaties and agreements be­tween his own government and the foreign nation that has received him as United States representative, this ambassador is forwarded a government document from Washington, bearing the seal of the United States of America. signed by the President and the Secretary of State. In dignity, accompanied by his official attendants, the ambassador presents the document to the foreign court for the signature of the Ruler and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus treaties of possession, commerce and peace are made. It is deplorable when such a representative is chosen, not because he is qualified for the post but to pay a political debt. Surely it is a great privilege and a great honor to be an ambassa­dor representing the United States. It is not an easy task to persuade people that it is a greater honor and a greater privilege to be an ambassador for Christ, and the King­dom of God. Note the statement of the Apostle Paul, recorded in 2 Corinthians 5:20. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” This same apostle, in Php 3:20, says: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “conversation” here could be translated “citizenship” or even “politics”. There is a sense, then, in which the citizenship and politics of every representative of Christ is in heaven. But while here on earth, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, those who belong to Christ have the very difficult task of trying to be pleasant among sinners, while at the same time being governed by Galatians 1:10; “for do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” In His wonderful prayer, recorded in John 17:1-26, the Lord Jesus said concerning His disciples: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:16. The qualification for an ambassador is set forth in Colossians 1:12-15 : “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” In Colossians 1:12 the expression “hath made us meet” could be translated “hath qualified us”. In other words, before we can acceptably represent Christ we must qualify. We must be delivered; we must be redeemed. In Colossians 1:20 we are told how this is accomplished. It is through the blood of His cross. Here we note that by the blood of the cross of Christ the believer is reconciled and is at peace with God. We quote Colossians 1:20-22 : “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 it. 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 the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” Here we note that alienated enemies are made wholly unblamable and unreprovable because of what Christ did through death. Peace and reconciliation by the blood of His cross. What a won­derful message God’s ministers have to proclaim to lost sinners. And what glorious good news the sinner may receive and be saved for time and eternity. We go back now to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us 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. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Here we note that the ambassador for Christ is a new creature. According to Ephesians 2:10 he is God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus. Man by nature belongs to the old creation. He is identified with Adam, the sinner. The most important transformation that can come to any man is to get out of Adam and in Christ; that is to be identified with “The Last Adam” Who is now the glorified Man in heaven. All who are in Adam are in sin, in the flesh, and under condemnation. If any man be in Christ there is a new creation. The new creature is no longer dead in sin. He is dead to sin. The believer’s old man has been crucified with Christ. He is in the Spirit. He is made accepted in Christ, the Beloved. He is complete in Christ. He is waiting to appear with Christ in glory. His citizenship is in heaven. He is in the world, but not of the world. And now he has a new respon­sibility. For unto him is committed the word of reconciliation. To him is given the ministry of reconciliation. In these closing verses of the fifth chapter of II Corinthians we ob­serve that it is not the sinner seeking God; but God, through ambassa­dors of Christ, seeking the sinner, and beseeching the sinner, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God. There is no more definite statement of the gospel, no clearer an­nouncement of saving truth than we find in 2 Corinthians 5:21 : “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” When the Lord Jesus Christ cried “finished”, and yielded up the Ghost on the cross, He was crowned with a crown of thorns, the emb­lem of the curse. He was made sin, although He knew no sin. The God of all grace ordained and permitted the cruel death of the sinless Christ, yea, offered up His well-beloved Son, so that poor unrighteous men might, by His infinite grace, through faith, be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Man’s only place of security and Divine blessing is in Christ. This ministry of reconciliation is distinctively a Pauline ministry. More than a dozen times that great apostle emphasized the fact that he was the apostle, the preacher, and the teacher of the Gentiles; that unto Him the risen Christ committed the “dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles”; the “unsearchable riches of Christ for Gentiles”; “the mystery among the Gentiles”; and the “dispensation of the mys­tery.” Romans 11:13; Ephesians 3:1-3; Ephesians 3:8-9; Colossians 1:24-27. According to Galatians 2:8, God was mighty in Peter in the apos­tleship of the circumcision. Peter received from Christ the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the so-called “great commission.” In his ministry, recorded in the early chapters of Acts, Peter preached unto Israel repentance and restitution; the gospel of the kingdom; the prom­ises and blessings of the covenants which God made concerning Israel; but never once did he preach reconciliation to Gentiles. He did not refer to Adam. Never once did Peter preach to Israel, in those chap­ters, concerning the “old man” and the “new man”; concerning the “old creation” and the “new creation”. Peter did not preach concern­ing the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial and resur­rection; blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Peter had no authority from Christ to even refer to uncircumcised Abram from whence came Paul’s gospel of the uncircumcision. It was unto Paul that the risen Lord committed the gospel of the uncircumcision, (Galatians 2:7; Galatians 3:8) the ministry of reconciliation and the mystery concerning the Body of Christ. Invariably when we have the ministry of reconciliation we find linked with it the ministry of the new crea­tion and the truth of the believer’s identification; out of Adam, into Christ. The word “atonement” in Romans 5:11 is a mis-translation. It should read “reconciliation”. Then follows the story of Adam and Christ, the old creation and the new creation, and the new creature’s identification with Christ. Romans 5:12 to Romans 6:12. Our mission today is to beseech sinners to believe the word of re­conciliation; to believe that the document has been signed and sealed; that the Lord Jesus Christ provided this reconciliation and made peace by the blood of His cross. Truly with such a ministry we should know that we are ambassadors extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary. How willing and eager sinners should be to accept this glorious gospel message, be at peace with God, reconciled to God, and be redeemed for time and eternity. If you are troubled to know under which one of the Lord’s com­missions you are to labour, remember these words of Paul, “the gospel of the uncircumcison was committed unto me (Paul) as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. And again Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:2. “And the things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Again in Ephesians 3:1-2, “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles”. . . “the dispen­sation of the grace of God which is given me to youward”. Again, “the gospel which was preached of me is not after man . . . taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:12. “That I (Paul) should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gen­tiles—I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.” Romans 15:16-20. Note what Paul says concerning himself, in 1 Corinthians 3:10 : “Ac­cording to the grace of God which is given unto me (Paul), as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation.” When the risen Christ gave the so-called great commission, in Matthew 28:19-20, to Peter and his associates, he never hinted at the gospel of uncircumcision, the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles, or the ministry of reconciliation which some years later He committed, by revelation, to Paul who then declared, “I am the apostle of the Gentiles; I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13. The pity is that the Lord’s ambassadors today minimize Paul’s office instead of magnify it. Well, fellow-Christians, our commission and message today is the word of reconciliation. That reconciliation message was not the com­mission of Matthew 28:19-20, because Israel had not yet been cast away and God’s word instructs us in Romans 11:15, “the casting away of them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world.” After Christ had been raised from the dead. Peter declared that He was raised from the dead to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel. Acts 5:30-31. Christ raised from the dead to give repentance is quite different from the reconciling of the world because of Israel was cast away. Now here is sufficient Divine authority for our ministry for the Lord, “hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:19, “Hath given us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18. In the context note our identification with Christ—2 Corinthians 5:15—And also note why we labour as ambassadors of reconciliation: “the love of Christ constraineth us”; “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.” 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 2 Corinthians 5:11. Let us not be guilty of the spiritual crime of perverting the glorious Divine message of grace. In the message of reconciliation sinners are not to beg God to be reconciled to them and save them. Carefully note 2 Corinthians 5:20 : “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as thought God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” God beseeches the sinner. We pray the sinner. This is not the sinner seeking God and salvation. This is God beseeching the sinner to accept the perfect work of redemption accomplished by Christ. When He was made sin on the cross, God was reconciled. The reconciliation becomes mutual the moment the sinner believes God and receives Christ. We have a blessed ministry, a great responsibility, and a glorious privilege as ambassadors of reconciliation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: S. AN ELEMENTARY LESSON FOR BEREANS ======================================================================== AN ELEMENTARY LESSON FOR BEREANS By Pastor John C. O’Hair “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” Galatians 3:19. “The law and the prophets were until John (Baptist): since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Luke 16:16. “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 . . . Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Colossians 2:14-17. “And unto the Jews I (Paul) became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.” 1 Corinthians 9:20. “Behold the days come, saith the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not ac­cording to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt . . . For all shall know me from the least to the greatest . . . He hath made the first (cove­nant) old.” Hebrews 8:7-13. “For His Body’s sake, which is the Church, whereof I (Paul) am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God to fulfill (Com­plete) the Word of God, the Mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints . . . this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” Colossians 1:24-28. REMARKS God took the fathers by the hand to lead them out of Egypt about 1500 B.C. That was about 2500 years after Adam was driven from Eden. Sin entered the world by Adam and passed, with death, upon all men. Romans 5:13-14. The law was given by Moses. The Law en­tered that the offense (by Adam) might abound. Romans 5:16-20. The law and the old covenant were given at Sinai. God preached the Gospel to Abram be­fore the law was given. Galatians 3:8. The gospel to Abram was God’s promise concerning Christ, the Seed. This gospel was preached, this promise made, to Abram, when Abram was in circum­cision, 430 years before the old covenant was given to Israel through Moses. Romans 4:8-15. Galatians 3:17. Ab­ram was circumcised 24 years after he was justified by faith. Genesis 12:4 and Genesis 17:24. Abram was circumcised about 1900 B.C. From 1900 B.C. to the time God granted repentance unto life to Cornelius, about 41 A.D., God’s spirit­ual blessings for Israelites and Gentiles were on the grounds of circumcision. Acts 11:18; Acts 11:3. Up to that time it was an unlawful thing for a man that was a Jew to keep company, or come un­to one of another nation.” Acts 10:28. Several years later the risen Christ by revelation committed to Paul the gos­pel of the uncircumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. When Christ was born of Mary He was made under the law. Galatians 4:4. The Holy Child was circumcised at the same age that Abraham’s son Isaac was circumcised, “eight days old”. Genesis 21:4. Luke 2:21. Everything that was written in the law was performed for Je­sus by His mother. “When they had per­formed all things according to the law of the Lord”. Luke 2:39. When Jesus was 30 years of age, “as His custom was, He went into the Synagogue on the sab­bath day.” Luke 4:16. More than one year later Christ instructed one who received a blessing from Him, in this lan­guage: “shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded.” Matthew 8:4. Two years later, the year of His death, Christ commanded His own disciples to observe the instructions of crooked, corrupt, blind hypocritical guides, because they sat in Moses’ seat.” Matthew 23:1-17. Christ observed the feasts of Israel all the days of His ministry, one of His last acts being to keep the passover. Matthew 26:17-19. When Christ presented to His few se­lected apostles, whose names were writ­ten in heaven, the gospel by which we are today saved, His death, burial and resurrection, “they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” Luke 18:31-34. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. For several years the Twelve had been preaching some gospel, “the gospel of the king­dom”. Matthew 9:35 and Luke 9:6. Matthew 10:5-8. There was not one word in that gospel concerning salvation by the grace of God on the basis of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sav­ing message that God’s servants preach today. Christ was born as king of the Jews: He was saluted as the King of Israel: He presented Himself to Israel as King: He died as King of the Jews. Matthew 2:2; John 1:49; John 12:12-19; John 19:19. Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision to confirm promises God had made to Israel by the prophets of old. Romans 15:8. God made no promise concerning the Church, Christ’s Body, or concerning Christ’s present ministry in the heavenlies. Christ was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; “not in the way of the Gentiles.” Matthew 15:24 and Matthew 10:5-8. Blessings from Christ, while He was Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of Israel, were for the sons and daughters of Abraham, rather than for all the sons of Adam, as was the program later given by Christ to the apostles of the Gentiles. Luke 13:16. Luke 19:9. One Gentile man received a blessing from Christ while He was on earth, be­cause the sons of Abraham interceded for him; because this Gentile had built a synagogue for Israel and loved that people of God. Luke 7:1-10. That is the only Gentile man to whom the Lord Jesus, on earth, ministered as far as the Four Gospels record. Therefore, the “whosoever” message of John 3:16 was not preached to Gentiles until after the door of faith was opened to Gentiles, according to Acts 14:27 (except the household and friends of Cornelius, the God-fearing, alms-giving, Jew-loving Gentile.) All Scripture should be studied interpreted and applied as to whether it records that which took place before or after the open door of Acts 14:27. Even the babe in Christ should know that the middle-wall of partition was not broken down while Jesus of Nazar­eth ministered on earth. His teachings in Matthew, Mark or Luke should be studied with the understanding that He had not yet blotted out and nailed to His cross the handwriting of ordinances. Therefore we are not to interpret Luke 16:16 to mean that the reign of law ceased with John’s proclamation of the Kingdom. The law was still in the way when Christ was on earth and over­lapped far into the Book of Acts. The truth of Colossians 2:11-16 was wholly unknown to the Twelve in the early chapters of Acts. The Twelve and Paul were under the law to those under the law all during the Book of Acts. Acts 10:28; Acts 16:3; Acts 20:16; Acts 21:18-28; Acts 23:1-7. Much of the truth of the Gospel of John is pure grace based upon what Christ was to do and did on the cross, as the Lamb of God mentioned in the very first chapter and is therefore in many points compatible with Paul’s Grace Gospel. Christ gave to the Eleven the so-­called great commission. Matthew 28:19-20. Mark 16:14-18. But before He permitted them to preach to Israel on the day of Pentecost He added the twelfth apostle, Matthias. Acts 1:19-26. Their message was for all the house of Israel, devout Jews from every nation under heaven, including Israel that was far off. Acts 2:36-39; Acts 2:5; Daniel 9:7. When they had preached, by the mouth of Peter, (Acts 15:7) to Cornelius and his company, the record of their preaching ministry in Acts ceased. Then one of the Twelve died, and no successor was chosen to take the place of James. Acts 12:2. Judas died and a successor was taken. James died and no successor was chosen. After that, Paul is mentioned in the Book of Acts more than 130 times. He is the chief actor. He speaks of himself in Acts and his epistles, in the first person pronoun, “I”, “me”, “my”, nearly 1300 times. A number of times he em­phasizes the fact that he was the apos­tle, the minister, the preacher, the teacher, the prisoner of the Lord Jesus for Gentiles, with “my gospel”, with “my deposit” (2 Timothy 1:12), (origi­nal text), the unsearchable (not-to-be-tracked) riches among the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:8), the revelation to me. “the mystery” Galatians 1:11-17. Ephesians 3:1-11. In his epistles, written after the close of Acts, Paul mentions “the mystery” 12 times. He committed his deposit to Timothy, “that good thing” (that good deposit). 2 Timothy 1:14. The Twelve had a ministry of confirmation and preached what was in fulfillment of Scriptures, in the Acts. Acts 2:14, Acts 2:29-33, Acts 3:16-26, Acts 10:41, Acts 15:13-18. Paul declared that Christ’s revelations to him, committed to his trust, were truths concerning which Israel’s prophets were both ignorant and silent. God instructs students of the Scriptures to distinguish between things that differ.” Php 1:10 (original text). That which was prophecied must differ from that which had to be told for the first time to Paul, because it had not been prophesied. Paul had the gospel of the uncircumcision and Peter had the gos­pel of the circumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. Peter did not receive his message by revelation, but in the commissions of Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:14-18, Matthew 10:5-20. He did receive Divine authority to go to Cornelius, by a vision; but preached to him the word which God sent to the chil­dren of Israel, which included the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts 2:22 and Acts 10:36-39. Paul was never instructed to preach concerning the earthly ministry of Jesus of Naza­reth to Gentiles when he was sent to them with the gospel of grace. He never referred to the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, in preaching that gospel to Gentiles; nothing of the Lord’s prayer, the sermon on the mount, the kingdom parables; no reference to the miracles of Christ. He mentioned sev­eral times the birth of Christ, but with the same stroke of the pen immediately His death and resurrection. His was the ministry of reconciliation which took the human race (back beyond the Abraham of the Four Gospels to Adam. Romans 5:13-20. Christ never men­tioned Adam, while on earth: for He was the son of David the son of Abraham, a minister of the circumcision, confirming and fulfilling the covenants, the law and the prophets. Luke traced his an­cestry, from Mary back to Adam. In the shadow of the cross the Lord Jesus said, “This is my blood in the new cove­nant which is shed for many for the re­mission of sins.” Matthew 26:28. Under the terms and guarantee of the new covenant, all Israel shall be saved. Hebrews 9:9-12, Romans 11:24-30. The Twelve Apostles are to sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. The Premillenarians teach that, be­ginning with the death of Christ, God postponed Israel’s kingdom; interrupted or suspended His Abrahamic and Da­vidic covenants, so far as the guarantee of national blessings to Israel were con­cerned; ushered in a new dispensation with the advent of the Holy Spirit, de­claring His purpose to build that Church spoken of by Christ in Matthew 16:17-19, which was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 1:19-23). They teach that God, by the Holy Spirit, put into opera­tion on the day of Pentecost, the new covenant, which has since gone on, with­out interruption from the day of Pente­cost down to the present and will con­tinue until the Body of Christ is rap­tured when Christ descends with the shout and trump of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. 2 Corinthians 3:5-12. Hebrews 10:9-15. Therefore they teach that the Body of Christ is the New Cove­nant Church, but they absolutely refuse to call that Church “Spiritual Israel”, teaching that Israel is something entirely different. They claim that Israel, by the terms of the new covenant, will be saved in the tribulation and kingdom, immediately following the rapture of the “New Covenant Church”. The Postmillenarians declare that this will mean two different “New Cove­nant Churches”, (ekklesia), inasmuch as Israel, under the old covenant was called the “ekklesia” more than sixty times and while they were under that old covenant they were promised the new covenant. They intelligently ask the two questions. First, if God suspended or interrupted His Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, covering Israel’s national restoration, at some point in the past, why did He not at the very same point suspend the new covenant, which guarantees national redemption to Israel, if the Body of Christ is not Israel? And second; if under the terms of the new covenant there is to be such universal blessing, and, the new cove­nant has gone on uninterrupted since the day of Pentecost, why interrupt it by having Christ come back? The Pre­millenarians, who present the above de­scribed program for Israel and the Body of Christ, call themselves “dispensation­alists.” Some other dispensationalists are called by them “ultradispensational­ists”, because they declare that all three of the covenants, the Abrahamic, Da­vidic, and New Covenants, with guaran­tees of blessings to Israel, were sus­pended at the same point along the line but not at the time of Christ’s death; but some years later as Israel was not set aside at Calvary, but after Acts 28:28. At that time there came the proclamation of “the dispensation of the “mystery”. Therefore they doubt very seriously whether there is Scriptural authority for calling the Body of Christ the “New Covenant Church” unless, by the same Divine authority the Church may be called “Israel”. So far as the eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is concerned and salvation by faith in His shed, blood, the infalli­bility, inspiration and authority of all the Scriptures, redeemed postmillen­arian, dispensationalist and ultradispen­sationalist are agreed. And let us be­ware of trying to take God’s place and pronounce His anathema upon any mes­senger of the Grace of God whose dis­pensationalism may differ from ours. Personally I am an “ultra-conserva­tive” dispensationalist. What are you? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: S. ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE UNPARDONABLE SIN ======================================================================== ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE UNPARDONABLE SIN FIRST—CHRIST’S MESSAGE TO ISRAEL “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.” Matthew 12:31-32. SECOND—STEPHEN’S MESSAGE TO ISRAEL “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.” Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Acts 7:51 and Acts 7:56. Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit”: “Jesus standing.” Acts 7:55. THIRD—PAUL’S MESSAGE TO ISRAEL (20 years later) “Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed (resisted) 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.” Acts 18:5-6. At the time Jesus spoke to Israel concerning their sin against the Son of man, as well as later on when Stephen and Paul spoke to the same Nation, the Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, alienated from the life of God, dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:11-12, Ephesians 4:18 and Ephesians 2:1. All of their sins at that time were unpardoned. They had not sinned against the Son of man. They were far off, and by grace, they were brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:7-16. A convicted Gentile might resist the Holy Spirit and refuse to be saved by grace through faith; but at the time Jesus warned Israel not to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24 and Matthew 10:5. The messages of Jesus, Stephen and Paul, quoted above, had no application to Gentiles; only to God’s Nation. However, it is quite interesting to observe that Jesus’ warning to Israel, recorded in Matthew 12:31-32, was spoken in between His messages to two Gentiles; the centurion of the eighth chapter of Matthew and the Greek of the fifteenth chapter. To the centurion Jesus said, “Great Faith”; “The CHILDREN of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.” Matthew 8:11-12. To the Greek Jesus said, “Great Faith”; “Let the CHILDREN first he filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.” Matthew 15:26-28. Mark 7:27. So as we follow Israel’s history from the message of Christ, to the messages of Stephen and Paul, we shall learn that the CHILDREN (Israel) were first filled; then the CHILDREN were cast out; then the dogs received the CHILDREN’S bread. In the eleventh chapter of Romans, written about thirty years after Jesus warned Israel (Matthew 12:31-32), is recorded the “casting away” of Israel. Romans 11:15. Outer darkness is pictured in verse eight; “God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear” . . . . “Let their eyes he darkened.” (Romans 11:10) . . . . “Blindness in part is happened to Israel.” (Romans 11:25). “Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles.” (Romans 11:11) “Gentiles have now obtained mercy through their (Israel’s) unbelief.” (Romans 11:30) Let us also observe that following Jesus’ warning (Matthew 12:31-32) He spoke of Israel’s outer darkness and casting away in Matthew 13:14-15, quoting Isaiah 6:9-10 : “Hearing, not understand; Seeing, not perceived . . . Their eyes they have closed.” Let us follow Israel’s history from Jesus’ warning in Matthew 12:31-32, to Paul’s “HENCEFORTH” of Acts 18:6, keeping in mind Matthew 13:14-15 (Quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10) and Paul’s final message to Israel in Acts 28:25-28 (Quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10). Acts 7:51, Acts 13:36, Acts 18:6, Romans 11:8 and Romans 11:25 are very closely related to Acts 28:25-28 and to Isaiah 6:9-10. After Jesus warned Israel in Matthew 12:31-32, and after He told the Gentile, “the CHILDREN must first be filled,” it seemed as though Israel, as a nation, had sinned away their last offer or privilege from God, and the time of their casting-away had arrived; for Jesus said in Matthew 16:20, to His disciples, “that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ (Messiah).” But something happened, for Paul, more than twenty years later, was doing that very thing when he gave forth his “HENCEFORTH”; that is, he was testifying to Israel that Jesus was Christ (Messiah). Acts 18:5-6. What happened to cause the Lord to change His mind and the message of His disciples? Surely this is a very interesting question. In seeking for the answer it is interesting and instructive to go from the “HENCEFORTH” of Luke 12:50-52, and “FROM THAT TIME FORTH,” Matthew 16:20-21, to the “HENCEFORTH” of Acts 18:6 and the “HENCEFORTH” of 2 Corinthians 5:16; reading Acts 18:6 in connection with Romans 11:8 and Romans 11:25 and Acts 28:25-28. The changes indicated by these “HENCEFORTHS are very suggestive. Read first Matthew 16:20-21 : “From that time forth.” What? The death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Hitherto, the disciples had been testifying that Jesus was Messiah. But no more. Matthew 16:20. Hitherto, “peace on earth”. Luke 2:14. Henceforth, “no peace on earth.” Luke 12:50-52. Peace on earth is in connection with Jesus as Israel’s Messiah, on the throne of David. Luke 1:31-32. Isaiah 9:6-7. But “HENCEFORTH”. What? “I have a baptism to be baptized with.” Luke 12:50-51. What baptism? The death baptism of Christ. Then in the last twelve chapters of Luke no more water­baptism. Why? The answer is John 1:31 and Matthew 16:20. “That Jesus might be manifested unto Israel, came I with water baptism.” “That they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ.” If they are to resume that message, then they are to resume water baptism; but not before. “John (Baptist) did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Mark 1:4. That message was for Israel. Acts 13:24. It was to Israel that Christ was to be manifested. And He was manifested to Israel up to Matthew 16:20 and Luke 12:50-52. “From that time forth” the Son of Man must be delivered and be crucified. Matthew 17:12 . . . Matthew 20:18 and Matthew 20:28. Jesus spoke of His approaching death as His baptism. Israel was going to sin against the Son of man. They were going to put Him to death, or have Him put to death. But Jesus had said that sin against the Son of Man would be forgiven. After He said that, He said, “The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Matthew 21:43. When was that Kingdom taken away from Israel and to what nation has it been given? There are more than five hundred nations represented in the Body of Christ. Jesus had said, “Let the CHILDREN first be filled.” Now, that the Kingdom was to be taken away from them, had they been filled? Some months after the death of the Son of man, Peter, in the Name of the Lord, said to Israel, “Unto you first.” Acts 3:26. Some years later, Paul, in the Name of the Lord, said, “it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you.” Acts 13:46. If the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel, how are we to account for the fact that all of the three thousand of Acts 2:41, and the five thousand of Acts 4:4, received into the Kingdom of God, were Israelites? If the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel, why did the disciples of Jesus preach to none but Jews only for seven or eight years after the baptism of Christ into death? Acts 11:19. Why did Paul say, in the year 60 A.D., “to the Jew first?” Romans 1:16. The Nation Israel did sin against the Son of Man, and that great sin was forgiven them: and the Kingdom of God was not taken away until after they had for years sinned against the Holy Spirit resisting, opposing, and blaspheming Him. “A blindness judgment was then pronounced upon that nation. And is still there. But Israel will be saved.” Romans 11:26. Ezekiel 36:21-31 will be fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God will be given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. The Lord used very plain language in Matthew 21:43, “The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you (Israel).” What an unmerciful judgment He pronounced upon Israel in Matthew 23:33-38! But in Acts 3:17 what a message of mercy in the words of Peter, “And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it (killed the Prince of life), as did also your rulers.” What brought about such a change? And then what? A new offer to Israel. The Kingdom of God was offered them. Acts 3:19-21. “Repent Israel, and Jesus will be sent back for the restitution of all things.” That is the purpose for which He was born and for which He was raised Read Luke 1:31-32, Luke 1:67-77, and Acts 2:25-31. Luke 1:70. Again, the question, what changed the Lord’s mind, or caused Him to extend His offer of the Kingdom this side of Jesus’ death baptism? Surely it was the prayer of the Son of man in the hour of death; “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. The father forgave. Now the disciples could again testify to Israel that Jesus was Christ (Messiah); the Kingdom could again be offered to that Nation. So, the Twelve apostles, on the day of Pentecost, reminded Israel of the Prophecy of Joel concerning their Kingdom, and the Prophecy of David concerning their King, and closed by saying “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36. And then what? Water baptism unto repentance. For what? That Christ might be made manifest unto Israel, baptizing with water. John 1:31. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38. Jesus had been exalted to be Israel’s Prince and Saviour; the Holy Spirit was the witness. Acts 5:32. Now, as long as the disciples were to testify to Israel that Jesus is the Christ, water-baptism was in order. Twenty years later Paul so testified. Acts 18:5. Then many Corinthians believed and were baptized. Acts 18:8. Israel began their unpardonable sin, resisting, opposing. blaspheming the Holy Spirit, who was witnessing that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ, had exalted Him to be Israel’s Prince and Saviour, shortly after the day of Pentecost. Stephen addressed that Nation and told them that Jesus was standing in heaven. How significant! Stephen saw the Son of man. How significant! While he saw that Son of man, against whom Israel had sinned, and had been forgiven, he said, “ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.” They had sinned against the Son of man; it had been forgiven them. Now, they were sinning against the Holy Spirit: it would not be forgiven them. Israel murdered the Holy Spirit messenger, Stephen, as they had murdered the Son of man. But he prayed very much the same prayer for God’s continued mercy, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7:60. The Lord again heard, and extended His offer of the Kingdom, instructing all of His servants to observe the order, “to the Jew first.” Why? The CHILDREN must first be filled. Then the CHILDREN would be cast into outer darkness. And many would come from the cast and the west and sit down in the Kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Matthew 8:10-12. When were the CHILDREN filled? When were the CHILDREN cast out? As one turning-point came with Matthew 16:20-21, Luke 12:50-52, another with Stephen’s message in Acts 7:51-60, so another came with Paul’s ministry in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, which opens with a judgment upon Bar-jesus (child of Jehovah), blindness for a season; the change of Saul’s name to Paul; and the words of Acts 13:46 : “lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Undoubtedly you have compared Stephen’s message, in the seventh chapter of Acts, with Paul’s, in the thirteenth chapter, to that company of Israelites in Asia. There’s a close connection. Then compare all of these turning-points with Paul’s “HENCEFORTH” in Europe, recorded in Acts 18:6. Israel blasphemed. According to Matthew 12:31-32, they were not to be forgiven. According to Matthew 8:10-12, they were to be cast out into outer darkness. According to Mark 7:27, Israel was to be filled. They had been filled; that is, “the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” Romans 11:7. At the time Paul wrote this message of Israel’s rejection, he said, “so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God.” Acts 20:24. What a difference! Paul had been testifying that Jesus was Christ (Messiah) But note after the significant “HENCEFORTH” of Acts 18:6, he was not “HENCEFORTH” to know Christ after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5:16. He was now to testify of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Here we have most decidedly and most definitely the parallel of Matthew 16:20 and Luke 12:50-52, when Jesus was not to be made manifest to Israel any longer. Then they were sinning against the Son of man, and He announced His death baptism. The definite turning-point came with Acts 18:5-6 and Acts 20:24. The Nation Israel had sinned against the Holy Spirit. It was not forgiven them. They have been set aside as a nation; until the Son of man shall come, according to Luke 21:28-32. Then Israel shall be saved and restored to national life. Romans 11:26 and Ezekiel 37:21-28. That final setting-aside of the Nation was not announced until Acts 28:25-28. But the Epistle to the Romans is the Divine message of rejection and setting-aside. That Epistle is likewise the message of the Grace Gospel. And as there were no water-baptisms between the twelfth and twenty-fourth chapters of Luke, after the Lord had announced His death baptism, until Pentecost and Jesus was not to be manifested to Israel as Christ, so the baptism of the Grace Gospel is death baptism; the believer’s death baptism with or into Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3. After that death baptism is announced, there were no more water-baptisms mentioned. Only the one, Holy Spirit baptism, of Ephesians 4:4-6 : for surely no one but Christ, by the Holy Spirit, could baptize any one into His death. By water baptism no one could be baptized into the death of Christ, or put on Christ, or be baptized into the one body. Galatians 3:27, 1 Corinthians 12:13. The only death baptisms in the Scriptures are the baptisms of Christ on the cross, Luke 12:51 (Matthew 20:22 and Mark 10:38 refer to same death baptism of Christ), and the baptism of the believer into the death of Christ. Romans 6:3. As Christ’s death baptism was by the holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), so is also the believer’s. Water-baptism passed with the manifestation of Christ to Israel. Believers now arc in the upper-heavenlies with Christ, as members of His Body. Perhaps, water baptism shall he in order when Christ in the next age is manifested to Israel. What sin today is unpardonable? Grace is greater than any or all of the sins of any Sinner, and any sinner, regardless of the quantity or duality of his sins, may be saved by grace on the condition of faith in the lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. His death and resurrection. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: S. APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION ======================================================================== APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION The study of the number “twelve” in the Bible is a very interesting one. For some reason God ordained that there should be twelve tribes of Israel, so Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons. Then in Matthew 10:2-5 we learn the names of the twelve apostles chosen by Christ. Among the twelve was Judas Iscariot. Note these words of the Lord Jesus con­cerning Judas: “BUT THERE ARE SOME OF YOU THAT BELIEVE NOT. FOR JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THEY WERE THAT BELIEVED NOT, AND WHO SHOULD BETRAY HIM.” “JESUS AN­SWERED THEM, HAVE NOT I CHOSEN YOU TWELVE, AND ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL? HE SPAKE OF JUDAS ISCARIOT THE SON OF SIMON: FOR HE IT WAS THAT SHOULD BETRAY HIM, BEING ONE OF THE TWELVE.” John 6:64, John 6:70-71. Note again in the prayer of the Lord Jesus: “WHILE I WAS WITH THEM IN THE WORLD, I KEPT THEM IN THY NAME: THOSE THAT THOU GAVEST ME I HAVE KEPT, AND NONE OF THEM IS LOST, BUT THE SON OF PERDITION; THAT THE SCRIPTURE MIGHT BE FUL­FILLED.” John 17:12. Christ said to the twelve apostles, in­cluding Judas: “Ye have not chosen Me but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” John 15:16. Then note Matthew 10:5-6 : “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. “ The twelve apostles were sent to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus we find, in Acts 2:14, that twelve apostles stood up on Israel’s feast day, Pentecost, and addressed “all the house of Israel.” Acts 2:36. When eleven other apostles stood up that day with Peter to address the twelve tribes of Israel, Matthias stood in the place of Judas. Judas was dead. And surely no intelligent student of the Bible will teach or believe that Judas became a saint by accepting Christ as his Saviour and then became a lost sinner by betray­ing Christ. Judas was the son of perdi­tion when he was chosen and he was the son of perdition when he died. JUDAS’ SUCCESSOR Note the very interesting account of the selection of Judas’ successor: “MEN AND BRETHREN, THIS SCRIPTURE MUST NEEDS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED, WHICH THE HOLY GHOST BY THE MOUTH OF DAVID SPAKE BEFORE CONCERNING JUDAS, WHICH WAS GUIDE TO THEM THAT TOOK JESUS. FOR HE WAS NUMBERED WITH US, AND HAD OBTAINED PART OF THIS MINISTRY.” “FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS, LET HIS HABITATION BE DESOLATE, AND LET NO MAN DWELL THEREIN; AND HIS BISHOPRICK LET ANOTHER TAKE.” “THAT HE MAY TAKE PART OF THIS MINISTRY, AND APOSTLESHIP FROM WHICH JUDAS BY TRANSGRESSION FELL, THAT HE MIGHT GO TO HIS OWN PLACE. AND THEY GAVE FORTH THEIR LOTS; AND THE LOT FELL UPON MATTHIAS; AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH THE ELEVEN APOSTLES.” Acts 1:16-17, Acts 1:20, Acts 1:25-26. God’s approval was upon the selection of Matthias. Note Acts 2:1 : “all with one accord,” Acts 2:46 : “with one ac­cord;” Acts 4:32 : “with one heart,” There was complete unity. Matthias was the Lord’s choice to suc­ceed Judas. But now the question; why was a successor necessary? When the Lord Jesus gave His commission to His apostles after His death, in the so-called great commission, Judas had died and the number had been reduced from “twelve” to “eleven”. Matthew 28:16. Mark 16:14. Why did not the Lord Jesus leave the number “eleven?” Why did they again select the twelfth apostle to Israel? Twelve tribes-twelve apostles. That was the Lord’s plan and program. So on the day of Pentecost, devout Jews from every nation under heaven were gathered in Jerusalem. Peter and the Eleven stood up. What God inaugurated on that Jewish feast-day was for Israel. Yes, it was by twelve apostles for Israel. These apostles had been instructed not to go to Gentiles. And it is very significant that when many of the Jewish Christians were driven out of Jerusalem, the twelve apostles remained there. Acts 8:1. They were told in Matthew 10:23 “the Son may come before ye have gone over the cities of Israel.” Peter, James and John were considered the pillars of that Jewish Church at Jeru­salem. Note their agreement with Paul some fifteen years after the day of Pente­cost: “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. Not one of the twelve apostles preached outside of the land of the Jews, so far as there is any record in the Book of Acts. Of the Twelve, Peter preached to the household of Cornelius, the Gentile. When Peter did leave the land of the Jews he got into serious trouble. Galatians 2:11-15. Cornelius loved Israel’s God. Cornelius worshipped Israel’s God. Cornelius loved Israel and gave them money. Acts 10:1-2 and Acts 10:22. The other eleven apostles condemned Peter for preaching to Cor­nelius and his loved ones. Acts 11:1-3. This was about seven years after the day of Pentecost when the Twelve stood up together. Note very carefully Acts 11:19 : “Now they that 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.” This should make very clear the fact that up to this time the Jewish disciples of the Lord Jesus had preached to no Gentile. Phillip preached to the eunuch, but the eunuch was a proselyte. The one and only case of apostolic suc­cession is Matthias for Judas. NO SUCCESSOR FOR JAMES Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church, And he killed James, the brother of John with the sword.” Acts 12:1-2. James was the second one of the origi­nal twelve apostles to die. Judas was the first. Judas died and a successor was chosen. James died, and no successor was chosen. And observe these most important and significant facts: Up to the death of James, in Acts 12:1-2, the “Acts” record is filled with the spiritual activi­ties of Peter and the Eleven, Peter and John, the testimony of the Twelve. From Acts 13:2 to Acts 28:28, the “Acts” re­cord is filled with the spiritual activities of another man, Saul, who became Paul. In these later chapters Paul is mentioned more than one hundred times and there is no record of the words or doings of Peter or any of the Twelve except as they had dealings with this chief human actor, Paul. Therefore, when we learn that through the years covered by the first eleven chapters of Acts, the Lord kept the num­ber of apostles at “Twelve,” we should. know there was a Divine purpose in it, and that God was dealing with Israel in a manner different than His dealings with that Nation after the new commission of Acts 13:2. Then the new Divine Move­ment was declared in Romans 11:15. Now let us note the Lord’s promise to the twelve apostles:” “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.” Matthew 19:28. Meditate upon this and believe it. Get the future earthly glory of the Twelve fixed in your mind. Now let us read carefully the descrip­tion of the heavenly city in Revelation 21:1-27. We quote two verses: “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.” “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Revelation 21:12 and Revelation 21:14. No successor was chosen to take the place of James. The Lord was no longer interested in twelve apostles. Therefore the Lord’s attitude toward the twelve tribes was changing. Israel was going to be set aside and a radical change in God’s spiritual program was to begin. God re­quired twelve apostles from the day of Pentecost to the death of James. After Acts 13:2, God no longer required twelve apostles. A NEW COMMISSION “As they ministered and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Separate unto me Saul (Paul). Note Paul’s testimony: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gos­pel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” “Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles be. fore me; but I went into Arabia, and re­turned again unto Damascus.” Galatians 1:11-12 and Galatians 1:17. “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were it maketh no matter to me; God accepted no man’s person): for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me; But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was com­mitted unto me, as the gospel of the circum­cision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:6-7. Then this further testimony “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magni­fy mine office.” Romans 11:13. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24. “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 Ghost.” Romans 15:16. UNTO PETER Unto Peter were committed “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 16:16-19. Unto Peter was committed “the gospel of the circumcision.” Galatians 2:7. We must study the first eleven chapters of Acts with these facts in mind. UNTO PAUL What was committed to Paul? “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.” Ephesians 3:1-3 and Ephesians 3:8. “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.” “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” 2 Timothy 1:9 and 2 Timothy 1:11. If we do not know the difference be­tween Peter’s keys of the kingdom and Paul’s dispensation of the grace of God, we should be ashamed workmen. If we don’t know the difference between Peter’s gospel of the circumcision and Paul’s gospel of the uncircumcision, we have ignored 2 Timothy 2:15. Note Peter’s words in Acts 3:24 and compare them with Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:8 : Peter, in Acts 3:24, referred to the prophesied “Kingdom” days of Israel. But Paul’s declaration was al­together different. “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.” Ephesians 3:8. Note Peter’s declaration: “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Acts 3:24. All the prophets of Israel spoke of Peter’s message. Not one of them knew anything about Paul’s “unsearchable riches of Christ.” “Unsearchable” means “ unprophesied. “ Something new began with the new commission of Acts 13:2. After that Israel committed the un­pardonable sin and the truth of Romans 11:25-26 and Romans 11:15 was revealed “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part is happened to Israel, un­til the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 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.” “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.” Israel was not set aside while there were eleven other apostles associated with Peter. In the first eleven chapters of Acts we have something of the kingdom pro­gram which the Lord will carry on after God’s purpose during this age has been accomplished. Everything that Peter and the Eleven preached according to the first eleven chapters of Acts was in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures, and therefore that spiritual program had nothing to do with “the dispensation of the mystery” which had been hid in God from before the foundation of the world: Ephesians 3:9. Let us always recognize the difference between the prophesied Kingdom of heaven and the unprophesied “Body” of Christ: Ephesians 3:5-9 - Colossians 1:24-27. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: S. ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? ======================================================================== ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? Will we meet again and recognize our loved ones in the hereafter? Who has not asked this question? How many have pondered and wondered over question, the “does death end all?” If we could really know the truth about rewards for the righteous and retribution for the unrighteous in the world to come, would we not change our program of living in this present world? Must we remain in the dark as to our knowledge of the present and future state of the dead? Can we find no answer to the question, “are the dead conscious?” The atheist consigns man and beast to the same fate after death, stating that dead ends all. There are many so-called scientists all around us working over-time to prove that there are no dead. We have some people who call themselves Christian Scientists. They would persuade us to believe that sin, sickness and death are unreal only the erroneous conclusions of mortal mind. Of course, if sin is not sin, then death is not death. But the erroneous conclusions are those of a silly woman and her deluded followers. There are other religious cults carrying on their nefarious traffic in human souls in the name of Jesus Christ, likewise teaching that sin, sickness and death are the unrealities of human conclusions. Then we have the so-called Christian Theosophists teaching that death has to do only with the physical, and in reality is not death, but simply the shedding of the present body for a reincarnation, to be repeated in the gradual process toward perfection. The Spiritists, some times called Spiritualists, disagree with the Theosophists, teaching that they also believe that physical death is the gate to a higher life, but they are sure that the individual remains here in this world in spirit form, requiring manifestations to be seen by kindred spirits here in human bodies. They have spirit mediums to produce these manifestations and contacts. Then we have the religion of Pastor Russell and his successor, J. F. Rutherford. They have seen fit to change the name of their religious movement several times. They were known as International Bible Students, Millennial Dawn, and one or two other names; and now they send their false prophets hither and thither as Jehovah’s wit­nesses. They teach the damnable heresy of soul sleeping, which they borrowed from the Seventh Day Adventists. They teach that the spirit of man at death loses its in­dividuality, that body and soul go to sheol, or the pit, to remain together both unconscious. They deny that there is either joy for the righteous or pain for the unrighteous in sheol. They teach that Christ came back in 1874; remained in hiding until 1914, since which time His kingdom was set up on earth and with him in secret reign are those faithful ones who attained unto the true wheat or bride; that within a few years the Lord will manifest Himself, though His saints shall never see Him in His body, which was destroyed when He ascended to heaven. When the Lord manifests Himself, then the remainder of the 144,000 true Israelites, or the Church or Bride of Christ, will be given their seat of honour. Then millions will be brought back from the dead and given the opportunity to adjust their lives to the King. Those who ultimately refuse will be annihilated. Think of the nonsense of bringing back one who has ceased to exist in order to annihilate him again. Such is the folly of the servants of Satan. We might refer to many others, including the false teaching of purgatory, which has brought to the Roman Church great riches. There is not one line in the Roman or Protestant Bibles to support their purgatory which they invented centuries after apostles of Christ gave the truth to the Christian Church. Not one apostle believed in anything like purgatory. Not one of them agreed with any of the vagaries, superstitions, delusions and lies mentioned above. How much more satisfactory it is to turn to God’s Holy Book, and search there for the answers to the questions concerning the hereafter which we have been unable to dismiss from our minds and hearts. So often do we hear the statement, “we must wait until we die to learn whether or not there is consciousness after death, because no one has come back from death to tell us.” To believe in the Christ of the Bible is to believe in a Christ who was fully competent to tell us all about death and the hereafter, even before He by the grace of God tasted death for every man and then abolished death, and destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:14, 2 Timothy 1:9-10. Christ died for our sins; He was buried; and on the third day He arose from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. After His death He showed Him­self alive by many infallible proofs; for forty days. Acts 1:3; Acts 10:41. He ascended on high and led captivity captive. Ephesians 4:7-10. Some years after His death and resurrection He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos and said, “I am He that liveth, and was dead: and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hades and of death.” Revelation 1:18. Christ foretold His death and resurrection many times while He was a man on earth. One of His statements concerning His death and resurrection is found in John 10:17-18 : “I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.” Concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophet, David, about one thousand years before the Saviour was born, in this language: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades, neither will thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2:27, Psalms 16:10. In His triumph over death, Christ became the first fruits of them that slept. 1 Corinthians 15:20. While here in the flesh He truthfully said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven.” John 3:13. Nearly one thousand years after David, the man after God’s own heart, had died, the messenger of the Lord said, “David, he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” Acts 2:29. Concerning the resurrected Christ the Word of God is, “This man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God, waiting till His enemies be made His footstool.” Hebrews 10:12-13. There is but one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. In a resurrection, glorified body, Christ was the first man to ascend to heaven, the firstfruits of them that slept. The word, “firstfruits” suggests that there will be a harvest; that is, that many men will ascend to heaven; every man in his own order. 1 Corinthians 15:23. “At His coming”—Not before Christ comes for His own. Now, the fact is, that Christ, because of His own personal dealings with death, the sepulchre and hades, knows all about death from experience, and He is trustworthy and competent authority. He has actually died and come back to earth after death. But He knew all about death, hades and heaven before He ever became man, and surely knew all about it while He was on earth speaking as never man spake. Now He has the keys of death and hades. He gave a picture sermon of death and hades, retribution and reward. It was concerning a rich man and a poor man. This is recorded in Luke 16:19-31. Some people seem to get satisfaction by saying that the picture is only a parable instead of a reality. But even if the truth is set forth in a parable, the truth of conscious joy and torment is taught by One who really knew what He was talking about. The Father said, “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.” Matthew 17:5. The man in torment said concerning those who had not died, his kinsmen on earth, “Testify unto them lest they also come into this place—But if one went from the dead, they will repent.” Luke 16:30. The answer was, and is, “Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:31. The answers to your questions are in God’s Word. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. So concerning death and after death, our appeal is, “What saith the scriptures.” What is death? Death is the last enemy. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:26. What is death? “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. Death is the finished work of sin. “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12. Had there been no sin, certainly there would have been no death. We speak of death as the absence or cessation of life. But in the Bible, death has more than one meaning. When we define death as the absence of physical life, we are dealing with but one phase of death. Death is far more serious than the cessation of existence. Death considered in all of its aspects is the most terrible fact in the experience of man. Death extends far beyond time, into the eternal ages. Death is an enemy. Death is real. Death is more than a universal curse; death is a Divine judgment. There are millions who are living dead folks; dead here and now in sins. Some particular cases of physical death are pronounced by physicians, mysteries; and either for the benefit of medical science or because of suspicion of foul play autopsies are held by scientific men to determine just what caused the death. Other people are said to die natural deaths. There are thousands of different diseases that produce death, and the toll is increasing each year. Death is no respecter of persons as to nationality, financial or social standing, age or any other thing. Within one hundred years from today more than one and one-half billion people who are now living will experience physical death unless that great event which is to bring destruction to this last enemy shall take place; and it may at any time. Whether your loved one’s death was pronounced natural or unnatural, death is a mystery. We feel that the person who does not want to live is unnatural or mentally unbalanced, unless physical pain is too intense for human endurance. Death at times seems so cruel. Family circles are broken by death, a loving companion is taken out of the home leaving hearts filled with sorrow and wonder; leaving many in utter despair. In such cases who has not repeated that old question, “if a man die, shall he live again?” When one who has been near and dear to us has been taken by death, who has not imagined or hoped or believed that there would be a reunion, another meeting in a place where death could not enter to disturb the happy relationships? How many have said with David concerning some precious baby, “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me?” 2 Samuel 12:23. What pagan religion or what modern religion, what human philosophy, what ancient or modern science can answer this heart cry: “But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Job 14:10. The answer to man’s speculations is found in the last verse of Job 13:1-28 : “They grope in the dark without light.” Here is the most satisfactory answer to this universal query: “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.” John 11:25. And Jesus added a question: “Believest thou this?” The poor bereaved sister didn’t fully understand what her Saviour and Lord was talking about, but she believed Him, nevertheless, and said, “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:27. “Though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Remember these words. Herein is a gracious promise, a comforting and blessed hope; the dead shall live, if—Yes, there is a condition. This Saviour is more than the way-shower; He is the Way. He is more than the giver of life; He is the Life. He is more than the teacher of resurrection; He, Himself is the Resurrection. So it behooves us to hear Him, and to believe all that God’s Divine record has to say concerning Him. After the disciples of Christ had been under His teaching for many months, they questioned “one with another, what the rising from the dead should mean.” Mark 9:10. Peter and John, some months later, knew not the Scripture that Christ must rise again from the dead. John 20:9. This should convince us that our appeal should be to the New Testament Scriptures for the clear teaching concerning death, resurrection, rewards and retribution. To be sure it is written in the law and the prophets that there shall be a resurrection, both of the just and unjust. Acts 24:15. And certainly the Old Testament Scriptures are as much inspired as are the New, and most assuredly there is no conflict or contradiction, but as we find the incarnation and sacrifice of Christ so much more clearly set forth after He came to earth from heaven, so do we find the truth concerning the present and future state of the dead more clearly presented after the incarnation, sacrifice and resurrection of the Son of God. So that you may receive the rich blessing in your own soul and the truth from God Himself, we are going to present for your prayerful and careful study the following Scriptures: OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES 1 Kings 17:21-22. “O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.” “And the soul of the child came into him again and he revived.” Genesis 37:33-35. “And Jacob said concerning his son Joseph, in Genesis 37:33, “an evil beast hath devoured him. Genesis 37:35 “I will go down into sheol, unto my son, mourn­ing.” 1 Samuel 28:14-19. We quote part of 1 Samuel 28:19, “And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.” Samuel had died and was now talking to Saul. Saul died and the men of Jabesh burnt the bodies of Saul and his sons. 1 Samuel 31:12. In what sense were they with Samuel? This conversation with Samuel was a miracle—a Com­munication with the dead is impossible and those who attempt it through a medium will be deceived by Satan and disobey the clear teaching of God’s Word. Deuteronomy 32:48-50. Concerning Moses’ death the Lord said: “And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people.” In what sense was Moses gathered unto his people? Was his body gathered with them? Read Deuteronomy 34:5-6. “No man knoweth of his sepulchre.” The devil contended for his body. Jude 1:9. See Moses transfigured on the mount. Matthew 17:3. Genesis 35:29. “Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people.” Years after Isaac had died, the Lord appeared to Moses as the God of Abraham and Isaac; and referring to this Christ said, “For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living.” Luke 20:38. 2 Samuel 12:24. Concerning his little baby that had died, David said, “Can I bring him back?” There was the lifeless body of the baby. So David was not speaking concerning the body. Here is a great truth, recorded in James 2:26 : “THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD” Ecclesiastes 12:7. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” This would be a contradiction of Ecclesiastes 3:19-20, if these verses did not refer to man’s body instead of his spirit: “so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast; for all is vanity.” “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” This is the complaint of the man under the sun, as is also Ecclesiastes 9:5 “The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward.” This is a plain contradiction of the many promises of God that the re­wards of the faithful shall follow their death, unless we rightly divide the word of truth. This is true also con­cerning the tenth verse: “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.” It is the body without the spirit that is dead. At death the spirit goes to God who gave it. The dead body can neither feel, nor work, nor know. But this has no refer­ence to the spirit in the body, that leaves the body when that body goes to dust and corruption. Ecclesiastes is not the book for the clear teaching of the present state of the dead, but even that book by no means supports the awful heresy of soul sleeping. The spirit at death goes to the God of the living. NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES Luke 23:46. “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus: He gave up the ghost.” Luke 8:49-56. This twelve year old girl was dead. Christ came into the death chamber and said, “Maid, arise.” “And her spirit came again.” Luke 8:54. Compare this with 1 Kings 17:22. Luke 23:42-43. “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 15:10. “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Ephesians 3:15. “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Acts 7:55 and Acts 7:59. “Saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God-Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 2 Corinthians 5:8. “Absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Php 1:23. “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” I am sure that after reading these Scriptures, all who are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ will be convinced that those of like precious faith who have fallen asleep have departed to be with Him, and although they are waiting to be clothed upon with their house which is from heaven they are in a state of conscious bliss. Whether or not they rejoice when sinners turn to the Lord we cannot be too dogmatic, but this seems to be the teaching of God’s Word. They have departed to be with the Lord. They are at home with the Lord. This is the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:8. We know our blessed Lord tasted death. We know that He has abolished death and brought life and incorruptibility to light in the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:9-10. What a glorious truth this is! Life now: incorruptibility at Christ’s coming. No cessation of life after we receive life, on believing the gospel. And well may we join the Apostle John in his praise: “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; there­fore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him: for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:1-2. Our blessed Lord is in a glorified body in heaven. Otherwise, He could not represent us as priest. By man came death and by man came the resurrection of the dead. Some day our blessed Lord shall descend from heaven and we shall be caught up to meet Him, at which time these bodies of humiliation shall be fash­ioned like unto His glorious body. Php 3:20-21. And we shall see Him as He is. “Wherefore com­fort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:18. Many Christians say that because the apostles of Christ recognized Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration, and because Paul said, “but then shall I know even as also I am known,” we have positive Scriptural proof that we shall surely recognize our loved ones in glory. Whether or not these particular Scrip­tures give us this assurance, we are sure that such recognition is only a reasonable expectation to make our eternal happiness in our heavenly home complete. Yes, the Scriptures declare that “when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven.” Mark 12:25. But this has nothing to do with the recognition of our loved ones and friends. Of course, the question always arises as to our unsaved loved ones. “Will we be conscious of their absence from heaven and their punishment and suffering?” This thought has come to all who have studied the Word of God and wondered about the hereafter. Surely God will permit no thought to disturb the blessedness of His redeemed ones. But we should be disturbed, startled and driven to anxious concern for our unsaved loved ones while we are here with them in the land of the living in this day of grace. Let us remember the solemn words of God, “It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment.” There are many false prophets today telling that the dead will have another chance at salvation; but they are the representatives of Satan and not of the Lord. They corrupt the Scriptures to give this false hope to their deluded victims. God’s Word is judgment after death. The awful sorrows of that judgment are described in the closing verses of the twentieth chapter of Revela­tion. Sinner, read them carefully and believe God’s truth. There are only two destinies, even as there are only two ways. There is no purgatory or third place. For every individual, it is either eternal glory with Christ and the redeemed, or eternal darkness and despair with those listed in Revelation 21:8—“the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore­mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars.” Here is God’s order—“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.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. This scene may be enacted at any moment of any day right now. Then the Great Tribulation. Out of that Great Tribulation some will be saved to have part in the first resurrection ­“These are they which came out of Great Tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14—“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6. The period of Great Tribulation will close with the coming of the Lord with His saints to execute judgment, to dethrone Satan, and to establish His earthly Kingdom. Revelation 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:4-9, Revelation 19:12, Revelation 20:5, Matthew 24:30 and many others. Thus we have the answers to the two questions of job: “Man giveth up the ghost and where is he,” and “if a man die shall he live again.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: S. ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? - BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION ======================================================================== ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS? - BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION 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.” 2 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 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, 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.” 2 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 1 John 2:26-27 : “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 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 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. 1 Corinthians 15:22 and 1 Corinthians 15:27. This is clearly taught in the forty-fourth 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 Ephesians 2:5. “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.” 1 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 1 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 53:10-12. Then note Acts 2:27 and Acts 2:31 : “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. 1 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 7:59-60. 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 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 : “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 Ephesians 2:5. 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 6:4-5. They are risen with Christ. Christ is their life. Colossians 3:1 and Colossians 3:3. 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. 1 Corinthians 15:21-24. PUTTING OFF THE TABERNACLE Note the words of Peter in 2 Peter 1:14 : “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 21:18-19. 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 Ecclesiastes 9:10 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 16:19-31 - “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, Luke 16:22-23. The soul-sleepers reject the generally accepted interpretation of Luke 16:19-31, 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 2 Corinthians 5:8 and Php 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 2 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 1:19 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 1 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 Php 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 1 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 1 Corinthians 2:14-15, 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 1 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.” 1 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.” 1 Kings 17:21-22. “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 10:9-10. 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, Psalms 23:3, Isaiah 55:3, 1 Peter 1:9, Job 14:22, Habakkuk 2:10, Psalms 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 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 and 1 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. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: S. ARE WE NEARING THE END? ======================================================================== ARE WE NEARING THE END? Recently I have heard more than one person make this remark, “the next two years will tell the tale.” They, of course, were referring to the present economic and finan­cial state of affairs. They were not so much concerned with the political or moral outlook, either because of in­difference or perhaps they felt that good times financially would make everything all right. Many are expressing the opinion that there will be either a return to prosperity within the next year or two or a world-wide revolution. Of course, conservative folk do not take much stock in the predictions of such radicals, preferring to believe that we are just on a little detour and everything will be ad­justed in due time. But even some of these optimistic conservatives admit that the political situation all over the world is anything but satisfactory and the immediate future does not look any too bright. Statesmen at home and abroad are warning the public of the present chaos and the approaching crisis, asking men and women to take an inventory of world conditions and to admit that universal, political, economical and social unrest and un­certainty prevail, and that anything more serious and disastrous is liable to happen on short notice. We have heard the rumblings of revolution in South and Central America. We have read much of the under­current of distrust, disorder and rebellion in India. Surely we are not ignorant of the serious state of affairs in the Far East. Thinking people would be shocked but not surprised if Russia, China and Japan should be thrown suddenly into a three-cornered bloody conflict. Europe is experimenting with five or six forms of government. Among the nations of Europe there exists not only an undercurrent of suspicion and distrust, but the acknowl­edgment on the part of some of them that war is in­evitable, and so they are rushing on to further financial ruin in their preparation for the inevitable. No European ruler or politician is sincere if and when he declares that there are prospects for world peace. The consensus of opinion is that the outlook is not bright; that for the present the Fascists, Communists, Socialists, Monarchs and Democrats must struggle for supremacy, and each nation must be in position to press its campaign and conquest with bloodshed, if necessary. Some writers are bold enough to assert that the British Empire is on the verge of collapse; that it can only be a matter of time. They predict that that glorious nation must soon release her hold upon her possessions. And when we consider our own United States, there are daily reports of utter financial ruin and distressful times ahead. The world cry is for able leaders. In all of the discussions of depression and political un­rest, and rumors of wars, comparatively few seem wor­ried about the ungodliness and immorality of the present generation; and a still smaller minority are deeply con­cerned about what is truly the most serious sign of the times; namely, the departure on the part of thousands of so-called Christians, with their preachers and leaders, from the great fundamentals of the Christian faith. This falling-away, or apostasy, is prophesied in the Bible as one of the signs of the end time. So also is the European political struggle. The world-wide political and social upheavals are very significant. So also is the present activity on the part of the Jews in Palestine. So also is the present world-wide disregard for law. So also are the rationalism and materialism and atheism of this present time, especially propagated in the name of Christianity. Yes all of these signs combined are indicative of the approaching end. What do we mean by the approaching end: the end of what? Now, remember, if you are thinking about the end of the world, that is not what we have in mind. There have been so many wild speculations and so many fanatical religious end-of-the-­world movements, so many false prophets who have tried to set dates as to when the end of the world would be, that it is next to impossible to get very many people to seriously consider the more sure word of Prophecy from the Mind of the infallible God. Unto Him are known all His works from the beginning of the world. Surely the God who designed this universe, who governs and sustains it, the God, to whom it belongs, knows His present and future purposes for the earth and its inhabitants. This omnipotent and omniscient God knows how and when and why this present age will end, the climax of this present political and social order. If this God is sovereign and does purpose all things after the counsel of His own will, as He Himself declares, who can hinder or delay His movements when the appointed time for His action is at hand? And if He has been so considerate and gracious as to indicate unto His children, by certain signs, the nearness of the appointed time, certainly His children should, with eagerness and thanksgiving, study world conditions in the light of His inspired and inerrant Word. In Matthew 13:39-40; Matthew 13:49, we find three times the expression, “the end of the world.” The proper translation is, “the consummation, of the age.” “So shall it be in the consummation of the age.” We find the same thought again expressed in Matthew 28:20, wherein the Lord said to His apostles: “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, or unto the consummation of the age.” He did not mean as long as they lived, but as long as the age endured. Man’s history, in God’s plans, is divided into ages. The age in which we now live is designated as “this present evil age,” Galatians 1:4. This is the Day of Grace, the age of the Body of Christ, the Dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 3:1-8. There have been other ages. They have come to an end. Certainly the ante-diluvian age came to an end with the flood. There will be other ages after this present evil age, mentioned as the ages to come. Ephesians 2:7. This age will have a consummation. Other ages will follow. In Ephesians 3:21 we find the expression, “world without end,” properly translated, “ages of the ages.” In connection with the coming of Christ, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:23, we read in the very next verse: “Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God.” If language expresses any thought, certainly this language tells us that Christ is coming and the end is coming. Suppose we do not believe that Christ is coming and the end is coming, does that affect the truth or alter the fact? This present complex civilization, with all of its unsolvable entanglements and problems, is rushing on toward the consummation of this present evil age. The end will come with the coming of the Son of God. Is not this simple language: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven?” Acts 1:11. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation?” Hebrews 9:28. “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.” Then let us carefully read the words of admonition and warning that follow in the next few verses, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” Do we have in these words the predictions of an ignor­ant or deluded religious fanatic, or do we have the more sure word of prophecy given to us through a divinely guided, Spirit-filled messenger of the very Lord who is coming? The world will soon know its awful doom, which is set forth in this language: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” Revelation 6:15-17 “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 1:7 “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” Jude 1:14-15 “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints. To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.” Matthew 24:38-39 “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar­riage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:21 and Matthew 24:30 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Daniel 2:44 “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” We might quote from the Word of God several hun­dred other prophecies concerning the end time, to show that the second coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is imminent; that His second advent will mean one thing for those who have been redeemed by God’s grace, those who love the Lord Jesus Christ; quite a different thing for the Nation Israel, whom we call the Jews; and still a different thing for the great mass of unsaved Gentiles. But the verses we have quoted above will enable you to appreciate the question that the Lord Jesus asked when He had been rejected by His own nation: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Surely such a question suggests that the Son of man, who was then on earth, knew that He was some day coming back to earth, and the Greek verb used by Him in this question indicated that He would not find the faith on the earth when He should return as the Son of man to Israel. If the Lord Jesus should come today, He would find more than sixteen million Jews in unbelief. He would find one hundred times as many Gentiles in unbelief. He would find Christendom headed toward the great apostasy, in two general divisions Catholicism and Protestantism, both claiming to follow the teachings of Christ. He would find the teachings and practices of Catholicism so contrary to the pure Christianity He left for the apostles to give to His Church that He would never recognize that religious-political organization as His Church. He would find some in that organization saved in spite of the corruption of the Word of God and departure from the Gospel of Grace in the religious program of their system. He would find some loyal, faithful consecrated saints in many different evangelical church organizations. But He would find a far larger number of unsaved people identified with some kind of a religious organization bearing the name of Christ. In the face of the plain and simple statement of the Holy Scriptures, found in Ephesians 4:3-4. that there is one Church, one hope and one faith, even as there is but one Christ and one Holy Spirit and one Father, there is such a variety of different Christs and different faiths offered to humanity today that we have reached the state of religious Babylon. Modernism is rapidly advancing, taking over seminaries and churches which were once strongholds of the faith, sweeping the deluded religious victims into the great apostasy, for Modernism in the Christian churches is nothing more than Christianized agnosticism, a complete departure from the faith once for all delivered to saints, infidelity propagated in the name of Christ. Surely a Christian infidel is a paradox, and therefore the Christian Modernist is an impossible paradox. Then the modern cults most active in the propagation of their delusions and heresies are Unity, Russellism or Rutherfordism, Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism and Christian Science. If any one of these cults present the true Christ and represent His Church, then the others are preaching a false Christ and misrepresenting the Church of Christ, for Russellism and Christian Science have nothing in common: neither have Adventism and Unity. Yet all of these religious movements claim to be the true custodians and dispensers of the truth of Christ for this age, each with a key to the Scriptures, teaching inviting seekers of the truth to enter the House of God by a different door. A house divided against itself cannot stand. All of these religious movements are headed for an awful judgment in the day of God’s wrath which is not far away. When here on earth the Son of God said: “Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? An enemy hath done it. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age.” Matthew 13:27-28; Matthew 13:39. So we see that this unholy mixture of the work of Christ and the work of the devil is foretold in God’s Book. And in very plain language is the great falling away foretold: “As that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Before Christ returns as King to set up His kingdom, there is to be an awful apostasy heading up in Antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. 2 Thessalonians 2:5-9. The man in whom all these religious systems is to head up will be Satan’s man. Those who will not receive the simple and glorious truth of the Grace of Christ, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came from heaven, died on the cross of Calvary to redeem lost sinners by His shed blood, then conquered death, and went back to heaven as a man, as the Man who now sits at God’s right hand, must suffer the consequences herein stated: “For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1. Surely the Lord knew in advance that multitudes would be swept into Spiritism and other “demon” ­stratagems. Surely the Lord knew in advance that the money was going to be accumulated by the very rich and the poor would have to suffer starvation in the midst of plenty: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are cor­rupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Be­hold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth . . . ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:1-8. “And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath.” Zephaniah 1:17-18. In today’s paper is printed part of the message of the President of the University of Wisconsin in which he informs us that our warehouses are packed to capacity with food while millions are on the verge of starvation. In yesterday’s paper (May 19, 1932), we have the Roman Pope’s picture of world conditions: “Never before has the world, both spiritually and materially, been so restless as it is now. The whole of humanity is being crippled by a financial and economic crisis which is leaving no nation, no society, and no family unaffected, either di­rectly or indirectly. Even those few who seem to hold in their hands with untold riches the world’s fate, and who through their own speculations were the cause of so much ill, became the first damaging victims, pulling down with them numberless fortunes. Greed is the root of every ill. From greed proceeds the unjust, unequal distribution of the wealth of nations, accumulated in a few hands with untold sufferings to the masses. Those who do not want anarchy must act energetically to pre­vent the enemies of religion from achieving their aims. “Supplying a pretext for subversive parties to launch propaganda for a drive threatening public order every­where and increasing the danger of terrorism and anarchy” . . . “the unlimited greed for earthly goods which is the real cause for the present difficulties.” The prediction of God’s Word is that this accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few is to be a sign of the end time; that this universal unrest and lawlessness is to run concurrently with the great religious apostasy. And here is God’s message to His child: “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”— James 5:8. Look where you will today for any source of relief and unless you look to the coming of the Lord, you will look in vain. So we may know that until He comes evil seducers will wax worse and worse. There is to be a reign of peace and righteousness on this earth. When? When He comes whose right it is. He will rule this earth with a rod of iron. Those who are redeemed by His blood will rule and reign with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:2 . . . Revelation 5:9-10 . . . Revelation 20:3-7. When Christ who is our life shall appear than shall ye also appear with Him in glory. The Lord is coming first to call His saved ones home to glory. Then there will be a great time of sorrow in several years of scourging and judgment. Then the Lord will come with His saints to dethrone the great Adversary, that old dragon, Satan, the devil who has deceived the whole world. Then the time of earth’s blessing with the personal reign of the true King. The hope of this world is not a great democracy, but a Great Theocracy. In the meantime whosoever will may be translated into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love by faith in the finished work of this wonderful Christ, who is now the living God-man in glory. Would you like to be on Christ’s side? Would you like to be saved from the coming time of great sorrow and after-death judgment? Salvation is available for you. It is a very simple, plain, way—Christ died for you—His judgment was for you—He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification—Salvation is by simple faith in this crucified, resurrected, glorified and coming Christ. Act now. Believe and be eternally saved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: S. ARE YOU A HOPE-SO CHURCH MEMBER OR A KNOW-SO BIBLE CHRISTIAN ======================================================================== ARE YOU A “HOPE-SO” CHURCH MEMBER OR A “KNOW-SO” BIBLE CHRISTIAN The apparent indifference on the part of the multitudes is appalling. Men and women, old and young, carry on as though they expect to re­main on earth forever, with utter disregard for the Bible statements, “So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God,” and, “Man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. The profound ignorance of so-called intelligent people concerning spiritual truth is pitiable and deplorable, if not inexcusable. Then again apart from the deceiving power of one who is accused of deceiving the whole world there is no excuse, apology, or explanation for the manner in which thousands of religious people, who pretend to follow the teachings of Jesus, per­vert Divine truth, audaciously repudiate God’s message of redemption, and arbitrarily substitute some human religious philosophy which is with­out power or value so far as salvation from sin is concerned. Perhaps more than fifty per cent of the adults of the United States are either affiliated with some kind of religious organization at the present time, or have belonged to some such organization in the past. But it is no exaggeration to declare that the great majority of the present or former members of these religious organizations are either ignorant or confused as to God’s message of sal­vation, the Bible way from earth to heaven. And it is also true that the great majority of those who believe this message, who not only know the true way but are on that way, are equally ignorant and confused as to the believer’s position, mem­bership, hope, and calling, in the true Bible Church. This is because they have little, if any, knowledge as to what the Bible teaches concern­ing the Church of the living God, the Body of Christ. THE BELIEVER’S ASSURANCE Let us consider these two Bible verses: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15. Here we learn that God, the Father, wants His redeemed children to know that they have eternal life. They are to know this on the authority of God’s statements in the Bible, because they are trusting in Jesus Christ, what He has done, what He is now doing, and what He is yet to do. Note something of what He has done: “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.” 1 Peter 3:18. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He (Christ) entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal re­demption for us.” Hebrews 9:12. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacri­fice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. Then note what faith in Christ and His redemptive work accomplishes for the believer: “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. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:5. “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:39. Then note the spiritual benefits which the be­liever enjoys because of the present ministry of the living Christ in heaven: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8:31; Romans 8:34. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5. Therefore, on the authority of God’s Bible, every person who believes God’s Word and trusts God’s Son should say with confidence and posi­tive assurance what John wrote in 1 John 3:2 : “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Here we read what believers are, and what they shall be. But let us never forget the statement in 1 Corinthians 1:29 : “no flesh should glory in His presence.” Note how the greatest of all Christians stated this in Php 3:3—“For we are the circum­cision, which worship God in the Spirit, and re­joice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Note again Ephesians 2:9—“Not of works, lest any man should boast.” See how this statement is joined with other statements­: “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 2:7-10. A great and blessed time is ahead for believ­ers, saved by grace. True believers really believe Romans 11:6­: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work.” If and when the believer, knowing that by na­ture he is unworthy and unrighteous, is saved by grace through faith in the redemptive work of the worthy Son of God, Jesus Christ the Righteous, he will not glory in his goodness, his religious activities, or in anything that he can do to help get him into heaven. He will know that he is go­ing to heaven by grace, by faith in the work of Another; that he is God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. The believer is saved because he is the recipient of God’s grace; because eternal life is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). Then he can say—“I am crucified with Christ; neverthe­less I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. The true Bible Christian knows that it is an insult to God to try to make the redemptive work of Christ more efficacious by adding religious ceremonies or to endeavor by any human scheme or service to supplement the grace of God and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Note again carefully Romans 4:4-5 : “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.” With such knowledge and with such an ex­perience the believer can be ready, and should be ready, at all times to give an answer to any one who asks him for a reason of the hope that is in him. This should be done with meekness and fear, but with. absolute confidence, and positive assurance. In other words, when asked the ques­tion, “Are you saved?” or “Are you sure you are going to heaven?”, the person, who is trusting wholly and solely in the grace of God and in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, should answer humbly, but boldly, “Yes, by the grace of God and on the authority of God’s Word, I cer­tainly am.” “These things are written that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Note Titus 1:2 and the words of Jesus Christ, in John 6:47 and in John 5:24 :­ “In hope of eternal life, which God, that can­not lie, promised before the world began.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believ­eth on Me hath everlasting life.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hear­eth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” JOINING THE CHURCH Multitudes of unsaved religious individuals, for different reasons, have become members of some religious organization; have joined some organized company of people—a church. The Greek word translated “church” in the Bible is “ekklesia,” which means “called-out.” God’s Word thus instructs God’s “called-out” people­—“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.” Hebrews 10:25. God’s Word, in 1 Corinthians 14:23, mentions the church coming together. In Acts 14:27, we read that the church was gathered together. Therefore, by Scriptural authority, believers in different communities should gather in assemblies for worship and Bible preaching. But they should first be members of the one true Bible Church before they gather in an assembly with other be­lievers for worship or Christian service. Many, many people who are members of some religious church organization are not members of the true Bible Church. Note the Bible description of the Bible Church of this present dispensation: “the Church which is His (Christ’s) Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22-23. “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 4:12-13. Now let us carefully note how being joined to Christ and His Church is described in the Bible: “Christ, from Whom the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16. “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.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14. “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 12:4-5. Believers are joined to Christ. Believers are joined to one another. Believers, by the work of God, are made members of Christ’s Body and the two shall be one flesh. This is the great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Ephesians 5:32. Only God by the Holy Spirit can join the believer to the Bible Church. Then note the future of the true Bible Church: “That He might present it to Himself a glori­ous Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and with­out blemish.” Ephesians 5:27. “When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:4. This should cause diligent, thoughtful, serious meditation and consideration on the part of every religious person who is hoping to get into heaven because of membership in some church organiza­tion, whether that person is enthusiastically and emotionally religious or an inactive and indifferent member. This is a very serious and important matter, something that the individual can settle this side of death. But the sinner who dies unsaved will remain forever unsaved. So let each one ask of himself this question, “am I a member of the Body of Christ?” “have I been baptized by one Spirit into this organism, this one true Bible Church?” What a tragedy that multitudes of deceived, religious church-members are going reli­giously to perdition! The very moment any sinner today is saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that individual becomes a mem­ber of the one and only Bible Church, and this is accomplished without application to, or exam­ination by, any group of church officers. Then note in Ephesians 4:4-5 : “THERE IS ONE BODY, AND ONE SPIR­IT, EVEN AS YE ARE CALLED IN ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING; ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.” A CHRISTIAN IN PRINCIPLE In religious circles we hear of orthodox and unorthodox Christians, of Liberals and Fundamentalists, in the church. Let us be assured that a Christian infidel is an impossible paradox. Many church organizations are under the domination and legislation of Christianized agnostics who ac­cept the Bible with many reservations, criticisms and eliminations. These so-called Liberals claim that the Bible must be interpreted in the light of modern science and scholarship; that Christianity must be properly related to modern psychology. They demand for themselves and for their follow­ers a reasonable faith, a natural religion, and a revised Bible, with the discard of all that is miracu­lous. They pose as benefactors who are seeking to deliver Christianity from the non-progressive, narrow-minded, ignorant, old-fashioned “literalists” who are not up-to-date in their thinking. These “pseudo-Christians” are described in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 : “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be trans­formed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” Encouraged by the boldness, if not the elo­quence and leadership of these deluded counter­feit Christians, so many people are in a state of spiritual lethargy, indifference and ignorance, ap­parently devoid of any fear of God or eternal perdition. This majority is made up of groups and individuals who make no pretense at subject­ing themselves to the authority of God’s Word in their decisions or indecisions concerning their eternal destiny. Many of them condescend to acknowledge that Jesus Christ was a very superior character, the courageous and noble son of Mary and Joseph, who was honest in his convictions. They classify him as a religious martyr who died for his fidelity to his convictions, for his loyalty and devotion to God, as a good man who was hated, persecuted and killed because he was mis­understood and the world was not then ready for his ideal philosophy. Of course, they do not ob­ject to being called “Christians,” if it be under­stood that they do not believe in the verbal inspir­ation of the Scriptures, the eternal Deity and vir­gin birth of Jesus Christ, or redemption by His shed blood, or in the bodily resurrection of Christ. They say, “We are Christians in prin­ciple, that is, we accept the moral teaching, the ethical philosophy of Jesus Christ, as set forth in His Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule, as an excellent standard of behavior.” “We know that this world would be a better world, if the people in it would try their best to obey and follow Jesus, the ideal man.” They deny the very existence of the great ad­versary who, in the Bible, is accused of the crime of deceiving the whole world. Perhaps they have never even heard 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 : “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” If they have ever heard this, they paid no attention to it. Of course the self-righteous individuals among them do not believe that they are blind, and the very idea of their being lost is absurd. But God’s Word is true and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only Divine power that can or will save a human being. God’s Word tells the truth when it declares that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; “there is none righteous, no not one.” God’s Word is, that righteousness cannot be found in the natural heart. God’s Word is, that the unrighteous man cannot become righteous by imitating Jesus Christ; by being good with the help of Jesus, the Teacher; by any human reformation scheme; by self-control or religious education. There is but one place in the universe of God where the unrighteous man can find for himself righteousness, and that is at the cross of Calvary. Note 2 Corinthians 5:21 : “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the right­eousness of God in Him.” CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR Hear this very interesting statement concerning some folks who claim to be Christians: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and dis­obedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16. Note on the other hand what God expects of those who claim to be His children, who claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ as believers: “That they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:10. “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Php 1:11. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life.” Php 2:15-16. The Christian is exhorted in the Holy Scrip­tures to walk circumspectly toward sinners. The Christians have a tremendous responsibility to­ward the unsaved sinners all about them. Chris­tians are in the world but not of the world. They should not be worldly. They are crucified to the world. They are not to be conformed to the world. “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. The sinner is dead in sins. The Christian is dead to sin. Note Colossians 3:3-5­: “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. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, in­ordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covet­ousness, which is idolatry.” Not only many unregenerated, religious church members, but many saved church members are careless and carnal in their conduct. Their tes­timonies are worse than worthless; they are harm­ful. The unsaved sinners, beholding such inconsistencies in the lives of those who claim to belong to Christ, discount the worth and value of Christianity, the saving and keeping power of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a shame that any member of the Body of Christ should be a detri­ment to the cause of Christ and a stumbling-block to any sinner on the way to the sorrows of the second death. Christ said to His disciples, “ye shall be My witnesses.” Every Christian should be able to honestly and constantly say with Paul—“But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:10. But let no sinner believe that he can or will escape God’s wrath in that awful day of judgment because of the faults, failures, and frailties of some professing Christian. The thing to do is to get past the inconsistent professors to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Calvary, and then, by the grace of God, go back and show that disloyal witness how to be a genuine Christian in the midst of a world of lost sinners. Hear God’s warning to sinners: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27. “Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31. Every sinner will keep these appointments. God offers to the believer a way of escape. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ­: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24. “JESUS, WHICH DELIVERED US FROM THE WRATH TO COME.” 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Why not just this moment take God at His Word, be the recipient of His wonderful grace, believe that you are the ungodly sinner for whom Christ died, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour and God for Christ’s sake, will forgive you for all your sins and you will stand in His holy presence as though you had never sinned. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: S. BACK TO JESUS - ON TO PERFECTION ======================================================================== BACK TO JESUS - ON TO PERFECTION Most Christians seem to prefer a Red Lettered New Testament. In the Red Lettered New Testament the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken while He was on earth, are printed in red ink. It is true that Jesus of Nazareth spake as never man spake. John 7:46. “They wondered at the gracious words that pro­ceeded out of His mouth.” But Christians should ever remember that “all Scrip­ture is God-breathed”, from Genesis to Revelation. Some years after Jesus of Nazareth had closed His earthly ministry and gone back to heaven Paul wrote these words, in 2 Corinthians 13:3, - “since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me.” Then concerning the gospel which he preached, Paul said, “for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:12. Again Paul said:­ “AND I THANK CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, WHO HATH ENABLED ME, FOR THAT HE COUNTED ME FAITHFUL, PUTTING ME INTO THE MINISTRY.” 1 Timothy 1:12. Concerning his knowledge of Divine truth Paul said concerning himself: ­“How that he was caught up into para­dise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to ut­ter.” 2 Corinthians 12:4. Note several other statements from the pen of Paul. “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5. “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” 1 Timothy 1:16. “Whereby, when ye read, ye may un­derstand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” Ephesians 3:4. “That I should be the minister to the Gentiles.” Romans 15:16. Note Hebrews 1:1-2 : “God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath ap­pointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds:” Here we learn that from Moses, the human author of Genesis, to Malachi, the human author of the last inspired Book of the Old Testament, God spake in divers manners unto the fathers by the prophets. This covers the thirty-nine Books, from Genesis to Malachi. Then follow Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the inspired writings, in which we find recorded the sayings and doings of the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God. God truly spake in His Son. The Lord Jesus made a wonderful statement to His apostles “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. How­beit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will shew you things to come.” John 16:12-14. So after the death of the Son of God on the cross, God continued to speak in divers manners. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and controlled by the Holy Spirit, they spoke and wrote messages that were God-breathed. Then followed revelations from Christ, in heaven, to the Apostle Paul, and the great unveiling of Christ given to the Apostle John, on the Isle of Patmos. So God did not cease to speak to His people when He ceased to speak in His Son on earth. Christ spoke in and by the Apostle Paul. Christ, on earth, was the Minister to the Jews. Romans 15:8. Later on the same Christ in heaven put Paul in the minis­try to Gentiles. Obedient children of God, who are spiritual and intelligent students of the Scriptures, will obey the command of Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:1. There Paul writes, “follow me as I follow Christ.” They will believe what Paul has written, in Colossians 1:25-26 : “Whereof I am made a minister accord­ing to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil (complete) the Word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from genera­tions, but now is made manifest to His saints.” Believing this statement, they will know that the risen Christ gave to Paul a message, a ministry, and a spiritual program, that, in many respects, super­seded the commands, the commissions, and the doctrines which He, as Jesus of Nazareth, on earth, gave His disciples for their obedience and practice. Note Galatians 5:1 - “Stand fast there­fore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us, free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” It would be impossible for a member of the Body of Christ to obey this com­mand, and at the same time attempt to obey some of the commands which Jesus of Nazareth gave while He was on earth. We see this the very moment we compare Galatians 5:1 with Matthew 23:1-2 : “Then spake Jesus, to the multitude, and to His disciples, Saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.” Now let us note Paul’s instructions, in 2 Timothy 2:2 and in 1 Corinthians 3:10 “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” “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.” In 1 Timothy 1:16 we learned that Paul presented himself as a pattern. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 he said, “follow me as I follow Christ.” Now we read that Paul presents himself as a wise masterbuilder. Paul was a pattern, an example, and a wise masterbuilder. Paul told Timothy to teach others what Paul had taught him. Paul was not only a masterbuilder, but he was a master teacher, because he was the Master’s inspired teacher. Christ spoke in Paul to complete the Word of God. Let us compare several statements which speak of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the “Acts” ministry of the Twelve, with some of the commissions and revelations which He later gave to Paul. “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.” Romans 15:8. “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4. “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. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:5-8. “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. “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.” Acts 3:25. “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.” Acts 5:30-31. “And he said unto them, Ye know 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 shewed me that I should not call any man common or un­clean.” Acts 10:28. “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.” Acts 11:19. Paul was the chosen vessel of Christ, sent to the Gentiles with a new message and ministry. “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13. “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.” “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” 2 Timothy 1:9 and 2 Timothy 1:11. “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” Ephesians 3:1-2. “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.” Ephesians 2:13. “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” Romans 11:11. “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.” Ephesians 3:8. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27. “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same (Joint) Body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Ephesians 3:6. “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preach­ing might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:17. Jesus Christ and His twelve apostles were ministers to the children of Abra­ham, the children of the covenant, and not to the Gentiles. Have you carefully observed the con­trast? Jesus Christ, on earth, was a Minister of the circumcision. Then note Galatians 2:8 : “For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.” The twelve apostles were ministers of the circum­cision and to the circumcision. Note one difference between the ministry of Peter and that of Paul. “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the un­circumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. Jesus of Nazareth, on earth, was Israel’s Messiah and King. During the several years that He was on earth He preached in the land of the Jews. Acts 10:39. He was a Jew. He was under the law. He was a circumcised Minister to circumcised Jews. At the time Jesus of Nazareth was circumcised His mother, according to the law, brought for sacri­fice, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:24. Consider this prayerfully. And then remember, in Luke 22:15, about thirty­-three years later, we learn that one of the last Israelitish ceremonies, observed by Jesus of Nazareth, was “the Passover”. Here are three facts to get fixed in our minds and hearts to help us to go on to perfection, in obedience to Hebrews 6:1, rather than to heed the foolish slogan repeatedly heard in religious circles, “back to Jesus.” Now for the three facts 1 - So far as the written Records are concerned, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the only Gentile man to whom Christ ministered, while He was on earth, was a centurion who loved the Jews and built them a synagogue. Luke 7:1-6. Jesus called the one Gentile woman to whom He ministered, “a dog”. Matthew 15:22-27. 2 - During the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, when He was under the law, a Minister of the circumcision, when He recognized those who sat in Moses’ seat, He did not tell the Jewish priests to discontinue the sacrifice of animals. 3 - Any Gentile who might have been saved while Jesus Christ was on earth, sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, would have become an Old Testament Jew (proselyte), and he would not have been baptized into the Body of Christ by one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13.) BACK TO JESUS Some Christians cry, “back to Jesus”. Others cry, “back to Pentecost.” But they just think they go back. They can­not go back with Jesus in Palestine, un­der the law, to obey the Old Testament ritual, no matter how much they desire. You can neither go back to the earthly ministry of Jesus, nor back to Israel’s Pentecost, without access to Jerusalem and Israel’s temple. THE CHRISTIAN’S POSITION IN CHRIST “WHEREFORE HENCEFORTH KNOW WE NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH; YEA, THOUGH WE HAVE KNOWN CHRIST AFTER THE FLESH, YET NOW HENCE­FORTH KNOW WE HIM NO MORE. THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATURE; OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4. “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 12:4-5. “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:1-2. “And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:10. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. Just think of the ignorance and folly of any member of the Body of Christ who desires to go back under the law, the other side of the sacrifice and resurrec­tion of the Lord Jesus, when He called Gentiles, “dogs”, when he told His dis­ciples, “go not in the way of the Gen­tiles.” Of course man is incurably religious and he can get all mixed up in religion, if he can go back to Jesus. Just think! there are thousands of intellectual re­ligious church leaders, some of whom are saved, who say, “give me the religious program of Jesus in preference to the grace program of Paul.” All of the program of the Lord Jesus, which He intends for members of His Body, can be brought over to fit into “the dispensation of the grace of God”. Every member of the Body of Christ should take an uncompromising stand with Paul. Note what he said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2:21. And surely every sinner should rejoice to hear the wonderful news of Ephesians 2:8-10 and 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. 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.” But you may be sure that “the back to Jesus” preachers and “the back to Pente­cost” preachers will see to it that sin­ners do not hear this “grace” message. If we go back to Pentecost what do we find? We find twelve Jews standing up, the Lord’s preachers to devout Jews from every nation under heaven, giving a mes­sage to all the house of Israel. Acts 2:14 - Acts 2:5 and Acts 2:36. The scene is in the Jews’ city on a Jewish feast-day, and the message is for the children of the covenant. Acts 3:25. The message is, “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.” They were to sell their earthly possessions and bring the money to the twelve Jews. Then Peter preached, “repent, and God will send Jesus Christ back from heaven to take David’s throne and redeem Israel.” Pray tell, what has any of this to do with the “dispensation of the mys­tery” of Ephesians 3:9, or “the Joint­Body” of Ephesians 3:6? Nothing what­ever. For God’s spiritual program for this age of grace, no spiritual and intelli­gent member of the Body of Christ will go back before there was a Body, before God opened the door of faith to the Gen­tiles (Acts 14:27), before Paul said, “lo, we turn to the Gentiles”, before “the dis­pensation of grace” was given to the apostle to the Gentiles. They will not go back the other side of Paul’s conver­sion to say nothing of the other side of Calvary. What Christian, who knows his posi­tion and possessions in the heavenlies, wants to come down out of the heaven­lies, from under the guaranty and bless­ings of grace, to go to Jerusalem under the law, to strive to enter in, or to en­dure unto the end? Should we who have been risen with Christ go back to Matthew 10:5-8? GO ON TO PERFECTION “THEREFORE LEAVING THE PRINCI­PLES OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, LET US GO ON UNTO PERFECTION.” Hebrews 6:1. Note the three verses just preceding­: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by rea­son of use have their senses exercised to dis­cern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14. With these verses let us read Ephesians 4:13-14 - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 - 1 Corinthians 13:11 and 1 Corinthians 13:13. “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: That we henceforth BE NO MORE CHILDREN, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cun­ning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” “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, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” “WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” The Corinthian babes could speak with tongues, in fact those Corin­thian carnal saints exercised all the sign gifts. But they could not receive the “meat”, the profound and blessed “Body” truth of Ephesians and Colossians. Compare the standing and gifts of those sanctified Corinthians with their carnal state or behavior. STANDING AND GIFTS 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 “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 gifts 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.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 “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.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “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? For ye are bought with, a price: there­fore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:2 “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” 1 Corinthians 12:13 “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.” CARNAL STATE 1 Corinthians 3:3 “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” 1 Corinthians 6:7-8 “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Nay, ye do wrong, and de­fraud, and that your brethren.” 1 Corinthians 5:1 “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you.” 1 Corinthians 8:10 “For if any man see thee which past knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s tem­ple.” 1 Corinthians 11:30 “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:12 “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” 1 Corinthians 6:5 “I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?” Here we see that the Corinthians were saints, members of the Body of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, exercising all of the sign-gifts. But we also see what kind of saints they were. They certainly were not in the Body of Christ because of their sinless behavior. They did not have the gifts of the Spirit because they were spiritual. They were carnal and not able to take the “manhood” truth of Ephesians 4:13, the meat of Hebrews 5:12-14. The Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The majority of the saints in the Church of God, at Corinth, could not have understood the profound truths presented in Ephesians. When we go out of Corinthians into Ephesians we say with Paul - “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I under­stood as a child, I thought as a child but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11. When we understand Ephesians 4:13, and live that glorious truth, and labour together with God in that program, we will know what is meant in Hebrews 5:14 and Ephesians 4:14. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” “That we henceforth be no more chil­dren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” Now let us carefully note Ephesians 4:13 - “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.” This is the ultimate of God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. To enter into this wonderful truth is “to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”, (Ephesians 3:18-19). This is indeed to go onto per­fection. Christ spoke in Paul to give His spir­itual program for this present Divine economy which began after Saul became Paul. Let us resolve by the grace of God, and yielding to the Holy Spirit as our infallible Guide and Teacher, that what­ever may be the cost we shall line up with the Lord and work intelligently and diligently in the work He is doing, as set forth in Ephesians 4:12-13. “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.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: S. BEHOLD ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH ======================================================================== BEHOLD ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH “BEHOLD ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH.” 1 Corinthians 10:18. In this same chapter note 1 Corinthians 10:32­ “GIVE NONE OFFENCE, NEITHER TO THE JEWS; NOR TO THE GENTILES, NOR TO THE CHURCH OF GOD.” In the study, appropriation, and appli­cation of the Scriptures, in Paul’s time, the Holy Spirit expected the student to re­cognize the three-fold division of the human race, “the Jews”, “the Gentiles”, and “the Church of God”. Concerning “the Church of God”, in the same Epistle, note the thirteenth verse of the twelfth chapter. “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.” 1 Corinthians 12:13. The Church of God was composed of saved Jews and saved Gentiles. Outside of the Church of God were unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Note in Ephesians 2:12 and Ephesians 2:17 how the unsaved Jews and the unsaved Gentiles were divided: “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.” “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.” Here we learn that the Jews were called “the commonwealth of Israel,” “those who were nigh.” The Gentiles were called “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” “those who were afar off.” In Ephesians 2:11 the Jews were called “the circumcision;” the Gentiles were called “the uncircumcision.” Now carefully note Romans 3:1-2 and Romans 9:4-5. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. “ “WHO ARE ISRAELITES; TO WHOM PERTAINETH THE ADOPTION, AND THE GLORY, AND THE COVENANTS, AND THE GIVING OF THE LAW, AND THE SERVICE OF GOD, AND THE PROMISES; WHOSE ARE THE FATHERS, AND OF WHOM CONCERNING THE FLESH CHRIST CAME, WHO IS OVER ALL, GOD BLESSED FOR EVER. AMEN.” With these statements in Romans, let us read the words of Jesus Christ, in John 4:22 - “We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” One of the first lessons we must learn, if we would be intelligent, spiritual stu­dents of the Bible, is the place of Israel in the Scriptures, and in God’s purposes and programs. Holy men were borne along by the Holy Spirit to give us the Holy Scriptures. 2 Peter 1:19-20. “All Scripture is God-breathed.” 2 Timothy 3:16. The Holy Spirit used Moses, an Israe­lite, to write the first five Books of the Bible. The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus used John, an Israelite, to write the last Book of the Bible. John too wrote five Books. The Lord Jesus Christ is called “The Lion of the tribe of Judah,” “the Root of David.” Revelation 5:5. He took His place as Jesus of Nazareth, under the law, as a worshipping Jew. John 4:22. Galatians 4:4. He was saluted as “the King of Israel.” John 1:49. Above His cross these words were writ­ten, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.” John 19:19. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, note Peter’s message to the Jews - “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” “To be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel.” Paul called himself a Jew. Acts 21:39. Paul called Peter, “a Jew.” Galatians 2:14. Paul called himself, “an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin.” Romans 11:1. Php 3:5. Paul was a Jew by re­ligion. Galatians 1:14. Jesus of Nazareth came from Judah. He was a Jew in the double meaning of the word, “a Judahite,” and a Jew in His religion. Generally when the word “Jew” is found in the Scriptures it refers to the Israelites religiously. In that sense, de­scendants of all the twelve sons of Jacob were Jews. ISRAEL - JEWS It is interesting to note the first oc­currences of the word “Israel” in the Bible, and the first occurrences of the word “Jew” in the Bible. “And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” “Therefore the chil­dren of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.” Genesis 32:28 and Genesis 32:32. “Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.” Esther 2:5. “At that time Rezin king of Syria recov­ered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.” 2 Kings 16:6. The word “Israel” is found more than 1400 times in the Bible before the word “Jew” is first used. The word “Israel” is found about 2600 times in the Bible. It is interesting to note that the word “Christian” is not found once in the Gospel of John which Christians love so much. But in that Book, “Jews” is found 70 times. In the Book of Acts “Jew” is found 79 times. Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel” about 1740 B.C. This was about 2260 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden, about 610 years after Noah left the ark, about 250 years before Moses was on the mountain receiving the Old Testament. THE BIRTH OF THE NATION We quote Exodus 1:5-6 - “And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that genera­tion. “ Let us get clearly fixed in our minds and hearts that there were no Jews or Israelites on this earth until after Jacob’s sons were born. In other words, there were no Jews or Israelites on this earth during the first 2200 years of human history. Jacob was Isaac’s son. Isaac was Abra­ham’s son. Abram was Terah’s son. Terah was not an Israelite. He was not a Jew. He was a descendant of Shem and Eber; but he was an idolater. Note Shem was born before the flood and lived 600 years on the earth. Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 11:10-11. He lived through several generations and was a contem­porary of Abraham, although Abraham was Shem’s great-great-great-great-great­-great grandson. Genesis 11:10-31. Eber lived on this earth 464 years. Genesis 11:17. Abram was called by God and declared righteous in uncircumcision. Romans 4:8-13 - Genesis 12:1-3. Abram was circumcised and named “Abraham” 24 years after he was called to leave his father and follow God. Genesis 12:4 and Genesis 17:1. Abram was circumcised at the time his name was changed to Abraham. Genesis 17:24. Abraham was declared righteous in un­circumcision 430 years before God entered into the Old Covenant with the children of Abraham, the nation Israel. Exodus 20:1-26 and Galatians 3:16-19. The Old Covenant was added. Galatians 3:19. It was added 2500 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden, about 857 years after Noah left the Ark, about 430 years after Abram left his father’s home. Jehovah and the children of Israel en­tered into that mutual contract at Sinai some years after the last one of Jacob’s (Israel’s) twelve sons had died. NO ISRAEL - NO OLD COVENANT As there was no Israel until after Jacob’s sons were born, there was no Old Covenant until Moses was on Mount Sinai, about 1495 B.C. Therefore there is not one line concerning the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:7-13) in the Book of Genesis. One of the first blunders gener­ally made in the study of the Bible is calling Genesis, “the Old Testament Scriptures”, and Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Levi, Joseph, and their brethren Old Testament characters. Let us get fixed in our minds when Israel entered God’s program, and then when the Old Testament entered that pro­gram. When the Old Testament entered at Sinai it was not “old”; it was de­cidedly “new”. It became “old” by Christ’s death on the cross. II Corin­thians 3:12-16 - Hebrews 8:13. When the law was added at Sinai, note what was added with it. Religion, “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10. This is religion. It became the religion of all of the twelve tribes of Israel. And all Israelites were called “Jews,” and their religion was called “Judaism.” GENTILES GIVEN UP ISRAEL TAKEN UP In Romans 1:1-32 we are told how and why God gave up the Gentiles. In Romans 11:1-36 we are told how and why God gave up Israel. In Acts 13:1-52 and Romans 11:1-36 we are told when and why God took up the Gentiles when He gave up Israel. Then in Romans 11:1-36, and in other Scriptures, we are told that God is going to again give up the Gentiles and take up the Jews. Note Romans 1:24 - “God gave them up”. Romans 1:26 and Romans 1:28 - ”God gave them up.” What became of the children of Adam and of Noah? Read what hap­pened before the flood. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. “And every living substance was de­stroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” Genesis 7:23. Then later on note Genesis 11:9 - “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Note that God cut off the children of Adam and began a new movement in Abram, the Hebrew. Genesis 14:13. Note what became of the Gentiles - “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.” Ephesians 4:18. Alienated from the life of God. A Gentile could become a Jew under the economy of law. Note Esther 8:17 - “And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s command­ment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.” Here we learn that alienated Gentiles could become “Jews”, that is, they could accept the benefits of the Lord’s coven­ants with Israel, and become proselytes. One of the important covenants Stephen mentioned, in Acts 7:8. “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patri­archs.” Compare this with Genesis 17:14 - ”And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circum­cised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.” Note why the Christian Jews con­demned Peter for preaching to Cornelius, the Gentile. “Thou wentest in to men un­circumcised, and didst eat with them.” Acts 11:3. The circumcised Gentiles who accepted Israel’s God-given covenants and religious programs were called “proselytes.” Acts 2:10. So we may be sure that any Gentile who may have been saved while Jesus of Nazareth was here on earth, be­came a Jew by religion, a proselyte, and not a member of the Body of Christ saved by grace without religion. In studying the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us keep in mind:­ “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.” Romans 15:8. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4. “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. “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24. “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:9-10. A GENTILE WHO LOVED THE JEWS “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 he hath built us a synagogue.” Luke 7:1-5. This is all very clear concerning the scope of the Lord’s ministry on earth, to Israel after the flesh. The only Gentile man to whom He ministered, according to the Records, loved Israel and built them a synagogue. He also ministered to a Gentile woman. Matthew 15:21-27. Christ was ministering to all who were protected and preserved by the covenant of circumcision. But later on something happened. Note Paul’s words: - “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncir­cumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. “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. “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magni­fy mine office.” “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 11:13 and Romans 11:15. “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.” Ephesians 3:8. Yes something happened. “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.” Acts 13:46. “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” Romans 11:11. “For as ye in times past have not be­lieved God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” Romans 11:30. Therefore, the message of Romans 10:12 - Ephesians 2:17. “FOR THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BE­TWEEN THE JEW AND THE GREEK; FOR THE SAME LORD OVER ALL IS RICH UNTO ALL THAT CALL UPON HIM.” “AND CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHICH WERE AFAR OFF, AND TO THEM THAT WERE NIGH.” When the Gentiles were cast away justification by faith was preached to Abram, and the children of Israel were established in God’s program for the hu­man race. When Israel was cast away justification by faith was preached to Gentiles, and then the reign of grace, without Israel’s law or religion, was ushered in. Israel will have a glorious future. ISRAEL’S FUTURE “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.” Jeremiah 31:35-36. “For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” Hebrews 8:8. “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.” Hebrews 8:11. “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, un­til the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 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.” Romans 11:25-26. And the Gentiles have a Divine warn­ing. “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” Romans 11:21. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: S. BELOVED FOR THE FATHER’S SAKE ======================================================================== BELOVED FOR THE FATHER’S SAKE Note this statement in Romans 11:28 : “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes” Then note what follows: “ 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!” As we develop the truth concerning “the salvation of Gentiles”, because of Israel’s unbelief, and the coming salvation of Israel “for the fathers’ sake,” we too shall cry out: “ 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!” First let us see God’s description of the unsaved Gentiles at the time the risen Christ sent Paul to them. “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. “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.” Ephesians 4:17-18. “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.” “And even as they did not like to re­tain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” Romans 1:21 and Romans 1:28. What hope could there be for such people? They were “by nature the chil­dren of wrath:” Ephesians 2:3. They were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, in the world having no hope. Ephesians 2:12. In Romans 10:19 they were called “a foolish nation;” “no people.” Christ on earth said to a Gentile, “it is not meet to give the children’s bread to dogs.” Matthew 15:25-27. Think of them; “no people;” “dogs.” Now let us see what God did to Israel because Israel would not receive Paul’s message to them. “(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.” “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.” Romans 11:8 and Romans 11:10. Now some interesting facts: Way back, about 1900 BC, when the Gentiles were blinded and God gave them up, He called a man by the name of Abram, to leave his country, family and home. Genesis 12:1-5. Note God’s Word: “I will make of thee a great nation.” Abram’s wife was Sarah. Note Hebrews 11:11-12. “Through faith also Sarah herself re­ceived strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Who had promised. 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 sea shore innumerable.” The child of Abraham and Sarah was Isaac. From this promised son came Jacob and the nation Israel. Now note God’s declaration concerning Israel:” “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” “For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: For I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:1 and Isaiah 43:3-7. “Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:37. “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for MINE HOLY NAME’S SAKE, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.” “Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” Ezekiel 36:22 and Ezekiel 36:32. Israel is going to be preserved for God’s holy name’s sake. They are beloved for the fathers’ sake. The fathers were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Note in Ezekiel 36:22-32 what God is going to do for and with Israel for His own holy name’s sake “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all coun­tries, and will bring you into your own land. 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. 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.” Ezekiel 36:24-26. We might read more than 500 verses from the pens of Israel’s prophets as to Israel’s glorious future. THE FATHER’S SAKE AND THE FATHERS’ SAKE God made a covenant with Abraham concerning Israel and Canaan. Genesis 17:8. God confirmed that covenant with His oath when Abraham had placed Isaac on the altar. Genesis 22:16-19. The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. Romans 11:29, Therefore for the fathers’ sake Israel shall be saved after God’s present reign of grace for Gentiles. And they are going to be saved for the Father’s sake. Ezekiel 36:22. In this connection note Romans 11:11, Romans 11:15, and Romans 11:30 : “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” “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?” “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” Romans 11:11, Romans 11:15 and Romans 11:30. So once again, “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. Let us go back to the statement con­cerning Israel in John 12:37-41 : “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: That the saying of Esaias 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 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.” John 12:37-41. “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!” When the Gentiles were blinded and in universal idolatry and adultery, alienated from the life of God, the Lord chose Abraham and created Israel for His own glory. God began a new movement on the earth with the nation Israel. By the covenant of circumcision God cut off the rest of the human race. Genesis 17:12-16. Acts 7:6-12. Israel was selected to reveal God to the heathen. They miserably failed. God finally set Israel aside. But they will be saved. “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.” Ezekiel 37:21-22. In Ezekiel 36:1-38, God tells how Israel pro­faned His name among the heathen. In other Scriptures He tells how Israel re­jected and killed God’s prophets. “But last of all He sent unto them His Son, saying, They will reverence My Son.” “And they caught Him and cast Him out of the vineyard, and slew Him.” Matthew 21:37 and Matthew 21:39. That Son was their Messiah and King. What did that Son say to them? “Ye fools and blind.” “Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” “Be­hold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:17, Matthew 23:24, Matthew 23:33, Matthew 23:38-39. They were truly blind. They rejected their Messiah. He was delivered accord­ing to the determinate counsel and fore­knowledge of God “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 2:22-23. “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Acts 3:17. Then note Acts 3:25-26 : “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.” Acts 3:25-26. The rest of the story is told in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 and 1 Thessalonians 2:16 : “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.” “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” God again sent blindness upon Israel. Romans 11:8. They have been spiritual­ly blind since then, scattered all over the earth. Then note God’s revealed secret “For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the ful­ness of the Gentiles be come in. 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.” Romans 11:25-26. Israel’s blindness and unbelief meant reconciliation, salvation, grace and mercy for Gentiles. Romans 11:15, Romans 11:17 and Romans 11:30. We have learned that when the Gentiles were blinded and God gave them up, Israel was given the place of honor and privilege. And then when Israel was blinded and set aside (temporarily) God’s reign of grace for Gentiles was inaugu­rated. For about 1900 years we have been receiving Divine mercy. In the first chap­ter of Romans we learn of the rejection of the Gentiles. In the eleventh chapter we learn of the rejection of Israel. FOR OUR SAKES AND FOR CHRIST’S SAKE Note Ephesians 4:32 : “And be ye kind one to another, ten­derhearted, forgiving one another, even as God FOR CHRIST’S SAKE hath for­given you.” Why are Gentiles forgiven all their sins? FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. Why will Israel yet be forgiven, saved and blessed? For Jehovah’s sake. Ezekiel 36:22 and Ezekiel 36:32. And also for the fathers’ sake. Romans 11:28. Why were the rulers of Israel enemies of the gospel when Paul preached to them? For the Gentiles’ sake. Romans 11:28. The disobedience, unbelief, and blind­ness of Israel is told in the story of Bar­jesus, Paulus, and Barnabas in Acts 13:6-12 : Let us read this interesting story “And when they had gone through the isle into 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 Ghost, 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.” Acts 13:6-12. Barjesus means “the child of Jehovah the Saviour.” Israel was God’s “Bar­jesus.” Barjesus sought to turn the Gen­tile away from faith in Israel’s Messiah. Israel was chosen to turn Gentiles to Is­rael’s Messiah. For Barjesus’ disobedience God’s judgment fell upon him, “blindness for a season.” This Divine judgment caused Paulus to believe and be saved. “Saul” became .”Paul” to declare the truth of Romans 11:25-26. A blind­ness in part to Israel until God ends His dealings with the Gentiles. The Jews are scattered among all the nations of the earth in spiritual blindness “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trod­den down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:24. The times of the Gentiles will be ful­filled. The fulness of the Gentiles will come in. And let all Gentiles remember Romans 11:21. Many, many so-called Christian preach­ers today are as blind as Israel. Even the great majority of the saved ones are not only ignorant of Romans 11:25-26 but wholly ignorant of God’s eternal purpose, under the dispensation of grace, during this parenthetical period while the Messianic kingdom is in abeyance. Ephesians 3:1-11. Then think of the modernists in evan­gelical denominations who are given the right hand of fellowship by modernist rabbis who say; “now that you believe that Jesus was only a good man and a re­ligious reformer, but not conceived by the Holy Spirit, we can enjoy fellowship with you. “ As Barjesus sought to turn the Gen­tiles away from the faith so many of the leaders in the so-called Christian churches are turning Jewish leaders away from the faith and all of them together are headed for the same ditch “Let them alone: they be blind lead­ers of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: S. BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRITBLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO COMMITTED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? Many sermons have been preached on “the unpardonable sin,” using as the text Matthew 12:31-32. Before quoting these verses, let us note three other messages to Jews or Hebrews 1:1-14. 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 Acts 7:57. 2. Note Paul’s words to the Jews, in Acts 18:5-6 : “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, Hebrews 10:29, Hebrews 10:31 : “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 unrigliteous­ness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10. “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.” 1 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 7:46-56, and Paul’s message to the Jews, in Acts 18:5-6, we see that the Jews were very definitely committing the unpardonable sin men­tioned in Matthew 12:31-32. 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 2:6-10. 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.” 1 Corinthians 11:29-32. “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 1 Corinthians 6:6-8 : “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?” 1 Corinthians 6:19. But how about Hebrews 6:4-6? - “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 6:17-18. God cannot lie. He promised us eternal life before the world began. Titus 1:2. And note 2 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.” 1 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 17:3-4 and 1 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 6:4-6 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 6:1-6 does not refer to such an one. Now read again Matthew 12:31-32. And read with these verses Luke 23:34 - Acts 3:15-15 and Acts 3:25-26. 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 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 - “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 23:31-33. “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 2:22-23. “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 4:26-28. 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 5:29-32. “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 Matthew 23:38, with Acts 3:25-26. “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 12:37-40 with Acts 28:25-28. “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 2:1-47. But since the judgment of Romans 11:6-11 and Acts 28:25-28, Israel has been an outcast nation. But some day there will be the fulfillment of Hebrews 8:10-12­ “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. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: S. BULLINGERISM OR ULTRADISPENSATIONALISM ======================================================================== BULLINGERISM OR ULTRADISPENSATIONALISM By Pastor John C. O’Hair Chicago, April 1, 1936. Dear Christian Friend: In answer to your inquiry as to just how far I agree with the teachings of Dr. E. W. Bullinger, first of all let me say that whether or not all that I teach is sound doctrine, according to the Word of God, rightly divided, I believed and taught what I now believe and teach some years before I ever heard of Dr. Bullinger or read any of his written messages. It has been since I have been charged with being a “Bullingerite” that I have carefully read the writings of Dr. Bullinger. Perhaps you known that he was identified with the Church of England, and lived until the year 1913. He was a profound student of all the Scriptures, and perhaps analyzed every word in them. He was an un­usual master of the original languages. No man of God ever stood more faithfully for the verbal inspiration, the integrity and authority of the Bible. No man was ever a greater defender of the eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ than was Dr. Bullinger. Few men have ever presented as clearly as did Dr. Bullinger the message of the pure, un­mixed grace of God. He stood without fear, favor, or compromise, for his convictions. Like every other able spiritual expositor of God’s Word, he taught that there is only one true Bible Church in this dispensation of grace, and that that Church is definitely desig­nated “the Body of Christ”. He believed with all his heart that that Body of Christ is an undenominational Church, and that sectarianism is the greatest hindrance to the clear understanding and proclamation of God’s message of unmixed grace and His truth concerning the One Body. Dr. Bullinger received most of his bitter opposition and ungracious persecution from the hands of God’s people, known as the Plymouth Brethren. This was chiefly because, in his exegesis of the sevenfold unity of Ephesians 4:3-7, he taught that the ONE BAPTISM is a Divine baptism and not a religious ceremony, water baptism. He taught that water baptism, being a work of man, is incompatible with the message of pure grace contained in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Dr. Bullinger believed that water baptism had an important place in the Four Gospels, and during the “Book of Acts” period; but that it ceased to have any place in the spiritual program of the Lord when He presented, by the pen of Paul, the clear revelation of the Body of Christ, “the dispensation of the grace of God” and “the dispensation of the mystery”, set forth in Paul’s prison epistles. Ephesians 3:1-3, Ephesians 3:9. He believed that the miraculous signs, the sign-gifts, and supernatural visitations, were inseparably connected with water baptism; and that all were done away, when the climax was reached, in the Divine judgment of God, pronounced upon Israel in Acts 28:25-28. Some years before I ever heard of Dr. E. W. Bullinger or his teachings I was taught by the Holy Spirit, through diligently searching the Word of God for an answer to Pentecostalism and the fanatical healing doctrines which have been carrying many of God’s people into utter confusion and delusions for some years, these same blessed truths which Dr. Bullinger had learned from God’s Book. Hundreds of other students of the Word of God have learned from the Bible these same Divine facts. I quote here from the Moody Monthly an editorial from the pen of a man of God, who for years has been held in high esteem by many of God’s servants, Dr. James M. Gray, who has departed to be with the Lord and to await his rich reward when we shall all stand together before our Saviour. “Bullinger would be called a fundamentalist were he now on earth, for he was an able defender of the inspiration of the Bible, the deity and virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, the premillennial coming, and all that. But he was an extremist, some would call him a faddist, on dispensational truth, and he was unscriptural, as we believe, on future retribution. Because of these last named errors, the Monthly has not felt free to advertise Bullinger’s books, certainly not all of them, and yet the writer of these lines owes one of his rich­est spiritual blessings to that great teacher; for a truly great teacher he was. No one ever set before us from the Word of God as clearly as did Bullinger, the profound mystery of the Body of Christ, and we always shall be indebted, to him.” Now, my beloved brother, because of my belief and teaching concerning water bap­tism, which I have held for more than fifteen years, a number of Christian brethren who have been both unwilling and unable to take the Word of God and prove that my teaching is fallacy or unscriptural, have resorted to very ungracious, unjust and unspiritual tactics, by accusing me of teaching many things that I have never taught and have never believed. Most of these brethren have never read a line from the pen of Dr. Bullinger, but in a parrot-like, sheep-like fashion, they have joined with others to malign Dr. Bullinger, and to malign me and grossly misrepresent my teaching. I am willing to be called an “ultradispensationalist”, if brethren will not deliberately misrepresent. How­ever, in my own mind I feel that I have always been ultra-conservative in any Bible doctrine that I have taught. Every student of the Word of God is a “dispensational­ist”, and if he is to intelligently apply the dispensational truth for the understanding of the Bible, he must carry the dispensational teaching as far as the Holy Spirit has carried it in the Bible. DISPENSATIONALISTS AND ULTRADISPENSATIONALISTS The unanimous verdict of all my critics who are considered premillenarians and “dispensationalists” has been, that the Lord Jesus, while on earth, was offering Himself to Israel as a King; that He was then presenting to them the kingdom of heaven promised to Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures. They teach definitely that the Body of Christ did not have its historical beginning until after the rejection of the King, after His death and resurrection. Therefore, they teach dogmatically, that beginning with the death of Christ, there was the interruption or, suspension of the promises and guar­antees of God contained in the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant. They teach definitely what is known as “the postponement of the kingdom”. Therefore, they declare we are living in a “parenthesis”. This parenthesis, they affirm, is “the dispen­sation of grace” also called by Paul, in Ephesians 3:9, “the dispensation of the mystery”. According to their program, the Body of Christ had its historical beginning on the day of Pentecost. At that time the New Covenant dispensation was inaugurated by the ad­vent of the Holy Spirit. They claim that the dispensation of the New Covenant has continued down to the present time, without interruption; and that it will continue un­til God shall close this parenthetical period with the rapture of the Church, in Accord­ance with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Therefore, God’s one purpose during this age, which began on the day of Pentecost and will close with the rapture of Thessalonians, is the making of one New Man, the Church which is the Body of Christ. They are agreed, in the light of Colossians 1:24-28 and Ephesians 3:8-9, that the Body of Christ was not the subject of prophecy; that it was not revealed to Israel’s prophets or by them, and therefore, it is rightfully called “the mystery”. According to their teaching the principal fact of the mystery was the fact that the Gentiles were raised to the same spiritual level with Israel and given the same spiritual blessings in the same Body of Christ. Their further teaching concerning the New Covenant is, that after God has accom­plished His purpose in this parenthetical dispensation, the calling-out of a people for His Name, the Lord will return, as Israel’s Deliverer, Saviour, Messiah and King, and fulfill for that Nation the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-35, Hebrews 8:7-11 : then “all Israel shall be saved”. Romans 11:25-30. The coming of the King will usher in the millennium; and then “the kingdom of heaven”, which Christ proclaimed when on earth, which is now in abeyance, will be at hand. Then there will be the fulfillment, for Israel, of the Abrahamic Covenant guaranteeing the occupation of all of the land of Canaan, kingdom reign of the Prince of Peace in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, and the spiritual ­transformation of the children of Israel, in fulfillment of the New Covenant. All of these guarantees are included in the Prophecies of Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-28, Ezekiel 38:1-23, Ezekiel 39:1-29, and in Isaiah 2:1-22, Isaiah 9:1-21, Isaiah 11:1-16, Isaiah 35:1-10, Isaiah 62:1-12 and Isaiah 66:1-24. WHEN WAS ISRAEL SET ASIDE? Now in this teaching it must be proved that Israel was set aside, as a Nation, at the cross of Calvary. Any faithful careful student of the Word of God must say that this is contrary to the fact, because the judgment, pronounced by Christ in Luke 21:20-24 and Matthew 22:7-9, did not take place before Pentecost, or immediately thereafter. The Nation Israel was given more than thirty years of grace. They re­jected Jehovah in the Old Testament. They rejected the Son of man in the Four Gospels. ­They killed the Heir according to Matthew 21:36-43. But that Heir said in Matthew 12:31-32, “Sin against the Son of man, and it shall be forgiven you; but sin against the Holy Spirit and it shall not be forgiven.” The armies which were to surround Jerusalem, according to Luke 21:20, which were to kill the murderers of Christ, according to Matthew 22:7, were not sent by God until after the close of the Book of Acts; and even then, the judgment was delayed until Paul had penned his last message in II Timothy, and said. “the time of my departure is at hand.” Christ on the cross interceded for Israel; praying “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. The Father very graciously withheld for some years His Divine wrath. According to Acts 5:30-32, the Holy Spirit was sent to witness to Israel concerning the resurrected Christ. They resisted the Holy Spirit, blaspheming against Him. Thereby they committed the unpardonable sin until the children were cast into outer dark­ness, in accordance with Christ’s prediction in Matthew 8:7-12. Read Acts 7:51, Acts 13:45-46, Acts 18:5-6, Acts 28:25-28. There is a very radical change marked in the Bible by the quotation, in Acts 28:25-28, of the Divine judgment of God mentioned in Isaiah 6:6-9, “blindness upon Israel”. He who teaches that Israel was set aside at the time Christ uttered the words of Matthew 23:31-39 doth greatly err, not know­ing the Scriptures. All of this cry about “Bullingerism” and “ultradispensationalism” is simply a trick to prejudice God’s people and to keep them from studying the difference between “faulty dispensationalism” and so-called “ultradispensationalism”. It is the old trick of Rome to keep people ignorant of the Bible. After all, the difference is this: the “dispensationalists” teach that Israel was set aside by God before Pentecost. The “ultradispensationalists”, so-called teach that Israel was set aside after Acts 28:28. We urge not to be intimidated by any group of Christians, but carefully and prayerfully decide ­by an earnest investigation of the Scriptures just who is right. To set aside Israel before Pentecost is to leave the Bible with many contradictions as to the Church. Compare Acts 5:29-32 with Ephesians 1:19-22. Dr. Bullinger taught that the Church, as the Body of Christ, is never mentioned in feminine gender in the Bible and that Israel is. He was unable to see how the of this dispensation could be both the Body and Bride of Christ. Therefore, he believed that a special remnant of Israel will be the Bride. Is this teaching a spiritual crime? He taught that the hope of the Church, during the “Acts” period, was a different hope from the blessed hope of the Body of Christ, expressed in Titus 2:13. On ac­count of this difference he believed that “till He come”, in connection with the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:26) referred to the “Acts” hope; and not to the blessed hope. And therefore, he taught that the Lord’s Supper ceased with the close of Acts. With this teaching I most heartily disagree. Dr. Bullinger taught that, Christ’s soul and spirit separated at death; and that the same is the experience, of every believer at death. His teaching was that, the soul is not conscious in the intermediate state. But Dr. Bullinger most vehemently denied that he believed in annihilation for the unsaved. He positively denied the “theory” of future retribution which his critics claimed that he taught. I quote these words from Dr. Bullinger’s Magazine: “The term annihilation is non-scriptural and the statement that the doctrine is held by the writer is both false and malicious.” Dr. Bullinger taught that the Gospel of Matthew is Israelitish, and in the other three Gospels Christ was speaking to His own Nation Israel, concerning their promised kingdom; and not to Gentiles concerning the Gospel of Grace. Therefore, it was his firm expressed conviction that Christ was not dealing with the Body of Christ, while He was on earth, and that He was not then instructing members of that Body concern­ing the hope and calling preached, to them by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, some years later. In his later writings Dr. Bullinger differentiated between, the hope and calling of members of the Church of God of the “Acts” period, set forth in Galatians, Corinthians, Thessalonians and Romans, and the hope and calling of the Body of Christ described in Ephesians, Colossians and Titus. According to his teaching, concerning this difference, members of the Body of Christ since the close of the “Acts” period, since the setting aside of Israel, have not been the seed and children of Abraham. The New Jerusalem let down from heaven is to be the dwelling-place of the Church of the “Acts” period; but the Body of Christ which is to appear with Christ in glory has more than that heavenly or celestial hope. The Body of Christ has a “super-heavenly” or “super-celestial” hope. Of course, this means that the Body of 1 Corinthians 12:13 and the Body of Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 4:3-7 are different Bodies; and that the Seven churches of Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22 do not speak of the Body of Christ of Ephesians. The rapture of the “Acts” Church, mentioned it 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, and 1 John 3:1-6, will take place at the last trump of Revelation and will, therefore, be a “tribulation” rapture. But the hope of the Body of Christ, expressed in Php 3:20-21, Titus 2:13 and Colossians 3:3-4, will be a different rapture. To some men of God some of these teachings seem rather fanciful, more like fantastic speculations than sound exegesis of the Word of God. I have been much troubled with the Olive tree of Romans 11:1-36, but have never taught these doctrines just mentioned. As for my “Bullingerism”, I most heartily disagree with Dr. Bullinger’s teaching concerning the unconscious intermediate state of either believer or unbeliever, between death and resurrection. I have been much perplexed, and am somewhat uncertain as to “the Wife of Jehovah” and “the Bride of Christ”. I have not found as much difficulty as some men of God have found in making the Church both the Body and the Bride. I have looked, however, to see where “the Body” is called “the Bride” in the Scriptures. In the light of 2 Corinthians 11:2 and Ephesians 5:31-32, it appear that the Body is the wife. The question is often asked, “how can an adulterous divorced wife (Israel) be a Bride? In the first place, that wife is to be forgiven and cleansed, Jeremiah 3:1-25. In the second place, it is a special Israelitish remnant that is to be the Bride, according to what is called “Bullingerism”. Dr. Bullinger sought to confirm his teaching by the language of Revelation 19:7-8 and by the Israelitish description of the City of Revelation 21:12. Because this City was Abraham’s hope (Hebrews 11:10) and because of the truth of Romans 4:16, Galatians 4:26, and Hebrews 12:22, the Church of the “Acts” period was considered by Dr. Bullinger “Israelitish” as to its hope and calling. But we say that Abram was not an Israelite and that some very definite promises were made to him as Abram for Gentiles. By Galatians 3:8 we learn that the Gospel was preached to Abram in uncircumcision. According to prophecy the Gospel was to go the Gentiles after the kingdom had been restored to Israel and that nation was occupying the land promised them. But Christ revealed to Paul the Gospel of the uncircumcision by which believing Gentiles could become members of the Church before Israel would enjoy the blessings of their national redemption and kingdom. Galatians 1:11 and Galatians 1:17, Galatians 2:7 and Galatians 3:8. I have always taught that the Body of Christ is also the Bride, but I confess I cannot be dogmatic. In spite of such Scriptures as Mark 2:19 and Matthew 25:1, which do not refer to the Body, there are just as many Scriptures to prove that the Body is the Bride. Up to the present moment I have accepted none of the extreme teaching of Dr. Bullinger. Neither do I claim that I have answered all of his doctrines with which I disagree. I earnestly and honestly tested the Scriptures in the matter of the Body of Christ beginning after the close of Acts. In my humble judgment, it is a more difficult task to prove that the Body of Christ began with the close of Acts than on the day of Pentecost. It is difficult, even impossible, for me to see either at the present time. Very much depends upon whether or not the prophets foretold the Body of Christ. If they did not, then Acts 15:14-18 does not refer to that Body. Ephesians 3:8-9, Colossians 1:24-27 seem to prove the prophets were ignorant of the Body of Christ. But to teach that any part of the mystery was not revealed to Paul and by Paul, in Corinthians, Galatians and Romans, written during the “Acts” period, in my judgment, is not sound exegesis. On the other hand, any endeavor to prove that many phases of the mystery, including “the dispensation of the mystery”, were not, for some Divine reason, withheld for Paul’s prison Epistles, after the “Acts” period, will prove futile. With the close of the Book of Acts a most radical change took place in the spiritual program of the Body of Christ and this climax divided Paul’s pre-prison and prison Epistles. Why did Acts close before Paul’s acts closed? There are three baptisms in the “Book of Acts” period and only one in the “Body”, according to Ephesians. The program concerning signs and sign gifts changed after the close of Acts. After Israel was set aside there was a new administration; but the same Body, the same grace gospel but a changed program. I do not hold or teach what is termed “ultradispensationalism” or the extreme views of Dr. E. W. Bullinger and others. I accept for the Body of Christ any teaching found in the synoptic Gospels that is compatible with the dispensation of the Grace of God committed to Paul for the Gentiles. Ephesians 3:1-2. I do not at all agree with the “ultradispensationalists” as to the place of John’s Gospel and his Epistles, I believe that the truth in John’s Record, which differs so radically from the synoptic Records, is the message of grace based upon the rejected, crucified and resurrected Christ. I believe that John’s grace message fits into Paul’s grace message. I heartily believe in the doc­trine of Paul’s pre-prison Epistles for Gentile believers but not in the practice as to signs, judgments and ceremonies. I cannot eliminate the Lord’s Supper from this dispensation of grace, because of the words “the blood of the new covenant”, as some brethren do; for the simple reason that I would have to eliminate, by the same exegesis, all the spiritual benefits mentioned in the Book of Hebrews, which is based upon the value of the blood of the new covenant. This includes the believer’s uttermost salvation through the work of Christ as intercessor, priest and advocate. To my mind, there is no place to stop, if we begin to take away from members of the Body of Christ everything that pertains to God’s covenants, es­pecially, the covenant that He made with Abram as an uncircumcised Gentile. I have been falsely accused of this teaching, to which I am unalterably opposed. I believe that the “Body” of Romans is the “Body” of Ephesians and Colossians. I believe that the Gospel of the Grace of God, in Romans, is the Gospel of the Grace of God in Ephesians and Colossians. But I do not believe that God’s order continued to be “to the Jew first” after the close of the Book of Acts. I believe that Israel was set aside as a nation, after Acts 28:1-31, and that they ceased then to have priority rights. As the Jews required a sign, signs ceased at the close of Acts. And as water baptism that Christ might be made manifest to Israel, I believe that water baptism ceased the close of Acts with the sign gifts. I believe that Acts 19:1-5 is the last recorded case of water baptism and in that chapter signs and water are inseparably connected; the water having been required for Holy Spirit baptism. Dr. C. I. Scofield, author of the Reference Bible bearing his name, held this same view concerning the miracles and signs, and Israel’s place of privilege and priority until the close of Acts. Send to the Moody Colportage Association for A. E. Bishop’s book on Signs in Acts. Unless I am to be considered an extremist, because of my views concerning water baptism, I am not an extremist. I am not an “ultradispensationalist”. I am not a Bullin­gerite. I am taking a definite stand against what I consider to be extreme views. By studying together Colossians 2:11-12, I must believe that if Colossians 2:11 refers to spir­itual circumcision, not made with hands, that Colossians 2:12 refers to spiritual baptism, not made with hands. Therefore, I believe that the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5 is the Divine baptism which places a redeemed sinner in Christ, into the death of Christ, and in possession of all the riches of Christ. I believe by this same operation of faith the believer is buried with Christ, raised with Christ; and seated in the heavenlies with Christ. It is the unanimous verdict of all “dispensationalists”, who preach a grace gospel, that water baptism has neither merit nor efficacy in aiding in any way to put a believing sin­ner in the true Bible Church, or to keep him in. Therefore, it is my firm conviction that no servant of the Lord has the right to demand for membership in his assembly, if he calls that assembly the Bible Church, a religious ceremony not required by the Lord for membership in the Lord’s Body. I hope I have made myself sufficiently clear in this letter to answer the questions which have been put to me. I close by saying that I am positive that more than ninety-seven per cent of the min­isters today are utterly failing to obey Ephesians 3:9, which I quote: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” And I also affirm that no man who is clinging to water bap­tism is making any effort to obey these instructions.Neither can he hold on to water baptism and please God in his presentation of this “mystery” truth. With sincere good wishes, I remain Very cordially yours, J. C. O’HAIR. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: S. BY ADAM - BY MOSES - BY CHRIST ======================================================================== BY ADAM - BY MOSES - BY CHRIST THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH By Adam “WHEREFORE, AS BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, AND DEATH BY SIN; AND SO DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED.” Romans 5:12. “FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, EVEN SO IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE.” “THEY THAT ARE CHRIST’S AT HIS COMING.” 1 Corinthians 15:22-24. “FOR IF BY ONE MAN’S OFFENCE DEATH REIGNED BY ONE; MUCH MORE THEY WHICH RECEIVE ABUND­ANCE OF GRACE AND OF THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL REIGN IN LIFE BY ONE, JESUS CHRIST. THERE­FORE AS BY THE OFFENCE OF ONE JUDGMENT CAME UPON ALL MEN TO CONDEMNATION; EVEN SO BY THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ONE THE FREE GIFT CAME UPON ALL MEN UNTO JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE.” Romans 5:17-18. THE LAW OF TEN COMMANDMENTS By Moses “FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.” John 1:17. “THEREFORE BY THE DEEDS OF THE LAW THERE SHALL NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS SIGHT; FOR BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.” Romans 3:20. “FOR IF THE MINISTRATION OF CONDEMNATION BE GLORY, MUCH MORE DOTH THE MINISTRATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEED IN GLORY.” 2 Corinthians 3:9. “BECAUSE THE LAW WORKETH WRATH; FOR WHERE NO LAW IS, THERE IS NO TRANSGRESSION.” Romans 4:15. THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE By Christ “GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST,” “AND BY HIM ALL THAT BELIEVE ARE JUSTIFIED FROM ALL THINGS, FROM WHICH YE COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW OF MOSES.” Acts 13:39. “MOREOVER THE LAW ENTERED, THAT THE OFFENCE MIGHT ABOUND. BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND: THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED UNTO DEATH, EVEN SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” Romans 5:20-21. “BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS.” Romans 3:24. “HE THAT BELIEVETH ON HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED; BUT HE THAT BE­LIEVETH NOT IS CONDEMNED AL­READY, BECAUSE HE HATH NOT BE­LIEVED IN THE NAME OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.” John 3:18. Here is a very interesting truth: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con­demned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:2-3. 1 - The law of sin and death - By Adam, sin and death passed upon all men. Sin entered by Adam. This law is a universal law. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. “There is none righteous; no, not one.” Romans 3:10. Condemnation upon all by Adam. 2 - The law of Sinai - given by Moses. No descendant of Adam could perfectly keep the perfect law. Why? “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.” “For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Romans 7:14 and Romans 7:19. In Romans 8:3 we read: “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” Because of indwelling sin the natural man could not be subject to God’s holy law, the ten command­ments. Romans 8:7. Note Hebrews 7:19 - “The law made nothing perfect.” But Christ did. Note again “For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.” “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. “The law worketh wrath.” “By the law let every mouth be stopped and all the world be­come guilty before God.” Romans 4:15 and - Romans 3:19. “The law entered (by Moses) that sin might abound.” Romans 5:20. Therefore the Law, which was given by Moses, is called “The Ministration of Con­demnation.” 2 Corinthians 3:9. “The Ministration of Death.” 1 Corinthians 3:7. 3 - The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:28. “ Far sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. Note what Christ accomplished: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4. “To redeem them that were under the law.” “For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. Now note the words of Christ in John 10:17-18, and what He accomplished in 2 Timothy 1:10. “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life.” “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.” “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.” This is how and when the eternal, omni­potent Divine Christ established the new law; the law of the Spirit of life. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Condemned or not condemned. ``He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” BY ADAM The entrance of sin BY MOSES The knowledge of sin BY CHRIST The forgiveness of sin CONDEMNED ALREADY 1 - The human race condemned in Adam. Romans 5:17-20. 2 - The human race condemned by the law of Moses. 2 Corinthians 3:9. 3 - The human race condemned because of the sin of unbelief. John 3:18. “Have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” BY ADAM Note “the law of sin and death,” in Genesis 2:16-17. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17. “So he drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:24. FROM ADAM TO MOSES “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come.” Romans 5:14. About 2500 years after Adam left Eden, Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving God’s holy commandments, written on two tables of stone. (Exodus 20:1-26). “The law was added because of trans­gressions.” Galatians 3:19. Death reigned from the day of Adam’s sin until the day that Moses received the law. During those 2500 years Adam’s descendants were not “under the law” that was given to Moses. The offence en­tered by Adam. “The law entered that the offence might abound.” Romans 5:20. Moses was 80 years old when God gave the law to Israel. (Exodus 7:7.) FROM MOSES TO CHRIST “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school­master. “ Galatians 3:23-25. Under the law God’s covenant people (Israel) received the spirit of bondage unto fear. Romans 8:15. THEY COULD NOT ENDURE THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the Word should not be spoken to them any more: For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart.” Hebrews 12:18-20. About 1530 years after Moses received the law written by the hand of the Lord, the hands of the Lord were nailed to Cal­vary’s cross. Note what happened to the law “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.” Colossians 2:14. “For if that which is done away was glori­ous, much more that which remaineth is glorious.” “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which is done away in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 3:11 and 2 Corinthians 3:14. GRACE CAME BY JESUS CHRIST Then note Ephesians 3:1-2 : “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.” Compare and contrast “The reign of law” with “the dispensation of the grace of God.” “The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through right­eousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21. THE LAW DISPENSATION The Law dispensation, or economy, was a temporary and a parenthetical period. The gospel was preached before the law was added. 1 - “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteous­ness.” “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached BE­FORE the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:6 and Galatians 3:8. 2 - The law was added till the Seed should come. Galatians 3:19. 3 - “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that be­lieveth.” Romans 10:4. “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:25. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1. UNDER GRACE “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:20 and Romans 3:28. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples. which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Acts 15:10. “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 4:4-5. We learn in Galatians 3:13 and in Ro­mans 7:1-6, that the Jews who were under the law of Sinai were delivered from that law by faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ. However the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus not only frees the: believing sinner from the curse and penalty of the law of Sinai and from the law of sin and death, but it empowers and enables him, as a new creature in Christ Jesus to walk in the Spirit and fulfill the righteousness of the law. Romans 8:4. The new creature is God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. But let us remember that Christ put an end to the Old Covenant by His death and resurrection and that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 2 Corinthians 3:12-15. Romans 10:4. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: S. BY THE GRACE OF GOD ======================================================================== BY THE GRACE OF GOD By Pastor John C. O’Hair Great statement is this one made by the Apostle Paul about 58 A.D. BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM; AND HIS GRACE WHICH WAS BESTOWED UPON ME WAS NOT IN VAIN; I LABORED MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL: YET NOT I, BUT THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS IN ME.” 1 Corinthians 15:10. Can you say, “I am?” Not one of us can say, “I labored more abundantly than they all.” I am. Are you? I am saved by the grace of God. I didn’t labor abundantly or even for one moment to be saved by grace. “If by grace then it is no more of works; other­wise grace is no more grace.” Romans 11:6. Perhaps you desire to “amen” this testimony: “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I hope to be. But, by the grace of God, I am not what I once was.” When Christ was here on earth He said to those who would get a place in the kingdom of heaven, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able Luke 13:24. “Agonize” or “labour” to get in. That certainly is not our message for today, It is in direct contrast with Romans 3:24 : “Declared righteous without a cause by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” For us the great preacher of Grace had “the dispensation of the grace of God.” This differs from “the dispensa­tion of law” and “the dispensation of the kingdom of heaven.” Eternal life is the free gift of God. Romans 6:23. It cost God more than can ever be computed or measured or even estimated. God spared not His Own Son. With Him He shall also freely give us all things. Romans 8:34. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” “It is the Gift of God.” “We are His workmanship created in CHRIST JESUS, unto good works that God hath before or­dained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. Rather a unique statement: “Walk in good works.” This is the will of God concerning His children, believers who are in Christ. God demands that we must be IN CHRIST; before we can WALK IN GOOD WORKS. In Christ we are the righteousness of God, ac­cepted, perfect (in standing), complete and blessed with all spiritual blessings, free from condemna­tion. 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:6; Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 2:10; Ephesians 1:3; Romans 8:1. We are a redeemed people zealous of good works, saved to maintain good works, labourers together with God, fishers of men, shining lights, soldiers of Jesus Christ, witnesses, ambassadors, sowers and workmen that needeth not to be ashamed. “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. Our labour is not in vain, if it is in the Lord. Neither was Paul vain or boastful when he uttered that great truth, “I laboured more abundantly than they all” for there he gave credit to the grace of God. God is “the God of all grace”. 1 Peter 5:10 Paul needed all the grace of the God of all grace. That all-sufficient grace was available. “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.” 2 Corinthians 9:8. Paul set himself up as a pattern; and while the same illimitable grace of God is available for ev­ery member of the Body of Christ, we can never measure up to Paul’s standard. But let us do our very best to abound, by the grace of God, in good works. “Do all things without murmurings and disput­ings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in. the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among ye shine as lights in the world.” Php 2:14-15. “Say not ye, There are four months and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white al­ready to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may re­joice together.” John 4:35-36. “So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-25. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: S. CAESAR - THE GENTILES - AND THE JEWS ======================================================================== CAESAR - THE GENTILES - AND THE JEWS Note these three statements which Christ made when He was here on earth. “YE WORSHIP YE KNOW NOT WHAT: WE KNOW WHAT WE WOR­SHIP: FOR SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS.” John 4:22. “THEN SPAKE JESUS TO THE MULTITUDE, AND TO HIS DIS­CIPLES, SAYING THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES’ SEAT: ALL THEREFORE WHATSO­EVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO; BUT DO NOT YE AFTER THEIR WORKS: FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT.” Matthew 23:1-3. “SHEW ME A PENNY. WHOSE IMAGE AND SUPERSCRIPTION HATH IT? THEY ANSWERED AND SAID, CAESAR’S. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, RENDER THEREFORE UNTO CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH BE CAESAR’S, AND UNTO GOD THE THINGS WHICH BE GOD’S.” Luke 20:24-25. The Jews sat in Moses’ seat. Caesar, the Gentile, sat in Rome. The Jews were under political domination of Rome. Note Luke 2:1, Matthew 17:26-27. Jesus of Nazareth grew up to manhood under Caesar’s political government. But note His religious practice: “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16. Caesar was an ungodly heathen. But was he any worse than the corrupt reli­gious rulers who sat in Moses’ seat? They were fools, hypocrites, blind leaders, and inwardly corrupt. Read these charges against them by Jesus Christ. Matthew 23:13-32, and the climax, in Matthew 23:33, “ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.” Now the two commands of Jesus Christ: Do what the religious rulers tell you to do. Render unto the political rulers the things that are theirs. Jesus Christ taught His disciples, “gov­ernment is of the Gentiles”; “salvation is of the Jews.” Both government and salvation had once been in the hands of the Jews. God had warned them that they would not be the head if and when they failed to keep His commandments. In their spiritual declension they were to be the tail and the Gentiles the head. Read Deuteronomy 28:36-44. In the last two chapters of Jeremiah and the last two chapters of II Kings we read how government passed from the Jews to the Gentiles. Then and there “the times of the Gentiles” (politically) began. Luke 21:24. After the facts re­vealed in Romans 11:1-36, “the times of the Gentiles” (spiritually) began. But note Daniel’s Divine message to the first Gen­tile world ruler over the Jews (Nebu­chadnezzar). “Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a king­dom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.” Daniel 2:37-40. Then in Daniel 2:44, we are told how “the times of the Gentiles” will end, by the coming of the King from heaven. A stone is to descend from heaven, become a mountain and fill the whole earth. Jesus Christ was born under the fourth (iron) kingdom. He was tried and sen­tenced to death by that government after the authorized representative said, “ I find no fault in Him.” After he had washed his hands of his unjust decision, he said, “I am free from the blood of this innocent man.” From Nebuchadnezzar to the days of Christ, salvation was not only of the Jews, but any Gentile who desired spiritual blessings had to become a Jew. When the Jews were slaves to the Persians the rec­ord is, that many of the Persians became Jews. Esther 8:17. THE GENTILES CAST AWAY In Romans 1:17-32 we learn how God had cast away the Gentiles. In Romans 11:1-33 we learn how God, centuries later, cast away the Jews. When God cast away the Gentiles (about 1900 B.C.) He began a new movement; Israel and the Jews. When God cast away Israel (about 60 A.D.) God had begun a new movement with the Gentiles. Note Ephesians 3:1 - “For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” Note the condition of the Gentiles at the time God began the new movement mentioned in Romans 11:30, Romans 11:11 and Romans 11:15. “For as ye in times past have not be­lieved God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy.” “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?” The predicament of the Gentiles at the time Paul was sent to them is told in Ephesians 2:11-12, Ephesians 2:2-3 and Ephesians 4:18. They were aliens. Aliens from Israel. Alienated from God. Note the words of Christ to an earnest seeking Gentile - “He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Matthew 15:24-27. The Jews were lost sheep. The Gentiles were dogs. The Jews who sat in Moses’ seat were serpents. The ruler at Rome was a heathen. We know then that the world religiously and politically was corrupt when the Lord of glory came down from heaven to visit humanity. THE LORD JESUS AND THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES Note the testimony of 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. “And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jeru­salem; for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me.” “And He said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Acts 22:17 -­18 and Acts 22:21. “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. Paul had orders from heaven to go to the Gentiles. He received his message for Gentiles by revelation. “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12. He wrote to the Gentiles that salvation was of the Jews. “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.” Romans 15:27. THE TURNING-POINT Note the words of Paul in Acts 13:46, Acts 18:6 and Acts 28:28. “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.” “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.” “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gen­tiles, and that they will hear it.” “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Do not fail to mark this in your Bible. This marks a radical change. Note the good news for Gentiles that followed. “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.” Acts 14:27. Who opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles ? When? Then followed the good news of Ephesians 2:19, Ephesians 2:17, and Ephesians 3:6. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citi­zens with the saints, and of the house­hold of God.” “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.” “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same Body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Paul’s last message was to a man who was half Jew and half Gentile, Timothy. (Acts 16:1-5.) Since the death of Paul and Timothy, God’s spiritual affairs have been in the hands of Gentiles; and God’s order has no longer been “to the Jew first.” The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11. During the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles, Jerusalem and the Jews were under the iron rule of Caesar, and finally the words of the Lord Jesus were fulfilled; Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were scattered. Luke 21:20-24. Note the Lord’s words: “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of my visitation.” Luke 19:43-44. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem com­passed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” “For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:20-24. “The times of the Gentiles” await ful­fillment in 1941 A.D. PAUL AND CAESAR Acts 21:30-32 “And all the city was moved, and the peo­ple ran together; and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief cap­tain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them; and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.” Acts 22:25-26 “And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the cen­turion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.” Acts 25:10-11 “Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar’s judg­ment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal to Caesar.” Romans 13:1-7 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained by God. Who­soever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for con­science sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render there­fore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” CAESAR AND THE CHURCH Note these four statements of Paul: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.” Romans 13:1. “For this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God’s ministers, attending con­tinually upon this very thing.” Romans 13:6. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy­self in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in author­ity; that we may lead a quiet and peace­able life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable, in the sight of God our Saviour.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3. Here we see the clear demarcation be­tween Church and State, and the Scrip­tural responsibility of the Christian to both of these powers which are ordained of God. God had put the carnal sword of gov­ernment in the hands of Caesar. But to those with spiritual authority He said: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4. “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asun­der of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Ephesians 6:17. The Word of the Lord Jesus is still binding: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s and unto God the things which be God’s.” Luke 20:25. We are living in “the times of the Gen­tiles” politically. This began with Nebu­chadnezzar about 600 B. C. We are living in “the times of the Gentiles”, spiritually. This began after Saul became Paul. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: S. CHRIST CAME UNTO HIS OWN ======================================================================== CHRIST CAME UNTO HIS OWN “HE WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT. HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RE­CEIVED HIM NOT. BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME.” John 1:10-12. Here we have the statement that Christ’s own received Him not. His own refers to the Jews. But note these state­ments: John 2:23; Many believed in His name. John 4:39-41; Many more believed on Him. John 7:31; Many of the people believed on Him. John 8:30; Many believed. John 10:42; Many believed on Him. John 11:45; Many of the Jews believed on Him. After reading these statements then read John 12:37-40 : “ But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: That the saying of Esaias 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 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.” Thus we have the statements that “many believed on Him” and “His own received Him not”. Note the question of the Pharisees: “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?” John 7:48 Most of the rulers of Israel neither be­lieved nor received Christ. We see then that the Lord Jesus, while on earth, was not only offering salvation to individual Jews, but was presenting Himself and His kingdom to the Nation Israel. “But His own received Him not.” They knew not the time of their visitation. Luke 19:44. They knew not the things that belonged to their peace. Luke 19:42. Note Christ’s words concerning John the Baptist: “But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto Him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of Him.” Mark 9:13 “And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” Matthew 11:14. Then note Luke 13:34-35 : “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gath­ered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” In what sense was Israel’s house left desolate? On the day of Pentecost 3000 Israelites believed and were saved. Acts 2:41-43. Then note Acts 4:4 - “Howbeit many of them which heard the Word believed; and the number of men was about five thousand.” These were all Israelites. Then note Acts 5:14 - “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multi­tudes both of men and women.” All Jews. “And the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multi­plied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:7. All Jews. Then 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.” Many of Christ’s own did receive Him. What is meant then by the statement, “His own received Him not?” HOW ABOUT GENTILES? Now search the Scriptures diligently from Matthew 1:1 to Peter’s statement in Acts 10:28, about seven years after the death of Jesus Christ, and count the Gentiles to whom Christ or His twelve apostles preached. When the Twelve met one Gentile what did they say? “And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.” Mat­thew 15:23. Why did they do this? “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.” Matthew 10:5-6 Why did one Gentile man receive a blessing from Jesus Christ on earth? “For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.” Luke 7:5. “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.” Luke 7:3 AS MANY AS RECEIVED CHRIST “As many as received Christ.” Think of this in the light of Acts 10:28 and Romans 10:14 “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 shewed me that I should not call any man common or un­clean.” “How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” If it was not lawful for the Jewish disciples of Christ to go to the Gentiles, how could they hear and receive Christ? If the Gentiles did not hear the gospel they could not believe and receive Christ. How do we reconcile Matthew 15:24 with John 3:16. “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who­soever believeth in Him should not per­ish, but have everlasting life.” In the light of Matthew 15:24 and Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:19, we must conclude that there was no “whosoever” message for the Gentiles until the words of Peter, in Acts 10:34 and Acts 10:43. “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons.” “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” The proselytes, of Acts 2:10, were Gentiles by nature, but Jews by religion. The Grecians, of Acts 6:1-15; Acts 11:1-30, were Greek-speaking Jews. Philip did not preach to Gentiles, in the city of Samaria. Acts 11:19. In the light of Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:19 we may be sure that the Ethiopian was a proselyte. Acts 8:27. Several years after Philip preached to the Ethiopian, the other apostles con­demned Peter for preaching to the house­hold of Cornelius. Acts 11:1-5. Note what happened after Peter told them of Christ’s instructions to preach to Cornelius. “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. Now compare 1 - Go not into the way of the Gentiles. Matthew 10:5. 2 - It is an unlawful thing for a Jew to go to a Gentile. Acts 10:28-30 - ”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. Here we learn concerning the twelve apostles; from first to last their ministry was to and for Israel. DOGS AND NO DIFFERENCE WHILE JESUS CHRIST WAS ON EARTH Now let us compare Matthew 15:24-27 with Romans 10:12-13. “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.” “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” ABOUT 25 YEARS LATER “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” There is a very great difference be­tween a sheep and a dog. This was the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, while Christ was on earth. But twenty-five years later there was no difference. Something had happened. ISRAEL REJECTED Now let us compare the statement of Christ to the Jews, “your house is left unto you desolate”, with Paul’s state­ment to the Jews, in Acts 13:46 : “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.” Why was it necessary that the Word of Christ should be preached to Israel first, some years after Christ had said “your house is left unto you desolate”? The answer is, Luke 23:34 - Acts 3:17-18 and Acts 3:26, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” “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.” “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.” Christ on the cross prayed for Israel. God gave Israel another chance. And for several years after the prayer of Christ, God’s order was “to the Jew but not to the Gentile.” And then for some years, God’s order was “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16 - ­Acts 13:46 - Acts 18:6 and Acts 28:28. Then what happened? Study, “as many as received Christ” and John 3:16, in the light of Romans 11:30 and Ephesians 3:1-2 and Ephesians 3:6. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. “ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso­ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “For as ye in times past have not be­lieved God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” This was written years after Christ died. “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.” “That the Gentiles should be joint­heirs, and of the JOINT-BODY, and joint­sharers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. “ Israel’s blindness, unbelief, and rejec­tion brought mercy and salvation and reconciliation for and to the Gentiles. Romans 11:11 and Romans 11:15. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: S. CHRIST’S MIRACLES - THE GOSPEL OF JOHN ======================================================================== CHRIST’S MIRACLES - THE GOSPEL OF JOHN “AND MANY OTHER SIGNS TRULY DID JESUS IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS DISCIPLES, WHICH ARE NOT WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK; BUT THESE ARE WRITTEN, THAT YE MIGHT BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD; AND THAT BELIEVING YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE THROUGH HIS NAME.” John 20:30-31. Here we see why the miracles of Christ are recorded in John’s Gospel. Note. John 10:30-33” - I and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, say­ing, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.” Christ, being a man, made Himself God. Now, note that Christ, being God, be­came a man. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth,” John 1:14. When Thomas beheld the resurrected Christ, he said, “My Lord, and my God.” John 20:27. God wants every one to believe and know, concerning Christ, what Thomas believed and knew. Therefore, certain miracles which Christ performed before His death are recorded in this Divine Record; just seven miracles. We believe that “seven” is a Divine number. Now note the miracles 1 - Turning water into wine. John 2:1-10. 2 - Healing the Nobleman’s Son. John 4:49-53. 3 - Healing the Impotent Man. John 5:1-8. 4 - Feeding the Five Thousand. John 6:9-13. 5 - Jesus Wanting on the Sea. John 6:19. 6 - The Blind Man Healed in Siloam. John 9:11. 7 - Raising Lazarus from the Dead. John 11:43. Several of these miracles are not re­corded in Matthew, Mark or Luke. Before we Consider these, we suggest a few other facts concerning the Gospel of John. More than eighty per cent of the con­tents of John’s Gospel is not found in the other three Gospels which are called “The Synoptics.” In this Divine Record we find a com­bination of the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of grace. John is the only one of the four writers whom the Holy Spirit used to record the ministry of Jesus Christ with the woman at the well in Samaria. But she was not a Gentile. She said, “our father Jacob”. John 4:12. And true, we have the “whosoever” in John 3:16. But every scene, except Christ’s visit to Samaria, is set on a Jew­ish scene. There is no record in John’s Gospel that Christ spoke to even one Gentile while on earth. The word “Jew”, “Jews”, is found in this Record 70 times. In the miracles, all who were healed and blessed were Jews. These miracles began with a Jewish wedding and ended with a Jewish funeral or grave. We also find an impotent Jew, in a Jewish reli­gious city; a healed blind man in a Jew­ish religious meeting-place. With special reference to these four miracles, “turning water into wine”, “healing the impotent man”, “healing the man born blind in Siloam” (which means Sent - John 9:7) and “raising the dead man”, let us note these messages in John: 1 - “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” John 3:5 and John 3:7. 2 - “No man can come to Me, except the Father Which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44. “John answered and said, A man can re­ceive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” John 3:27. “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. 3 - “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. “He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing:” John 9:7. “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they which see might be made blind.” John 9:39. 4 - “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” John 5:24-25. “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. Believeth thou this?” John 11:25-26. In John’s Gospel we learn that the sin­ner is unregenerated, impotent, blind from his mother’s womb, and spiritually dead. “Turning water into wine” speaks of the new birth by the Spirit and water, and the joy that follows. The impotent man was unable to do anything to bring about his own cure. He could not. That is the helpless predica­ment of the unregenerated, blind, dead sinner, in John’s Gospel. Note again John 6:28-29 and John 6:40. “Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom God hath sent.” “And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlast­ing life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” THE POOL SILOAM (SENT) More than forty times, in John’s Gos­pel, Christ is called the “Sent One”. The pool of Siloam was the pool of Sent. This spoke of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Sent One. Apart from faith in the shed blood the most cultured, moral, religious individual will remain spiritually blind. “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.” 1 Corinthians 2:14. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:21. PASSING OUT OF DEATH INTO LIFE In John 5:24-25, we learn that the sinner, in John’s Gospel, is a dead man. Lazarus was a dead man. It was near his grave that Jesus Christ spoke one of the greatest truths in the Bible “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?” Note with this, Ephesians 2:1 and Ephesians 2:6, Romans 6:13 and Romans 6:3-4. “And You hath He quickened (made alive), who were dead in tres­passes and sins.” “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap­tized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Then note 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. “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.” Here then we have the answer to both of Job’s questions; so far as the saint is concerned. “But man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Job 14:10. “If a man die shall he live again?” Job 14:14. Sinners are made alive spiritually the moment they believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and accept Him as their resurrection and life. Then they will be made alive in resur­rection bodies at His coming: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; after­ward they that are Christ’s at His com­ing.” 1 Corinthians 15:22-23. JESUS APPROVED BY MIRACLES The miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ were to prove to Israel that Jesus Christ was God’s Apostle. Miracles were the signs of an Apostle. 2 Corinthians 12:12. Christ was God’s Apostle to Israel. Hebrews 3:1. Note the words of Christ, in John 5:36 : “The works which the Father hath given Me to finish the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me.” Jesus of Nazareth was a man put on display by God in the presence of Israel by miracles and signs. Acts 2:22. There are some Christians who still endeavor to prove the Deity and omnip­otence of Christ by carrying on a healing program. They use the slogan, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and for­ever.” Hebrews 13:8. They generally have their bottles of oil to anoint the sick and the afflicted and claim that all Chris­tians could perpetuate or duplicate the miracles of the Lord Jesus, if they had the same faith that the first century dis­ciples had. Timothy was a disciple of genuine faith and courage. Paul instructed Timothy to take a physical remedy for his physical disease. There are no miraculous healings recorded in the writings of Paul after God’s Divine judgment upon Israel re­corded in Acts 28:25-28. But if we are to prove that Jesus Christ is Divine by perpetuating His miracles let us be sure that we perform all seven miracles of John’s Gospel, feed­ing the 5000 with a few fish and loaves, walk on the water, raise the dead, turn water into wine. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: S. CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM ======================================================================== CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM By Pastor John C. O’Hair One of the simplest principles of Bible study is the “context” principle: that is, the study of a verse of Scripture in the light of the verses preceding or follow­ing in the same chapter. The last reference to baptism in the Bible, if Colossians was written after Hebrews, is Colossians 2:12. One of the last references to circumcision is in Colossians 2:11. We quote Colossians 2:10-12 “FOR YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER: IN WHOM ALSO YE ARE CIRCUMCISED WITH THE CIRCUMCISION MADE WITHOUT HANDS, IN PUTTING OFF THE BODY OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH BY THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST: “BURIED WITH HIM IN BAPTISM WHEREIN ALSO YE ARE RISEN WITH (HIM) THROUGH THE FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD, WHO HATH RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.” If the circumcision of Colossians 2:11 is “without hands”, the baptism of the twelfth verse must be “without hands”. We have no doubt as to the fact of the “handless” circumcision. And we have no doubt that there is in the Bible a baptism “without hands”, a Divine bap­tism. “Christ shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:8. “Baptized by One Spirit into one Body.” 1 Corinthians 12:13. The Divine baptism for power, which took place on the day of Pentecost, is not identical with the Di­vine baptism into the death of Christ, mentioned in Romans 6:3. However, both were Divine baptisms. Moreover, no real student of the Word of God will contradict the assertion that the “bap­tism burial” of Colossians 2:12 is the same “baptism burial” mentioned in Romans 6:4. Neither will any student even question that there is in the Bible a circumcision “made with hands” and a baptism “made with hands”. Israel had “divers baptisms” before Christ became the minister of the circumcision. Hebrews 9:10; Romans 15:8; Hebrews 6:1-2. Israel had cir­cumcision many years before they re­ceived the law and the old covenant. (John 7:22). Abram was justified in uncircumcision 24 years before he was circumcised. Genesis 12:4. When he was circumcised Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. Genesis 17:6-16. Circumcision “made with hands” was instituted by God when Abraham was 99 years old. Abraham’s circum­cision was the sign of the righteousness which he received in uncircumcision when he was 75 years old. Romans 4:11. Isaac, Abraham’s promised son, was circumcised when he was eight days old. Genesis 21:4. The holy child Jesus was circumcised when He was eight days old. Luke 2:21. At the time of His circumcision His name was called “Jesus”. The Lord Je­sus was not baptized with John’s baptism when He was an infant, but when He was thirty years of age. Luke 3:23. Then on the cross the Lord Jesus was baptized into death. Luke 12:50. John the Baptist was a minister to Israel, the circumcision; not to the uncircumcision, Luke 1:16; Luke 1:80; Acts 13:24. The Lord Jesus on earth was a minister to the circumcision, sent only to the house of Israel. Romans 15:8; Matthew 15:24. The twelve apostles, both before and after the death of the Lord Jesus, were ministers to the circumcision. Matthew 10:5-8; Galatians 2:7-9; Acts 11:19. Their testi­mony, confirmed by the Holy Spirit, was that God raised Christ from the dead to be Israel’s Saviour. Acts 5:29-31 Even their message to Cornelius was the word sent to Israel. Acts 10:34-38. John’s baptism, “made with hands”, was, that Christ might be manifest unto Israel, and was unto repentance for the remission of sins. John 1:31. Mark 1:4. The Twelve on the day of Pente­cost declared to all the house of Israel that God made the crucified Jesus to be Christ; and they preached if Israel was willing to confess Him as Christ, they should repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Acts 2:38. By carefully com­paring the Baptist’s message with that of the Twelve on the day of Pentecost, it will be seen that in both cases the baptism “made with hands” was unto repentance for the remission of sins, and a prerequisite for Holy Spirit bap­tism. It was connected with faith as meritorious in salvation. Mark 16:14-18. Even Saul of Tarsus was told to arise and be baptized and, wash away his sins. Acts 22:16. Beginning with the baptism of “all Judea” by John the Baptist in Jordan, and in Aenon, and in­cluding the 3000 of Acts 2:41, the 5000 of Acts 4:4, the people of Samaria of Acts 8:12, and Saul of Tarsus of Acts 9:17, no man was baptized who had not first been circumcised, not even the “eunuch”. Acts 11:19. And for years after that, circumcision continued even among “Jews that believed”. Acts 16:3 and Acts 21:18-25. And the Twelve continued to preach the Gospel of the circumcision to the circumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. Historically the last rec­ord of water baptism is found in Acts 19:1-7. But circumcision was practiced after that among Christian Jews. Acts 21:18-25. Thus we see by the “Acts” record that circumcision and water baptism went right along together. A careful study of Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4; Acts 8:12; Acts 8:38 (eunuch); Acts 10:48 (Cornelius); Acts 16:15 (Lydia); Acts 16:33 (the jailer’s house­hold); Acts 18:8 (many Corinthians), Acts 19:5 (twelve Israelites); will show that there is no record of any water bap­tism between the year 41 A.D. (Acts 10:48) and 51 A.D. (Acts 16:15); and that more than 95 per cent of the be­lievers baptized were Israelites, the cir­cumcision, so far as we have any record. Is this not sufficient proof for any honest, sincere, intelligent student of the Word of God to disprove that the teaching that water baptism, including the sprinkling of infants, was instituted by the Lord as the New Testament seal to supplant circumcision, the Old Testa­ment seal? The ministers of the circumcision were instructed by the resurrected Christ that those who believed the gos­pel and were baptized would be saved. Mark 16:15-18. Aside from the household of Cornelius there is no rec­ord in Acts that Peter and the Eleven preached to any but the circumcision. What baptism instructions did Christ give to Paul with the gospel of the un­circumcision? “Christ sent me not to baptize”. 1 Corinthians 1:17. There is not the slightest hint in any teaching of Paul that water baptism was a witness to the world or a testimony that the be­lieving Gentile had been crucified, bur­ied, raised with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenlies. All such teaching must be supported by tradition and denominational creeds. The baptism of Romans 6:3-4 does identify a believer with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection; and it is the same baptism of Ephesians 4:5 which seats the believer as a member of the Body of Christ in the upper-heavenlies. How egotistical, proud and presumptuous is the man who believes that he can accomplish, or aid in accomplishing, such a transformation by his hands and by much or little water! Whatever may have been the signification of the circumcision and baptism “made with hands”, before the days of Christ, or during the days of Christ, or Book of Acts, both physical circumcision and physical baptism ceased with the close of Acts. With abiding faith hope and love, the Divine circumcision and Divine baptism of Colossians 2:11-12 remain. Inasmuch as no physical baptism is required for entrance into the Body of Christ even into Christ Himself, no church organization that requires such a religious ceremony for admission should call itself the Body of Christ. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: S. CONCERNING THE BIBLE ======================================================================== CONCERNING THE BIBLE By Pastor John C. O’Hair WHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHY WE BELIEVE IT In this printed message we are setting forth something of what we believe concerning the Bible and concerning the faith once-for-all delivered unto the saints. Our first message after this introduction will be the Bible. We believe in the God of the Bible, the Christ of the Bible and the Holy Spirit of the Bible. Therefore we believe in the eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the ruin of the human race in Adam and that man’s only hope of redemption or recovery, is in Christ. The redeemed sinner is “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good words.” Ephesians 2:10. “If any man be in Christ there is a new creation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. We believe that the sinner is saved by the grace of God; by faith in the Lord Jesus; redeemed by the shed blood of Christ, the lamb of God, without spot or blemish. “To us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him.” 1 Corinthians 8:6. As there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ, there is one and only one way to God, and that is called, in Hebrews 10:19-20, “the new and living way”, “by the blood of Jesus.” “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Heb­rews 10:10. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. “For in that he died, He died unto sin ONCE; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” Romans 6:10. “Christ appeared ONCE in the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in ONCE into the holy place having obtained eternal re­demption.” Hebrews 9:12. “Christ also hath ONCE suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” 1 Peter 3:18. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of God, as the glorified Man, seated in the heavenlies, far above all heavens. Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 4:10. There He is the Head of the Church which is His Body. Mem­bers of this Body of Christ are identified with Him in death, burial and resurrection; are seated with Him in the heavenlies and there blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him. Ephesians 1:3-4 and Ephesians 2:6. These members are the children of God by faith in the glorified Christ. they constitute the “Household of God,” and are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:17-22. Only regenerated sinners. partakers of the Divine nature, God’s new creation, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We believe that God has the walk of the believer, in accordance with Ephesians 2:10, and they that walk should be in the Spirit, fulfilling the righteousness of the law: circumspectly, in love worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called. Ephesians 4:1. THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT “Endeavoring to keep the UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ONE body—and ONE Spirit—even as ye are called in ONE Hope of your calling—ONE Lord—ONE Faith—ONE Baptism—ONE God and Father.” Ephesians 4:3-6. Here we are told, specifically and clearly, that, in this Divine age, there is ONE and only ONE Church, which is a Divine organism. We believe that obedience to Ephesians 4:3 is altogether impossible unless we acknowledge and act upon the Truth of God as to the ONE Church; and that no group of men have the Scriptural right to claim to be the Bible Church and demand obedience to a denominational church creed which differs from the seven­fold unity of Ephesians 4:3-6. Inasmuch as there is more than one Church, one gospel and one hope in the Bible, but only ONE Church, ONE gospel and ONE hope in this particular Dispensation, we insist that all intelligent Bible study must be Dispensational Bible study. And that every true servant of Christ is under obligation, “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. Ephesians 3:9 After several chapters of some fundamental Bible doctrines, we shall present a Dispensational Study of the Bible. CONCERNING THE BIBLE The learned Prince of Granada, heir to the Spanish throne, impris­oned by order of the crown, for fear he should aspire to the throne, was kept in solitary confinement in the old prison at the place of Skulls, Madrid. After thirty-three years in this living tomb death came to his release, and the following remark­able researches taken from the Bible, and marked with an old nail on the rough walls of his cell, told how the brain sought employment through the weary years. In the Bible the word Lord is found 1853 times. The word Je­hovah, 6855 times, and the word reverend but once, and that is in the 9th verse of the 111 psalm. Psalms 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible. Esther 8:9 is the longest verse, and St. John 11:35 the short­est verse in the Bible. In the 107th Psalm four verses are alike, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21 and Psalms 107:31. Each verse of the 136 Psalm ends alike. No name or word with more than six syllables are found in the Bible. The 37th chapter of Isaiah and the 19th chapter of II Kings are alike. The word girl occurs only twice in the Bible, in Zechariah 8:5 and Joel 3:3. There are found in both books of the Bible, 3,586,483 letters, 773,693 words 31,­373 verses, 1189 chapters and 66 books. Acts 26:1-32 is the finest chapter to read, the most beautiful chapter the 23rd Psalm. The four most inspiring promises are John 14:2, John 6:37, St. Matthew 11:28 and Psalms 37:4. Isaiah 60:1 is the one for the new convert. All who flatter themselves with vain boasting of their perfection should learn Matthew 6:1-34. The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible not only contains the Word of God, but it is the very Word of God. “All scripture is given by inspira­tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “By Inspiration”—The Greek word is “Theopeneustos”, and is never used to describe any other writings or writers. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:1-21. “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” Psalms 119:89. “The Word of the Lord endureth forever.” 1 Peter 1:25. The Psalmist who said: “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heav­en,” likewise said in Psalms 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” It is a blessed thing to know both facts. Though settled in heaven, it will not profit the individual unless hidden and settled in the heart. In Psalms 119:1-176 read the following verses concerning God’s holy infallible Words: Psalms 119:9, Psalms 119:11, Psalms 119:16-17, Psalms 119:25, Psalms 119:28, Psalms 119:38, Psalms 119:41-43, Psalms 119:49-50, Psalms 119:57-58, Psalms 119:65, Psalms 119:67, Psalms 119:74, Psalms 119:76, Psalms 119:81-82, Psalms 119:89, Psalms 119:101, Psalms 119:103, Psalms 119:105, Psalms 119:107, Psalms 119:114, Psalms 119:116, Psalms 119:123, Psalms 119:130, Psalms 119:133, Psalms 119:139-140, Psalms 119:147-148, Psalms 119:154, Psalms 119:158, Psalms 119:160-162, Psalms 119:169, Psalms 119:170, Psalms 119:172. Also read verses concerning precepts, commandments, ­etc. Men may have changed in their at­titude toward the word of God; but His Word never changeth. As the Psalmist said: “Thy Word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.” Psalms 119:140 “Thy Word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous ­judgments endureth forever.”—Psalms 119:160. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste; yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”—Psalms 119:103 Commit to memory these words found in Jeremiah 15:16; “Thy words were found, and I was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Think of the poisonous food which is going into the souls of men by way of the literature of the worldly and ungodly agents of Satan. “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary”—Job 23:12. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105. The world is a dark place because sin. It is a blessed thing to have a lamp and a light in such a dark place. “Is not my Word like as a fire? the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29. “He sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”—Psalms 107:20. “But he said, Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.”—Luke 11:28. “The seed is the Word of God.”—Luke 8:11. The sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.”—Ephesians 6:17. “For the Word of God is quick (life-giving) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asund­er of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”—Hebrews 4:12. The expression, “The Word of the Lord,” is used forty-nine times in the prophecy of Ezekiel alone—many, many times in the Bible. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void, but it shall ac­complish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”—Isaiah 55:11. God’s instruction to His servant is: “Preach the Word.”—2 Timothy 4:2. Also read Acts 4:4, Acts 4:29, Acts 4:31, Acts 6:2, Acts 6:4, Acts 6:7. “Went everywhere preaching the Word.”—Acts 8:4. Acts 8:14, Acts 8:25, Acts 10:44, Acts 11:11, Acts 11:19, Acts 12:24. “They preached the Word of God.”—Acts 13:5. Acts 13:7, Acts 13:26, Acts 13:44, Acts 13:46. “And glorified the Word of the Lord.’’—Acts 13:48, Acts 13:49, Acts 14:3, Acts 14:25, Acts 15:7, Acts 15:35-36, Acts 16:32. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they receiv­ed the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”—Acts 17:11, Acts 17:13, Acts 18:11, Acts 19:10. “So mightily grew the Word of God.”—Acts 19:20. “I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all of them which are sanctified.”— Acts 20:32. So the Christian is built up by the Word of God, after he becomes a Christian by hearing the Word of God and being born again by that incorruptible seed. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”—Romans 10:17. “Chosen to salvation through be­lief in the truth.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13. “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth.”—James 1:18. “Receive with meekness the im­planted Word, which is able to save your souls.”—James 1:21. “Being born again by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever.”—1 Peter 1:23. “As newborn babes desire the sin­cere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”—1 Peter 2:2. “Now ye are clean, through the word which I have spoken unto you.”—John 15:3; also Psalms 119:9. “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy Word is truth.”—John 17:17. As the Word of God is the seed which falls into good and honest hearts which gives life and as faith cometh through hearing this Word, it is the only seed which has in it the germ of eternal life. The sinner becomes a saint by hearing the Word of God. The saint grows by that same Word, is built up, sanctified, clean­sed and equipped for service by it. It is part of his armour to stand against the wiles of the devil. The weapons of our warfare are not car­nal. Our offensive weapon is the sword of the Spirit wielded in the power of the Spirit. Christ used this weapon against Satan in the temptation—“It is written.”—Luke 4:4, Luke 4:8, Luke 4:10. But Jesus said, “yea rather, bless­ed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”—Luke 11:29. “These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”—John 20:31. “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon sand: And the rain descended, and floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”—Matthew 7:24-27. The Bible is the revelation of the one true God. Luke 24:44-48 : “AND HE (CHRIST) SAID UNTO THEM, THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH I SPAKE UNTO YOU, WHILE I WAS YET WITH YOU, THAT ALL THINGS MUST BE FULFILLED, WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN THE PSALMS CONCERNING ME. THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES AND SAID UNTO THEM. THUS IT IS WRITTEN, AND THUS IT BEHOOVED CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY; AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME AMONG ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM. AND YE ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: S. CONCERNING THE DEATHS OF TWO SIMEONS ======================================================================== CONCERNING THE DEATHS OF TWO SIMEONS By Pastor John C. O’Hair Christians know more about Simon Peter than they do about the other Simeon. In Acts 15:14 Simon Peter is called “Simeon”. The record of the other Simeon is found in Luke 2:25-35. It is a very interesting story. Read it prayerfully and spiritually. “And behold, there was a man in Je­rusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, wait­ing for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him.” “And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” More than sixty years after Simeon held the holy Child Jesus in his arms and said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word” (Luke 2:29), the aged Sim­eon wrote: “Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by put­ting you in remembrance.” “Knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.” “Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.” 2 Peter 1:13-15. How long the first Simeon lived after the Lord had revealed that He would re­main alive until Christ was born, it is not stated. But it is quite certain the second Simeon lived at least thirty years after the words of the Lord Jesus spoken after His resurrection: “Verily, verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, and walk­est whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou would­est not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.” The first Simeon lived to see the Lord’s Christ. The second Simeon lived to see many mighty workings of the Lord, beginning anew with His message to Israel on the day of Pentecost and ending with his second epistle, which closed with this reference to the Apostle Paul: “in all his epistles speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood.” 2 Peter 3:16. Paul spoke and wrote some things that had never been revealed when the first Simeon lived and they are too hard for most Christians even today. Perhaps we might be wondering if these two Simeons are now together. There are some Christians who seem to get great consolation and blessing try­ing to prove that God’s saints are not in a conscious state while they are absent from their bodies and waiting for the day of redemption, the day when they will receive their resurrection bodies. But Stephen surely departed to be with the Lord when he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Simon Peter said, “I must put off this tabernacle.” The “I” put off this tabernacle and the “I” departed to be with Christ. This is also what Paul meant in Php 1:23. Surely both of these Simeons will be among those who belong to Christ and who will be made alive at His coming. 1 Corinthians 15:23. This wonderful res­urrection chapter has no reference to that spiritual life experienced by God’s saints before they reach their graves: “you hath He made alive, who were dead.” Ephesians 2:1-6. But we are told by our Premillenarian Bible teachers that, although both of these Simeons ministered in the same city to the same people (Israel), they will not be found in the same group of redeemed people in the ages to come; because Simon Peter died as a member of the Church, which is the Body of Christ, which they teach had its histor­ical beginning on the day of Pentecost, whereas the other Simeon died as an Israelite, waiting for the Kingdom, some years before the Body began on the day of Pentecost. This teaching is worthy of prayerful, serious consideration and real Scriptural investigation. It means that these two Israelites died in differ­ent dispensations and departed this life with entirely different hopes. Let us see what light we can get by looking into the Word. The first Simeon had undoubtedly died some years before the second Sim­eon was led to Christ by his brother An­drew, before Simon said, “depart from me for I am a sinful man.” The first Simeon was an especially blessed Israel­ite, because the Holy Spirit was upon him for a special message concerning Christ and the prophecy that many in Israel would fall and rise again. Luke 2:34. John the Baptist had been born and was to turn many of the children of Israel to Christ. Luke 1:16. The second Simeon was likewise an espec­ially blessed Israelite: “blessed art thou Simon Barjona.” The Lord committed to him the keys of the kingdom of the heavens and was mighty in him to the apostleship of Israelites. Matthew 16:16-19. Galatians 2:7-9. Beginning anew his ministry on the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. Just when the gospel of the circumcision was commit­ted unto Simon Peter for Israel we may not be sure; but we know that he was sent to the Twelve Tribes while Christ was in the midst of Israel in their land. Matthew 10:5-8. He was instructed to go not to Gentiles. And we know that his message on the day of Pente­cost, addressed to devout Jews from ev­ery nation under heaven, was for all the house of Israel. Acts 2:5 and Acts 2:36. The “afar off” people of Acts 2:39 were the Israelites of Daniel 9:7. And we know that Simon Peter’s messages, dur­ing the first nine chapters of Acts, were addressed to Israel, unto whom the Lord sent Peter to say that Christ had been exalted to be Israel’s Prince and Saviour and give repentance and forgiveness to Israel. Acts 5:29-32. And we know that for many years after Christ had thus been exalted, it was not lawful for Simon to preach unto Gentiles. Acts 10:28. It was by the mouth of Simon Peter that many of the children of Israel, as foretold by the first Simeon, were turned to Christ. Acts 2:1 and Acts 4:4, Acts 5:14, Acts 6:7. But they preached to Jews only. Acts 11:19. Both Simeons were in Jerusalem and ministered in Israel’s temple. Luke 2:27, Luke 24:53, Acts 5:42. The first Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, the kingdom restored to Israel, Israel’s deliverance from the hands of their enemies. Luke 1:67-77. Luke 1:29-33. Luke 2:25. The second Simeon was promised a high place in that kingdom. Luke 22:28-30. He asked the risen Christ if He would at once restore the kingdom to Israel. Acts 1:6. Then it was by his mouth that God offered to send Christ back from heaven to Jerusalem and Israel, to establish the kingdom, for which the first Simeon was waiting, if Israel’s rulers would repent. Acts 3:14-21. On that day of Pentecost Simeon had given God’s word to Israel that Christ had been raised from the dead in fulfillment of David’s prophecy to take David’s throne. Simon Peter is to have a reigning seat in the kingdom for which the first Simeon was waiting. Matthew 19:28. He is to sit and eat with Israel’s Messiah in the same kingdom for which Simeon waited. Now the question comes to our minds, just what place will the first Simeon occupy in the coming kingdom of the heavens? If he died outside of the Body of Christ and Simon Peter died as a member of Christ’s Body, which began with this key used in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, then these two Sim­eons will be separated in the millennium. Will the Body of Christ and Paul be seated with the Twelve Apostles, judging the Twelve Tribes when the Son of man shall come to reign? How is it that Peter will be there and not Paul, and both of them members of the same Body? According to some teachers the two Simeons will meet again in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:2, after the millennium. Is this intelligent Bible study or is it speculation? It is regrettable that all earnest Chris­tians cannot agree on these things. But already you have asked the question, how can Simon Peter have a throne reigning over the Twelve Tribes during the millennium and still be a member of the Body of Christ, seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and waiting to appear with Him in glory? And will not the first Simeon be with the Twelve Tribes and therefore in Simon Peter’s com­pany? Those who have Simon Peter unlock­ing the doors to the Body of Christ on the day of Pentecost try to forget that he is to sit on a throne with Christ the King reigning over Israel. They prefer not to be asked to explain Luke 22:18 and Luke 22:30 and Matthew 19:28. They must begin Paul’s dispensation of grace and the dispensation of the mystery on the day of Pentecost and cut the Twelve Apostles off from John the Baptist, Sim­eon, and other Israelites who died before Pentecost, and raise them up to sit with Christ in the heavenlies on the day of Pentecost. If, in Acts 3:14-21, there is a real bonafide offer from God to Israel to send Christ to establish in their midst the kingdom foretold in Daniel 2:44-45, and proclaimed at hand by Christ in Matthew 4:17, then we are confronted with this problem. According to those who have the Body of Christ begin on the day of Pentecost, the 3000 Israelites saved on the day of Pentecost, then and there became members of that Body and were then and there raised up and seated in the heavenlies in Christ, ac­cording to Ephesians 2:6 and Ephesians 1:19-22. These teachers acknowledge that membership in the Body of Christ is far more desirable than a place under the King in the Kingdom. Now if Peter was in the Body with the 3000, how could he have, conscientiously and sincerely, with Divine authority, of­fered the King’s return and the kingdom to Israel, when he was already eternally saved as a member of the Body and neither he, nor any of the other 2999, could have stepped out of the Body and have had a place in the offered king­dom? Moreover, he would have told the Israelites to again reject the kingdom and get something better, a place in the Body of Christ. Carefully read Acts 3:14-21 and, you will be convinced that no man of God was ever more sin­cere than was Simon Peter, as God’s mouthpiece, offering the kingdom to Is­rael. It is equally as difficult to prove that the Body of Ephesians 1:19-22 and Colossians 1:24-27 began, historically, on the day of Pentecost, as to prove that it did not. The many who believe that Pentecost was the birthday of that Church believe it because others have believed it. It is generally believed among Fundamentalists by implication or inference, rather than proved by rightly dividing the Word of truth. It cannot be proved by the word “Church”, translated from the Greek “ecclesia”, for this word is found more than sixty times in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament Scriptures. There was no more difference between the Church of God on and before Pentecost than there was between the Church of God in the early chapters of Acts and the Body of Christ in Ephesians and Colossians. But according to the general teaching among Fundamentalists of the “Plymouth Brethren” school of interpretation the following statements are taught to be Divine truth and Scriptural facts: The Church, which is Christ’s Body mentioned in Ephesians 1:17-22, Ephesians 3:1-11 and Colossians 1:21-26 was unknown to any of Israel’s Old Testament prophets and was not mentioned by any of them. By the mouth of Peter, God, in Acts 3:14-25, made a definite, bona fide offer to send Christ back from heaven to establish the kingdom reign of Christ on earth, proclaimed by John the Baptist, Christ and the Twelve, in Matthew, beginning with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, in fulfillment of the prophecies of Moses, Samuel and all of Israel’s prophets. Acts 3:22-25, The Church of Ephesians 1:19-22 and Colossians 1:21-27 had its historic beginning on Israel’s feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ. Our answer is, if statements 1 and 2 are Scriptural facts, statement 3 is con­trary to fact, because all that occurred on the day of Pentecost was in fulfill­ment of prophecy; so also was the king­dom of Acts 3:19-25; so also was the out-gathering of Gentiles, mentioned in Acts 15:13-17. We must conclude that the Body of Christ was either the subject of prophecy, or that it did not begin on the day of Pentecost. But back to the two deaths. We have two puzzling questions: If the first Simeon was waiting for and expecting a real, literal, earthly kingdom, with the Lord’s Christ on Da­vid’s throne, in accordance with Luke 1:30-33 and Israel’s deliverance, in accordance with Luke 1:67-77, why should he want to die in peace rather than to remain alive and have a place in Christ’s kingdom of peace, in fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6-7? If, in accordance with John 21:18-19, the second Simeon had to live to an old age and then be put to death, how could there have been either the probability, or the possibility, of the accept­ance of the offered kingdom in Acts 3:14-21, when Simon Peter was not yet an old man; and surely he would not have been put to death if the millennium reign of Christ had been established by Christ’s return from heaven. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: S. CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL ======================================================================== CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL What an interesting story in Luke 2:25-32, the story of an aged Jew by the name of Simeon, who took the Child Jesus in his arms. Simeon was just and devout, and he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Luke 2:25. The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would live to see the birth of Israel’s Messiah and Deliverer. With the Mes­siah in his arms, the Holy Spirit was upon him and he said, “A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Here we see the great difference be­tween the Gentiles and God’s people. At that time the Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Ephesians 2:12. Note that Simeon took Jesus in his arms right after He was circumcised; and Mary had observed the religious purifi­cation ceremonies required by the law of Moses. Luke 2:21-24. Let us note carefully the fact of Luke 2:24 - “And to offer a sacrifice accord­ing to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, and two young pigeons.” This was an Old Testament sacrifice. Jesus Christ was born under the law. “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4. It is most interesting and significant to carefully study the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to learn how He lived as a circum­cised Jew under the law. When He was thirty years of age we learn that He had regularly attended the Jewish religious services in the Jewish synagogue at Nazareth. Luke 4:16. Jesus had just been baptized, with water, by John the Baptist. Luke 3:21. Note why John baptized with water, “And I knew Him not; but that He should be made manifest to Israel, there­fore am I come baptizing with water.” John 1:31. John the Baptist was God’s messenger to the nation Israel. Luke 1:16 and Luke 1:80. So we see that Jesus Christ was both circumcised and baptized. We see that Jesus Christ regularly attended Jewish services in the Jewish synagogue, on the Jewish sabbath. So when we say that a Christian is one who follows Jesus Christ, we must qualify our statement. Some speak of following Christ in baptism, who do not follow Him in circumcision or in His sabbath synagogue worship. But we are circumcised with the circumcision of Christ. Colossians 2:11. Some Christians dedicate their children, following Luke 2:21-25, but no turtledoves or pigeons are offered for the mothers. When sprin­kled, children are not always eight days old. Neither are they circumcised accord­ing to the Abrahamic and Mosaic cove­nants. The public dedication of children may be a sweet religious ceremony, per­mitted under grace, but is not mentioned in God’s message and program of grace. Some Christians use water on the head instead of circumcision in the flesh, per­suading themselves that they must have some religious ceremony for the children. So their teaching is, sprinkling to take the place of circumcision. But with such teaching, no baby girls should be sprin­kled, because no baby girls were circum­cised. Moreover, we will learn by the study of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that no one was baptized who had not first been circumcised. Simeon was wait­ing for the consolation of Israel, 1940 years ago. STILL WAITING FOR ISRAEL’S CONSOLATION Eighteen million Jews are today scat­tered among all the Gentile nations, and there Israel will remain “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:24. When that time comes the consolation of Israel will be at hand. The consolation of Israel will be realized when Israel’s rejected Messiah and King returns to take David’s throne, and “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.” Luke 1:30-33. The consolation of Israel is thus stated in Luke 1:69-71 and Luke 1:74-75. “And hath raised up an horn of salva­tion for us in the house of His servant David; As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began; That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.” “That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.” But something went wrong. Israel was not delivered from the hands of their enemies (Gentiles). Instead, note Luke 19:42-43. “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things, which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.” No consolation for Israel here. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Luke 13:35. “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke 21:27 and Luke 21:31. The consolation of Israel, stated in Luke 1:69-71, was by Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, right after the mes­sage of one angel to the Virgin Mary, and right before the message of another angel to the shepherds. Note the two messages “And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the High­est; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:31-33. “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid’.” “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:9, Luke 2:11, Luke 2:14. THE KINGDOM AND THE BODY Jesus Christ was born to occupy David’s throne, in fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6-7. Instead of taking David’s throne, note where He is and what He is now doing. “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 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 1:19-23. Christ is not where He now is and is not doing what He is now doing, in ful­fillment of prophecy. But note 2 Peter 1:19 - “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” The clock of prophecy has stopped during this parenthetical “grace” dispensa­tion, but Jesus Christ is coming back to take David’s throne to reign over the house of Jacob, and to bring about the restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets of Israel. “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Good hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:21. So THE CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL has been postponed. Peace on earth will not be realized until Jesus Christ returns as Prince of Peace to occupy David’s throne. Then the gov­ernment will be upon His shoulder, and of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. Isaiah 9:6-7 will be fulfilled. That will be the consolation of Israel. NO PEACE - ANOTHER BAPTISM Note the plain words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke 12:49-52 :­ “I AM COME TO SEND FIRE ON THE EARTH; AND WHAT WILL I, IF IT BE ALREADY KINDLED? BUT I HAVE A BAPTISM TO BE BAPTIZED WITH; AND HOW AM I STRAITENED TILL IT BE ACCOMPLISHED SUPPOSE YE THAT I AM COME TO GIVE PEACE ON EARTH? I TELL YOU, NAY; BUT RATHER DIVI­SION; FOR FROM HENCEFORTH THERE SHALL BE FIVE IN ONE HOUSE DIVIDED, THREE AGAINST TWO, AND TWO AGAINST THREE.” What a contrast and seeming contra­diction as we compare these words with the message of the angels, in Luke 2:9-15. In Luke 2:14, “Peace on earth.” Now, “No peace on earth.” Note how the Lord Jesus stated it in Matthew 10:34-36. Note when the Lord announced “no peace on earth,” He spoke of another baptism, His death on the cross of Cal­vary. His death baptism. Jesus, the Anointed King, would not go to David’s throne for “peace on earth,” but to Cal­vary’s tree, to make peace for individual believing sinners. Note what Jesus Christ did. “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.” Colossians 1:20. Christ made peace for believers by His baptism on the cross. Christ’s baptism brought peace. When the sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and accepts His death baptism, note what happens to that believing sinner. “Therefore being justi­fied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4. Christ was both cir­cumcised and baptized, so with every member of the Body of Christ - ”In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all tres­passes.” Colossians 2:11-13. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Php 3:3. ANOTHER JEW WAITING FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD As we saw that the Book of Luke began with a devout Jew, waiting for the con­solation of Israel, with Jesus in his arms, so we see that the Book of Luke closed with a devout Jew “waiting for the kingdom of God,” with Jesus in his arms. “And, behold there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just; (The same had not con­sented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews; who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.” Luke 23:50-54. Not only were Simeon and Joseph wait­ing for the kingdom of God, the consola­tion of Israel, but so also were all of the Lord’s most intimate and faithful apos­tles. Note the request of the mother of two of Christ’s apostles “Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, wor­shipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him. And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on the left, in Thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able.” Matthew 20:20-22. Note the expectation and desire of all the waiting Jews: “BUT WE TRUSTED THAT IT HAD BEEN HE WHICH SHOULD HAVE REDEEMED ISRAEL; AND BESIDE ALL THIS, TODAY IS THE THIRD DAY SINCE THESE THINGS WERE DONE.” Luke 24:21. “WHEN THEY THEREFORE WERE COME TOGETHER, THEY ASKED OF HIM, SAYING, LORD, WILT THOU AT THIS TIME RESTORE AGAIN THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?” Acts 1:6. THE KINGDOM REWARD FOR THE TWELVE “Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have there­fore? 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.” Matthew 19:27-28. “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. Note very carefully the words of the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 10:23. “Ye shall not (may not) have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come.” Note in Acts 8:1 that the twelve apostles remained in Jerusalem. They trusted it had been Christ Who should have re­deemed Israel. They were promised twelve thrones when Israel was redeemed. Matthew 19:28. They didn’t know one single thing about “the dispensation of grace” of Ephesians 3:1-3, or “the eternal purpose of God” of Ephesians 3:11; that is, what Christ revealed to Paul. Even during the first chapters of Acts Peter and the Eleven knew nothing and preached nothing concerning the truth of Ephesians 3:6. “That the Gentiles should be joint­heirs, and of the same (joint-) Body, and joint-partakers, of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Ephesians 3:6. Hence their question: Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? The kingdom will be restored to Israel. But this is quite different from the “Joint-Body” of Ephesians 3:6, which is God’s purpose and program, while Israel’s Messianic kingdom is in abeyance. That kingdom will be established when the King comes, and then the prophesied CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL will be realized. Let us not confuse the Consolation of Israel with the blessed hope of the Church which is Christ’s Body. Titus 2:13. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: S. CHRIST COMING - END OF THE WORLD ======================================================================== CHRIST’S COMING—END OF THE WORLD Note the question of the disciples in: Matthew 24:33 “And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Now referring to the Lord’s answer to these very important questions, let us note: Luke 21:20-25 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the coun­tries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away cap­tive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be ful­filled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roar­ing. Also: Luke 21:27-28 and Luke 21:31 : And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then lookup, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draw­eth nigh. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. These verses from Luke will help us to better understand Matthew 24:1-51. Note again: Luke 21:22 “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Several times Israel’s prophets during the Old Testament days foretold Israel’s great tribulation. Compare: Jeremiah 30:7-9. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. With: Matthew 24:21-22 and Matthew 24:29-31 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Here we find in Jeremiah and Matthew the Lord’s prophecy con­cerning Israel’s trouble and Israel’s deliverance. About 70 A. D. the Roman army surrounded and entered Jerusalem and killed more than a million Israelites and burned up their city and left Jerusalem desolate. But God did not send His angels and gather His elect from one end of heaven to the other. This is yet to be fulfilled. When the siege of Jerusalem took place, about 70 A. D., there was no fulfillment of: Zechariah 14:2-4 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” This is yet to be fulfilled. Note what is to follow: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” Zechariah 14:9. “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.” Zechariah 14:16. We must conclude in the light of Luke 21:22, that the Pro­phets of Israel prophesied concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., as well as the coming siege of Jerusalem. Let us note the order of events in: Matthew 24:5-10 : “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” ANTI-CHRISTS WARS FAMINES PESTILENCE EARTHQUAKES. Now note Revelation 6:1-17 : WHITE HORSE AND RIDER RED HORSE AND RIDER BLACK HORSE AND RIDER PALE HORSE AND RIDER EARTHQUAKES This chapter explains that war, famine, pestilence, earth­quake, are meant—We might conclude that the White Horse and the Rider represents the Anti-Christ who is to come. Note: Matthew 24:40-41 : “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Inasmuch as there is no suggestion of a resurrection of the dead in this chapter we must not confuse this gathering from the four winds with the rapture of the Body of Christ. It is a question here whether the righteous will be taken or left. But not so in: 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 “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.” ENDURE UNTO THE END Now note: Matthew 24:13-14 : “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” We note here who is to be saved: “He that shall endure unto the end.” The question then, “the end of what?” What question was Christ answering: “What shall be the sign of the end of the world (age) ?” Matthew 24:3. Inasmuch as some of the Lord’s servants are to be faithful unto death, it is difficult to know whether the Lord means enduring unto death or until the sound of the trumpet, the end of the great tribulation. But we are not saved during the present reign of grace by enduring unto the end. Note the contrast: 2 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.” “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24. “Justified freely by His grace.” The word freely here is the Greek word “dorian” and means “without a cause.” In Romans 3:28, it is “without the law.” In Romans 4:4-5, it is “without works.” THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM Now compare: Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” With: Colossians 1:5-6, and Colossians 1:23 “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world: and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.” “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.” Note also Acts 19:10 : “And this continued by the space of two years: so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” And 2 Timothy 4:17 : “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” The gospel, which Paul declared had been preached to every creature under heaven, to all the Gentiles, was not “the gospel of the kingdom” which Christ and His apostles preached. Neither did the end come, as the end is described in Matthew 24:1-51. There­fore, we must conclude that before the end comes the gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached again. Whenever “the gospel of the kingdom” is preached the nation Israel is in view. This is not the message of the apostles to the Gentiles, in this day of grace. We see, therefore, that we must interpret and apply the ministry and message of Christ on earth in the light of revela­tions concerning the dispensation of the grace of God, which Christ gave through and to the Apostle Paul after He went back to heaven. Presently we shall briefly compare the program of John, the Lord Jesus, the Twelve and the Seventy (Luke 9:1 and Luke 10:1) as they proclaimed “the gospel of the Kingdom,” with the somewhat different program that Christ gave to Paul in the proclama­tion of the gospel of the grace of God. THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS THE SHEEP AND GOATS Matthew 25:1-46 The kingdom of heaven at the end of the age shall be likened unto five wise virgins with lamps and oil, and five foolish virgins with lamps but no oil. Matthew 25:6-12 “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Inasmuch as the foolish ones are called “virgins,” it is not easy to say just how to interpret this parable. It is by no means certain that the parable is to be applied to the coming of the Lord Jesus for the Church which is His body. As the correct translation of Matthew 25:8 is “our lamps are going out,” there are some Christians who teach that these foolish virgins represent those who were once saved and then lost their salvation. Again others teach that the lamp represents the in­dividual’s testimony and the oil speaks of the Holy Spirit.There­fore the foolish virgins represent members of Church organizations who have never received the Holy Spirit. It is doubtful whether the coming of the Son of man, accord­ing to Matthew 25:13, is His appearing for the Body described in Ephesians and Colossians. Christ is never called “the Son of man” in His relation to the Body. However, the Scriptures do teach that only such church members as have been born of the Spirit are truly saved. There will be many unsaved professing Christians on earth when the Lord comes to take His Church to glory; and these unsaved ones will be left on earth, if not destroyed. Perhaps we can receive help as to the meaning of the par­able by studying the judgment described in Matthew 25:31-46. We quote: Matthew 25:31-32, Matthew 25:34, Matthew 25:40 : “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats.” “Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the lest of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Here we have another Scripture which is very difficult to understand. We have Jesus Christ as the Son of man, as the King, sitting on a throne. This throne is to be set up after He comes to earth. He is to be both Judge and King. Nations will be judged by Him and divided, as a shepherd separates sheep and goats. To those on the right hand the King is to say, “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34. To those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41. There is nothing to suggest that “fire” judgment is because of unbelief. Getting into the kingdom after Christ comes will be because of giving food and clothing to the brethren of the King, because of visiting the sick and those in prison. How can we reconcile this with John 3:18 : “He that believ­eth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is con­demned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God?” Now note again 2 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.” Also Colossians 1:13-14 : “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” And Romans 4:5 : “But to him that worketh not, but believ­eth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” In these Scriptures we learn, first; that the individual is con­demned because of unbelief. Second; that believers are already in Christ’s kingdom. Third; that they are saved, not by works, but according to God’s purpose, not from the foundation of the world, but before. Of course we learn in God’s Book that faith without works is dead, and that we should give food and raiment to the needy. We quote: James 2:14-17 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” We are told in Romans 12:13 that Christians should dis­tribute to the necessity of saints and should be given to hospitality. We read this message in Hebrews 6:10 : “For God is not unright­eous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 : “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” We have two other messages in Corinthians: 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” And: 1 Corinthians 3:14-15 : “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” But we must study and interpret all of these Scriptures in the light of God’s grace message for this age. The clearest presentation of God’s grace message is found in Ephesians 2:8-10 : “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 bath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Very definitely and emphatically are we here told that salva­tion is not of works; that the good works are to be manifested after the believing sinner has been worked upon by God, after he has been saved by the good work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s message we are taught that the sinner is justified, sanctified, and saved unto eternal life, by faith without works, but that he will be rewarded according to his works. God’s grace program is so clearly set forth in: Titus 2:11-14, Titus 3:5-8 and Titus 3:14 : “The grace of God that bringeth salvation . . .” “Not by works of righteousness which we have done.” “ . . . our Saviour Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” “. . . And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not un­fruitful.” Getting into Christ’s kingdom in the day of grace is different from entering in to His Father’s kingdom after He comes as the Son of man. Therefore we see that there is more than one king­dom message in the Bible. As members of the Body of Christ we should know the differ­ence between God’s purpose for, with, through, and by Israel and His eternal purpose in Christ (Ephesians 3:9-11). We quote: Ephesians 1:3-4 : “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 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.” THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND MY TIME IS AT HAND Note the instructions of the Lord Jesus to His apostles in Matthew 26:18 : “And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, MY TIME IS AT HAND: I will keep the passover at thy house with My disciples.” For two years or more Christ’s message had been “the king­dom of heaven is at hand.” In Matthew 21:43, Christ had said, “the kingdom shall be taken from you.” Christ was the Stone which the builders rejected. Now “My time is at hand.” Now for the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, the work of Judas the traitor, Gethsemene, the false witnesses, the illegal trials, the crown of thorns, the suffering, the crucifixion, the death and resur­rection of the Son of God. So He says: “MY TIME IS AT HAND” Note how He stated this in: John 12:27 and John 12:31-33 : “Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.” “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.” “For this cause came I unto this hour.” This agrees with Hebrews 2:9 : “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Christ became a man for the specific purpose of dying at a set time. He said in: 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.” Let us remember the statements in Acts 4:27-28 and Acts 13:29-30. Christ died in the manner He did, and at the time that He did, by God’s determinate foreknowledge and in fulfillment of Israel’s Scriptures. Let us keep in mind that it was according to the Scriptures that Christ died for our sins. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6. Also keep in mind the truth of 1 Peter 1:18-21, that Christ was God’s spotless Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world. We read (in Zechariah 13:6) that Christ was to be wounded in the house of His friends, sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13), that they were to pierce His hands and His feet (Psalms 22:16) and gamble for His raiment (Psalms 22:18). We read in 1 Corinthians 5:7 : “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” We know that the lamb of Exodus 12:1-51 spoke of God’s spotless Lamb of God Which beareth away the sin of the world.” WHAT JUDAS DID “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” Matthew 26:14-16. “And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.” Matthew 26:47-50. “Then Judas, which had be­trayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Matthew 27:3-5. Then let us note the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in: John 17:12 “While I was with them in the world I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of per­dition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” And: John 6:64, John 6:70-71 : “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him.” “Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen you Twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the Twelve.” From these verses we learn that Judas was not a saint who lost his salvation. He was the son of perdition when he was chosen. Satan entered him for his special work, but when he was a lost sinner and not a redeemed saint. THE PASSOVER—THE LORD’S SUPPER Matthew 26:25-30 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, say­ing, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. There are a few Christians who teach that the Lord’s Supper was the continuation of Israel’s Passover; and because in the coming kingdom age Israel is to be redeemed and the disciples are to eat and to drink with the Lord, that the Lord’s Supper is not for Gentiles in the Body of Christ. They quote Matthew 26:28 and Ephesians 2:11-12, to show that Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from Israel’s Covenants at the time that the Lord said, “this is My blood in the New Covenant.” But Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles and he declared that Christ instructed him to give this memorial to the Church “till He come.” Literally, “till He shall have come.” CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE With the Lord’s experience in Gethsemane let us note: Hebrews 12:3-4 “For consider Him That endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” “Such contradiction of sinners.” “Unto blood striving against sin.” Read Matthew 26:30-56. Let us hold on to the words of Christ in verses Matthew 26:37-40 : “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is ex­ceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” And note this further word in: Luke 22:43-44 “And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Here we learn something of the awful suffering of the holy Son of God Who knew that His hour had come when He would be made a curse, when He would be made sin. Galatians 3:13. 2 Corinthians 5:21. In Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; we find recorded these words: “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” Luke 22:42. When the Lord Jesus was but twelve years of age, He said, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49. Then about twenty years later, He said unto His disciples, “My meat is to do the will of Him That sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 4:34. “Then said He: Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:9-10. God’s will for His well-beloved Son meant not only miraculous works, His holy life of toil and sacrifice, but Gethsemane and Calvary. “For this cause came I unto this hour.” Christ, Himself, said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. If Christ had not gone to Calvary to die for sinful humanity and by His resurrection and ascension become the firstfruits of them that slept, there would be no others in heaven. “But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Because Christ, on the cross, did His Father’s will, believ­ing sinners are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Christ went to Calvary so that God “might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:26. Christ assured the apostles that He was not the helpless victim of circumstances in the hour of His death, that He was not a religious martyr who came to an untimely end. Note His words in: Matthew 26:53-54 : “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” QUESTIONS—LESSON TWENTY-NINE What question did the apostles ask Christ in Matthew 24:3 concerning the end of the age? Read Luke 21:20-24 and tell when Israel’s desolation is to come and what is to become of Israel and Jerusalem. What is to be fulfilled with regard to Israel and Jerusalem according to Zechariah 14:2-4? Who will be King over all the earth (Zechariah 14:9)? What meaning would you give to the four horsemen of Revelation 6:1-17, in the light of Matthew 24:1-13? Note Matthew 24:11-13. What meaning would you give to “he that shall endure unto the end?” How does “the gospel of the kingdom” differ from “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)? Tell the story of the wise and foolish virgins. What did the wise virgins have that the foolish virgins did not have? Tell the story of the judgments of the nations, as sheep and goats are separated. What will the King say to those on His left hand? Now note what the King will say to those on His right hand. What kingdom is this prepared from the foundation of the world? Explain the difference between this kingdom and the kingdom of the Son of God’s love in Colossians 1:13-14. In John 3:18 we read that sinners are not condemned if they believe on Christ. In Ephesians 2:8-10 believing sinners are saved by grace without works, unto good works. In Matthew 25:31-41 we learn that certain ones get into the kingdom because of deeds of kindness. Explain the difference. How do good works enter into God’s spiritual program today? Mention the place of good works in James 2:1-26. Name some of the good works the believer should do in Romans 12:1-21. Now compare Titus 3:5, “saved not by works of righteousness which we have done” with Titus 2:14 : “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” What lesson do we learn from these and other Scriptures? In Ephesians 1:3-4, we learn that members of Christ’s Church today were chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Compare with Matthew 25:34 “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom pre­pared for you from the foundation of the world.” Explain the difference. Now compare the statements “The kingdom of heaven at hand” Matthew 3:2 and Matthew 4:17 with Matthew 26:18, Christ’s words, “My time is at hand.” What had Christ said concerning Israel and Israel’s kingdom in between these two statements? Do you think that Judas was first a saint and then lost his salvation? What did Christ say about Judas in John 17:12? Read carefully the account of the Passover and the Last Supper in Matthew 26:1-75. What did the Lord say to His apostles about His table in the king­dom? Now read 1 Corinthians 11:1-34 concerning the Lord’s Supper. Until what time are believers to take the bread and cup? Mention the events that took place in Gethsemene. What did Christ say in Gethsemene concerning His Father’s will? What did Christ accomplish for the believer by doing His Father’s will (Hebrews 10:9-10)? Mention at least five Scriptures to prove that Christ was God’s foreordained sin bearer and not simply a religious martyr. What do we learn concerning the sacrifice of Christ in 1 Peter 1:18-20; Acts 4:26-28 and Acts 2:22-23? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: S. CHRIST AND LITTLE CHILDREN ======================================================================== Matthew 18:1-35, Matthew 19:1-30, Matthew 20:1-34 CHRIST AND LITTLE CHILDREN “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be con­verted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the king­dom of heaven.” Matthew 18:1-4. “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:14. “Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.” Matthew 19:13-15. Many Christian parents have been disturbed as to what the Bible teaches concerning the salvation of little children. Some theologians have taught that baptism by sprinkling superseded circumcision, and because circumcision was required for fellow­ship with God and His people (Genesis 17:14), and because babies eight days old were circumcised (Genesis 21:4), therefore the little child must thus be sprinkled to be saved. But such a doctrine is not taught in the Scriptures. Note 1 Timothy 2:4 concerning God’s will: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” And Matthew 18:14 : “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” In Romans 5:12-21, we read how sin and death came by Adam, and righteousness and eternal life by Jesus Christ. Surely a little child who dies before the age of accountability is not conscious of his spiritual responsibilities in the matter of receiving God’s remedy for sin any more than he is responsible for his in­herited sinful nature. If the child’s ruin is by Adam, his redemp­tion is by Christ. Some one may ask, “where does predestination come in?” 1 Timothy 2:4-6 answers that question. Then so many say, it would be a blessed thing if most people should die before they reach the age of responsibility. What do you say to this? TWO OR THREE GATHERED Let us read Matthew 18:20 : “For where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them.” And John 4:21 : “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” Surely we find here a radical change from the requirements under the Old Covenant. Read Exodus 25:22 : “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” When we get into Paul’s Epistles we read of the Church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. From the days of Moses until after Christ died on the cross the House of God was the temple at Jerusalem. But today the House of God is the Body of Christ. 1 Timothy 3:15 “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Note also: Ephesians 2:19, Ephesians 2:21-22 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citi­zens with the saints, and of the household of God: In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Since Christ revealed to Paul the truth concerning the Body of Christ no assembly-hall, or auditorium, has been called “the House of God” by the Holy Spirit. The House of God is made up of redeemed men and women, and is called the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 “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.” Romans 12:5 “So we, being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS We again mention the petition in the “Our Father” prayer, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” “For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15. Now read: Matthew 18:34-35 : “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Read first Matthew 18:21-22, where Christ told Peter to forgive those who sinned against him seventy times seven times. Then follows the story of the man who owed the king ten thousand talents and some other man owed this man one hundred pence. The man had nothing to pay so the King canceled his debt of ten thousand talents. That represents what the Jews owed their God. The sins of others against the Jews compared with their sins against God, was one hundred pence compared with ten thousand talents. They would not forgive their fellowmen the debt of one hundred pence while God was willing to forgive them all. Matthew 18:32-33. So his lord was wroth. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you do not forgive. Read with this story Luke 7:40-44 and Luke 7:47-48 : “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors.” “And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.” Again let us read: Acts 13:39 “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” And: Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” We do thank God that our forgiveness of others is not on the grounds of the law; but under grace, after God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven us all our sins and justified us from all things. THE RICH YOUNG RULER In Matthew 19:16-26, we have the record of a rich, young, moral, upright, religious ruler, who came to Jesus and asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eter­nal life?” Matthew 19:16. Remember Christ said, “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Matthew 8:20. They called Him a demon-possessed Samaritan and many other names. But here is a man with everything that should make him happy. He had kept the command­ments from his youth up. He was young. He was rich. He was a ruler. And yet to the humble Nazarene he came for a different kind of inheritance. Note 1 Peter 1:3-4 : “An inheritance uncorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away.” Note Christ’s reply and the young man’s predicament and de­cision: “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Matthew 19:21-22. Then the words of Christ in Matthew 19:23 : “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Today, in the reign of grace, we would not tell a rich man to first give up his riches and then follow Jesus, in order to re­ceive eternal life. Because the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23. God’s truth is expressed for this age in Romans 3:24 : “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Also in Romans 4:5 : “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for right­eousness.” It may be that great riches would keep the rich man from receiving the free gift. If he should receive Christ and become a spiritual and obedient child of God, he would not keep his riches while many of his fellow-saints were destitute and many missionaries were waiting for financial support. THE ELEVENTH HOUR LABORER As we noted the difference between the conditional petition in the “Our Father” prayer, and the forgiveness under grace, and the difference between the message of eternal life while Christ was on earth and later on, under Paul’s grace message, so we must interpret the laborers of Matthew 30 in the light of Pauline truth. Note: Matthew 20:1-16 : For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And-about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and what­soever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hir­ed about the eleventh hour, they receiv­ed every man a penny. But when the first came, they sup­posed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house. Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Whatever application we may make of this story in this day of grace, we must keep in mind Romans 4:4-5 : “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.” And 1 Corinthians 3:8-9 and 1 Corinthians 3:11, 1 Corinthians 3:14-15 : “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own re­ward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God, ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” And 2 Corinthians 5:10 : “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” In this day of grace, note Ephesians 2:8-10 : “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 ye are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” A sinner may be saved by the same grace, with the same Divine gift, at the first hour or at the eleventh hour. And note 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” But the Scriptures plainly teaches that redeemed sinners will receive different rewards for service THE APOSTLES’ REWARD IN THE KINGDOM Note in Matthew 20:20-21, the request made by the mother of James and John: “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand; and the other on the left, in Thy kingdom.” Matthew 20:21. Why did Christ reply to that ambitious mother “ye know not what ye ask.” Note Peter’s question and Christ’s reply in: Matthew 19:27-28 “Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have there­fore? 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.” The mother of James and John and also the twelve apostles did not understand that the Prophecy concerning Christ’s death and resurrection would first be fulfilled; that Christ would go to Calvary’s cross rather than to David’s throne. Some months later, even after His death and resurrection, they said, “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.” Luke 24:21. Then a few days thereafter they asked of Christ, “Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6. Inasmuch as Peter, James and John “understood none of these things” concerning Christ’s approaching death and resur­rection (Luke 18:32-34), we should not be surprised at the question of the mother of James and John. Within fifteen years from the day James’ mother asked that question, James was be­headed. Acts 12:2. Some years later Peter was to die as Christ had prophesied. Compare John 21:18-19 with 2 Peter 1:8-12 Matthew 20:22-23. “But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the bap­tism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able. And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father.” CHRIST ENTERS JERUSALEM Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all record what is often called, “Christ’s triumphant entry.” This was in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 : “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Therefore, what is prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 is fulfilled in Matthew 21:4-11. Note Matthew 21:6-8 “And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.” But it was not long after that entry that Jesus Christ said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out,” and above His head on the cross was written, “King of the Jews.” There He was wearing a crown, but it was made of thorns. The ass in the Bible speaks of meekness, humility and poverty. Remember the words of 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” But the real triumphant entry is recorded in: Revelation 19:11-12 and Revelation 19:16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew but He Himself.” “And He had on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” That nineteenth chapter of Revelation tells of Christ the conquering King. He is not there crowned with thorns, but with diadems. The white horse speaks of the victor. Christ will not be judged by the world the next time; but He will judge the world. Note John 5:22 : “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” “Which in His times He shall shew, Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” 1 Timothy 6:15. THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD It is in connection with the Parable of the Vineyard that Christ uttered the words of: Matthew 21:43 “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Before we study this parable, let us note several verses in Psalms 80:1-19 and Isaiah 5:1-30. Psalms 80:8, Psalms 80:11, Psalms 80:13-15 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and be­hold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. Isaiah 5:1, Isaiah 5:4 and Isaiah 5:7 Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vine­yard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold op­pression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Let us remember that Israel, in the days of Samuel, rejected Jehovah as King: “And when ye saw 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.” 1 Samuel 12:12. Then they rejected the Son of man as King. Note, Pilate presents Jesus to Israel as King: “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no King but Caesar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away.” John 19:14-16. Then remember the message of mercy to Israel and another presentation of the King in Acts 3:14-21 : But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 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. Repent ye therefore, and be con­verted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. And: Acts 5:29-32 : 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. But the rulers of Israel continued to reject their King. Then came the words of the Holy Spirit by Stephen and his murder: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: 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.” Acts 7:51-52. Now we quote: Matthew 21:33-43 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miser­ably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husband­men, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is be­come the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The king­dom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Note that the chief priests and Pharisees knew that Christ spoke the parable against them: Matthew 21:45 “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.” Now let us note Matthew 22:1-7, which should be studied with the Parable of the Vineyard. We quote Matthew 22:7 : “But when the King heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” In Matthew 23:38 Christ said: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” In Luke 21:20-22, Christ said, their house would be desolate when the armies surrounded Jerusalem. That would be the fulfillment of Matthew 22:7. Therefore ye learn that the judgment pronounced in Matthew 23:38 was delayed until more than 35 years after Christ spoke the words. It will be quite difficult to understand some of the messages in the first chapters of Acts unless we realize that Divine action in the matter of Israel’s judgment was deferred for some years. This will be seen by comparing Matthew 23:31-33 with Acts 3:25-26 and Acts 3:15 and Acts 3:17 : Matthew 23:31-33 “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?” Acts 3:25-26 “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” Acts 3:15 and Acts 3:17 “And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Compare the terrible, unmerciful denunciation of Israel in Mat­thew 23 with the Divine message of mercy in Acts 3:1-26. Whether or not you decide that it is another offer of the kingdom to Israel, you will certainly acknowledge that something has caused the Lord to change His attitude toward the “hypocrites,” “fools,” and “blind guides,” of Matthew 23:16-17, Matthew 23:19 and Matthew 23:23. Note Acts 3:25-26, a message of mercy to the murderers of the Prince of Life: “Ye are the children of the prophets.” “Unto you first.” Compare these statements with “ye are the children of murderers,” “Ye serpents,” of Matthew 23:31 and Matthew 23:33. Certainly there is no indication in Acts 3:12-26 that the kingdom is being taken away from Israel. Surely Israel’s house is not yet desolate in Acts 3:1-26 and Acts 5:1-42. Note Acts 5:31 : “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.” But what a change in Stephen’s message! Read Acts 7:51-52. In Matthew 23:1-3, we are taught plainly that Israel was very much under the law or Old Covenant, up to the time Christ died on the cross. Matthew 23:1-3 “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.” Let us note the place of the Gentiles at the time John the Baptist, Christ and the Twelve were preaching to Israel his message of baptism and repentance. Ephesians 2:11-12. “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 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.” Ephesians 4:18 “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.” 1 Corinthians 12:2 “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” The Gentiles are called a foolish nation, no people, and dogs “But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.” Romans 10:19. “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” Matthew 15:24-26. Now note what happened about thirty years later when the Jews thought that Paul led some Gentiles into the Jewish temple: Acts 21:28 “Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.” This verse and other Scriptures teach us something of the Jews’ feeling against the Gentiles. Note Acts 10:28 : “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 shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” Acts 11:1-5 : “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. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me.” We are sure that John the Baptist did not preach to Gentiles. He preached to Israel “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Note Paul’s message in: Acts 20:20-21 and Acts 20:24 : “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testi­fying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul calls himself a wise Master-builder who had laid a foundation. Now read: Ephesians 3:1-3 : “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.” Therefore, we must observe the Divine principle in 2 Timothy 2:15, if we would intelligently interpret, appropriate and apply the Word of God. Note: 2 Timothy 2:15 : “Study to skew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” QUESTIONS—LESSON TWENTY-EIGHT What did Christ say about little children? What do you think the Bible teaches concerning the salvation of children? What did Christ promise concerning two or more gathered in His name? What did He say to the woman at the well about worshipping God? What is understood by the expression, “the House of Israel,” “the House of God” before Israel was set aside, and the House of God during this present reign of grace? What is taught concerning the forgiveness of sins in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, in the story of the two creditors and the two debtors? What question did the rich young ruler ask Christ? Why did the ruler go away sorrowfully? Give in detail the parable of the labourers from the first hour to the eleventh hour, and the teaching of the Lord that they all receive the same pay. Who is to sit on the twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel, according to Matthew 19:28? Do you think the Apostle Paul will be there? If not, why not? Mention the request of the mother of James and John. What was the Lord’s answer? Mention Christ’s two baptisms and the significance of each of them. What Scripture was fulfilled when Christ rode into Jerusalem on the ass? What did the people cry? Read Revelation 19:6-20 and tell what Christ is to do when He comes on the white horse. In Isaiah 5:1-30 and Psalms 80:1-19 who did God call His vineyard? According to the Parable of the Vineyard, in Matthew 21:1-46, who did God send to Israel and what did Israel do with the Lord’s servants? What did the keepers of the vineyard do with the Heir? What was fulfilled concerning the stone and the builders? In what sense did God take the kingdom away from Israel and when was it taken away? In Matthew 23:1-39, we learned that Christ called Israel’s rulers a generation of vipers; in Acts 3:1-26 He called them the children of the prophets. Do you think that the kingdom had been taken from Israel in Acts 3:14-26? Compare Matthew 22:7 with Acts 3:17-21 and Acts 3:25-26. The murderers were not killed until after the period covered by the Book of Acts had ended. Their city was not destroyed. Did not God defer action in the matter of executing His judgment of Matthew 23:38-39? Compare the “first” of Mark 7:27. Acts 3:26, Acts 13:46 and Romans 1:16, and state God’s order in the Book of Acts with respect to Jews and Gen­tiles. Why to the Jew first after Christ’s denouncement in Matthew 23:38-39? According to Matthew 23:1-3, who sat in Moses’ seat? Why did Christ. tell His disciples to obey their instructions? What was the attitude of the religious Jews against the Gentiles in the matter of their salvation? At the time of Christ’s ministry on earth, what was the place of the Gentiles according to Ephesians 2:11-12? What were they called? According to Ephesians 3:1-3, what did Christ give to Paul for the Gen­tiles. Did Christ tell Paul to follow the instructions of those who sat in Moses’ seat? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: S. CREATION OF LIGHT, GENEALOGY OF ADAM THROUGH ABRAM ======================================================================== “AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT; AND THERE WAS LIGHT” Genesis 1:3 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 “For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord: and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Here we learn that the true and faithful servants of God preached the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s Book states plainly and positively that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; that sinners justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23 and Romans 5:1. Thus we see that men receive peace and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Note some other reasons why God’s true servants preach the Lord Jesus Christ: John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” 1 Peter 3:18 “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.” John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” God’s servants who preach Christ should live Christ. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” “GOD HATH SHINED IN OUR HEARTS.” Php 2:15-16 “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: Holding forth the Word of life.” When and how did God command the light to shine out of darkness? LET THERE BE LIGHT Genesis 1:3-5 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” Isaiah 45:12 “I have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” Isaiah 40:28 “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding.” CHRIST IN THE BEGINNING “In the beginning, God.” This Hebrew word “God” is “Elohim.” “Elohim” is the plural of Eloah”. “El” is the simple form. of the Hebrew word. “El” denotes strength—God—the—Strong One. Note some of the words where “El” is used: “Eli­jah”, “Elisha”, “Eli”, “Elizur”, “Elizabeth”, “Joel”, “Daniel” “Ezekiel”. “Elohim” is plural. Note: John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” Colossians 1:17 “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” John 17:24 “. . . That they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lowest Me before the foundation of the world.” Now we can understand the “let us” in the statement: Genesis 1:26 “And God (Elohim) said, Let US make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” The Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father. “He was in the form of God.” Php 2:5-6. He said, while here on earth: John 6:36 “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me: and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 10:28-30 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand . . . . . I and My Father are One.” “And God called the light, Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5. Note: “the evening and the morning were the first day.” This was the first day of God’s creative work in bringing cosmos, or order, out of chaos. But the question is: who created the chaos before God said, “let there be light?” Let us read carefully the first two verses of the Bible: Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Now we must note the difference between, “in the beginning,” of Genesis 1:1 and “the first day” of Genesis 1:5. How long was “the beginning” before “the first day?” We will never know until we get to heaven and God tells us that hundreds of thousands of years may have elapsed between “in the beginning” and “the first day” when God said, “let there be light.” The statement in the second verse might read, “the earth became without form and void.” Note: Isaiah 45:18 “For thus saith the Lord That created the heavens: God Himself That formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain (void).” Hebrews 11:3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” God’s original creation was not void, God’s original creation was made not out of something that already existed. Job 26:7 “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” “In the beginning, God.” God is infinite, eternal and self-existent. No person or power created God. God had no begin­ning. This is too much for finite human beings to reason out or comprehend. We accept this as Divine revelation and at the same time the most plausible and intelligent explanation of the origin of life. Acts 17:24-25 “God That made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands: Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” John 14:9 “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” Some years after His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John (the writer of The Revelation) and said to him: Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:18 “I am He That liveth, and was dead: and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Yes, by the Lord Jesus Christ were all things made and without Him was not anything made that was made. Inasmuch as there may have been many, many years between the original creation of Genesis 1:1 and the re-creation of Genesis 1:3-31, you can see why we prefer not to attempt to date from the beginning of the world and use the words “Anno Mundi, year of the world.” We can be rather accurate in using the words “Anno Homini,” the year of man. Let us read carefully: Genesis 5:3-32 “And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enos: And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. And Cainan lived seventy years, and he begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Again after the flood: Genesis 11:10-32 “These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begot Peleg: And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren: she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.” Genesis 12:4 “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him: and Lot went with him: And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” Genesis 17:24 “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” Genesis 25:7 “And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, a hundred threescore and fifteen years.” Genesis 25:20 “And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daugh­ter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.” Genesis 25:26 “And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel: and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.” Genesis 35:28 “And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.” Galatians 3:17 “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot dis­annul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” And from the Scriptures we have the following table: (A. H.—the year of man) Genesis 5:1-32; Genesis 6:1-22; Genesis 7:1-24; Genesis 8:1-22; Genesis 9:1-29; Genesis 10:1-32; Genesis 11:1-32 Born Died Adam ____________ 930 Seth _____________ 130 1042 Enos_____________235 1140 Cainan ___________ 325 1235 Mahalaleel ________ 395 1290 Jared_____________ 460 1422 Enoch ____________622 967 Methuselah ________ 687 1656 Lamech ___________ 874 1651 Noah _____________10562006 Shem _____________15582158 Eber ______________1723 2187 Peleg _____________ 1757 1996 Terah ____________1878 2083 Abram ____________2008 2183 Noah was 600 years old when the flood was on the earth. Genesis 7:6. And Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Genesis 9:29. Noah’s father, Lamech, was 168 years old when Adam’s son, Seth, died, in the year 1042 A. H. (year of man). Genesis 5:1-32. Noah’s son, Shem, (from whom Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, descended) was 98 years old when the flood was on the earth. Shem died 502 years after the flood. Genesis 11:10-11. Shem died in the year of man 2158, or about 1842 B. C. Abram was 75 years old in 2083 A. H. Genesis 12:4 (about 1917 B. C.). Abraham died when 175 years old (Genesis 25:7) therefore, about 1817 B. C. Note then, that although Abraham was the ninth generation from Shem (Genesis 11:10-29) Shem lived until Abraham was 150 years old. For many years they could have talked about the events before and during the flood; for Shem lived 98 years before the flood. QUESTIONS—LESSON TWO What is implied in the name “God” in Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:26? Quote Scriptures to prove that Christ is in the Godhead. What did Christ claim to be in John 14:6? In what two-fold sense did God command light to shine out of darkness? What is said about Christ in Colossians 1:17? What did Christ claim in John 17:5? According to Hebrews 11:3, out of what was the world framed? Explain the difference between the original creation and the first day of Genesis 1:5. In what form was Christ before He became Man? What is said about Christ in John 1:14? Mention seven men whose names have in them the Hebrew “El”. In John 10:28-30, what did Christ give to men? In John 10:28-30 and John 14:9, what did Christ claim for Himself? Who lives in the believer according to Galatians 2:20? What is the meaning of B. C.? Of A. D.? What is the meaning of A. M. and A. H.? In what year A. H. was the flood upon the earth? About what year B. C.? What happened to Enoch according to Genesis 5:21-25? Note that Methuselah died the year of the flood. What year? How old was Methuselah when he died? Jared? Noah? Adam? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: S. DECLARED RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A CAUSE, BY GRACE ======================================================================== DECLARED RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A CAUSE, BY GRACE By Pastor John C. O’Hair SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND? The believing sinner is justified freely by God’s grace; that is, he is declared righteous “without a cause”. Romans 3:24. “Without a cause by His grace”. Little wonder, after the glorious gospel of grace, is presented, beginning with these words of Romans 3:24, “being justified freely” (or declared righteous without a cause) by His grace, through the re­demption that is in Christ Jesus”, and on to the close of the fifth chapter of Romans, that the question follows, “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” It was because the human race, from the days of Adam, had continued in sin, without any human cure, or natural remedy, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, was made to abound. Abound­ing grace is because of abounding sin. Therefore, the ques­tion, shall the justified believer continue to live in sin because of the more abundant Divine grace; or sin to make grace abound? The answer is, “Gods forbid”. You will note that we have changed the reading from “jus­tified freely by His grace”, to “declared righteous without a cause, by His grace.” “Without a cause.” “Without a cause.” The Hebrew word is “chinnam”. The Greek word is “dorean”. The word is sometimes translated “freely”, sometimes, “for nought”, sometimes, “without a cause.” It comes from the verb meaning, to bestow gratuitously. In Genesis 29:15 La­ban tells Jacob that he is not to serve him “for nought”; that is, wholly without any wages. This is the word translated in Psalms 69:4, “without a cause”; “that hated me without a cause”. Perhaps you remember the question which Satan put to God, concerning God’s righteous servant Job, “doth Job fear God for nought; that is without a cause, or without pay?” No; Job was a very prosperous man. The word is trans­lated “without a cause” in Lamentations 3:52, Job 9:17, ­Ezekiel 14:23, Psalms 35:7, Proverbs 1:11, and Proverbs 24:28. We quote Proverbs 24:28 : “Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.” It is translated “freely” in Numbers 11:5. In the Book of Matthew, the Greek word “doron” is trans­lated “gift” eight times. The word used by Christ in offer­ing to give to the woman at the well in Samaria the water of salvation is “dorea”. The word “dorean” used in the Scrip­ture, “being declared righteous without a cause” is trans­lated freely in Revelation 21:6 and Revelation 22:17, which reads: “I will give unto Him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. “And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely,” Paul refused to permit the Corinthians to pay him for preach­ing to them the gospel. The word “dorean” is translated “freely” in 2 Corinthians 11:17. We are told in very plain language, in Ephesians 2:8, that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of our­selves. Then are added these words: “It is the gift (doron) of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” “Doron” ex­cludes any kind of work; so that all boasting must be excluded and all glory go to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God de­sires the redeemed sinner to say with Paul, “thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. (dorea)”. Messengers of the unmixed grace of God are few and far between, and what a time they do have trying to convince sinners that eternal life is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ; that salvation is the gift of God, without the require­ment of a single work, without any striving or struggling, without any feeling of worthiness, without any religious cere­mony. Perhaps it will help some to see this blessed truth of grace if they will compare John 15:25 with the Scripture “declared righteous without a cause”. We quote John 15:25 : “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is writ­ten in their law, They hated Me without a cause”. Christ was the greatest benefactor that ever ministered unto suffering humanity. Surely He was hated without a cause. He graciously permitted Himself to be hated. The wages of sin is death. He died, but He did not sin. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” “Christ knew no sin.” He was wholly without sin. In that sense He died without a cause. But in the shadow of the cross that meant to Him cruel suf­fering, He cried; “for this cause came I unto this hour.” He came to die, to save others from the wages of sin. On the cross the Lord of glory was made what He was not: He was made sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ’s work was that God might be just and the justifier of all who believe in Christ. Romans 3:25-26. As Christ was hated without a cause (dorean), so believing sinners are declared righteous without a cause (dorean). As we read the remaining verses of the third chapter of Romans and then pass on to the fourth and fifth chapters of Romans we learn that the sinner is made righteous by God with God’s own righteousness, “without works” and without religion, “without the deeds of the law”, Romans 3:28, Romans 4:3-4; all on the basis of the substitutionary redemp­tive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All boasting is excluded by the law of faith. Romans 3:27. Then on into the sixth chapter of Romans we pass, and learn that the believer has died with Christ, has been buried with Christ, and, has been raised with Christ to walk-in newness of life; that he is not under the law, but under grace. But some would also put him under the water. For what? They hardly know. Some say the water ceremony is efficacious and necessary to give the believer his newness of life. But this makes the other statements untrue, declared righteous “without a cause”, “without works”. The water ceremony is work. Others say; “no, I am a grace preacher” Romans 6:3 is spiritual baptism, but of course, Romans 6:4 is water baptism. Whatever that baptism is, it is meritorious, and is the cause that produces the effect; placing the believer in Christ, dead, buried and raised to walk in newness of life. If the water is meritorious in Romans 6:4, then the believer is not declared righteous “without a cause” or “without works”. If the believer’s salvation is wholly by grace, and if he, by grace alone, by a Divine baptism not made with hands, is brought to the newness of life, then there is no water baptism in Romans 6:4; for the believer is buried and raised by the same baptism that brings him to death in Christ and with Christ. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” God forbid that we should either teach this, or try to prove abounding grace by continuing in sin. On the contrary, the believer should prove by a life of righteousness, peace and joy, that the same abundant grace that saved him from the wages or penalty of sin is altogether sufficient to give victory over sinful practices. “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 the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:11-13. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that yet always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8. The unbeliever is without Christ and is dead in sins. The believer is in Christ and is dead to sin. “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2. The Divine power of the omnipotent God, that raised Christ from the dead is given to us. Ephesians 1:19. God is the God of all grace. God is faithful who will not, suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but with every temptation will make a way of escape. “My grace is sufficient”, are the words of the risen Christ: God’s grace and power are altogether sufficient for the be­liever to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: S. DID THE CHURCH BEGIN WITH PENTECOST OF ACT_2:1-47? ======================================================================== DID THE CHURCH BEGIN WITH PENTECOST OF Acts 2:1-47? If one believes that the Body of Christ began historically with the advent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he is given the right hand of fellowship by the “regular” Fundamentalists. If one believes that the Body of Christ began after the close of the “Acts” period, the “regulars” brand him as an “ultradis­pensationalist” and from their camp goes up the cry “Bullingerism.” If one dis­agrees with both of these groups, he re­ceives the anathema from both directions, Of course all of these groups believe that the Body of Christ was purposed by God before the foundation of the world and was the secret purpose of God until Christ made known the secret to the apostle Paul. There are some Christians who think they can prove that the Church of God began with John the Baptist. They sup­port their claim with 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.” They claim this “Kingdom of God” was the Body of Christ, or the New Tes­tament Church. But the great majority of Christians have definitely fixed Pentecost of Acts Two as the birthday of the Church, and most of them are not only dogmatically opposed to any fellow-believers, who fix that time of beginning later on, but they ungraciously ridicule, condemn and mal­ign them. One of their favorite expres­sions is “divisive teaching.” Many of these condemning brethren, who teach “Premillennialism,” “Eternal Security” and “The Postponement of the Kingdom,” know full well that some spiritual saints consider these doctrines “divisive” and even worse, but they con­tinue to teach what they believe. We give the Scriptures that are gener­ally used to prove that the Church of God of Acts 2:1-47 and the Body of Christ of Ephesians 3:6 are one and the same Church, the New Testament Church which began on the day of Pentecost with Peter and the Eleven and their fellow-disciples, the one hundred and twenty of Acts 1:15. 1 Corinthians 12:13 “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.” Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:47 “Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” Galatians 1:13 and Galatians 1:22 “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it.” “And was unknown by face to the churches of Judaea which were in Christ.” Also 1 Corinthians 15:9 and Php 3:6. Acts 9:4 “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Acts 11:18 “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 15:14 “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” Ephesians 2:20 “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner Stone.” Ephesians 2:16 “And that He might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Inasmuch as the twelve apostles re­ceived Holy Spirit baptism on the day of Pentecost, and inasmuch as the Church of God is composed of Jews and Gentiles baptized by the Holy Spirit into one Body, the Twelve, and their fellow-dis­ciples, must have been baptized into the Body on the day of Pentecost and they must have been the first members of the New Testament Church, the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28), “the Joint-Body” of Ephesians 3:6. When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter described the phenomena as a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29 : “And it shall come to pass afterward that I shall pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Now note Peter’s words in Acts 2:17 : “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Observe that Peter specially applied the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy to “the last days.” To whose last days? To Israel’s last days. The spiritual, intel­ligent student, who carefully studies the Prophecy of Joel, knows that Joel wrote of Israel’s tribulation and kingdom and God’s wrath upon the Gentiles. And yet the brethren, who have the Body of Christ begin on the day of Pentecost, tell us that at that time God’s dispensation of grace and blessing for both Israel and the Gen­tiles began. If the Body of Christ began on an Israelitish feast day, with the fulfillment of Israel’s prophecy concerning Israel’s “last days,” we must decide that the “first days” of the Body were the “last days” of Israel, that Israel and the Body are one and the same and that Paul was either deluded, or he deliberately falsi­fied when he wrote in Colossians 1:24-26 and Ephesians 3:3-11, that Joel knew nothing, and said nothing, about the dispensation of the grace of God and the Mystery, the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6. Then note Acts 2:45 : “And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” And Acts 4:34-35 : “Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices 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.” Was this an Israelitish kingdom program or part of the Lord’s program for the Body described in Ephesians? Perhaps you have heard the evasive an­swers or uncertain explanations of those who are asked, why, if they are sure that the Body of Christ began on the day of Pentecost, they do not preach “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?” Acts 2:38. We ask them why they do not sell all their property and give their money to their religious lead­ers; and why they do not teach that be­lievers today receive the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy? If we to­day receive Holy Spirit baptism in ful­fillment of Joel’s prophecy, then there is no truth to Paul’s statement in Ephesians 3:1-11. THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH But it certainly does say that “the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” While the word Church, in Acts 2:47, is missing in all of the original texts, yet Acts 8:1 speaks of “the Church at Jerusalem.” Paul, in Galatians 1:22, speaks of the Churches in Judea. Before Paul was saved he per­secuted “the Church of God,” therefore, “the Church of God” existed before Saul was converted. At the time of Saul’s con­version the Lord asked, “why persecutest thou ME?” Inasmuch as Saul was per­secuting the Lord’s disciples they must have been a part of Christ and therefore members of His Body. So reason those who prove that the Body of Christ began at Pentecost. By the same argument they could prove that the Kingdom of Matthew 25:3-41 is the Body of Christ. Note Matthew 25:40 : “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inas­much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto ME,” which has no reference to the Body of Christ. This of course inval­idates the argument that “why persecut­est thou ME?” proves that the Body existed. But how about Acts 5:14 : “And be­lievers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” These believers were added to the Lord. Does this not prove that they were joined to the Lord in the same union that is described in Ephesians 5:31-32? To be sure Galatians 1:13 proves that the Church of God began before Saul was converted. This leads us to the question: IS THE CHURCH OF GOD AND THE BODY OF CHRIST ONE AND THE SAME? “The Church of the living God,” in 1 Timothy 3:15-16, is described as the ground and the pillar of the truth in con­nection with a great mystery. This estab­lishes this Church of God as identical with the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6. There­fore “the Body of Christ” is “the Church of God”; but “the Church of God” is not necessarily “the Body of Christ.” Now for the proof of this statement. It is most unfortunate that we have such a word in our vocabulary as “church”; for its meaning is vague, and it is a mistrans­lation of the Greek word. The word “church” is found in the New Testament Scriptures about 80 times in the singular and about 35 times in the plural. With one single exception the Greek word is “ecclesia,” or “ekklesia.” Why was this word translated “Church” by the trans­lators? We may never know until we see them and ask them. “Church” is from “Kurios,” meaning “the Lord” “Eccle­sia” does not mean “the Lord.” The word is from “Ek”, “from” or “out of”. “Kaleo”, “call.” “Ecclesia”, “called out.” The Church is “the Called Out.” Paul persecuted “the called out of God.” This word “ecclesia” is found three times in Acts 19:32-41, and is there translated three times “assembly.” You join with me in a “Why.” Why did the translators speak of the “ecclesia” of ungodly heathen in Acts 19:32 as “an assembly” and then translate the “eccle­sia” of saints as “the Church?” Nobody knows, but it certainly has brought much confusion into the Christian camps. But if we are to learn the difference between the Body of Christ and other assemblies, we must forget the word C-H-U-R-C-H. This word “ecclesia” is found a num­ber of times in the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament Scrip­tures. Note the word in Nehemiah 13:1. It is there translated “the congregation of God.” In the Greek it is “the ecclesia of God.” By reading Nehemiah you will learn that Saul of Tarsus was not the first of the Lord’s enemies to persecute “the Church of God.” We say to you very frankly that you must forget the word “church” in the Bible, if you want to know the Bible Truth concerning the Body of Christ. But what about Ephesians 2:16 and Ephesians 2:20, considered with the fact that Peter’s mouth was not only chosen by the Lord for the message on the day of Pentecost, but also to first preach to Gentiles (Acts 15:7). Consider this with Matthew 16:16-19 : “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar­jona: for flesh and blood hath not re­vealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the king­dom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Did not Peter use one key on the day of Pentecost in preaching to Jews and the other key in the tenth of Acts, when he preached to the Gentiles, the household of Cornelius? Most Christians believe this. But were the keys to the kingdom of heaven used by Peter to inaugurate the dispensation of the grace of God of Ephesians 3:1-2? Cornelius and his rela­tives received the Holy Spirit while Peter was preaching to them. The argument is that they must have been then and there baptized by the Holy Spirit into the same Body with the twelve apostles and the thousands of Jews who were saved before Peter preached to Cornelius? It is true that Peter declared that God used his mouth first to preach to Gentiles. Acts 15:7. It is true that Peter declared that God began with Cornelius to gather a people from the Gentiles. But Peter declared that both were in fulfillment of prophecy. Now note Ephesians 3:1-3 : “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).” Just how are we to understand Peter’s words in Acts 15:7 in the light of Paul’s words in Romans 11:15, 1 Timothy 2:6-7, 2 Timothy 1:11, and 2 Timothy 4:17. First note Peter’s words: “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. In Romans 11:13 Paul said, “I am the apostle of the Gentiles.” In Romans 11:11 Paul declared that he was sent to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. Peter was very careful to see that Israel was not provoked to jealousy, so careful, in fact, that he would not eat with Chris­tian Gentiles when Jews were around. Galatians 2:11-14. Peter agreed to con­fine his testimony to Jews. Galatians 2:9. Now note this most important statement marking a radical change in God’s deal­ings with Israel and the Gentiles. “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. “Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles, in faith and verity.” 1 Timothy 2:6-7. “Whereunto I am appointed a preach­er, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” 2 Timothy 1:11. “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:17. Then we have to reconcile Acts 15:7, with 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. This leads us to ask this question, “Were Peter’s keys used to inaugurate the dispensation of the grace of God and the dispensation of the mystery for Gen­tiles?” If so, we must conclude that Paul was chosen to perpetuate the ministry of Peter and the Eleven. But we learn in the study of Paul’s Epistles that this is contrary to fact. Note again Galatians 2:7 : “BUT CONTRARIWISE, WHEN THEY SAW THAT THE GOSPEL OF THE UNCIRCUMCISION WAS COMMITTED UN­TO ME, AS THE GOSPEL OF THE CIRCUMCISION WAS UNTO PETER.” This gospel of the circumcision was committed to Peter after the resurrection of Christ and is not only quite different from the gospel of the uncircumcision, which Christ committed to Paul, but alto­gether different from the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles. The utter confusion of the leaders among Funda­mentalists as to Pentecost and the Church of the Mystery is reflected in these con­tradictory statements of their outstand­ing champion. We quote from two or three of his sev­eral books. In one of his books, in re­ferring to the Pauline distinctive mes­sage, he wrote - “It is of vast importance that every child of God be instructed as to its true character.” Again he wrote, “The mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ was never made known in Old Testa­ment times, nor yet when our Lord was on earth. The Divine method of making it known was by a special revelation to the Apostle Paul, committed to him to pass on to saints.” Again, “To the Epistles of Paul ALONE do we turn for the revelation of the mystery.” “It was a special revelation given not to the Twelve, but TO PAUL ALONE, as the apostle of the new dispensation.” “How earnest was the Apostle (Paul) in seeking to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth.” So far so good. Wonderful statement of facts, concerning the preciousness of the Pauline distinctive gospel and minis­try. It should be made known. God says so in Ephesians 3:9. Paul was “the apos­tle of the new dispensation.” But what confusion the brother has wrought by his contradictory statements in his late book. He there writes, “ACCORDING TO GOD, THE NEW DIS­PENSATION, THAT IN WHICH WE LIVE, THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD, OTHERWISE CALLED THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY, BEGAN THE MOMENT THE SPIRIT DESCENDED AT PENTECOST.” And now note another of his state­ments: “ONLY WHEN A NEW REVELATION FROM GOD IS GIVEN DOES A DISPEN­SATION CHANGE.” When does a dispensation change? With a revelation. Who received the rev­elation? If Paul was “the apostle of the new dispensation,” and the Body mystery was not revealed to any of the Twelve, only to Paul, and the new dispensation began with the revelation, how did the dispensation begin with Peter and Pente­cost ? Again the brother states in the same book: Paul received the revelation concerning the Body and the new dispensation in Acts 9:1-43 when the Lord said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ?” Then he makes two more contradictory statements. He writes that Peter got the revelation of the mystery, in Acts 10:1-48, when Peter received the vision authoriz­ing him to go to Cornelius. That was several years after Saul’s experience. Then the confused writer states, “John as an apostle of Jesus Christ received the revelation of the mystery even before the Apostle Paul did.” Truly you have never heard of greater confusion. Yet there are multitudes who follow this man of God in his contradic­tions and utter confusion, as well as in his abuse and condemnation of those who try to lead his followers from such faulty dispensationalism. It requires grace, humility, and cour­age, after you have taught error so long, to confess your blunders. It seems to be less humiliating to try to cover up. But here is a case where that cannot be done with Bereans. Let us compare Colossians 1:24-26 with Peter’s statement in Acts 3:24 and Acts 5:31. Colossians 1:24-26 “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.” Acts 3:24 and Acts 5:31 “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” “Jesus hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give re­pentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Take a few moments and prayerfully intelligently compare Jesus exalted in Acts 5:31 with His exaltation as Head of His Body in Ephesians 1:20-23. “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 1:20-23. Paul very definitely declared that he received the dispensation of God for a specific purpose and that purpose was to add to the law and the prophets and the confirmation ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, to complete the Word of God with the Mystery which Paul received by revelation from Jesus Christ. This Mystery, or Divine Secret, was to complete the Word of God. It has truly been called “the Capstone of Truth.” It was God’s own Secret, His own eternal purpose, purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. God inten­tionally withheld any knowledge of this special truth from any and all of His servants and witnesses until His own good time arrived to have His Son reveal it to Paul. It was not made known to the sons of men in other ages. Therefore, Moses and Samuel and those that followed after, have (not) likewise foretold these days. PAUL AND PETER How different concerning the Divine program of Acts 3:19-24. “Spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:21, It is a great blunder to confuse the kingdom program of Peter with the Joint “Body” in Paul’s messages. Now another comparison of Paul’s statement with Peter’s. Ephesians 3:1-11 “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 was given me to you-ward: How that by revela­tion He made known unto me the mystery; (as I said afore in few words, Whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same Body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the ef­fectual working of His power. 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; And to make all men see what is the 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 the heavenlies might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Acts 15:13-18 “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.” Galatians 2:9-12 “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. Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 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.” After you have read of Peter’s conduct in Galatians 2:9-12 answer whether or not you think the Lord gave to Peter the gospel of the grace of God for Gentiles! In Ephesians 3:1-11 and Colossians 1:24-26 we find “the Mystery”, which Christ revealed to Paul centuries after it had been hidden from Israel’s prophets. Before the risen Lord revealed “the Mys­tery” to Paul, Peter was as ignorant of that Divine truth as were Israel’s Old Tes­tament prophets. What Amos foretold in Amos 9:11-15, (Acts 15:13-17) had not one thing to do with “the Church of the Mystery.” Amos was wholly ignorant and silent concerning the truth of Ephe­sians 3:1-11. Note Ephesians 3:11, “God’s eternal purpose in Christ.” This eternal purpose of God was. altogether different from Israel’s kingdom and kingdom salvation promised the Gentiles. Because there is no hint or trace of “the Mystery” or the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6, in any former inspired writings, the Apostle Paul calls this particular truth “the Unsearchable Riches for Gentiles.” “Unsearchable” means “untraceable” or “unprophesied.” So once again we see that Israel’s kingdom program was prophesied; but that God’s “grace” dis­pensation and “Body” program was not prophesied. Therefore the visitation of Gentiles mentioned in Acts 15:13-17, was different from Ephesians 3:5-6. In declaring the program of Acts 15:13-18, James and Peter affirm “and to this agree the words of the prophets.” This has special reference to Amos 9:11-15. When the Holy Spirit moved upon Amos to write the prophecy of chapter nine He did not have in mind one thought concerning the Joint-Body, but the kingdom of heaven, which Peter and his fellow-apostles proclaimed. Do not forget Galatians 2:7 and the fact that Christ committed this “circumcision” gospel to Peter after His resurrection. We learn, in Acts 2:14-17, that the Holy Spirit came in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy concerning Israel’s last days or “kingdom” days. In Acts 2:27-33, we learn that Christ was raised from the dead to take David’s throne in fulfillment of King David’s prophecy. We learn of the prophesied Kingdom days in Acts 3:19-21. We learned in Acts 5:29-32 that God raised Christ from the dead to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel. We learned that Peter preached to Cornelius and his household concern­ing Jesus of Nazareth, the Word sent unto the children of Israel; that Cornelius loved Israel, and was seeking the King­dom of God. We learned that the Lord Jesus gave to Peter the gospel of the circumcision. Note what Peter preached to Cornelius “But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness is ac­cepted with Him.” Compare and contrast Romans 4:4-5 : “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.” Then we learned that after Peter preached to Cornelius the twelve apostles were reduced to eleven apostles by the death of James. Then any record of the acts of the Eleven in the Book of Acts ceases, except as they have dealings with Paul. In conference with him they agreed to go to the Jews. Galatians 2:9. GOD CHANGED HIS PROGRAM In the first nine chapters of Acts we find the residue of Israelites fulfilling Amos 9:12, by seeking after the Lord. In those chapters we find no message ad­dressed to Gentiles. Then it is admitted by most Christians that Peter used the key of the kingdom to let in Cornelius the Gentile. Those Gentiles were seeking the Lord in fulfillment of Amos 9:12. In the ministry of reconciliation after Israel was set aside God sought the Gentiles. After the number of the apostles ceased to be “twelve” God began a new Divine movement and the Israelitish Kingdom of Heaven was postponed. So in the first ten chapters of Acts we have a suggestion of what God’s Divine program will be when the Lord comes to be King on David’s throne. It has been thought by some men of God that Cornelius and the centurion of Luke 7:1-8, were one and the same. No one can prove this, but note Luke 7:4-5 : “That he was worthy for whom He should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.” Now note Acts 10:22 : “And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nations of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into this house, and to hear words of thee.” Whether or not they were different or one and the same we learn in the study of the Four Gospels and the Book of Acts this interesting fact: so far as there is any record in the Scriptures, the Roman centurion of Luke 7:1-50 and Matthew 8:1-34 is the only Gentile man to whom Christ on earth gave a kingdom blessing. Remem­ber our words, “so far as the record is concerned.” So far as the record in Acts is con­cerned the household of Cornelius is the only company of Gentiles to whom any of the twelve preached. After that the Jeru­salem pillars agreed to go to Jews. Gala­tians 2:9. Then the first Gentile to whom Paul preached, according to the “Acts” rec­ord, was a Roman official by the name of “Paulus” (Acts 13:6-14) and Saul then became “Paulus” or “Paul.” Because of the blindness of an unbelieving Jew, Paulus believed and was saved. Then Paul was sent to preach salvation to the Gen­tiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. Peter never preached salvation to Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. The Lord Jesus gave the so-called “great commission” of Matthew 28:19-20, to the Twelve. They were given the gospel of the circumcision. They agreed to go to Israel. So we ask what this com­mission had to do with the Truth of Romans 11:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:18? A new commission was given when God sent blindness upon Israel. May the Holy Spirit anoint our eyes to know the differ­ence between Peter’s message of “repent­ance and restitution” before God’s judg­ment fell upon Israel and Paul’s “recon­ciliation” message after the truth of Romans 11:15. “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. “AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HATH RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, AND HATH GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION.” 2 Corinthians 5:18. It is ridiculous, in the light of Gala­tians 1:11-17, Galatians 2:1-15, Romans 11:11-30 and Ephesians 3:1-11, to teach that Paul perpetuated the ministry, message, and program which Christ committed to the Twelve. THE TRANSFER OF CHURCHES In the Church of Christ we hear of “Amillenarians,” “Postmillenarians,” “Pre-Tribulation Premillenarians,” and “Post-Tribulation Premillenarians.” But whether a “Post” or a “Pre,” all Chris­tians are dispensationalists. The Premil­lenarians may have a few more dispensations than the others but the Postmille­narians divide God’s spiritual programs into “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament.” They invariably start off with the great blunder of teaching that the Old Testament (Covenant) began with the first chapter of Genesis, instead of with the twentieth chapter of Exodus, 2500 years later. God made a new Cove­nant with Israel in Exodus 20:1-26. It became “old” after Christ died. The Postmille­narians do not agree as to when the New Testament dispensation began. Most of them say, on the day of Pentecost; but many say, in the Book of Matthew. But they all agree that at some definite or indefinite time, the living saints under the Old Covenant became saints under the New Covenant. Therefore there was a transfer from the Old Testament Church into the New Testament Church. The so-called “Ultra-dispensational Premillenarians teach that the saints, who were alive at the close of the “Acts” period, became members of the Body of Christ, which they teach had its historic beginning after Paul reached Rome. Vir­tually one hundred per cent of them teach that the Bride of Christ is Israel, or Israelitish. They claim, of course, that the Body of Romans 12:4-5 is not identi­fied with the Body of Ephesians 3:6. But the point is, they teach the transfer of Churches. But because of Matthew 19:28 most of them doubt if the twelve apostles ever became members of the Church of the Mystery. Virtually all of the Premillenarians in the “regular” camp teach that while Jesus of Nazareth was on earth, the Body did not exist, except in the predestinated purpose of God. They know that during the earthly ministry of Christ, many Jews were saved and received kingdom baptism into the kingdom. Their teaching is that these “Kingdom of Heaven” saints be­came “Church” saints, or members of Christ’s Body, on the day of Pentecost. They at least claim this for the one hun­dred and twenty of Acts 1:15; although they say nothing about the great number of other Jews and the company of saved Samaritans mentioned in John 4:39 and John 4:41. But the point is, they believe in the transfer either from “the Kingdom” to “the Church,” or from the Old Church to the New Church. All Christians believe in a transfer, whether they begin the Body in Matthew or with John 20:1-31, Acts 2:1-47, Acts 7:1-60, Acts 28:1-31, or any other chapter of Acts. What do you believe? Be a Berean and remember 1 John 2:27, that the Holy Spirit is the only infallible teacher. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: S. DIFFERENT GOSPELS ======================================================================== DIFFERENT GOSPELS No intelligent student of the Scriptures believes, or teaches, that there is only one gospel in the Scriptures; but all such stu­dents should agree that there is only one gospel by which sinners are saved in this day of grace, the gospel of the grace of God, which is called in Ephesians 1:13, “the gospel of your salvation.” No one has ever been saved except on the grounds of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But now let us compare 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 with two other portions of Scripture, namely, Luke 9:1-6 and Luke 18:31-34. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “MOREOVER, BRETHREN, I DECLARE UNTO YOU THE GOSPEL WHICH I PREACHED UNTO YOU, WHICH ALSO YE HAVE RECEIVED, AND WHEREIN YE STAND; BY WHICH ALSO YE ARE SAVED, IF YOU KEEP IN MEMORY WHAT 1. PREACHED UNTO YOU, UN­LESS YE HAVE BELIEVED IN VAIN. FOR I DELIVERED UNTO YOU FIRST OF ALL THAT WHICH I ALSO RECEIVED, HOW THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS AC­CORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES; AND THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY ACCORD­ING TO THE SCRIPTURES.” Luke 9:1-6 “Then He called His twelve disciples to­gether, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And He said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.” Luke 18:31-34 “Then He took unto Him the Twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusa­lem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spite­fully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death: and the third day He shall rise again. And they un­derstood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” Here we learn that the gospel by which we are saved is the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins, that He was buried and that He was raised again. We learn that all of this was “ac­cording to the Scriptures.” Note how this is stated in Acts 13:29-30 : “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead.” This is the gospel by which we are saved. Presently we shall consider Ephesians 6:19-20 : “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known “THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that there­in I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.’ Here we learn that Paul was in prison at Rome for “THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL.” We know that when Paul mentions “the mystery” he specifically tells us that it is called “the mystery” because the truth was not “according to the Scriptures,” not a spiritual message or program that was in fulfillment of prophecy. At once then we see that there is a difference between, “the gospel by which we are saved,” in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, and “the mystery of the gos­pel”. Paul was not in prison for preach­ing 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, but for. “the mystery” of the gospel. But now let us look into Luke 18:31-34 and Luke 9:1-6. We learn in Luke 18:1-43 that when the Lord Jesus told the twelve apostles in advance the truth of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “the gospel by which we are saved”, they understood none of those things. That truth was hid from them. Peter even said “Be it far from Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee.” Matthew 16:22. Most assuredly, if this Divine Truth was hid from them and they did not understand, they were not preaching it to others. They were not preaching the gospel by which we are saved. This we can learn by studying every line in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But note Luke 9:6 : “And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and heal­ing every where.” For two or three years the Twelve preached the gospel, while they com­panied together all the time that the Lord Jesus Christ went in and out among them. Acts 1:21. What gospel did they preach? They preached, “Repent: for the King­dom of Heaven is at hand”; the King­dom gospel.” Matthew 3:2­ - Matthew 4:17 - Matthew 10:7 - Matthew 4:23. Note Matthew 9:35 : “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their syna­gogues, and preaching THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, and healing every sick­ness and every disease among the people. “ Let us always keep in mind that while the Lord Jesus was on earth, God was carrying on a two-fold program, in that Christ was offering salvation to individ­ual Israelites and presenting the prophe­sied Kingdom to the Nation Israel. There­fore, in “the gospel of the Kingdom”, the nation Israel was always in view, as was David’s throne. PAUL’S MY GOSPEL Now by way of comparison, note Romans 16:25-26 - “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to MY GOSPEL, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” To these Romans the Apostle Paul wrote: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inas­much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13. When the Lord Jesus told His twelve messengers to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, He specifically instructed them, “go not into the way of the Gen­tiles;” “go to Israel;” Matthew 10:5-8. Paul also wrote to the Romans: “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 all members one of an­other.” Romans 12:4-5. He wrote in Romans 10:12 and in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that things had been very much changed since Christ was on earth; that there was now no difference between Israel and the Gentiles, but that all Jews and Gentiles who believed the gospel were baptized into one Body and were joined thus to Christ and to one another. Then in Romans 16:25-26 he wrote that these Gentile members of the Body were to be established “ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL”; “according to the revelation of the mystery.” They were not to be established by “the gospel of the Kingdom”, although every member of the Body of Christ should be informed concerning “the gospel of the Kingdom” and know when and how this gospel fits into the plan and program of God. Was Paul presumptuous or conceited or. deluded when he called the gospel “MY GOSPEL?” Romans 16:25 - Romans 2:16 - 2 Timothy 2:8. Why did he not call it “our gospel?” Perhaps Galatians 2:6-7 will help us to answer this ques­tion. We quote Galatians 2:7 : “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel OF the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel OF the circumcision was unto Peter.” Then note 1 Timothy 1:11 : “The glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to MY TRUST.” Then note again 2 Timothy 1:9-11 : “ 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 is now 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: WHEREUNTO I AM APPOINTED A PREACHER, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. “ This grace was given in Christ before Adam was created and made efficacious by the death and resurrection of Christ. Then Paul adds: “WHEREUNTO I (PAUL) AM APPOINT­ED A PREACHER, AND AN APOSTLE, AND A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES.” (2 Timothy 1:11.) THE GOSPEL FOR SAINTS The Greek word translated “gospel” means “good news”. There are different aspects of the gospel. We have quoted from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 the good news by which believing, sinners are saved from the penalty of sin, from the wrath to come. Surely every unsaved per­son should. hurry with all speed to Cal­vary, receive Christ, the forgiveness of sins. Divine righteousness and eternal life, and be at peace with God. Then when we learn that more than ninety per cent of the instructions in the Epistles of Peter, John, James and Paul, instruct the saints how to appreciate the blessings of the Lord, how to enjoy sal­vation, and how to live to please the Lord, we should know that all of these messages contain the gospel, or good news, for the saints. Note Ephesians 1:3 : “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heaven­lies in Christ.” The redeemed sinner is blessed with all spiritual blessings. Every single spiritual blessing and benefit that is available in Christ for the believer in Christ, is a part of the gospel. So let us not be foolish enough to say that there is only one gospel and only one as­pect of that gospel. THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL Now note Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:8-9 and in 2 Timothy 1:8 : “REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST OF THE SEED OF DAVID WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL: WHEREIN I SUFFER TROUBLE, AS AN EVIL DOER, EVEN UNTO BONDS; BUT THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT BOUND.” “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor, of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the af­flictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” Read Ephesians 6:19-20 : “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL, For which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Note Colossians 4:3-4 : “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” Why did Paul suffer as an evildoer? For the gospel. For what gospel? He said, “MY GOSPEL”. All of the apostles were preaching 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Paul was not referring to that. When Paul wrote Timothy to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, he was not referring to “the gospel of the king­dom”, or merely to the gospel of salva­tion of Ephesians 1:13. No, Paul was re­ferring to the Divine truth designated “the mystery.” This truth was not revealed by Christ to the twelve apostles. What they knew of the mystery they first learned from Paul. If you will refer to the Greek in 2 Timothy 1:12, you will learn that Paul called it “MY DEPOSIT.” God had kept this glorious secret hid from all of Israel’s servants and prophets. Christ had kept it hid from the Twelve. But later on He revealed it to Paul to complete the Word of God. Note Colossians 1:24-26 : “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.” Always keep in mind that “the mys­tery” is peculiarly Gentilish truth. From the Roman jail Paul urged his fellow Body-members to pray for an open mouth and for open doors for the proclamation of this glorious truth. The Lord is still waiting for open mouths and open doors. How about your mouth? “Having made known unto us the mys­tery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Him­self.” “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.” Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 1:17-18. God also wants us to pray that saints may receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand the mystery of His will: “And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ.” “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:9 and Ephesians 3:11. Let us remember that the truth of Ephesians and Colossians concerning members of the Joint-Body (Ephesians 3:6) seated and blessed in the heavenlies, is truth that was predestinated, given us in Christ before the foundation of the world, truth which God held as His own secret and that it is therefore called, “God’s eternal purpose”, “the dispensa­tion of the, Mystery”, “the Secret of His will. “ Now read carefully the prayers of Ephesians 1:17-23 and Ephesians 3:14-21. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: S. DISPENSATIONAL NOWS ======================================================================== DISPENSATIONAL “NOWS” By Pastor John C. O’Hair WHEN DID CHRIST REVEAL THE MYSTERY OF Colossians 1:26? The word “NOW” of Colossians 1:26 most assuredly suggests a very definite dispensational change. Now the ques­tion is, when did the change, indicated by that NOW, take place? It is taught by some “dispensationalists” that this change did not take place until after Paul reached Rome, about 62 A.D. It is generally agreed among Bible stu­dents that Colossians was written about 64 or 65 A.D. We quote Colossians 1:25-26 : “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 made manifest to his saints.” Again the question, does the “NOW” of Colossians 1:26 prove that the day of the revelation of the mystery was about the time in Paul’s life and minis­try when he wrote Colossians from the Roman prison? Careful students of the Word must acknowledge that there was no Divine written record, in which the mystery was clearly defined, until Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians and II Timothy were written, several years after Paul pronounced God’s judgment upon Israel, as recorded in Acts 28:25-28. Neither should any such student deny that the mystery was mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 and Romans 16:25-26, both written before the date of Acts 28:28. In God’s infallible Records of the teachings of Paul, before he reached Rome, we have a very small part of his ministry. As to just what he taught orally, concern­ing the mystery, in addition to the rec­ord in the Book of Acts and in his epis­tles written during the “Acts” period, we cannot even guess with any degree of accuracy. Moreover, no spiritual be­liever will accept guessing and speculat­ing, rather than sound Scriptural exe­gesis, as proof of Scriptural facts and Divine truth. Inasmuch as some “guessing” Bible teachers have imagined that they have supported their speculations by some Scriptural exegesis with the use of the word “NOW” to prove that the Apostle Paul received the revelation of the Mys­tery after the close of the period covered by the Book of Acts, we want to use some other “NOWS” to disprove their theory. We quote several: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, NOW to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24. “But NOW in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. “NOW therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but, fellow­citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but NOW are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of ‘light.” Ephesians 5:8. “For your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until NOW.” Php 1:5. “And NOW abideth faith, hope, char­ity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Corinthians 13:13. In the first verse quoted, “NOW to appear in the presence of God for us.” The Epistle to the Hebrews was written at least twenty years after Christ sat down in heaven, in accordance with Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 10:10-14, Hebrews 12:1-3. Christ had been interceding for saints, in accordance with Hebrews 7:25, for more than twenty years after He sat down. Christ had been appearing in heaven itself in God’s presence since, the day of Pentecost when Paul (or some other apostle) wrote Hebrews 9:24. Therefore the “NOW” of Hebrews 9:24 did not begin with the day He­brews was written, but years before. “But NOW in Christ Jesus”. Ephesians 2:13. But when? But “NOW”? Certainly not the date when Paul wrote Ephesians, which was more than thirty years after Christ died on the cross and was seated in the heaven­lies. What is proved by the immediate context? “Ye are (were) saved by grace”. Ephesians 2:8. What Gentile was not saved by grace in Paul’s minis­try beginning with Acts 13:39? “By Him all that believe are justified by all things.” Where is the grace message more clearly presented than in Galatians 1:11-17 and Galatians 2:21, and especially in Romans 3:26 to Romans 5:20? It was grace all the way. It was about 47 A.D. when Paul returned to Antioch with the report and result recorded in 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.” Most, if not all, of the believers to whom Paul addressed his Epistle to the Ephesians were brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ, not later than 58 A.D. So the “NOW” of Ephesians 2:13 did not refer to the “NOW” date of the Epistle. This same argument holds good for Ephesians 5:8, quoted above. When were they sometimes darkness? When did they become light in the Lord? Cer­tainly this transformation had taken place before Acts 28:1-31. Now note Ephesians 2:19—“NOW” therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” When did they enter the household of God? When they were saved. The Galatians were in. Galatians 3:26 to Galatians 4:4. When was the middle-wall of partition broken down? Some teachers seem to think that the breaking-down of the middle­wall of partition did not occur until God set Israel aside with Acts 28:25-28. But let us read Romans 3:22, “there is no difference”; Galatians 3:28, “there is neither Jew nor Greek”; 2 Corinthians 3:13, “that which is abolished (the law)”; and Galatians 2:18-19. The middle-wall of partition was known to be out of the way before Paul reached Rome. To be sure the revelation and knowledge of all that Christ accom­plished, for the Gentiles, on the cross came gradually and much of the truth of Ephesians and Colossians was wholly unknown to Peter and the Eleven at the time Cornelius was saved. Read Acts 5:31 and you will wonder where the Gen­tiles get in. But the “NOW” of Ephesians 2:19 was before Paul said to the saints at Ephesus “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27). However, let us not speculate with other “dispensation­alists” who try to prove that there was nothing new in Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and II Timothy because of the statement in Acts 20:27 concerning the whole counsel of God. There are glorious truths and phases of the dis­pensation of the mystery revealed in Paul’s prison epistles, not before re­corded; and we must, at least, see some­thing of God’s purpose in withholding these written records until after Israel was set aside with Acts 28:25-28. No one can prove that some of the glorious truths of Ephesians were made known by Paul before he wrote Ephesians. Nearly all diligent students of God’s Word have learned the fallacy of set­ting Israel aside at the time of Christ’s words in Matthew 23:33-39. Most of them have moved, at least, to the message of Stephen recorded in Acts 7:41-58. But the pronouncement of the doom of Israel is in Acts 28:25-28. After that pronouncement God’s spirit­ual program for the Body changed. Signs, miracles, tongues and religious things ceased. Certainly God’s order was no longer, “to the Jew first.” But there was neither the beginning of a new and different Body nor the first in­timation of the mystery after Paul be-came the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ with the grace message of Ephesians 3:1-9. It is quite interesting, and significant to note that the Book of Acts closed be­fore Paul’s acts ceased: for he lived and acted for several years after the Book of Acts closed. Only stupidity, prejudice, or indifference will keep any stu­dent of the Scriptures from observing the Lord’s changed attitude toward Is­rael in the epistles written by Paul after the close of the “Acts of the Apostles”. The words, “signs”, “miracles”, “heal­ings”, “tongues”, etc. are not once found in those last epistles. And even Peter remarked that in Paul’s epistles there “are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and un­stable wrest.” 2 Peter 3:16. We do not want to be unlearned and unstable, and God forbid that we should wrest the things of Paul which are hard to be understood. If you belong to a de­nomination and your church creed pro­hibits you from obeying Ephesians 3:9 and Ephesians 4:3-7, just acknowledge that your denominational creed comes first and God’s Word second. If you have read the Epistle to the Ephesians even sev­eral hundred times, and have spent many hours in prayerful study, you are still of the opinion that in it there are many things hard to be understood; so different from Galatians, Corinthians and Romans. Paul’s last written message is II Tim­othy. In the original text we read of “my deposit” in 2 Timothy 1:12 and “that good deposit” in 2 Timothy 1:14. Paul had his own special “good deposit” from the risen Christ. There are many different phases of that mystery. No man knows when Paul received that deposit and whether or not he received the full reve­lation of the mystery all at one time. Undoubtedly the “before-the-world-began” grace and purpose given mem­bers of the Body in Christ Jesus is a part of Paul’s deposit. 2 Timothy 1:9. But read the “NOW” of the verse that follows:” NOW made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour. Most assuredly that “NOW” does not fix the Saviour’s appearing, 67 A.D., the year when Paul wrote II Timothy. Christ died years before. Read 2 Timothy 1:7 and let’s be of a sound mind. Therefore, it is unwise to endeavor to prove by the “NOW’ of Colossians 1:26 that the Body of Colossians 1:25 began after Paul’s Roman imprisonment, especially since the “NOW” of Php 1:5 proves the very opposite. “For your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until NOW.” Paul was in Philippi about 52 A.D. Acts 16:11-32. He wrote to “all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi”. (Php 1:1) Paul preached Christ Jesus unto all the saints who had enjoyed fel­lowship with him from the first day. The “NOW” of Php 1:5 is proof positive that the saints in 64 or 65 A.D. had not changed from an “Acts” Church to a “Body” Church which began after Acts closed. Therefore the “NOW” of Php 1:5, (64 or 65 A.D.) proves that the “NOW” of Colossians 1:26 and Ephesians 3:5 began years before Col­ossians and Ephesians were written. Also the “NOW” of Colossians 1:26 proves that the “AS” of Ephesians 3:5 has no suggestion of the relative degree in which the Gentiles’ place in the “same Body” (Sussomos) of Ephesians 3:5-6 was made known before and after Christ revealed the Body truth to Paul. We quote Ephesians 3:5-6 : “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, AS it is NOW revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same Body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel.” It is taught by some unlearned and unstable teachers that the mystery of Ephesians 3:6 was made known to the sons of men in other ages, but not AS it is NOW revealed. But Colossians 1:25-26 is the Holy Spirit’s refuta­tion of this statement. Therefore it is but folly to say that Peter in his house­top vision received a revelation of the mystery or that the “dispensation of the mystery” began on the day of Pentecost. Acts 10:5-28, Ephesians 3:9. Paul, in Ephesians and Colossians, is setting forth some truths made known before Acts 28:28; but Ephesians 3:8 is his own testimony that he was to make known among the Gentiles the unsearch­able (not-to-be-traced) riches of Christ. Such riches could not be included in the confirmation message which Christ be­gan to speak and gave to the Twelve to confirm. Romans 15:8 and Hebrews 2:1-4. Neither could the truth have been searched in the Scriptures by the Bereans. Acts 17:11. Most Bible teachers oppose the glor­ious truth of the mystery of Ephesians 1:17-22 and Ephesians 3:14 to Ephesians 4:14, and totally ignore Ephesians 3:9, because they are zealous for their denominational pro­gram. But undoubtedly many of them are discouraged and restrained because of the fantastic speculations of a few extremists who seem to think that they are making all men to see the mystery by trying to rob the believer of one blessed truth of God after the other. Such a negative procedure is unscrip­tural, unspiritual and unprofitable and most detrimental to God’s truth and to God’s children who are deceived by them. Let us acknowledge that the believer’s position and possessions in Christ, in connection with the mystery, are never clearly set forth in Paul’s pre-prison epistles, and that in no written message before Acts 28:1-31 can we find the glorious truth as to the One New Man and the relationship of Head and Body-members as it is revealed in Ephesians. But let us not be stubbornly dogmatic in our assertion that the revelation did not come to Paul from Christ until after Acts 28:1-31, and show the weakness of our dogmatism in an attempt to prove it by the “NOWS” of Colossians 1:26 and Ephesians 2:5. In closing, let us be instructed by the “NOW” of 1 Corinthians 13:13 : “Faith, hope, and love abideth”. In 1 Corinthians 13:8 there are things (signs) which were to be done away. These are absent after Acts 28:28, in Paul’s prison epistles. These last epistles are filled with “faith”, “hope” and love. The “NOW” of 1 Corinthians 13:13 proves that the “Post Acts” Body was to be a continuation of the “Acts” Body with a different spirit­ual program. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: S. DIVIDING THE WORD AND DIVIDING THE BRETHREN ======================================================================== DIVIDING THE WORD AND DIVIDING THE BRETHREN By Pastor John C. O’Hair All believers who are in Christ are members of the one true Bible Church, called “the Body of Christ”. In Christ there is neither Gentile nor Jew. But “sectarianism” bears witness to the fact that in Christ there are Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Episco­palians, Plymouth Brethren, Nazarenes, Pentecostalists and hundreds of other “ites” and “ists”. This sectarianism, which is so much to be deplored here below, will not exist when the Head calls the Body to appear with Him in glory. In the mind and purpose of God there is no denominationalism in the Body of Christ. There is only one God, the Father. To this all true Christians are agreed. If they bow to the authority of the Word of God, they are also agreed that there is one Body, and one faith; and one baptism; and one Spirit. And they are agreed, because of the plain Statements in the Bible, that salvation is by grace and through faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there not some way by which all brethren in the Body of Christ can reach unanimous agreement as to just what that one faith is, just what that one baptism is, and just how to receive that one Spirit? And were it possible to agree on this unity, would we then have settled that very perplexing ques­tion; “when did the Body of Christ be­gin historically and just what part of the kingdom program of Jesus of Naza­reth and just how many of the signs, re­ligious ceremonies, supernatural visita­tions, visions and gifts of the apostolic church, during the Book of Acts period, should be incorporated in our church creeds today?” My, how many problems we have! We know that we should obey 2 Timothy 2:15 and rightly divide the Word of truth. But judging from the present-day unpleasant controversies and un­gracious and uncharitable treatment of fellow-saints among Fundamentalists today, all of whom claim to divide the Word of truth, the question is, who is doing it “rightly”? Rightly dividing the Word of truth seems to be a “major operation”. Whether it is “rightly” di­viding the Word or “wrongly” dividing the Word, something has divided the saints of God into many different relig­ious camps. Paul might well ask again, “is Christ divided?” Surely Father, Son and Holy Spirit are grieved with this schism in the Body; but, knowing the Adversary and the weaknesses of man, they are not surprised. Some brethren suggest that the very best way to deal with our doctrinal differences is to forget them, agree on a few points and labor together in unity. This doesn’t even sound well, as a the­ory, to a faithful saint of God who de­sires to be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. But even an earnest at­tempt to adopt and practice such a plan will result in failure. How can a zealous, religious Church­member, who believes in the sign gifts for the Church, the imposition of hands for the power of the Holy Spirit, speak­ing with tongues, visions and tarrying meetings, compromise with his fellow Church-member who so divides the Word of truth as to eliminate all of these from the program of the Lord’s Body today? Then, how about a half­way position for the sake of harmony; select a part and let the rest go? That creates the problem of an expert se­lector and unanimous consent as to the ceremonies and gifts selected and those rejected. If it can be proved that the Body of Christ began on the day of Pentecost, that Paul continued with the ministry begun by Peter and the Eleven, and that on the day of Pentecost and during Acts our heavenly Father established for the Body of Christ the ideal order and spiritual program to be carried right through this age until the return of Christ, then no true and faithful saint of God should surrender any part of that program or compromise with any fellow-saint for the sake of unity. If this is God’s pro­gram for the Body of Christ, then con­tending for the faith means contending for the “Acts” church program. Surely, as God’s redeemed children, we want to do that which pleases Him and as members of the Body of Christ we shall do our utmost to obey our risen Head. Surely God’s will for us is in the Bible, scattered all through the Book. We must believe that there is a definite, Scriptural method of interpre­tation and application as well as a God-given plan of appropriation. We are instructed in Php 1:10 to test the things that differ. We do want to be careful not to imagine things differ when they do not differ. But this should not keep us from faithfully obey­ing this command. If representatives of every denomi­nation of Fundamentalists should be called into conference, they would unan­imously agree that there can be no in­telligent Bible study, if the principle of “testing the things that differ” or “rightly dividing the Word of truth”, is ignored. Yes, the conference would break up in disagreement, because of some honest differences, but principally because of denominational creeds, per­sonal preferences, opinions and experi­ences, and preconceived ideas and preju­dices rather than through an honest, prayerful, spiritual thorough searching of the Scriptures. Surely it is without Divine authority or permission that different sects of the One Body adopt and practice different creeds and, different religious programs. If it is Scripturally proper, according to rightly dividing the Word of truth, for one assembly, made up of members of the Body of Christ, to anoint with oil, to have tarrying-meetings for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to teach that speak­ing with tongues is the Divine evidence of that baptism, to proclaim baptism un­to repentance for the remission of sins, to pray the “Our Father” prayer, to cast out demons, to preach the gospel of the kingdom, to teach the eradication of the old man by the second blessing, to pro­claim for Gentile sinners today Peter’s Pentecost message, to exercise the sign gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, most assuredly it is the Scriptural duty of ev­ery such assembly to carry on the identical program. This is one way of hav­ing unity, whether or not the unity would be the unity of Ephesians 4:3-7. It is obvious that so long as some as­semblies, made up of the members of Christ’s Body, teach that it is Scriptural to sprinkle with water little children, as the seal of the covenant, while other assemblies of saints declare that water baptism should be by immersion for the remission of sins, and still others say “no, not for the remission of sins, but after salvation as a witness to the world”, and still others say, “no, simply as an act of obedience and as a door of entrance into the local church”, and still others say, “you are all wrong; it is a burial ceremony to indicate that you have died with Christ”, and others and others express their varying views, di­visions, controversies, even strife and contention must continue. God intended that agreement concerning “baptism” should be the basis for Divine unity among members of the One Body. No unity except on the basis of “one baptism”. Ephesians 4:5. It must be cer­tain that the Holy Spirit was not speak­ing of water. In Php 3:17 we find these words of instruction, the Holy Spirit speaking to us by our apostle Paul “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.” In the verses immediately preceding this verse you will observe that Paul had changed his former religious program; in fact, he had had two programs before the close of the “Acts” period, one his program as a Pharisaical Jew under the law, and then his two-fold program dur­ing the “Acts” period before God’s judg­ment was pronounced upon Israel in Acts 28:25-28; 1 Corinthians 9:20-22. About one dozen times Paul empha­sizes the fact that he is the Christ-ap­pointed messenger, apostle, teacher and preacher of the Gentiles. In his Epis­tles, written after Acts 28:25-28, he emphasizes the fact that he is the custodian of the mystery, the one apostle responsible to Gentile believers for the truth and gospel and spiritual program for members of the Body of Christ. We are members of that Body, if saved. Our hope and calling, our position and pos­session in Christ, are set forth in those writings, which we call the Prison Epis­tles of Paul. It does seem that God’s will for us, and our safe, sane, intelli­gent, Scriptural method of appropria­tion and application of Divine truth, rightly divided, is to thoroughly study the Epistles to the Romans, to the Ephe­sians, to the Philippians, to the Colos­sians, to Titus, and to Timothy, and adopt those messages, altogether un­mixed with religion, for our faith and practice, for our spiritual guidance; and then in the light of these messages from the Holy Spirit concerning the Church, which is Christ’s Body, appropriate and apply the truth of the Four Gospels, the truth and church program of the “Acts” period and all other Scriptures in the Bible, never forgetting God’s division, even during the “Acts” period, the Jews, the Gentiles, the Church of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:32. Surely there is a Scriptural answer to the question, is Matthew 10:5-8 or Mark 16:14-18 or Acts 2:38 or Acts 8:5-16 or Acts 19:1-10, or James 5:14 for members of Christ’s Body in this age? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: S. DIVINE HEALING - WATER BAPTISM - THE LORD’S SUPPER ======================================================================== DIVINE HEALING - WATER BAPTISM - THE LORD’S SUPPER Perhaps no two men of God have done more, by their writings, to aid Christians to get an intelligent, working knowledge of the Bible, than have Mr. John Darby, considered the founder of the Plymouth Brethren. and Dr. C. I. Scofield, the author of the Scofield Reference Bible, and also the author of a pamphlet en­titled, “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth.” We understand that the original cost of the plates of Dr. Scofield’s Bible was paid by one who was affiliated with the Plymouth Brethren in New York. Mr. Darby was positive that the so-­called “great commission,” of Matthew 28:19-20, was not the marching order for the Lord’s messengers during this age of grace. He was also positive that in Acts 3:19-21, the nation Israel was given another opportunity to receive Jesus of Nazareth as their King and Mes­siah. If Israel’s rulers had repented God would have sent Jesus Christ back from heaven to bring about the restitution of all things. spoken by the month of all the holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:21. Several years after the Scofield Refer­ence Bible was published, Mr. A. E. Bishop, a missionary, under the Central American Mission, of which Doctor Sco­field was the founder, published a pam­phlet showing that the signs and miracles of Mark 16:17-18 and the “sign” gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 ceased after the close of the “transition” period of about thirty years, covered by the Book of Acts. The Moody Colportage Association has printed several editions of this pamphlet. They are still printing and selling it. In the front of this pamphlet is printed Doctor Scofield’s unreserved endorsement of the contents of the book. This message got me into plenty of trouble, for which I most heartily praise the Lord. Presently I shall explain the reason. Let us read several statements from the Bishop pamphlet. “There is no foundation in the Word of God for the prevailing popular doctrine of ‘Divine Healing’.” “A careful study of the Epistles, especially of the latest Epistles of Paul, which give the normal course of the Church during the pres­ent dispensation, would dismount all from their hobbies, eliminate the last vestige of Judaism from their lives.” “After repeated study of the Epistles written after Paul’s arrival at Rome, I am convinced that in them is found a curative teaching for all of the present-day delusions and Fanaticisms found among many of the most sincere saints in the Church.” “The sign gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 were operative only during the Book of Acts period.” In 1922 I was teaching the Bible in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. There was a splendid spiritual work of the Lord established there, but there was consider­able disturbance and division because of two different groups of “sinless perfec­tion” people who were attending the meetings. and propagating their peculiar “holiness” doctrines among the people; the “Nazarenes” and the “Pentecostal­ists.” It was at that time that a gentle­man handed me Mr. Bishop’s pamphlet. I became acquainted with several of the preachers affiliated with those two groups. One evening I observed that the Pentecostal preacher passed the Nazarene preacher, with whom he was acquainted, but. turned away to avoid greeting him. Upon investigation I learned that the Nazarene preacher had severely criticized the Pentecostal preacher because the Pen­tecostalist claimed two more of the sign-gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 than the Nazarene preacher claimed. The two addi­tional gifts were “tongues,” and the “in­terpretation of tongues.” The Nazarene preacher had ridiculed the “tongues” meetings carried on by the Pentecostalist. Let us carefully and prayerfully read 1 Corinthians 12:8-13 and 1 Corinthians 12:28. “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 gifts 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: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. 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.” “And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:28. “ALL these worketh that one and self­same Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:11. “God set some in the Church,” “miracles,” healings,” “kinds of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:28. If those sign-gifts were to be exercised by members of the Body of Christ, how many of them were to be exercised? Who was right, the Nazarene or the Pentecost­alist, if either was right? Of course, the Pentecostalist. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul wrote: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” Did either the Nazarene or the Pentecostal preacher join with Paul in two of his declarations in I Corinthians? In 1 Corinthians 14:18, Paul wrote, “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all.” The Nazarene preacher, who was opposed to “tongues,” could not Say this. The Pentecostalist might have said it. Then Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 1:14-17, “I thank God I baptized very few of you;’’ “ I know not whether I baptized any other;” “For Christ sent me not to baptize.” Neither the Nazarene nor the Pentecostalist would thus thank God. So neither of them obeyed God by following Paul as their example. Before again referring to the Indian­apolis meeting, let us consider THE SIGNS AND SIGN-GIFTS Speaking of these signgifts, of 1 Corinthians 12:8-12, we know that the Corinthians had been washed, sanctified and justified. 1 Corinthians 6:11. They had been baptized into the Body of Christ. They were with Christ” one spirit” and “one flesh.” 1 Corinthians 6:16-17. They were temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:6:19) They were saints who are yet to judge the world and angels.” (1 Corinthians 6:1-4). But Paul wrote to them, “I speak to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 6:5). “There is utterly a sin among you;” “Ye do wrong and defraud your brethren” (1 Corinthians 6:7-8); “Ye are yet carnal: whereas there is among you en­vying and strife, and divisions”; “Ye walk as men”; (1 Corinthians 3:3) “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you” (1 Corinthians 5:1); “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself; for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep.” 1 Corinthians 11:29-30. Some of those Corinthian saints sat at the table where meats were offered to idols (1 Corinthians 8:10). Some of them said, there would be no resurrection of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:12. Note Paul’s words to those “washed,” “sanctified” and “justified” Corinth­ians “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.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-2. Now how would you say those first-­century Corinthian saints compare with the saints of 1941 A. D., who are members of the same Body, for believers are still being baptized by one Spirit into one Body? Today among the different “sinless-­perfection” or “miracle-working” or “healing” groups, it is generally taught that if we were as faithful and as spirit­ual as were those first-century Church­ members, we would be exercising all of the sign-gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. There are today some splendid, godly, spiritual, redeemed men and women who are earnestly endeavoring to please the Lord by yielding to Him for separation and service as they give forth their testi­monies concerning the marvelous saving and keeping grace of God. They love the Lord Jesus Christ and as members of His Body they are trying to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called. Not one of these spiritual saints, with a grace testimony, does, or can, perform any of these miracles. They make no claim to these sign-gifts. They should claim and obey the truth of Ephesians 4:7. but in that program the miracles and signs are absent. The gifts of “miracles,” “healings,” “tongues,” and “ interpretation of tongues,” are not found in the Body of Christ today, except in the counterfeit. Is this because members of the Body of Christ in 1941 are less spiritual and less faithful than those carnal Corinthians, or for the reason presented by Doctor Scofield? “THE SIGN-GIFTS OF 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 WERE OPERATIVE ONLY DURING THE BOOK OF ACTS PERIOD.” PHYSICAL HEALING It is significant, that after the close of the “Acts” period, even at the end of Paul’s career, he wrote concerning a faithful saint: “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” 2 Timothy 4:20. If ordinary Christians in 1941 can heal the sick surely that extraordinary man of God would have healed Trophimus, if God’s program had not changed. Then Paul wrote to another saint, who was a genuine, faithful, uncompromising. spiritual, fruitful saint: “ Drink no longer water. but use a little wine for thy stom­ach’s sake and thine often infirmities (sicknesses) “. 1 Timothy 5:23. Then he wrote of another such saint: “Yet I supposed it necessary to send unto you Epaphroditus, my brother, and com­panion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but, your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants, For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness. because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 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.” Php 2:25-27. Here then is something of God’s “sign­less” program after the close of the Book of Acts. Physical remedies for physical diseases mixed with prayer. Some saints were raised up to the glory of the Lord some were left sick to the glory of the Lord. “For which cause we faint not; for though our outward man decay thoroughly the inward man is renewed day by day.” II Cor­inthians 4:16. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28. Praying saints are still having the same experience in 1941. Let us never forget the truth of 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.” We groan as Christians, because we have bodies of humiliation, corruptible bodies, bodies which are daily decaying thoroughly. No matter whether saint or sinner resorts to physical remedies, to religious cures, or to Divine healing, the death rate will continue to be one apiece until the Lord Jesus appears to change the bodies o£ His saints that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body, That our Heavenly father does hear prayer for saints who are sick, and does restore some of them, no child of God will deny, but this is so different from certain members in the Body of Christ with the special gift of healing. And no intelligent Christian, taught by the Holy Spirit, would teach that general physical healing is in the atonement. ‘The careful student of the Scriptures knows that there is no Bible record that any servant of the Lord anointed a single Gentile with oil. Neither is there a single record proving that any Gentile Christian had the Divine right to place hands upon any other saint or sinner. FROM Mark 16:1-20 TO Acts 28:1-31 We quote Mark 16:14-18 and Acts 28:25-28 : “AFTERWARD HE APPEARED UNTO THE ELEVEN AS THEY SAT AT MEAT, AND UPBRAIDED THEM FOR THEIR UN­BELIEF AND HARDNESS OF HEART, BE­CAUSE THEY BELIEVED NOT THEM WHICH HAD SEEN HIM AFTER HE WAS RISEN. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREA­TURE. HE THAT BELIEVETH AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED; BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED. AND THESE, SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE; IN MY NAME SHALL THEY CAST OUT DEVILS; THEY SHALL SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES; THEY SHALL TAKE UP SER­PENTS; AND IF THEY DRINK ANY DEADLY THING, IT SHALL NOT HURT THEM; THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER.” Mark 16:14-18. “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 28:27-28. Each of these messages was spoken to a company of Jews. The first company was a group of eleven saved Jews in the land of the Jews. The second company was a group of unsaved Jews in the Gen­tile city, Rome. Now the question - did the Lord have one program from Mark 16:1-20 to Acts 28:1-31 and then change His spiritual program? Some one has called Acts 28:25-28 Israel’s Ichabod - Israel’s fall. Did Paul’s final words in the last chapter of Acts mark a crisis in the history of God’s nation Israel? It is most significant that the last six­teen chapters of the Book of Acts records the activities of one man and mentions only such other persons as had dealings with that man, Paul. Note his testimony in Romans 11:13. “FOR I SPEAK TO YOU GENTILES, INASMUCH AS I AM THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES I MAGNIFY MINE OFFICE.” It is also significant that about one-half of Paul’s Epistles were written before the Divine judgment of Acts 28:1-31 and the other half thereafter. This should cause us to ask this question, “If the Book of Acts is the record of the acts of the apostles, and if the last sixteen chapters tell of the acts of Paul, why does the Book suddenly stop right in the midst of Paul’s activities several years before his death? Paul cer­tainly was unceasingly active right up to the last moment of his life. It is generally believed that he experienced two imprisonments at Rome-the first time for “the hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20) and the second time for “the Mystery among the Gentiles.” Ephesians 6:19 and Ephesians 6:23 - Colossians 4:3-4 and Colossians 1:24-27. ‘The careful student of the Book of Acts, and the “Acts” period, will learn that during the first nine chapters of Acts, God’s order was, “to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles” (Acts 5:29-32 and Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:19). Then from Acts 13:1-52 to Acts 28:28, God’s order was “to the Jews first and also to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46 - Acts 18:5-6 - Romans 1:16 and Romans 11:11 and Romans 11:30. Then in Ephesians and Colossians, Philippians, Titus and II Timothy, writ­ten after the close of Acts, God’s order was no longer “to the Jews first.” It was certainly not an oversight on the part of the Holy Spirit that He made no mention of “signs,” “miracles,” “tongues,” and “healings,” in Paul’s Epistles, written after Acts 28:28. There is a marked absence of signs and the sign gifts in Paul’s prison Epistles. In this connection we should study in 1 Corinthians 13:8 and 1 Corinthians 13:13 what was to pass away and what was to abide. THE SIGNS OF Mark 16:17-18 “AND THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE: IN MY NAME SHALL THEY CAST OUT DEVILS; THEY SHALL SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES; THEY SHALL TAKE UP SERPENTS; AND IF THEY DRINK ANY DEADLY THING, IT SHALL NOT HURT THEM; THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER.” Mark 16:17-18. Some man of God truly said, “if these signs following in these verses are the credentials of a Christian, then no Chris­tians have lived on the earth since the first century.” It is most amusing, if it were not sad, to hear the explanations and twistings of Mark 16:14-18, by men of God who are leaders among aggressive evangelical Christians. Many of these brethren corrupt and change the Scriptures to fit into their denominational or church creeds and pro­grams. They do not preach, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” “with signs following.” But they preach, “he that believeth and is saved shall be baptized.” “Then forget the signs.” When a modernist thus twists the Scriptures they publicly condemn him. But they wink at their own twisting. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder, unless we can prove that God later on separated them. Get out your Bible; read carefully and find one chapter where water baptism is mentioned without some sign, miracle, or Jewish symbol recorded in the same chap­ter. Then carefully compare Matthew 26:28 with Luke 3:3 and Acts 2:38 : . “For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28. “And He came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Luke 3:3. “‘Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” “FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.” This is stated in very plain language, which no man has the right to alter. It is so difficult to be unprejudiced, even if we do resolve that we will be honest. We have been so hindered from being open, honest, sincere, unafraid Bereans, because of denominational loyal­ty or obstinate wills or preconceived opinions based upon traditions. Some one has said that the three most difficult words for a preacher to say are, “I was wrong.” What “grace” preacher today preaches water baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins? Is Acts 2:38 our “grace” message? Read it: “REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED EVERY ONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.” JOHN’S BAPTISM Now let us read carefully John 1:31 : “And I knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, there­fore am I come baptizing with water.” Why did John the Baptist baptize with water? “That Christ might be made manifest to Israel”; “for the remission of sins.” What was the significance of the water baptism received by Saul of Tarsus who was converted some months after Christ died on the cross? Hear his own testi­mony: “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Acts 22:16. “BE BAPTIZED AND WASH AWAY THY SINS.” Very plain language this. Paul was not buried to witness to the world that he had been buried with Christ in baptism. W-a-s-h does not spell b-u-r-y. Note the order in Acts 8:5-15 : Philip presented the message of Mark 16:14-18 in Samaria. The people believed Philip and God’s Word. Then Peter and John came several days later and laid hands on those baptized believers and they re­ceived the Holy Spirit. WHEN WERE THE TWELVE BAPTIZED? Some dispensational Bible teachers teach that the Jews; including the twelve apostles, who were converted while Jesus Christ was on earth, received “kingdom” water baptism. They say “Christian” baptism began on the day of Pentecost when the Body of Christ began. Then they claim that the twelve apostles, with the one hundred and twenty, were the first believers to be baptized into the Body of Christ. But then they run into trouble, because they admit that the Twelve were not re-baptized. Of course, they have more trouble with the message of Peter on the day of Pentecost and the sale of their houses and lots. Acts 2:41-43 - Acts 4:34. These brethren, without Divine author­ity, twist Acts 2:38 as they do Mark 16:14-16. They preach “repent and re­ceive the Holy Spirit and be baptized with water,” not even quoting the words “for the remission of sins.” They forget about “the sale of their property.” They say that was a kingdom program. They preach “he that believeth and is saved shall be baptized” - “no signs.” You may ask any intelligent spiritual “grace” preacher, “Does water baptism help to save a sinner?” “Will water baptism help get any one into the true Bible Church?” “Does water baptism have any merit or value to help the be­liever’s standing in Christ?” “Does the believer have to prove to God or to man that he is saved by receiving water bap­tism?” To every question there will be a. prompt, dogmatic, unmistakable “no.” If there had been any value whatever to water baptism in connection with the Pauline gospel of grace by which we are saved, that greatest of all soul -winners, instead of saying “I thank God I baptized only a few of you” would have baptized every believer he saw and he would have boasted about it. ‘There is something radically wrong with all of the different water ceremonies practiced by evangelical Christians. It is high time that some of the Bible teachers in the groups of Fundamentalists, who are not afraid of men, should rescue their fellow Fundamentalists from their incon­sistencies and faulty dispensationalism. and learn why Christians are wholly dis­regarding Ephesians 4:3-6. FOLLOWING CHRIST IN BAPTISM Now and then some “grace” messenger calls upon his followers to follow the Lord Jesus in baptism. The Lord Jesus was circumcised thirty years before He was baptized. Luke 2:17-27. Right after He was baptized He went on the Jewish sabbath into the Jewish synagogue, as had been His custom. Luke 4:16. He told the Jews to whom He ministered to obey the law and find the priest and present a gift. Matthew 8:1-4. Matthew 23:1-3. While Jesus Christ was on earth He was a minister of the circumcision, under the law, sent only to Israel, preaching “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” healing the sick. Romans 15:8 - Matthew 15:24 - Galatians 4:4 - Luke 19:9 - Matthew 10:5-8. While Jesus of Naza­reth was being, approved by God in the midst of Israel with sins and miracles, (Acts 2:22), so far as the Divine Record is concerned, only one Gentile man re­ceived a blessing from Him and that man loved the Jews and built them a synagogue. Luke 7:1-8. Should we tell believers to follow Jesus in circumcism or to the Jewish synagogue on the Jewish sabbath, or just in the matter of baptism? Note Matthew 10:5, “go not to Gen­tiles.” If we are to go back to Jesus on earth for our program, we will cer­tainly run into an Old Testament religious Jewish program. Going the other side of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus we shall find the priests, offerings, sacrifices, the scribes and Pharisees in Moses’ seat. We shall not find the dis­pensation of grace for Gentiles or mem­bership in the Body of Christ. Let us not join with those whose slogan is “back to Jesus,” for we are seated with Him in the heavenlies where He is far above. Let us not go back to the land of the Jews under the law. Shall we go back to where Jesus called the Gentiles “dogs”? Matthew 15:25-27. Some years after Christ died God opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles. Acts 14:27. Paul was “the apostle to the Gentiles.” He said, “Christ sent me not to baptize.” Paul never once intimated that water baptism was a witness to the world that a member of Christ’s Body had been baptized into the death of Christ, buried and raised with Him. The baptism of Romans 6:3-4 is both meritorious and efficacious and if there is any water there, water baptism made saints out of sinners. We quote Romans 6:3-4 : “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized in­to His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” With these verses read Colossians 2:11-12 : “In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the Body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.” “For as many of you as have been bap­tized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27. Then note Ephesians 4:5 : ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM” All of these baptisms refer to one and the same Divine baptism by which a believer is baptized into Christ, into the death of Christ, into the resurrected Christ, into the Body of Christ. Colossians 2:11. Is God’s explanation of the bap­tism of Colossians 2:12, “without hands”? This Divine baptism makes the believer a member of the true Bible Church and makes him complete in Christ. Colossians 2:10. SEVERAL BAPTISMS - ONE BAPTISM Most “grace” preachers claim that we are working under the “great commis­sion” of Matthew 28:19-20 and that we are to baptize with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, after believers are made members of the Body of Christ by Holy Spirit bap­tism. But they do not know what for. Many defend their practice because “it is too late to change.” But not one of the dozen or more water baptism theories can be proved by the Bible rightly divided. They cannot prove their practice by the Bible, except by corrupting some Scrip­tures and wholly ignoring other Scrip­tures. In addition to the baptism of Matthew 28:19-20, which most Christians claim to be “Christian” baptism, note the three baptisms of Luke 3:16 : “JOHN ANSWERED, SAYING UNTO THEM ALL, I INDEED BAPTIZE YOU WITH WATER, BUT ONE MIGHTIER THAN I COMETH, THE LATCHET OF WHOSE SHOES I AM NOT WORTHY TO UNLOOSE: HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND WITH FIRE.” “WATER” - “HOLY SPIRIT” - “FIRE” - THREE BAPTISMS. Now note the fourth baptism of Luke 12:50 : “But I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be accom­plished.” This is Christ’s baptism on the cross­ “DEATH”. Including Matthew 28:1-20 we have five baptisms. But we read in Ephes­ians 4:3-6: “ENDEAVOURING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE. THERE IS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT, EVEN AS YE ARE CALLED IN ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING: ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, WHO IS ABOVE ALL AND THROUGH ALL, AND IN YOU ALL.” Which of the five baptisms of Luke and Matthew is the ONE BAPTISM of Ephesians 4:5. The one Divine baptism of Ephesians 4:5 is the “death” baptism of Romans 6:3 and Colossians 2:12. It is significant that when Christ men­tioned His “death” baptism He gave this order to His apostles “Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ.” Matthew 16:20. Christ, in the twelfth chapter of Luke, mentioned His “death” baptism. Death baptism is mentioned in Romans 6:3-4. Now check up on this interesting fact, there is no water baptism in the last twelve chapters of Luke, after Christ men­tioned His “death” baptism. There is no record that any one received water baptism after Paul wrote of the “death” baptism of Romans 6:3-4. Why did John baptize with water? “And I knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, there­fore am I come baptizing with water.” John 1:31. What did Christ say in Matthew 16:20? “Then charged He His dis­ciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ.” After that there was no need for water baptism as long as this order stood. But later on, what happened! “Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” After this prayer the same Jews who were de­nounced as “serpents,” “vipers” and “hypocrites” in Matthew 23:1-39 were tender­ly and affectionately addressed as chil­dren of the covenant in Acts 3:17 and Acts 3:25. Christ’s order of Matthew 16:20 was rescinded. The Lord began anew with Israel 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.” Surely the Lord began anew with Israel on the day of Pentecost. Strange! Here the twelve apostles did the very thing they were told not to do in Matthew 16:20. They testified to Is­rael that Jesus was Christ. So did Paul in Acts 9:20 and in Acts 17:3-4. Why? Because of Christ’s prayer on the cross. FROM PENTECOST TO Romans 11:15 With Israel’s new opportunity to ac­cept Jesus as Christ and King, water bap­tism was again in order, in line with John 1:31, until the rejection was announced in Romans 11:1-15. Note Romans 11:15 “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?” Here we have a radical change indicated: the casting away of Israel meant the reconciling of Gentiles. This is one of the most important dispensational verses in the Bible. Pause. Meditate. Catch the full significance of the truth of Romans 11:15 and Romans 11:30. Here we learn the all important truth, the sons of Abraham lost their place of special privilege. Racial and religious barriers were removed and now the other children of Adam were justified without a cause by God’s grace. Romans 3:24. Paul was the Lord’s “reconciliation” preacher. WITH THE FIRST MENTION OF “RECONCILIATION” in Paul’s Epis­tles, there was no further record of any water ceremony. God was through with ceremonial washings and all religious practices when He was through with His religious nation. Note Hebrews 9:10 : “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers baptisms, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reforma­tion:” With the ministry of reconciliation the reformation came. There were no religious baptisms until God gave them to Israel at Sinai. Mem­bers of Christ’s Body today are united to the Head in the heavenlies, baptized with His baptism and are complete in Him, and have nothing to do with water baptism. SIGNS AND BAPTISM AFTER Acts 28:1-31 Back to the meetings at Indianapolis. One night in that city, when a number of Pentecostalists were present, including two of their preachers, I preached on the subject, “Why Tongues Ceased When Paul Reached Rome.” The next night one of the Pentecostalist preachers came back to the meeting. He said, “Brother, I am thoroughly con­vinced, and I am giving up “Pentecostal­ism, but it seems to me that the same five reasons you gave last night will prove that water baptism ceased at the same time.” At first I said “no.” But after hours of prayerful, diligent study of the Bible I saw that that Pentecostalist was right. Water baptism and signs are found together in the New Testament Scriptures, except that John the Baptist performed no miracles and Christ did no baptizing. In Paul’s Prison Epistles we find no water baptism and neither signs nor tongues nor sign healings. We find different gifts to the Body and one Divine baptism in Ephesians chapter four. Cer­tainly the Holy Spirit knew that it would be out of the question for believers with such water baptism confusion to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. HOW ABOUT THE LORD’S SUPPER? I was ordained by the Presbytery and became a Presbyterian minister. Presby­terian “teaching” elders are expected to teach that water baptism by sprinkling superseded circumcision, and that the Lord’s Supper superseded the Passover. Even the superficial student of the Bible knows that Abram was declared righteous in uncircumcision. Romans 4:7-10. At that time the Scriptures fore­saw that God would justify heathen, in Paul’s day, by faith without religion, law, or circumcision. Galatians 3:8 and Romans 4:7-10. Therefore, such an argu­ment would rule out baptism for Gentiles. And again, no girls were circumcised. Therefore, no girls should be baptized. But men and women were baptized, in Acts 8:1-40. Again while Jesus Christ was on earth, no man was baptized who had not first been circumcised. Peter. got into trouble for baptizing uncircumcised Cornelius. Acts 11:1-6. Circumcision was practiced among Christian Jews just as far into the “Acts” period as was water baptism. Most Presbyterian preachers, who are Premillenarians, know that they are preaching and practicing error concern­ing water baptism; but they see they are just as scriptural as are any of the “im­mersionists.” They must hold on to water baptism of some kind if they are to hold their positions and so the leaders continue to lead their followers in their unscrip­tural water theory. Sectarianism has played havoc with “Body” truth. The “grace” immersionists are really becoming liberal and gracious. They are now giving the right hand of fellowship to sprinklers. But they know, and you know, and I know, that there is as much difference between the significance which the Baptists or Plymouth Brethren attach to water and that taught by the Presby­terians as there is between black and white. If one is Scriptural, the other is absurd. But as one man of God said to me, “It is too late to change. I’ll take them in “sprinkled,” “immersed” or “dry.” But he admitted that after years as an outstanding Fundamentalist, he didn’t understand the “why” of water baptism. PASSOVER AND THE LORD’S SUPPER Several months before the Lord at Sinai entered into that new covenant (the law) with Israel, which is now “the Old Cove­nant,” made old by Christ’s work on the cross, the Lord instructed Israel, in Egyptian bondage, concerning the Pass­over. These instructions are recorded in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. They took the lamb, without blemish, on the tenth day of the first month. It was killed on the fourteenth day in the evening. Exodus 12:3-6. The blood was sprin­kled on the door post. “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.” Exodus 12:8 and Exodus 12:11. “WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU.” Exodus 12:13. Then note 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 : “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the un­leavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Surely the “Passover” lamb spoke of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. For cen­turies the Jews annually observed the Passover. One of the last acts of the Lord Jesus, before His death, was to ob­serve the Passover with His disciples. Let us read very carefully Matthew 26:17-20 and Matthew 26:26-29. “NOW THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD THE DISCI­PLES CAME TO JESUS, SAYING UNTO HIM, WHERE WILT THOU THAT WE PREPARE FOR THEE TO EAT THE PASS­OVER? AND HE SAID, GO INTO THE CITY TO SUCH A MAN, AND SAY UN­TO HIM, THE MASTER SAITH, MY TIME IS AT HAND; I WILL KEEP THE PASS­OVER AT THY HOUSE WITH MY DISCI­PLES. AND THE DISCIPLES DID AS JESUS HAD APPOINTED THEM; AND THEY MADE READY THE PASSOVER. NOW WHEN THE EVEN WAS COME, HE SAT DOWN WITH THE TWELVE.” “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body, and He took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” We might ask what has bread, with the fruit of the vine, to do with roast lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread? And then there are some certain brethren who ask why Gentile members of the Body of Christ should have any­thing to do with the New Covenant, in­asmuch as God’s Word plainly states, in Jeremiah 31:31-35, and in Hebrews 8:7-11, that both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant are “Israelitish.” These certain brethren affirm that the Lord’s Supper is not for members of “the Church of the Mystery,” “the Joint­Body” of Ephesians 3:6. They quote 2 Corinthians 3:6 - Ephesians 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 11:25. “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.” “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” “After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is THE NEW TESTAMENT in My blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.” Their argument is, that the Gentiles, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, are re­ferred to as non-covenant Gentiles and therefore, God was dealing with them in a manner different from His dealings with them during the “Acts” period when Paul said, “we are able ministers of the New Covenant.” These brethren follow the dispensation­alism of Dr. E. W. Bullinger of England, and his successor, Mr. Charles Welch, and teach that not only did God change His spiritual program after Acts 28:28, but that an entirely new and different Church began after that Divine judgment. They claim that the Body of Ephesians 3:6 is a Body different from the Body of Romans 12:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:13. They use Romans 15:27, Acts 28:20, Acts 26:22 and Romans 11:24 to prove that the Church of the “Acts” period was an Israelitish kingdom Church, and the hope of the members of that “Acts” Church was “the hope of Israel.” Acts 28:20. They claim that the Lord’s Supper was the continuation of Israel’s Passover and because it was mentioned in connection with Israel’s New Covenant, the mem­bers of the Body of Ephesians have nothing to do with that Israelitish ordi­nance. They teach that in the economy and message of grace, Gentiles are saved by the blood of Christ and not by the blood of the New Covenant. Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 1:20. THE LORD’S SUPPER AND SIGNS Another argument they present for the elimination of the Lord’s Supper from “the dispensation of the mystery” (Ephesians 3:9) is, that, with the revela­tion of the mystery, after Acts 28:28, signs ceased. Before that time there were “sign” judgments upon those who unworthily sat at the table. Note 1 Corinthians 11:29-30: “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.” They argue that inasmuch as the signs ceased, the Lord’s Supper also ceased. By the same unsound argument we could prove that the gospel is no more to be proclaimed. Note the similarity in the language of Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and 1 Corinthians 11:23 : “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day accord­ing to the Scriptures.” “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread.” Then note Romans 15:18-19 and 2 Corinthians 12:12 : “To make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and won­ders - I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” Mighty signs accompanied the procla­mation of the gospel of grace by Paul during the “Acts” period. Signs ceased after Acts 28:28. Then by the same foolish argument of these brethren, who would rule out the Lord’s Supper after Acts 28:28 because signs ceased, the gospel should not have been proclaimed after Acts 28:28. “These brethren have been called “ul­tra-dispensationalists” or “hyper-dispen­sationalists” because of these extreme views concerning two Bodies, the elimi­nation of the Lord’s Table, and the teaching that Israel and not the Body of Christ is to be the Bride of Christ. They claim that the Lord’s Supper will be in God’s program in the coming king­dom age, when Luke 22:29-30 and Matthew 26:29 are fulfilled. “And I appoint unto you a kingdom as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and drink at My table in My king­dom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” But we ask of these brethren, why con­fuse “after the King comes” with the expression in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “till He come”? TILL HE COME Let us look at 1 Corinthians 11:26 : “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death TILL HE COME.” The expression here “come” is in the Greek “elthe” and means “shall have come.” Then the members of Christ’s Body were and are to remember the death of the Son “till He shall have come.” That event is still future. So we are still to break bread and drink of the cup, “till He come.” CHRIST AND THE NEW COVENANT All dispensational students of the Scrip­tures believe that wonderful things are going to happen to Israel under the guar­antee of the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-38. They also believe and teach that the “kingdom” promises in the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants have been interrupted, and that we are now living in a parenthesis, a grace dispensation. Of course we know that there is a difference between “the kingdom of heav­en” presented by Christ on earth, and to Israel in Acts 3:19-21, and the “Joint­Body” of Ephesians 3:6. But most assur­edly no sane, intelligent, spiritual student of the Scriptures would teach that Gen­tile believers today do not receive any benefits and blessings, mentioned in God’s covenant with Abram, and that they have absolutely no benefits from the blood of the New Covenant. Such an argument would rule out the blessings of Hebrews 10:10-14, and would leave the members of Christ’s Body without a Mediator, since Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant. Hebrews 9:15. The very next step that is taken by many of these extremists, who rule out the Lord’s Supper, because of the men­tion of the blood in the New Covenant, is invariably to rule out Christ as a Medi­ator. When pressed they are compelled to relegate Paul’s First Epistle to Tim­othy to the “Acts” Israelitish kingdom age, because Christ is our Mediator, in 1 Timothy 2:3-7. So they affirm that I Timothy cannot be considered a prison Epistle unless Paul wrote it before he received the revelation of the mystery of Colossians 1:24-27. But verse 7 is the Holy Spirit’s answer to their folly. “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” This is Paul’s language in connection with “the mystery. “ By the same argument these brethren have relegated the rapture of the Church, as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, to that same Church of the “Acts” period. Of course this means that Paul will not receive at the rapture what he mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 : “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of re­joicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” They teach that this coming (parousia) was the hope of the “Acts” Church but is not the hope of the Church of the Mys­tery. Therefore, Paul will not receive the crown of joy at the “parousia” for his hope was changed from the “par­ousia” to the blessed hope of Titus 2:13 after Acts 28:28. This teaching of course would imply that Christ at the close of the “Acts” period abdicated as Israel’s High Priest and ascended “far above.” Ephesians 4:10. THE LORD’S TABLE--THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK We quote Acts 20:7 and Acts 2:46 and Acts 27:35 : “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” “And they, continuing daily with one ac­cord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” “And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat.” This last breaking of bread was for sinners during the shipwreck. Now the question, have we any Scrip­tural proof that Acts 2:46 and Acts 20:7 refer to the Lord’s Table? Are we to prove by these Scriptures that it is the Scriptural duty of members of Christ’s Body to break bread at the Lord’s Sup­per every Sunday? Surely we shall not attempt to prove by Revelation 1:10 that the first day of the week, Sunday, should be called “the Lord’s day,” as some Bible teachers have done, especially those who have virtually made the Lord’s Supper an obligatory Sunday morning ordinance. There is no Scriptural proof that “the first day of the week” is “the Lord’s day.” Every day is the Lord’s day with members of Christ’s Body who are seated with Him in the heavenlies and blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. It is a question whether or not it is Scriptural to speak of the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance. Now and then we hear some brother trying to prove that the Lord has linked water baptism and the Lord’s Supper together as the two ordi­nances to be practiced or observed by the members of the Lord’s Body. They quote 1 Corinthians 11:2. “That ye remember Me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I delivered to you.” The word here translated ordi­nances is “paradosis”, meaning “tradi­tions.” This is an entirely different Greek word than the word “ordinances” in Colossians 2:14. Every intelligent student of the Scrip­tures knows that it is not God’s will that members of the Body of Christ should be divided into clergymen and laymen. There is no Scriptural proof that a man must be an ordained “reverend” before he is Scripturally qualified to baptize a fellow-believer, or to preside when mem­bers of the Body of Christ take the bread and wine in remembrance of the death of Christ. While God does want things done de­cently and in order, He certainly does not want any member of Christ’s Body to consider the Lord’s Supper as something religious. We are not a race of servants, as were the people of God under the law. We are a race of sons. God wants us to be righteous and spiritual but He does not want us to be religious. If the Lord’s Supper is a religious ordinance, it has no place in the dispensation of the grace of God. Now note 1 Corinthians 11:26 : “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord’s death till He come.” Now the question, “how often is ‘as often’”? If the Lord’s Supper is a memorial, there is no specified time or place where believers are to gather to re member the Lord. It is not a compulsory, legal ordinance that must be observed in a church building at a regular time on Sunday or any other day. The language of 1 Corinthians 11:26, studied in the light of the dispensation of grace, grants to the saints of God the privilege of gather­ing in a home, or any kind of a building, at any time saints care to gather to re­member the Lord. It cannot be proved that the expression, “breaking bread,” used in several verses in Acts, referred to “the Lord’s Supper.” Among the brethren that would rule the Lord’s Table out of the dispensation of grace because it was a religious Jewish ordinance, associated with Israel’s New Covenant, a continuation of Israel’s Pass­over, there are some who say that even during the “Acts” period no Gentile Christian in the “Acts” Body sat at the Lord’s Table; but only Jews. And they gathered at Passover time, on the four­teenth day of Israel’s first month. No man of God has produced any valid Scriptural reason for the elimination of the Lord’s Table from “the dispensation of the mystery” mentioned in Ephesians 3:9. Those who have attempted to give the Scripture for their refusal to sit at the Lord’s Table have gotten into rather serious trouble with other doctrines and they have done anything but rightly divide the Word of God. It has not been division but subtraction. The Word stands, that the Apostle of the Gentiles received his authority from the risen Christ, to present to members of the Body of Christ the blessed privilege of partaking of the bread and wine until the Lord Jesus shall have come. We may be troubled and divided as to whether the members of the Body of Christ should use leavened or unleavened bread, fermented or unfermented wine, and just how often they should shew forth the Lord’s death by taking the bread and wine, but before relegating this memorial to a former dispensation let us have some sane Scriptural exegesis which thus far has not been presented. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: S. FACTS AND QUESTIONS FOR YOUR MEDITATION AND ANSWER ======================================================================== FACTS AND QUESTIONS FOR YOUR MEDITATION AND ANSWER By Pastor John C. O’Hair I. In Php 1:10, students of God’s Word are in­structed to “test the things that differ.” (R. V.) Even the babe in Christ knows there is a difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant, between law and grace, be­tween inheriting the earth and going to heaven, between Christ the Head of the Church which is His Body and Christ the King of Israel, between the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of God. 1 Corinthians 10:32. Let us observe a few other things that differ. Compare Genesis 17:14 with Galatians 5:3; Galatians 6:12; Galatians 6:15 and Galatians 5:12 and observe that in 1900 B. C. those who refused circumcision were to be cut off, whereas, in 57 A.D., those who taught circumcision were to be cut off. Answer: Different dispensations. The Lord Jesus was circumcised and lived in a “circumcision” dispensation. We do not. Compare Exodus 31:12-17 with Colossians 2:14-17 and observe that God’s people, in 1495 B.C., were judged with respect to the Sabbath, even unto death; and in 66 A.D. they were not to be judged with respect to the Sabbath. Christ spent His days on the earth “under the law;” the Holy Spirit tells Christians “ye are not under the law”. Galatians 4:4. Romans 6:14. With respect to the law, how are we to follow Jesus? II. In John 13:15 Jesus said to His disciples, “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” How many of these commandments of Jesus should we keep? 1. “Sell all that ye have and give alms.” Luke 12:32. 2. “Leave there thy gift before the altar.” Matthew 5:24 3. “Agree with thine adversary quickly.” Matthew 5:25. “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out.” Matthew 5:29. “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 away.” Matthew 5:41-47. “Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. Pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:12 and Matthew 6:15. “When thou fastest anoint thine head.” Matthew 6:17. “Take therefore no thought for the morrow.” Matthew 6:34. “Shew thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded.” Matthew 8:4. “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Provide no script for your journey. No gold or silver in your purse.” Matthew 10:7-9. “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13. “Take nothing for your journey . . . neither bread . . . neither two coats.” Luke 9:3. “Strive (agonize) to enter in at the straight gate.” Luke 13:24. “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14. “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49. 17. “Wait for the promise.” Acts 1:4. If members of the Body of Christ are not keeping these commandments, do they love the Lord Jesus? Why disre­gard, or disobey, these commandments and say the command­ments of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:14-18 are binding upon members of the Body of Christ? Are members of the Body of Christ to observe all things which Jesus com­manded His disciples and nation? III. In Mark 16:15-18 we have the commission of the resurrected Christ to the “Eleven”: their message and pro­gram, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:” miracles, signs, healings were to follow. This commission was not given to Paul. 1 Corinthians 1:17; Galatians 1:11-17. Galatians 2:7-9. Paul’s message of grace is our mes­sage for today; not, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;” not miraculous signs for members of the Body of Christ. CONCERNING THE SIGNS OF Mark 16:16-18 We are all aware of the fact that the grace preachers who cling to water baptism preach, “he that believeth and is saved shall be baptized.” This is not the order of Mark 16:15-16. Where are the signs? They are found only in the counterfeit. Explained away. 1. Uninspired. 2. Unin­tended. 3. Unbelief. 4. Undispensational. Uninspired. Certain teachers declare that Mark 16:17-18, the “sign” verses, are not found in four of the origi­nal manuscripts. The fact is, that most of them include these verses. We refuse this explanation. Unintended. Certain teachers declare that signs were in­tended for the Apostles only. But this is refuted by Acts 6:8; Acts 8:6 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. We refuse this explanation. Unbelief. Certain Christians who are endeavoring to bring back the signs of Mark 16:17-18, declare they are absent because of unbelief. This is nonsense. Note the unbe­lief in the early Church. Acts 12:5 and Acts 12:15. We refuse this explanation. Undispensational. This is the intelligent Scriptural explanation of the absence of signs in the Body of Christ today. 1 Corinthians 13:8. 1 Timothy 5:23. 2 Timothy 4:20. The most carnal church of the days of the apostles had all of the “sign” gifts. 1 Corinthians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 6:7-8; 1 Corinthians 13:8-11. Whereas, the most spiritual saints today have none of these “sign” gifts. They are not for this dispensation. With the full revelation of the “mystery” after Acts 28:31, sign passed away. We accept this explanation. IV Christ dealt with two Gentiles while on earth, a Greek woman and a Roman officer. There are two records of each. His dealings with the Gentile woman are recorded in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-27. His dealings with the Gentile man are recorded in Matthew 8:1-13 and Luke 7:1-10. You will find these stories very interesting. You will learn that both of these Gentiles had, “great faith”. Matthew 15:28; Matthew 8:10; Luke 7:9. To the woman, Christ said, “Let the children (Israel) first be filled.” Luke 7:27. To the man Christ said, “The children (Israel) shall be cast into outer darkness.” Matthew 8:12. As we travel with Israel through the Book of Acts, we learn that they are first being filled. Acts 3:26; Acts 13:46. And as we come to the close of the Book of Acts, we find that those who refused, to be, filled were cast into outer darkness. Acts 28:25-28. Then this question: If Israel was set aside in Matthew 23:33-39, when the Lord called them “serpents”, and if the dispensation of the mystery” began on the day of Pentecost, why did Israel have first chance during the “Acts” period? V. Concerning water baptism, its significance is declared in John 1:31; Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38, unto repentance for the remission of sins to present Israel’s Messiah to Israel:” and in Mark 16:14-16, baptism is coupled with belief as the factors in salvation. Some Bible teachers, who may consider themselves expert exegetes, tell us that water baptism was for Israel while Christ was on earth as a minister of the circumcision. Acts 2:22. Romans 15:8; Acts 13:24. They declare that that water baptism was not “Christian” baptism but “kingdom” baptism; that “Chris­tian” water baptism began with the resurrection of Christ, when the significance of the water ceremony was changed in the mind of the Holy Spirit. As to its changed significance, there are about as many theories as there are denominations. But we are Bereans. What saith the Scriptures? Read Acts 2:38; Acts 8:5-16; and Acts 19:1-8 and what do we learn? Do we learn, as one zealous immersionist has declared, that water baptism was the obedience and expression of the grateful hearts of Christians who had already received the Holy Spirit, who had already become members of the Body of Christ? Positively not. In each case water baptism was the prerequisite; water baptism in each case was meritorious, efficacious and obligatory preceding the receiving of the Holy Spirit. If Peter intended to tell the 3000, on the day of Pen­tecost, that they had already received the Holy Spirit and were already members of the Body of Christ and they should receive Christian baptism as an expression of gratitude, he made an awful botch of the job; for he told them nothing of the kind. Acts 2:38. They would have told Peter to practice for himself what he preached to them: for he received no Christian water baptism after Christ’s resurrection. The apostles were baptized several years before Christ’s death baptism on the cross. VI. Concerning the “Acts” Church program we have sev­eral interesting and important questions to ask. First: Should our slogan and policy be “back to Jesus and His gospel program on earth” or back to Pentecost and the first Chapters of Acts” for our gospel message, for our church creed, and for our Scriptural guide for our daily ministry and practice; or should we rather say, “travel with Paul; begin­ning with his first revelation from Christ in heaven for Gen­tiles; on to his last message in II Timothy?” Perhaps we have been prejudiced by the Red lettered New Testament, placing special emphasis for Christians on the words of Jesus, many of which were spoken to Israel on earth, or by believing that the Body of Christ, of which we are members, had its birth on the day of Pentecost and that that being the first Church in all its purity and power, we should turn back to that ideal Church for our ideal program. Perhaps we have overlooked the significance of the words of Acts 14:27, tell­ing when the door of faith was opened to the Gentiles; and Galatians 2:7-9 and 1 Corinthians 9:20-25. Here are two of the most important facts, altogether essential for in­telligent Bible study: first, all Scripture must be studied, in­terpreted and applied as to whether it covered. God’s program for His people before or after Acts 14:27. Second, all of Paul’s messages must be studied, interpreted and applied as to whether they were written before, or after, God’s declaration in Acts 28:25-28; when Israel was set aside. Before that climax, Paul wrote Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians and Romans. After the “Acts” period he wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, Titus, Timothy. Some of the things that accompany salvation in Paul’s earlier Epistles do not accompany salvation in Paul’s last Epistles. There is no change in the message of redemption clearly stated in Romans 3:24-28; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5-7; 2 Timothy 1:9-10, for all emphasize sal­vation by pure and unadulterated grace apart from works; “without the law”, “without works”, “without a cause”, “un­to good works”. Is Acts 2:38 our message for today. Is Acts 8:5-15 our program today? There are about fifty religious ceremonies, signs, gifts and religious practices which were God’s order and program during the “Acts” period, but today have been dropped ar­bitrarily and without Scriptural explanation by virtually ev­ery Fundamentalist assembly and preacher of the grace gos­pel in the land. Why is there such a change in the “Acts” pro­gram and the program of the assemblies of those Fundamentalists who teach that they are members of the Body of Christ which began on the day of Pentecost? Which of them observe the order of Acts 19:1-10 or practice the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: S. FAITHFUL DR. LUKE ======================================================================== FAITHFUL DR. LUKE Dr. Luke, who wrote the third Gospel and the Book of Acts, was a faithful cour­ageous, uncompromising servant of the Lord. More than thirty years after the Lord Jesus died on the cross Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.” Colossians 4:4. Some time later Paul wrote to Timothy, “Demas hath forsaken me,” “Only Luke is with me.” Take Mark and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:10-11. Mark and Luke were Gospel writers, but not of the twelve apostles. Luke was faithful to Paul until the end of his life. Undoubtedly Dr. Luke out­lived Paul. Note Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 1:15 and 2 Timothy 4:16 : “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.” “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me; I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me; all forsook me.” Then Demas forsook Paul. Paul was deserted. Humanly speaking he must have been lonely. “ONLY LUKE IS WITH ME.” How he appreciated and loved Luke for his faithfulness. Dr. Luke joined the Apostle Paul at the time Paul received his call to go to Macedonia. “And after he had seen the vision im­mediately WE endeavoured to go into Macedonia.” Acts 16:10. That was about 53 A. D. By marking “WE” in the Book of Acts after Acts 16:10 much can be learned concerning Luke’s faithfulness in the Lord’s service and his loyalty to Paul. Luke entered Europe with Paul and was with him when he was arrested at Philippi. Acts 16:16. Note this statement, “these men, being Jews.” Acts 16:20. When Paul went to Jerusalem expecting plenty of trouble and persecu­tion, Luke accompanied him, after Luke had joined with others endeavouring to persuade Paul not to hazard his life in Jerusalem. Acts 21:12. Paul was ready to die for Christ. Acts 21:12. And Luke went with him to face death. Acts 21:14 and Acts 2:17. Later on, when Paul and many others were shipwrecked on the dark, stormy sea, Luke was with him on part of the wreck that reached shore. Acts 27:19 and Acts 27:37. Luke was with Paul when he reached Rome. Acts 28:15-16. So we must decide that Dr. Luke was a faithful, courageous and uncompromis­ing servant of the Lord. We cannot under­stand why the Holy Spirit did not lead some inspired writer to record the virtues and heroic deeds of this remarkable char­acter, but we can understand why he was honored by being himself a chosen in­spired servant to write one of the most important Books in the Bible, the Book of Acts, and also the longest message in the New Testament Scriptures, for, al­though Matthew and Acts each have 28 chapters, yet Luke contains more words than either of those Books. But some man of God said, “Dr. Luke, you got us into plenty of controversy with your Book of Acts.” LUKE - A JEW OR A GENTILE? We know that all of the sixty-six Books of the Bible were dictated by the same infallible Divine Spirit. In writing sixty-four of these Books, we are sure that the Holy Spirit used Jewish men. Why make an exception in the case of Luke and Acts? Certainly no one of the Four Gos­pels is more Jewish than is Luke. Some men believe that Luke was a Gentile be­cause in his Gospel and the Book of Acts he opens with a message to Theophilus. Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1. Others believe that Luke was a proselyte (a Gentile in the Jews’ religion) at the time he became a Christian. Let each carefully study the record and decide for himself. IS LUKE’S GOSPEL A JEWISH MESSAGE? Let us carefully note Luke 19:9-10 : “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as HE ALSO IS A SON OF ABRAHAM. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” “And ought not this woman, being A DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Luke 13:16. “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 HE 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 am also 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 marvelled 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 7:2-10. This incident is one of the keys to the Book of Luke. This Gentile man built a synagogue for Israel. He loved Israel. He was of great faith. He was the only Gentile man who received a blessing from the Lord Jesus on earth according to the Record. In these incidents surely we have the proof that, in the Gospel of Luke, as well as in Matthew and Mark, Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision. “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.” (Romans 15:8.) Note Christ’s words recorded in Matthew 15:24 : “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Salvation came to Zaccheus because he was “the son of Abraham.” The Son of man came to seek and save the sons of Abraham. Later on the same Christ sent the Apostle Paul to seek and to save all the sons of Adam. Acts 22:17-21. Romans 15:16. Jesus Christ was Israel’s promised Shepherd, Messiah and King. This Shepherd was to seek the lost sheep, Israel: “And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord, have spoken it.” Ezekiel 34:23-24. “And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and ac­cording to their doings I judged them.” “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. A new heart also will I give you, and 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.” “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My peo­ple, and I will be your God.” “As the holy flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 36:19, Ezekiel 36:24, Ezekiel 36:26, Ezekiel 36:28 and Ezekiel 36:38. “And David My servant, shall be King over them; and they all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes and do them. 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.” Ezekiel 37:24-25. THE EXPECTANCY AND THE REJECTION It is interesting to read the statement of Luke 3:15 : “AND AS THE PEOPLE (ISRAEL) WERE IN EXPECTATION, AND ALL MEN MUSED IN THEIR HEARTS OF JOHN, WHETHER HE WERE THE MESSIAH, OR NOT.” Knowing Daniel 9:1-27, the Jewish teachers had taught their people that it was about time for their King and Messiah to visit the earth, in fulfillment of Isaiah 34:1-17. Surely the Lord Jesus was Israel’s Messiah and Shepherd-King. He proved it in every way. He had the Divine right, the human birth-right and the legal right to the throne of David. He was born to take that throne and reign over the house of Jacob forever. Luke 1:27-33. But Israel said, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Luke 19:14. Then followed those solemn and significant words of Christ to Israel. Let us try to visualize as we hear His words in Luke 19:41-45. “AND WHEN HE (JESUS) WAS COME NEAR, HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT” “SAYING, IF THOU HADST KNOWN EVEN THOU AT LEAST IN THIS THY DAY, THE THINGS WHICH BELONG UNTO THY PEACE BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES.” Then read the terrible judgment which the Lord Jesus pronounced upon them. Read Luke 19:43-44. Then note Luke 21:22-24, “These be the days of ven­geance,” “There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trod­den down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Why? Because Israel knew not the time of their visitation. Luke 19:44. But remember the Shepherd of Israel is coming back, and they shall say, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” Luke 19:35. JESUS CHRIST ISRAEL’S SHEPHERD KING David was the Lord’s anointed. Saul was rejected. David, the shepherd, was specifically sought out by the Lord and chosen to be the Lord’s king. David’s throne was moved to Jerusalem, accord­ing to the Lord’s instructions. - David reigned in Jerusalem over the house of Israel and the house of Judah. “He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheep folds.” Psalms 78:70. “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant.” “I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him.” “Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David.” “Lord, where are Thy former lovingkindnesses, which Thou swarest unto David in Thy Truth?” Psalms 89:3, Psalms 89:20, Psalms 89:35 and Psalms 89:49. David was the son of Jesse and descended from Judah, from Israel and from Abraham. David was a Jew by race and by religion. He was born in Bethle­hem, afterwards known as “the City of David.” David was Israel’s shepherd-­king. Many times in the Scriptures the Israelites are called sheep., “My people hath been lost sheep: their shep­herds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.” “Israel is a scat­tered sheep: the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him: and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.” Jeremiah 50:6 and Jeremiah 50:17. Then note Isaiah 53:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” “My sheep wandered through all the moun­tains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezekiel 34:6 and Ezekiel 34:12. All Christians love Psalms 23:1-6. All Jews should also love this Psalm. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” In Luke 1:27 is recorded the fact that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was of the house of David. In Luke 1:69 is recorded the fact that Israel’s Horn of salvation was raised up in the house of David. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus Christ is called the root and offspring of David. Note the prophecy concerning King Jesus in Jeremiah 23:5. In Luke 2:10-14 is recorded the fact that Jesus the King was born in David’s city, Bethlehem. David was anointed with oil. 1 Samuel 16:13. Jesus Christ was anointed with the oil of glad­ness. Hebrews 1:9. “Christ” means “the Anointed.” In Luke 1:29-33 is re­corded the fact that Jesus Christ was born to occupy David’s throne. Note the words of the Shepherd-King in Luke 15:4 : “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” Luke 19:9-10 : “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Matthew 15:24 : “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” John 10:11 and John 10:14 : “I am the Good Shepherd: The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” “I am the Good Shep­herd, and know My sheep, and am known of mine.” Hebrews 13:20 : “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting cove­nant.” 1 Peter 2:25 : “For ye were as sheep going astray: but are now returned unto the Shep­herd and Bishop of your souls.” 1 Peter 5:4 : “And when the chief Shep­herd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” In fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:11-12 the Lord Jesus came to be Israel’s seek­ing Shepherd: “He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and car­ry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young.” “Who hath meas­ured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and com­prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” Isaiah 40:11-12. “Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock.” Jeremiah 31:10. “And I will set up one Shep­herd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd.” Ezekiel 34:23. The Israelites were the sheep of His pasture: “So we Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks for ever.” CHRIST IN THE SYNAGOGUE AND TEMPLE In the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus of Nazareth in the Jewish temple and in the Jewish synagogue time and again. In fact more is said in Luke’s Record about this particular ministry than in any of the other three Records. It is in Luke’s Gospel that we have the dedication of Jesus by His Jewish mother, His circumcision, His customary attend­ance in the Nazareth synagogue. Luke 2:17-30. Luke 4:16. But Luke is not the Gentile Gospel, as some have stated. It is Jewish or Israelitish. In Luke there is not even the record of Christ’s minis­try in Samaria or his conversation with the Syro-Phoenician Gentile woman. In Luke the Shepherd-King is seeking the sons and daughters of Abraham, the lost sheep of Israel. To those whom He found and saved He said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give ALMS.” When you study Luke write over the first verse “Jesus Christ, the Son of David, Israel’s Shepherd-King.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: S. FAR OFF-BUT BROUGHT NIGH ======================================================================== FAR OFF—BUT BROUGHT NIGH By Pastor John C. O’Hair Quite frequently there is reference made in the Bible to a people who are “far off”. Sometimes the reference is to a “spiritual distance”, and sometimes to a “geographical distance”. Generally the geographical distance refers to the location of the people with reference to Jerusalem. And because God’s mercy­seat was located in Jerusalem, some­times their spiritual distance is likewise determined by their location with re­spect to Jerusalem where God was wor­shipped in the temple. The woman at the well said to Christ, “ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Christ replied, “we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews”. John 4:19-21. God had said to Israel: “there will I meet with you and commune with you from above the mercyseat.” Exodus 25:22. How differ­ent from the scene at Sinai when the ten commandments were given: “and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood “afar of”. Exodus 20:18. “They could not endure that which was commanded”. Hebrews 12:20. Certainly the Lord Jesus was not saying to the man who stated the great command­ments that that man was not far from salvation because he almost kept the law. Mark 12:34. “Far off” is as near spiritually as the law of commandments ever brought any sinner to God. The law worketh wrath. Romans 4:15. Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:20. “For He is our peace”. “And came and preached peace to you which were “afar off; and them that were nigh.” “But now in Christ Jesus ye who some­times were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:14 and Ephesians 2:17 and Ephesians 2:13. From these verses we learn that at the time Paul was preaching the gospel of the grace of God, Israel was mentioned as “nigh” and the Gentiles, as aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, were “far off”. Most of them were also “far off” from Jerusalem; for the Saviour met Paul in the Jerusalem temple and said, “I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.” Acts 22:17-21. But partic­ular reference is made in Ephesians 2:13 to the Gentiles’ spiritual distance from God. How far away from God they were is told in the first two chapters of Romans. What an awful description! What a terrible condition! What a perilous pre­dicament! God had given them up. They were alienated from the life of God; in the world without God, having no hope; dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 4:18. Ephesians 2:13. When God gave up the Gentiles centuries before Christ, He chose Israel. But that Nation was a miserable failure; their history one of sin, shame and disgrace, with the blood of prophets and the murder of the Son of God upon their heads. That Son prayed on the cross for Israel’s forgive­ness, and God stretched forth His hand all day long to that disobedient and gain­saying people until they filled up their sins and God’s wrath came upon them to the uttermost. 1 Thessalonians 2:16. To provoke that Nation to jealousy the rejected Messiah sent the most religious Jew He could find to Gentiles with the gospel of grace, to tell Gentile sinners that they could be declared righteous and receive eternal life without obeying Moses or observing any of Israel’s relig­ious ceremonies. “The word is nigh to thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:8-9. Paul’s message from the risen Christ for Gentiles “far off” was so different from the message Christ gave to the Twelve, while He was Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of Israel. They were sent to Israel only, with signs, and with a message concerning the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 10:5-8. Paul’s message was so different from the mes­sage of Peter and the Eleven in the first chapters of Acts. Paul never preached to any Gentile Acts 2:38 : “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That is not the gos­pel of the grace of God for Gentiles. There was grace in the message: but it was for devout Jews from every Nation under heaven, for “ye men of Israel”; for “all the house of Israel”. Acts 2:5; Acts 2:22; and Acts 2:36. But how about Acts 2:39? “For the promise is unto you, and to your chil­dren, and to all that are “afar off”, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Here is where we may see the great blunder of getting the “geographical dis­tance” of people confused with the spir­itual distance. Let us remember that the Israelites in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, were from every nation under heaven. With respect to Jerusa­lem there were Israelites from “afar off” and those who are nigh. God had made promises by the holy prophets concerning these Israelites. Here is one of the promises: “O Lord, righteousness be­longeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusa­lem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee”. Daniel 9:7. Again: “I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal them.” Isaiah 57:19. Again: “He that is far off shall die of the pestilence: and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish My fury upon them.” Ezekiel 6:12. Again: “And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Zechariah 6:15. Again: “Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge My might.” Isaiah 33:13. Again: “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God: Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.” Ezekiel 11:16. Again: “Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.” Ezekiel 22:5. When Peter was preaching to the Twelve Tribes on the day of Pentecost, it was not lawful for him to go to Gen­tiles. Acts 10:28. The first matter of importance was what all the house of Israel was going to do about the testi­mony of the Twelve and the witness of the Holy Spirit, sent in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy concerning the Messiah­ship of Jesus. God had raised Him from the dead in fulfillment of David’s proph­ecy, to reign on David’s throne. Would the Nation repent? God had exalted the Prince of Life, whom Israel had killed, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. Would Israel repent? This Israelitish message of repent­ance and kingdom restitution was not Paul’s ministry of reconciliation. While John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth and the Twelve had preached to Israel be­fore the Saviour’s rejection and death, they had called Israel to baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins, be­cause Israel’s promised kingdom was at hand. Matthew 3:2-12. Matthew 4:17. Matthew 10:7. Note the commission, ministry and message to Israel after the death of Christ; a call to Israel to re­pent and be baptized for the remission of sins. When Paul preached to Gentiles they received the Holy Spirit when they heard the gospel of their salvation, the unmixed gospel of grace. Ephesians 1:13. Galatians 3:13-14. For many years, as Paul preached the “grace” gospel to Gentile sinners, he reasoned with Israel, out of Israel’s Scriptures, that Jesus was the Messiah and warned them of the impending judgment. Christ had pronounced that judgment in Luke 21:20-24. Jerusalem would be destroyed. Israel would be scattered all over the earth. And hear this awful judgment: “But when the King heard thereof, He was wroth: and sent forth His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Matthew 22:7. This terrible penalty was withheld until God gave His Nation another op­portunity. Jerusalem and the temple stood. Israel was given favor with Rome during their years of grace, more than thirty-five years. Some years af­ter Christ died God, by the mouth of Paul, warned Israel. Acts 13:40. All of those years they were addressed as “brethren”. Their “all day long” came to an ends with the awful destruction of Jerusalem about 69 or 70 A.D. Romans 10:21. Israel today is still where Christ said they would be. Jerusalem is still where Christ said it would be. Luke 21:20-24. We quote Isaiah 6:12 : “And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” This is the day of Gentile favor, the dispensation of the grace of God and the dispensation of the mystery. Ephesians 3:1-11. Israel has forfeited ev­ery special privilege or priority right and must come in without any circum­cision advantage or any religious repu­tation or preference, on the same grounds as the poor lost condemned Gentile and be saved by grace alone.” “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh”. Ephesians 2:17. Quite sig­nificant that the “afar off” people are mentioned before the “nigh” people. This should be compared with Romans 1:16; Acts 3:25 and Acts 13:46. All that is required to bring any kind of sinner to God is His grace and the precious blood of Christ. The necessary faith will be given for the appropriation of the grace and shed blood to any kind of a sinner who is willing to be saved. Because of centuries of Christian in­fluence it is not easy for Gentiles today to realize their predicament as set forth in Ephesians 2:12 and Ephesians 4:18 and Ephesians 2:1-3. But it is wonderful to know that the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men; that, there­fore, salvation is as free as the air we breathe and may be received by any con­victed sinner in any place at any time. After this day of grace God will deal again with Israel. Some of them will be in and around Jerusalem; most of them will, be afar off. We quote several prophecies: Isaiah 43:5-6, “Fear not: for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the east and gather them from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth”. Jeremiah 30:10 : “Therefore fear thou not, O My servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the hand of their captivity: and Jacob shall return and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.” Isaiah 60:4 : “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged: because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Isaiah 60:9 : “Surely the Isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Is­rael, because He hath glorified thee.” Micah 4:3 : “And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” We have God’s more sure word of prophecy that Israel will be established again in their own land; the tabernacle of David will be built again and the true King David will be Wonderful, Prince of Peace, reigning on David’s throne, with the government upon His shoulder. Then there will be the fulfillment of kingdom Gentile salvation for the Isles “afar off” and the nations that shall come to worship the Lord. Isaiah 66:19-24. Hear God’s question asked five cen­turies before Christ. It is up to date. “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God “afar off?” Jeremiah 23:23. And hear the answer: “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; ascertain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.” But let us remember, even as near as God is, there is only one way to Him. That way is Christ. John 14:6. Brought nigh by Christ’s blood. Ephesians 2:17. Draw nigh to God by the better hope. Hebrews 7:19. By the blood of Christ draw nigh in full assurance of faith. Hebrews 10:22. How nigh are believers who are mem­bers of the Body of Christ? They are in Christ. Christ is in them. They are dead, buried, raised, risen and seated in the heavenlies in Him, in an unend­ing, inseparable union with the glorified Christ; accepted in Him and complete in Him; and therefore, nothing above or below can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: S. FOLLOWING THE LORD IN BAPTISM ======================================================================== FOLLOWING THE LORD IN BAPTISM By Pastor John C. O’Hair Quite frequently we hear some Chris­tian urge another Christian to follow the Lord Jesus in baptism. Perhaps it is more important to be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ by Divine bap­tism than to follow Him in the water baptism He received from John the Bap­tist. John the Baptist came baptizing with water that Christ might be made manifest to Israel. John 1:31. But two or three years later the Lord Jesus asked His apostles this question: “Are ye able to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Matthew 20:22. The Lord Jesus was then speaking of His baptism into death which was to be accomplished on the cross, Concerning that baptism into death He said, “how am I straitened till it be accomplished.” Luke 12:50. When the Lord Jesus was baptized with water, all Judea went out to be baptized of John. At that time the people of Israel were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether He were the Messiah or not. Luke 3:15. Israel had not been instructed to look for Christ as the Head of the Church, which is His Body, but for the King and the Kingdom of the heavens. Christ declared to Israel, “the time is fulfilled.” Mark 1:14-15. John’s water baptism had to do with the King and the Kingdom. It was after the King told His disciples that Israel would not have Him as King that He spoke of another baptism; His “death” baptism If we are to follow the King in His kingdom baptism, we should likewise follow Him to the Jewish synagogue to worship on Saturday, as was His custom. Luke 4:16. We should take our gifts to the priest, after the law of Moses and leave our gifts at the altar. Matthew 8:4 and Matthew 5:24. We should like­wise follow our Lord in observing the Passover, and the other Jewish feasts. Luke 22:8 and John 7:10. Does it not seem strange, that although we know circumcision was carried over into Acts, we can prove by Colossians 2:11 that circumcision was done away by Christ’s death and yet make no effort to prove by the next verse, Colossians 2:12, that water baptism has been done away? Remember that we do not follow our Lord in circumcision. Luke 2:21. Cir­cumcision and baptism, with much of Israel’s law, was carried over into the Book of Acts, until Paul wrote Romans and declared the blessed truth of the believer’s identification with Christ in a baptism not made with hands: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death . . . Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4. What presumption and religious pride on the part of any man who thinks that he can baptize a fellow-man into the death of Jesus Christ, or so bury him by baptism into death that the baptized fellow-man can rise to walk in newness of life! The baptism of Romans 6:3-4 identifies the believing sinner with Christ in death, burial and resurrection, bringing the crucifixion of the old man; and it makes the baptized believer a new creature. If the baptism is water, the water is most assuredly meritorious and efficacious and is an important factor in the believer’s salvation and newness of life. If there is water in Romans 6:3 it is salvation by water. Apart from identification with the crucified, buried and resurrected Christ there is no sal­vation for any sinner. This identifica­tion can be accomplished only by baptism. Water or no water? Can water do the work? Then salvation is by God, by man and by water; therefore of grace and works. This is a plain con­tradiction of God’s Word. Therefore, man’s water baptism must be out of place. Some well-meaning brethren answer: “no merit in the water, but . . .”There are many “buts”; but without Scrip­tural support. There is no mention of water baptism as a witness to the world, or as the outward symbol of an inward work. Some say they were baptized to indicate that their old man was put to death at Calvary and has been buried. But they will admit, or others will ad­mit for them, that nothing will stir their old man like opposing their water bap­tism theories. They will also admit that water baptism in Acts 2:38 and Acts 8:5-13, and Acts 19:1-7, had an entirely different meaning. But they prefer not to discuss those verses, which prove that their theories are unscrip­tural. They are simply following the traditions of the elders, their denomina­tional leaders who blundered and led them into the blunder. Any spiritual student of the Word, who understands the message of grace, will admit that there is not one verse of Scripture instructing one member of the Body of Christ to baptize with water another person who is already a mem­ber of that Body. They will likewise admit that water baptism neither helps a believer to get into the Body of Christ, nor keeps him in that Body; but that this is accomplished by the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5. Who has the Scrip­tural right to demand for entrance into a church-organization water baptism, and call that organization the Bible Church that demands no such religious ordinance for membership in that Bible Church? It is more Scriptural to join the Campbellites or some other church that teaches water baptism unto repent­ance for the remission of sins. Yes we should follow the Lord in bap­tism, if by that we mean that we should bow at the cross of Calvary, as poor hell-deserving, condemned, ungodly sin­ners and by faith appropriate that death. God will then take care of the baptizing, and by His grace enable us to know the Blessed Saviour in the fellowship of His suffering and in the power of His resurrection. God’s one baptism joins the believer to the eternal Christ in an eternal union. “There is one baptism.” Ephesians 4:5. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: S. FOUR CHURCHES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES ======================================================================== FOUR CHURCHES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES Our word “Church” is from the Greek “Kurios”, translated several hundred times, “Lord”. Why the translators used the word “Church” we do not understand, for it has caused much confusion and mis­understanding. The Greek word, from which the word “Church” is translated “Ekklesia”, This word “Ekklesia” is found 118 times in the New Testament Scriptures, translated 85 times, in the sing­ular, “Church”; 35 times, in the plural, “Churches”; and three times “Assembly”. The word “Assembly” is used in Acts 19:32; Acts 19:39; Acts 19:41. The Greek word, “Ekklesia”, means “Called-out”, and suggests a called-out company, or a gathering, or an assembly. Thus we can see the un­fortunate translation, “Church.” It would have been far better had the word “Ek­klesia” been translated, “Called-out” or “Assembly”, all 118 times. THE FIRST CHURCH In Acts 7:38 Stephen spoke of the “Ekklesia”, or “Church”, “in the wilderness.” He was referring to Israel’s pilgrimage through the wilderness, about 1490 B.C. Surely the Israelites were God’s “called-out” people. He called them out of Egypt. He led them into Canaan. They were still the “Ekklesia” of God years after their pilgrimage was over, when they were worshipping Jehovah in the temple at Jerusalem. This leads us to ask the question; “how about the seventy souls out of the loins of Jacob more than two hundred years before the Israelites were in the wilderness?” Were not the seventy souls of Exodus 1:5 God’s “Called-out?” Two hundred years before this some of God’s people were in the household of Abraham. Genesis 17:4-14. One of the four churches referred to in the New Testament Scriptures is the “Church in the wilderness.” THE SECOND CHURCH In Acts 8:1 we read of “the Church which was at Jerusalem.” In that Church there were only Jews. Acts 11:19. In referring to that Church, Paul said, “I persecuted “the Church of God.” Galatians 1:13. The Church in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, was the Church of God. Before the day of Pentecost there were one-hundred-twenty souls in the upper room. They were the Called-out of God. Acts 1:15. To a called-out company the Lord on earth had said some months before the day of Pentecost, “Fear not little flock.” Luke 12:32. They were called-out. To them He said; “if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the “Ekklesia.” Matthew 18:17. This leads us to this question, “did the Church of God which Saul of Tarsus persecuted begin on or before the day of Pentecost?” The Post-millenarian’s answer to this question is, that the Church of God began before the flood. Some Bible teachers believe that the Church of God began with John the Baptist. Some Premillenarians teach that there was a Church of God before the resurrection of Christ, but that the New Testament Church of God began when the Lord Jesus breathed upon His apostles, saying “receive ye the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22. Other Premillenarians—and the majority of them—teach that there was at least one Church before the day of Pentecost; but that a new and different Church of God began on the day of Pentecost. They support their teaching by the words of the Lord Jesus, “Upon this Rock I will build my Church.” Matthew 16:19. They also use 1 Corinthians 12:13 to support their teaching, “baptized by one Spirit into one Body.” Believers, they claim, could not have been baptized into the Church of God until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. The believers added on the day of Pentecost, they teach, were added to the Church of God by the work of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:47. Then they claim that the expression “the Church of God” was not used before the day of Pentecost. All of these Premillenarians are Dispensationalists to the extent that they teach that the Kingdom of God was taken from Israel with the death of Israel’s Messiah, in fulfillment of Matthew 21:43 and Matthew 23:34-39. They teach that Israel’s national redemption will take place by the coming of the Son of man in power and great glory after God has accomplished His purpose in this age; namely, to build the Church of Christ. Therefore, they teach the postponement of the Kingdom or the suspension of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants that have to do with the restoration of the Kingdom and Canaan to Israel. They teach that when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in all Israel shall be saved. Romans 11:25-26. Therefore, they teach that the Kingdom of God which was at hand, in the message of the Lord Jesus in Mark 1:14-15, is not now at hand; but will be at hand when the Son of man shall return and fulfill Luke 21:27-31. That Kingdom of God is now in abeyance. Since the day of Pentecost the Church of God has been at hand. Therefore, they claim that the Church of God, which began historically on the day of Pentecost, is identical with the Church which is Christ’s Body, mentioned in Ephesians 1:19-22. There are some Scriptures that seem to support the teaching that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God is the same as the Church which is Christ’s Body, mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians. Yet there are some Scriptures that seem to disprove both facts; that is, the one fact that the Church of God which Saul persecuted began before the day of Pentecost, and the other fact that the Church of God of the day of Pentecost is not identical with the Body (Church of Ephesians 1:19-22.) Let us consider them: Read the words of the Lord Jesus, in Mark 1:14-15 : “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” It was at hand for Israel; because their King was at hand. Whether or not we believe that the Body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost or some years after, Premillenarians are agreed that the Kingdom of God that was at hand in 30 A.D. was not the Body of Christ mentioned in 64 A.D., in Ephesians and Colossians. According to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to Israel, “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you.” Matthew 21:43. Now, if that Kingdom of God had been taken away from Israel before the day of Pentecost, there might be Scriptural proof that the Body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost. But the fact is, that the same Kingdom of God that was offered to Israel while the Lord Jesus was on earth was again offered to the same Nation after Pentecost. Acts 3:19-22. In Matthew 8:1-11, the Israelites were “Children”. Mark 7:27. In Matthew 23:34-39 the Israelites were “serpents”. In Acts 3:25 the Israelites were “Children”. Quite a transformation from “Children” to serpents, and from “serpents” back to “Children”. In Matthew 16:20 the Messengers of the Messiah were no longer to witness to the Nation that Jesus was their Messiah. But in Acts 2:32, the Messengers of the Messiah were witnessing to Israel that Jesus was their Messiah; “Let all of the House of Israel know.” The “these days” of Acts 3:24 referred to the same Israelitish Kingdom of God that was at hand in Mark 1:14-15. Yes or no? If yes, did the “these days” of Acts 3:24 refer to the Body of Christ of Ephesians 3:6, about which days no prophet ever spoke or wrote? According to Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not come to form the Body of Christ, but for Israel’s blessing in their land. Read Joel 2:18 and Acts 2:16. According to that same message, Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead to be the Head of the Church which is His Body, but to sit as King and Messiah on David’s throne. On that throne the Messiah and King will be the “Son of Man.” Matthew 25:31-34. Some months after the day of Pentecost Stephen saw the Messiah standing in heaven as the “Son of man”. The Lord Jesus is not the Son of man to the members of the Church which is His Body. No one can prove by the Word of God that the Nation Israel had been set aside, as a nation, or that the Kingdom of God had been taken away from them at the time Stephen saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing. Acts 7:51-56. We have taken too much for granted, without diligently studying the Word of God. In what respect was the Kingdom of God taken away from Israel, in the seventh chapter of Acts, that it was not taken away when Jesus was in their midst on earth? The Lord had to go to the cross in fulfillment of the Scriptures. How could He have gone to the throne of David before He went to Calvary, and have fulfilled the Scriptures? What Scripture prevented His return to establish His Kingdom after His sacrifice? The answer to this is; that the Body of Christ was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 . . . Ephesians 3:11 and 2 Timothy 1:9. So then this question, what was the difference between the Kingdom of God, offered to Israel before the day of Pentecost, and the Kingdom of God offered to Israel after the day of Pentecost? In the one case Israel was sinning against the Son of man. That was to be forgiven them. Matthew 12:31-32. For the forgiveness of than sin Christ on the cross prayed for them. In the second case, after Pentecost they were sinning against, or resisting, the Holy Spirit. That was not to be forgiven them. In the one case the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of the heavens, was being offered to them while their Messiah was on earth, Jesus of Nazareth the man approved of God in their midst by signs. Acts 2:22. In the other case the Kingdom of God was being offered to them after God had made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ and had raised Him up to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel. Acts 2:32. Acts 5:31. Repentance on the part of Israel meant the Kingdom of God restored unto Israel. Acts 3:19-26. Twenty-seven years after the death of Israel’s Messiah there was an “election” of Israelites. But Israel, the Nation, was to be set aside until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:7-8 and Romans 11:25-26. When did this election of Israelites begin? Certainly before the day of Pentecost. While the Lord Jesus was in the flesh in the land of the Jews individual Israelites were saved. Whether or not they were born into the Kingdom of God or became members of the Church of God, there was something more than an offer of salvation, or entrance into the Kingdom of God, to individual Israelites. The proclamation of the Kingdom by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus and the Twelve and the Seventy, while the Saviour was an earth, was for the Nation. When the Lord said, “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you”, He did not mean that individual Israelites would not be permitted to enter into the Kingdom of God. No, He meant that the Kingdom of God which was offered to the Nation, and which shall yet be given to that Nation, would be taken away. While the Lord Jesus was on earth He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24. He was confirming to Israel God’s Kingdom promises. Romans 15:8. Messages concerning the Body of Christ were not messages of confirmation; but messages of revelation. They were not preached by the Lord Jesus on earth. The Israelites saved while the Lord was on earth did not become members of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians. But the question is, “would it be unscriptural to speak of that company of saved Israelites as the Church or a Church of God before Pentecost?” Did the little flock constitute an “Ekklesia?” If not, would we call them “the Kingdom of God”? Is there any name by which they might collectively be called? Were not all Israelites the children of the Kingdom? Matthew 8:11. The children of the Kingdom were not cast into darkness until after Acts 13:46. The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in fulfillment of Joel’s Kingdom prophecy concerning Israel’s Kingdom and Land, did not make the saved company of Israelites the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15. Just as before the death of the Messiah, individual Israelites continued to be saved, or enter the Kingdom of God, on the day of Pentecost and thereafter. Just as before the death of Christ, God was still dealing with the Nation Israel on Kingdom grounds; presenting to them the message of that Kingdom spoken by the mouth of Moses, Samuel and all of Israel’s prophets. Acts 3:21 and Acts 3:24. Perhaps, the most difficult task for the Bible student is to learn just When, during the Book of Acts period, the Lord ceased to deal with Israel, as a Nation, on Kingdom grounds. Certainly in the year 46 A.D., when the Apostle Paul said, “seeing ye have put it from you, Lo, we turn unto the Gentiles”, he was not saying that God would withdraw from individual Israelites the privilege of becoming members of His Church, Acts 13:46. He was there dealing with the Nation, as He was in Acts 28:25-28. With Acts 28:25-28 we have a most radical change in the program of God. With that judgment God began to withdraw spiritual authority and Church leadership from Israel and to usher in a period of Gentile favour wholly independent of Israelitish covenants, promises, rites and religion; and to reveal His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus concerning the One New Man and the heavenly position and blessings of the members of the Body of Christ chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. There is a decided difference between the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, of Matthew 25:34, the restitution to Israel spoken by the prophets since the world began, of Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21, and the purpose of Christ given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, of Ephesians 1:4 and 2 Timothy 1:9. We must not confuse the Kingdom promises with the eternal purpose of God concerning the position of saved Gentiles in the Body. One was the subject of prophecy; the other was unknown to the prophets; hid in God. Ephesians 3:3, Ephesians 3:5, Ephesians 3:8-9. THE THIRD CHURCH In the study of this third Church mentioned in the New Testament Scriptures we can appreciate the unfortunate and obscure translation of the word “Ekklesia” to the word “Church”. Read Acts 19:32, Acts 19:39 and Acts 19:41. “The Ekklesia was confused”. “In a lawful Ekklesia”. “He dismissed the Ekklesia.” Who dismissed the Ekklesia? A heathen judge. Who made up the Ekklesia? There were several saints there, but the Ekklesia was an unruly mob of lost heathen. What a Church! As the word “Church” comes from the word translated Lord, “Kurios”, we know that mob should not have been called “Church”. The word Ekklesia is properly translated “Assembly” in the three verses. Suppose such an unruly mob had gathered in Jerusalem while the Lord Jesus was on earth, could they not have properly been called an Ekklesia? Certainly. Then was the word “Ekklesia” added to the Greek language because a company of saved Israelites was to be called “the Church of God” on the day of Pentecost? (Certainly not. If a mob of heathen could have been properly called an Ekklesia or an Assembly before Christ died, then a company of God’s redeemed people could have been called an Ekklesia of God, or a Church of God, while Christ was on earth. Well, of one thing all students of the Word of God are sure; that is, that the Church which is the Body of Christ is not a building made of inanimate stones or other inanimate material. The Church which is the Body of Christ is a building made up of sinners saved by pure and unadulterated grace, without religion. Acts 2:8-22. THE FOURTH CHURCH “In Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the upper-heavenlies, or super-heaven­lies, . . . . and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:19-22. “They two shall be one flesh; This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” Ephesians 5:31. “In other ages was not made known to the sons of men. . . . That the Gentiles should be joint-heirs; of the joint Body.” Ephesians 3:5-6. “To make all men see what is the dispensa­tion of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” Ephesians 3:9. Is the Holy Spirit, in these verses in Ephesians, speaking of a Church of God, or the Church of God, which began before or on the day of Pentecost? The generally accepted answer to this question among Premillenarians is, that the Church of God began historically on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God which then began is the same Church of God called in Ephesians and Colossians, the “Body”. This teaching is supported by Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians. First Corinthians was addressed “unto the Church of God.” In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we read that “by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks.” The argument is, that the Church of God of the first chapter is the Body of the twelfth chapter; and that the Body of 1 Corinthians 12:13 is identical with the Body of Ephesians and Colossians. Another verse of Scripture used to support the teaching is Ephesians 2:20 : “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner.” Whether or not Premillenarians believe that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God is the same Church or Body of Ephesians and Colossians, they are agreed that the Body of Christ did not begin historically until Israel, as a nation, was set aside; and they should be agreed that the Body of Ephesians and Colossians was not in fulfillment of any promise that God made to Israel by the mouth of all of His holy prophets since the world began. If Israel was set aside, as a nation, on the day of Pentecost, then undoubtedly the Body of Christ began historically at that time, if not before. If Israel was not set aside until after Stephen saw the Son of man standing in heaven, or until after Acts 13:46, then it is more than doubtful that body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost or before. Therefore, it seems rather important that we search the Scriptures diligently to learn when the Lord set Israel aside. To be sure, the Lord on earth said to Israel, “your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38-39. At that time He addressed them as a generation of vipers and as serpents. But after Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them”, God spoke to them in great mercy and addressed them, not as serpents, but “ye are the children of the covenants.” Acts 3:25. God wot that ye did it in ignorance. Therefore, repent. Acts 3:17. This was to “every one of you”, to “all the house of Israel.” Acts 2:38 . . . Acts 3:26 and Acts 2:36. Their house was not yet desolate. Their temple stood in Jerusalem and for years after Paul was converted God permitted him to become a Jew to the Jews. Surely God delayed the execution of the judgment pronounced upon the house of Israel, in Matthew 21:1-46; Matthew 23:1-39; Matthew 25:1-46. It was in the year 60 A.D. that God wrote by the pen of Paul to the Romans concerning the setting aside of Israel, not on the day of Pentecost, but after the thirteenth chapter of Acts; perhaps, not definitely until Acts 28:25-28. Israel’s house was no more desolate in the thirteenth chapter of Acts than in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Were the natural branches any more cut off in Acts 15:1-19 than they were in Matthew 23:34-38? Here is a sensible question: “If Israel was set aside with the death of Christ, if the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel with the death of Christ, why did God’s messengers say to Israel, “to you first”? Acts 3:26 and Acts 13:46. Why were no Gentiles saved until eight years after the day of Pentecost? Acts 11:18. Why was it unlawful for an Israelite apostle to go to a Gentile with the message until Peter’s housetop vision? Acts 10:28. Surely we know, with but little study, that the dispensation of pure grace for Jew and Gentile alike did not begin with Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. No messenger of grace today would preach to an unsaved Gentile, “repent and be baptized for the remission of sin,” Acts 2:38. Neither would he preach to any one Acts 3:19-21. The teacher who has the Body of Christ begin historically on the day of Pentecost has for the program of that Body all of the program of the Book of Acts period, from Pentecost until Paul reached Rome. But they find very little of this program in the Body of Christ today, except in the counterfeit. They have no Scriptural explanation for the absence of the signs and visions and miracles and ceremonies that were practiced by the authority of the risen Christ during the thirty years after His death? They should either be recovered or explained away by an intelligent application of the Scriptures rightly divided, which is difficult, if not impossible, if the Body of today and the Pentecost Church of God are one and the same. We have either a different Church today with a different sphere of blessing or the same Church with such a different program that it might as well be a different Church. Let us carefully compare Amos 9:11-15 with Acts 15:14-17, and we shall learn that God by the mouth of His holy prophet told Israel that there was to be a called-out company of Israelites and Gentiles; and we shall also learn that Peter and James declared that the Church of God of the Book of Acts was the called-out company to whom Amos referred. A study of the first chapters of the Book of Acts should convince us that Peter and the Eleven were preaching to none but Israelites, “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:” And then Peter said, “God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” Acts 15:7. This referred to Peter’s message to the Household of Cornelius; “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:43. Some years after Peter’s ministry to the Gentiles the Apostle Paul wrote: “I am the apostle of the Gentiles.” Romans 11:13. And about that same time it was agreed that Peter and his associates should preach the “circumcision” gospel to the circumcision. Galatians 2:7 and Galatians 2:9. It is no easy matter to understand Galatians 2:7-9 in the light of Acts 15:7; unless we can learn in the Scriptures that the risen Lord gave Paul a message and ministry for the Gentiles that superseded His commission to the Twelve. Paul was the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Gentiles with the dispensation of grace and with the mystery among the Gentiles. Ephesians 3:1-9. Colossians 1:27. Peter preached to Israelites and Gentiles the “traceable” riches of Christ. The Apostle Paul finally preached to Gentiles the unsearchable (untraceable) riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8. The word translated “unsearchable” really means “not to be tracked.” Included in the “not-to-be-­tracked” riches of Christ was the Body referred to in Paul’s last Epistles as “the Mystery”. In the second of Acts believers were added to the Church of God. They were all Israelites. About eight years later the first company of Gentiles was added. Acts 11:18. If the called-out company of Acts 15:14-17 referred to the Jews and Greeks of 1 Corinthians 12:13, baptized by one Spirit into one Body, then the one Body of 1 Corinthians 12:13 can hardly be identical with the Body of Ephesians 3:6. Membership in the Body of Ephesians 3:6 was a mystery not made known to the prophets of Israel, whereas the saved company of Acts 15:14-17 was prophesied in Amos 9:11-15. God’s Son made under the law, sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, was a minister of the circumcision. Gala­tians 4:4. Matthew 15:24. Romans 15:8. His ministry to Israel was one of confirma­tion; that is, confirming what Israel’s prophets had foretold. Romans 15:8. That referred also to a message of salvation for Gentiles. Romans 15:9. The ministry of the Twelve, before and after the death of their Messiah, was also a ministry of confirmation. Hebrews 2:2-5. To Israel Paul likewise preached “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.” Acts 26:22. “That Christ should be the first to rise from the dead and show light unto Israel and the Gentiles.” Acts 26:23. So the Apostle Paul had a ministry of confirmation, or “traceable” riches of Christ. But he had another ministry, about which Israel’s prophets knew nothing. He preached among the Gentiles the “untraceable” riches of Christ, concerning the dispensation of the mystery, which God would have all men to know; since He revealed it to and through Paul. Paul had a two-fold ministry; one of confirmation, and one of revelation. Otherwise we could never reconcile Acts 26:22 and Ephesians 3:8-9; the “none other things of Israel’s prophets” and the mystery hid in God from the beginning of the world; the “traceable” and “untraceable” message. Who could learn of the “dispensation of the grace of God” or of the “dispensation of the mystery” by reading Israel’s Old Testament prophets or the Four Gospels or the Book of Acts or even the first six Epistles from the pen of Paul? As we said, Premillenarians are gener­ally agreed that the Body of Christ did not begin until Israel was set aside, as a na­tion. The disagreement is concerning the time of that setting aside, or as to when the Lord cast the children into darkness, according to Matthew 8:11. As you care­fully study the Book of Matthew and the Book of Acts, can you truthfully say that God sent any more judgment upon Israel in the Book of Acts than he did in Mat­thew? All can see that He did after the “Book of Acts” period, but not during it. Those who disagree with their Premillen­arian brethren that Israel had been set aside when the day of Pentecost was fully come are called “Ultradispensationalists.” Some Ultradispensationalists teach that Paul wrote several Epistles before Israel was set aside, and in those Epistles he re­ferred to an “Ekklesia”, a called-out” peo­ple, Israelites and Gentiles, which was the subject of prophecy. They teach that Paul wrote several Epistles after Israel was cast into darkness generally called his “Prison” Epistles, including Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy; and that in those Epistles he referred to an Ekklesia” about which no prophet of Israel wrote. That “Ekklesia” is called “the Church which is His Body”. That Church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Let us search the Scriptures diligently to see whether these things be true. This teaching suggests “The Book of Acts” Church and the “Body” Church. To which of these Churches did the Lord Jesus refer when He said, “upon this Rock I will build my Ekklesia?” The reason why we feel sure we can correctly answer this question is because outstand­ing Bible teachers among Fundamentalists have decided it for us. To which Church did the Lord Jesus refer in Matthew? The Book of Matthew is a Book of signs and ceremonies; a message concerning the Kingdom, Matthew is very largely a Jewish Book. But how about the Book of Acts? Seven strictly Jewish words, found 86 times in the Book of Matthew, are found 250 times in Acts. The honest, open student of the Word of God will find no more radical change passing out of Matthew into Acts than he will passing out of Acts into Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy. Signs and ceremonies and Judaism pass out of Matthew into Acts and go through Acts, all the way; but they do not pass from Acts to Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy. They are missing; they have ceased; something has happened. What happened to John the Baptist and the other saved Israelites who died while Jesus of Nazareth was a man in the midst of Israel? They certainly were not members of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians. To this all Premillenarians are agreed. Were they members of some Church of God? If Israel was set aside when the Lord said to them, “your house is left unto you desolate”, and if the kingdom of God was then and there taken from them, and if the Body of Christ did not begin until fifty days after Christ arose from death, to what company of saved Israelites did the thief on the cross belong? Was he not in the same Church of God to which the thousands were added some weeks later? And concerning the 120 in the upper-room, were they not members of a Church of God while the Lord was in their midst as a man? Did they become members of a new and different Church of God on the day of Pentecost? Surely they were a saved group before the death of their Messiah and they were a saved company after His death. But if any one of them had died before the day of Pentecost, he would have died outside of the Church of God, according to our Premillenarian brethren who teach that the Church of God, began on the day of Pentecost. All of us should agree that he would not have died as a member of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians; but we are by no means agreed that they were not members of a Church of God. If it could have been that such a radical change could have taken place on the day of Pentecost, as is taught by our Premillenarian brethren who say that the Church of God began then, and if it is true that the “Kingdom of God” saved people from before Pentecost could have became “Church of God” saved people on the day of Pentecost, why could not an equally radical change have taken place with the close of the Book of Acts period and the saved people of the Church of God have become members of the “Body Church” of the post-Acts Epistles? Certainly the Scriptures show that just as radical a change took place at the close of Acts as took place in the Second Chapter of Acts. The Premillennial brethren, who teach that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost, teach that when Jesus was on earth He offered to Israel that literal physical Messianic Kingdom that was to be, and is to be, established on this earth, according to the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began. There are many chapters in Isaiah, Zechariah Micah, Jeremiah, Daniel and the thirty-sixth and thirty-­seventh chapters of Ezekiel that speak of “these days”. They spoke of the same Kingdom “these days” as are mentioned in Acts 3:25. Acts speaks of the very same Kingdom on earth that Christ announced in Mark 1:14-15. The very same Kingdom is spoken of in Amos 9:11-15 and Acts 15:14-18. In fulfillment of the Scriptures, the builders rejected the Stone. As the Kingdom offer was rejected, the attitude of Israel caused the Lord to withdraw the offer and postpone the Kingdom and change His program and build the One New Man before He would lay His hand the second time to restore the Kingdom to Israel. If Israel had received their King and Kingdom, would there not have been the fulfillment of Joel 2:1-18 and Amos 9:11-15? Certainly. Then if Amos 9:11-15 is a Kingdom promise, what has that prophecy to do with the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15? Did not Israel’s attitude toward God’s offer after the Holy Spirit came to witness to them again cause God to postpone fulfillment of the Kingdom pro­gram of Acts 15:14-17 until after He has made the One New Man of Ephesians 2:5. There is no more Scriptural proof that Jesus Christ would have taken the throne of David, if Israel had repented before His death than that He would have taken that throne if Israel had repented within a few years after His death. Christ was prophesied for that purpose. Isaiah 9:6-7. He was born for that purpose. Luke 1:29-33. He was resur­rected for that purpose. Acts 2:25-30. He shall return for that purpose. Acts 15:15-16. Israel rejected the King and the Kingdom in Acts as well as in Matthew. Did not the Body of Christ begin after that rejection? Does Acts 15:14-17 re­fer to the Body? Surely Amos and the other prophets of Israel did not prophesy concerning the present position of Christ in the super­-heavenlies, far above principality, power and dominion, and that present position of the members of His Body, seated in and with Christ in the super-heavenlies, described in the Body message in Ephesians 1:4 and Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 2:5-6. It is not so difficult to see that the “Body” Church of Ephesians 1:19-22 differs from the Church of Acts 15:14-18, when we study together carefully Amos 9:11-15, Acts 15:14-18 and Ephesians 3:5-11. Amos prophesied Gentile salvation with Christ on David’s throne. The Epistle to the Ephesians speaks of Gentile salvation with Christ and His Body seated, not on David’s throne, but in the super-heavenlies. Of this Body Amos never spake a word. Neither did any other prophet before Christ came, or while He was on earth; nor did the Twelve in their ministry to the House of Israel during the Acts period. Be a true Berean and let the Holy Spirit lead you to diligently search the Scrip­tures, and you will rejoice in the two “Buts” in the Second Chapter of Ephe­sians, “But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith He loved us”; and “But now in Christ Jesus”. How won­derful is this message of pure grace; saved, sealed and seated, all of grace and all by grace, on the basis of the shed blood of Christ, without religion, legalism, cere­mony or ordinance. “They two shall be one flesh. I speak a mystery concerning Christ and the Church.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: S. FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF JESUS ======================================================================== FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF JESUS Note again Acts 13:29-30 : “AND WHEN THEY HAD FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF HIM, THEY TOOK HIM DOWN FROM THE TREE, AND LAID HIM IN A SEPULCHRE. BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.” With these verses note, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the words, “according to the Scriptures.” “FOR I DELIVERED UNTO YOU FIRST OF ALL THAT WHICH I ALSO RECEIVED, HOW THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES; AND THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.” Here “according to the Scriptures” means in fulfillment of prophecies re­corded in the thirty-nine Books, from Genesis to Malachi. In this connection note also the words of the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 5:17-18. “THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW, OR THE PROPH­ETS: I AM NOT COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFIL. FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS, ONE JOT OR ONE TITTLE SHALL IN NO WISE PASS FROM THE LAW, TILL ALL BE FULFILLED.” Note also John 5:46 - “For had ye be­lieved Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me.” Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviti­cus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. He wrote of Israel’s Great Prophet, Messiah and Deliverer. So also did all of the other Old Testament prophets. Christ was foretold as Prophet, Priest and King. Study with Acts 13:29-30 the statement in Luke 2:39. “And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.” When did the parents take Jesus back to Nazareth? When they had performed (ended) all things according to the law. When was the Lord Jesus taken down from the tree and buried? “When they had fulfilled (ended) all things that were written of Him.” CHRIST CAME TO ISRAEL TO FULFILL PROPHECIES 1 - “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Im­manuel.” Isaiah 7:14. 2 - “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlast­ing.” Micah 5:2. 3 - “He shall grow up before Him as a ten­der plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” Isaiah 53:2. 4 - “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:3. 5 - “And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Zechariah 13:6. 6 - “And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” Zechariah 11:12-13 and Matthew 26:5. 7 - “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:7. 8 - “For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet.” Psalms 22:16. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, note how he fulfilled the Scriptures. “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach. thani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34. This was in fulfillment of Psalms 22:1. It was prophesied that He should be the Stone rejected by the builders. “And He beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner.” Luke 20:17. Then in fulfillment of Psalms 22:1-31 : “They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.” John 19:24. And another Psalm: “Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2:27. We give the references in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John showing the words and deeds in fulfillment of the prophets, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:­ Matthew 1:22 - Matthew 2:5 - Matthew 2:15-17 and Matthew 2:23, Matthew 3:3, Matthew 4:4 and Matthew 4:14, Matthew 5:18, Matthew 8:17, Matthew 12:17, Matthew 13:14 and Matthew 13:35, Matthew 21:4, Matthew 24:34, Matthew 26:54-56, Matthew 27:9. Mark 1:2, Mark 14:49, Mark 15:28. Luke 1:20, Luke 2:39, Luke 3:4, Luke 4:17, Luke 21:22 and Luke 21:32, Luke 24:19 and Luke 24:44. John 1:23 and John 1:45, John 6:14 and John 6:45, John 7:40, John 9:17, John 12:38, John 13:18, John 15:25, John 17:12, John 18:9 and John 18:32, John 19:24-28 and John 19:36. Then note the words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke 24:44-46 : “THEN HE SAID UNTO THEM, THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH I SPAKE UN­TO YOU, WHILE I WAS YET WITH YOU, THAT ALL THINGS MUST BE FUL­FILLED, WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN THE PSALMS, CON­CERNING ME. THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES, AND SAID UNTO THEM, THUS IT IS WRIT­TEN, AND THUS IT BEHOOVED CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY.” About 15 years after the resurrected Christ spoke these words to His apostles, another apostle (Paul) spoke these words in a Jewish synagogue to the rabbi and the people: “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” Acts 13:27. THE SUFFERINGS AND GLORY OF CHRIST “OF WHICH SALVATION THE PROPH­ETS HAVE ENQUIRED AND SEARCHED DILIGENTLY, WHO PROPHESIED OF THE GRACE THAT SHOULD COME UN­TO YOU: SEARCHING WHAT, OR WHAT MANNER OF TIME THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THEM DID SIG­NIFY, WHEN IT TESTIFIED BEFORE­HAND THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, AND THE GLORY THAT SHOULD FOL­LOW.” 1 Peter 1:10-11. Note the Spirit of Christ was in Israel’s prophets, testifying beforehand the suf­ferings and glory of Christ. Israel’s prophets foretold that Christ was to be rejected by Israel and be crucified, buried and raised from the dead. Israel’s prophets foretold that Christ would be accepted by Israel, be honoured, and go to the throne of His glory. Note Isaiah 9:6-7 : “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Jeremiah 30:8-9 : “For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, Whom I will raise up unto them.” Ezekiel 36:28 and Ezekiel 37:25 : “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” “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.” Zechariah 14:9 : “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” According to Zechariah 12:10, the Na­tion Israel “shall look on Me Whom they have pierced.” Read Isaiah 65:19 and Isaiah 62:3-4. Wonderful and glorious things concern­ing Christ, Jerusalem and Israel are yet to take place on this earth, in fulfillment of prophecy, “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”’ We have a more sure word of prophecy.” 2 Peter 1:19. Note Acts 3:20-21 and Acts 24:1-27 : “And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of resti­tution of all things, WHICH GOD HATH SPOKEN BY THE MOUTH OF ALL HIS HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN.” “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that fol­low after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Concerning the coming glory of Christ and Israel, remember the words of Christ “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17-18. HE THAT SHOULD COME - HE THAT SHALL COME “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:28. Now note the question of John the Baptist sent to Christ: “ART THOU HE THAT SHOULD COME?” Luke 7:19. Note the statement in Hebrews 10:37 : “For yet a little while, and HE THAT SHALL COME will come, and will not tarry. Christ was the One Who should come. Christ is the One Who shall come. All of God’s great events are centered in the two great advents of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came the first time. He will come the second time. 1 - In Genesis to Malachi, Christ is com­ing. 2 - In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the One promised to come has come. 3 - From Acts to Revelation, the One Who came has gone back to heaven, and will come again. 4 - In Genesis 3:14-15, the coming One (Christ) is to be the Seed of the woman. 5 - In Malachi 3:1, the coming One (Christ) is to be the Lord. 6 - In Isaiah 7:14, the coming one (Christ) is to be the Lord in the form of the woman’s Seed. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall con­ceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understand­ing, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 1 John 5:19-20. God’s plan to establish on earth the Messianic kingdom of Christ has not been abandoned; only postponed. The earthly kingdom of Christ will yet be established. In the meantime, while this particular kingdom is in abeyance, we are living in a parenthetical period. Concerning this postponement read Luke 21:24 - Romans 11:25-26 - and Ephesians 3:1-3. “UNTIL THE APPEARING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST; WHICH IN HIS TIMES HE SHALL SHEW, WHO IS THE BLESSED AND ONLY POTENTATE, THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS: WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY, DWELLING IN THE LIGHT WHICH NO MAN CAN APPROACH UNTO; WHOM NO MAN HATH SEEN, NOR CAN SEE; TO WHOM BE HONOUR AND POWER EVERLASTING. AMEN.” 1 Timothy 6:14-16. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: S. FULFILLED-FINISHED-PERFECTED ======================================================================== FULFILLED—FINISHED—PERFECTED “TELEO”—”EPI-TELEO”—”PAN-TELEO” By Pastor John C. O’Hair It is most interesting and instructive to study the Scriptures to learn how one Greek word is used to tell us of the perfect life and perfect redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ; and of the believer’s perfection in Christ. The sim­plest form of the word is “teleo” meaning “to end” or “to fin­ish”. “Telegraph” means to write from the end. This Greek word is translated in the Scriptures “perform”, “finish”, “fulfill”, “perfect” and “full age”. In Hebrews 7:25 it is pre­ceded by the Greek prefix “pan” which means “all” or “entire” or “full”. The word is “pantelace”; “uttermost”. Now carefully note these Scriptures as they give us the progress and development and final completion of redemption. Some form of “teleo” is in every verse. “And when they had PERFORMED all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Naza­reth.” Luke 2:39. “And when they had FULFILLED all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead.” Acts 13:29-30. “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation PERFECT through sufferings.” Hebrews 2:10. “And being made PERFECT, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.” Hebrews 5:9. “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have FINISHED the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” John 17:4. “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, “It is FINISHED: and He bowed His head, and gave up the Ghost.” John 19:30. “Looking unto Jesus the author and FINISHER of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2. “For by one offering He hath PERFECTED for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. “But ye are come unto mount Sion . . . and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made PERFECT.” Hebrews 12:22-23. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the UTTERMOST that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make interces­sion for them.” Hebrews 7:25. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will PERFORM it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Php 1:6. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of FULL AGE, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to dis­cern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles of the doc­trine of Christ, let us go on unto PERFECTION; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.” Hebrews 5:14 and Hebrews 6:1. “But when that which is PERFECT is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” 1 Corinthians 13:10. “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 4:13. Your careful, prayerful, spiritual study of these scriptures will teach you that Christ is indeed the author and finisher of our faith. This word “author” is the same Greek word translated “captain” in Hebrews 2:10, and “prince” in Acts 3:15 and Acts 5:31. The word is “archegos”, literally “the chief leader”. The word “finisher” is “telerotes”. The Fin­isher being made perfect cried, “finished” and became the author of eternal life. Hebrews 5:9. This “author” is a dif­ferent Greek word from Hebrews 12:2 and means the “causer”. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is the “causer” of eternal life; and He is and will be the finisher. This brings our minds to Php 1:6 : “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The word “perform” is “epi-teleo” meaning to “further fulfill” or to completely finish”. The captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. He said “I must finish”; “I have finished”; “It is finished”. Christ, in His perfect life, ministry and sacrifice, was the perfect antitype of all of the Scriptural types of Him by which He was prefigured, all that spoke of His work be­fore and during the “shadow” days of Israel. Hear these words of Christ, in Matthew 5:17 and Luke 24:44 : “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” “And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were writ­ten in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.” Read the manner in which He had to fulfill the law even in childhood. Luke 2:21-39. “When they had performed (teleo) all things according to the law.” Then read carefully Acts 13:29, how all things concerning His sufferings were fulfilled. “When they had fulfilled (teleo) all that was written” He cried, “Finished”. God sent His Son, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. Galatians 4:4-5. All that Christ, did under the law, and on the cross for those who were under the law, was in fulfillment of the Scriptures; and was what God before had determined to be done. Acts 4:28, Acts 2:23. He became the author (causer) of eternal life. “By one offer­ing He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified”. Hebrews 10:14. He cried, on the cross, “finished”. The good work begun will be performed (epi-teleo) until the day of Je­sus Christ. Christ is the Chief-leader and finisher of our faith. He is able to save to the uttermost (pan-teleo) all who come unto God through Him; because He ever liveth to make intercession for them. With Father, Son and Holy Spirit ever occupied in behalf of the believer and the believer in possession of the completed Word of God, with the perfect truth concerning membership in the Body of Christ, the hope, calling and blessings in the heavenlies, the mystery revealed to Paul (Colossians 1:24-27), certainly the believer today should be of full age (teleo), and go on to perfection. With the high and holy truth re­vealed Paul said, “I have finished (teleo) my course.” 2 Timothy 4:6-9. Some day the Lord of Glory will bring all believers to the day of redemption and give to them glorified bodies like unto His own glorified body, and then all will come unto the reali­zation of a perfect redemption, body, soul and spirit. Then Ephesians 4:13 will be realized—“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.” This has been called the masterpiece of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: S. FROM ADAM TO MOSES ======================================================================== FROM ADAM TO MOSES THE ANTEDILUVIAN AGE—FROM ADAM TO NOAH—FROM THE FLOOD TO ABRAHAM—ABRAHAM TO MOSES “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” Romans 5:14. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added be­cause of transgressions, till the Seed should come to Whom the promise was made.” Galatians 3:19. When Adam sinned, God declared the Seed of the woman would come as man’s Redeemer. About 2100 years later, God said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 26:4. The Seed of the woman was to be Abraham Seed. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ we read: Hebrews 2:16 “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels: but He took on Him the Seed of Abraham.” Galatians 4:4 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” We learn in Galatians 3:16-19 that 430 years after God made His promise to Abraham, Moses received the law from God on Mount Sinai. From Adam to Moses was about 2500 years. God made promise to Abram about 427 years after the flood. The law was added to the promise about 1495 years before Christ was made of a woman, made under the law. Every member of the human race came from Adam and from Noah. FROM ADAM TO NOAH—(The Flood) By studying Genesis 5:3-32, we learn that Noah was born in 956 A. H., or about 3044 B. C. “Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” Genesis 7:6. Therefore the flood was upon the earth 1656 A. H. (year of man), or about 2344 B. C.. That was the year that Methuselah died. Genesis 5:27. Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genesis 5:32. Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Genesis 9:29. Shem was 100 years old two years after the flood. Genesis 11:10. Shem died 500 years later: 1656 plus 2 plus 500 equals 2158 A. H., or about 1842 B. C. GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH Concerning The Earth and The Government of Man Genesis 9:5-29 “And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of Man 1:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he Man 1:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multi­ply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 8 And God spake unto Noah, his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my cove­nant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood and to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and It shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the wa­ters shall no more become a flood to des­troy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may re­member the everlasting covenant be­tween God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” Here we learn that God instituted, what we call, capital punishment for the crime of murder. This was about 845 years before man was put under the law, that is, before the Old Testament was entered into between Jehovah and Israel. Here we note that God placed responsibility for the government of humanity upon man. Here we have the beginning of the rainbow. It is thought by man that there was no rain on the earth until the flood. It was not until after the flood that man was permitted to have flesh for food. FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM Note what has been called the royal seed from Noah to Ja­cob (Israel): Noah—Shem—Arphaxad—Salah—Eber—Peleg—Reu—Serug—Nahor—Terah—Abram (Abraham)—Isaac—Jacob (Is­rael). Genesis 11:10-32 and Genesis 21:5. Genesis 25:20-28. Abraham was 75 years of age when God gave him His promise. Genesis 12:1-4. By comparing these Scriptures with Genesis 11:1-32, we learn that Abraham left his own land about 2083 A. H., or about 1917 B. C. Abraham died at the age of 175. Genesis 25:7. He died about 1817 B. C. Eber died about 1813 B. C. Shem died about 1842 B. C. Abraham was about 150 years old when Shem died. Note that there were nine or ten generations between Shem and Abraham. The Semetic people came from Shem. Persecutions of the Jews are sometimes called “anti-Semitic” movements. The Jews came from Shem and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. In Genesis 14:13 Abraham is called “the Hebrew.” There has been specula­tion and controversy as to the meaning of the word “Hebrew” here. Some have interpreted the word as meaning “Eberite” or a descendant of Eber. Note: Genesis 9:18-29 “And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went back­ward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.” Here we learn of Noah’s sin. God’s blessing upon Shem and his seed. And God’s curse upon Canaan and the descendants of Ham. Many think the negro race bear the curse pronounced upon Ham’s descendants. Mary, the mother of the Saviour, descended from Shem. The descendants of Shem gave us our Saviour and the Bible. The name “Peleg” means “division.” Note: 1 Chronicles 1:19 “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan.” We learn of a great judgment and division in: Genesis 11:1-9 “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one an­other’s speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. “ The word “Babel” or “Babylon” carries the thought of con­fusion. Here we see the beginning of nations, the beginning of tongues, and therefore, the beginning of wars among the nations. Among the descendants of Ham were Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Haman, who became great persecutors of Israel, the descend­ants of Shem. The Hebrew word translated “nations” is also translated “Gentiles” and “heathen.”. Perhaps the destruction and confusion at Babel took place in the days of Peleg. We learn in Romans, chapter one, how far into sin, paganism and darkness the Gentiles drifted. HOW WERE MEN SAVED? We read how Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah were saved before the flood. We would judge that Shem was saved. Abel, by faith and sacrifice obtained witness that he was righteous. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8) and then note what Noah did: Genesis 8:20 “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord: and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” Remember the words of the Lord in: Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” And again in: Hebrews 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood: and without shedding of blood is no remission.” But we learn in: Hebrews 10:4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He (Christ) entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp­tion for us.” So all, who were saved before the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, were saved by looking forward to that sacrifice. Believing sinners are saved today by looking back to Calvary. Hebrews 10:10-14 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” TERAH Abram’s father was Terah. Although Terah descended from Shem and from Eber, he was an idolater (Joshua 24:2) and cer­tainly neither an Israelite nor a Jew. Although the Israelites and Jews descended from Shem, so also did many Gentiles. Israelites and Jews all descended from Abraham. But they came from Isaac, the son of Sarah. Abraham had another son, Ishmael. The descendants of Ishmael were neither Israelites nor Jews. Then note the children of Abraham and Keturah. Abraham married Keturah after Sarah had died. “And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.” Genesis 25:2. FROM ABRAHAM TO MOSES We will study this more in detail in our next lesson. But in Galatians 3:16-19 we learn that from the call of Abram to the year that Moses received the law, 430 years passed by. Abram was 75 years old when he was called. Moses was 80 years old when he received the law. Let us remember that death reigned from Adam to Moses before God’s law of ten commandments, His ordinances and religion were given to Israel. ABRAHAM—LOT—SODOM AND GOMORRAH Note what God has to say about Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot in: Jude 1:7 “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” 2 Peter 2:6 “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an en­sample unto those that after should live ungodly.” Now let us read something of this Divine judgment in: Genesis 13:7-18 “And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. 8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and be­tween my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” Genesis 13:10-18 “And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated them­selves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sin­ners before the Lord exceedingly.” Genesis 19:23-38 “The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstones and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.” ABRAM AND MELCHISEDEC Now let us carefully note concerning Abram and Melchisedec in Genesis 14:18-20 : Genesis 14:18-20 “And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” “The Lord hath sworn and will not repent: Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.” Psalms 110:4. “As He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 5:6. “Called of God a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec.” “Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:20. Abraham (Abram) met Melchisedec before there were any Israelites or Jews, even before Jacob was born, even several years before uncircumcised Abram became circumcised Abraham. We should be interested to learn all we can about Melchisedec because Christ is a Priest after the order of Melchisedec. QUESTIONS-LESSON SEVEN About how many years from Adam to Moses (at Sinai)? How long from Adam’s fall to the flood? Who were Noah’s three sons? From which son did the Jews and the Saviour come? How old was Shem when he died? How old was Abraham when Shem died? What did God declare should be the punishment of the man who shed blood? Why did God say, “Cursed be Canaan”? Who was Canaan? Refer to Genesis 11:1-32 and state how Eber was related to Abraham. What happened at the time God scattered the people abroad on the face of all the earth? How were men saved from Adam to Moses? Name the three wives of Abraham, and give the name of one son from each wife. Was Abraham a Jew? An Israelite? A Hebrew? Who was Melchisedec? What took place between Melchisedec and Abra­ham? Who was Lot? What position did he hold in Sodom? What became of his wife? About how many years from the flood to the call of Abram? Whose Seed was Christ? What did God say about sins and shed blood? What happened to Christ after He had offered one sacrifice for sin? Of what was the destruction of Sodom a sample? What is said of the period from Adam to Moses? How long was that period? To what was the law added? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: S. FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN ======================================================================== FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN “AS IN THE PROVOCATION” About 1550 years after the children of Israel reached the promised land, the Holy Spirit directed this message to some Hebrews: Hebrews 3:8-19, Hebrews 4:1-2 8 “Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart: and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom aware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Much is said in God’s Book concerning Israel’s pilgrimage of 40 years. Psalms 95:10 “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Amos 2:10 “Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite” Acts 7:42 “Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilder­ness?” Acts 13:18 “And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness.” Now look at a map and see the distance from the Red Sea to Sinai; from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea; from Kadesh to the River Jordan and the City of Jericho where the Israelites entered the Holy Land, about 1455 B. C. You will learn that it is less than 350 miles from the point where the children of Israel left Egypt to the city of Jericho. , If God’s people had been obedient and faithful and if they had followed God’s leading, they could have reached the land in much less than 40 months. But they were forty years making the trip and they endured much suffering, because of their re­bellious attitude toward God. God suffered too because of their disobedience and ungodliness. We read this statement in Romans 10:21 : “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” In this lesson we see when this began. All of the Israelites suffer­ed because of the sins of the others. This reminds us of the statement in 1 Corinthians 12:26 : “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.” All believers today are members of the Body of Christ. Romans 12:4-5, Romans 10:10, Romans 10:16 “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. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” Let us keep in mind Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Corinthians 10:10-12 and learn our lesson from the experience of Israel in the wilderness. We quote these four verses: Romans 15:4 “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were writ­ten for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” 1 Corinthians 10:5 and Romans 10:10-12 “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” We have studied some of the murmurings of Israel before they reached Sinai. Now read: Exodus 32:1-6 “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” The children of Israel made a calf of their golden jewelry and worshipped it. Then note what God said to Moses: Exodus 32:7 and Exodus 32:10 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” Then Moses interceded for the sinning Israelites (Exodus 32:11-14) . Note Moses’ words in: Exodus 32:30-32 “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” Then note the action of God: Exodus 32:14 and Exodus 32:35 “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” “And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.” God’s mercy was extended because of Moses’ intercession, and because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Exodus 32:13. GOD’S ORDERS—THE LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY Exodus 33:1-3 and Exodus 33:14 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.” “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Exodus 34:24 “For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.” THE BROKEN STONES When Moses went down from the presence of God and found Israel worshipping the golden calf, Moses brought the two tables of stones on which were written the ten commandments. Exodus 32:19 “And it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” But note: Exodus 34:1 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest “ Here we have God’s lesson for the human race. As David declared in Psalms 119:126 : “It is time for Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void (broken) Thy law.” Christ said: John 7:19 “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?” Acts 15:10 “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the dis­ciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Man could not perfectly keep God’s law. All were law­breakers. Therefore, the broken stones. But God would not stand for a broken law, so two unbroken stones were put in the ark. Remember that above the ark was the mercy-seat of pure gold which was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice, so that God could be just and cover the sins of believing sinners. Here we have truth pointing forward to the blessed Divine truth of: Romans 3:23-26 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” So that God might be both just and merciful, He sent Christ to take the law-breaker’s place. Some say that was not just, for it is not just for the innocent to suffer for the guilty. But we must remember that Christ was in the Godhead and had the sovereign right to take man’s nature and flesh and man’s sentence of death for his sins. When Christ was going to Calvary note what He did and said: Matthew 26:26 “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” Note also: 1 Corinthians 11:24 “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” So the Bible tells us of: 1. The Broken Stones The Broken Law Christ’s Broken Body The Broken Bread. GOD SPAKE ALL THESE WORDS Exodus 20:1 “And God spake all these words, saying.” Let us be impressed with the many statements, beginning with the day that God appeared to Moses as the I AM and told him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, from which we learn that the Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, spake with Moses. Note Hebrews 1:1-2. God at sundry times and in divers manners spake. Note: Exodus 34:34-35 “But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was com­manded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.” In Exodus 35:1-35; Exodus 36:1-38; Exodus 37:1-29; Exodus 38:1-31; Exodus 39:1-43; Exodus 40:1-38 is recorded the setting up of the taber­nacle for worship. Note: Exodus 40:33-38 “And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and rot up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation. and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle. The children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37 But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.” THE OFFERINGS OF LEVITICUS Genesis, “The Book of Beginnings.” Exodus, “The Going Out. Leviticus, “The Laws of Offerings—Vows and Their Redemption “ “Leviticus” comes from Levi, from which tribe came God’s holy priests. In the Book of Leviticus the word “holiness” is found 87 times. Leviticus is God’s message of union and communion. Leviticus and Hebrews should be studied together. The word “better” is found several times in Hebrews. Christ is better than all of the priests, sacrifices and offerings under the Levitical law. “In those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 10:3-4. Now as to union and communion, salvation, separation and service. No one is called to service for God until that one has. first received salvation from God. After salvation the call is to separ­ation and then to service. Separation is holiness. In the study of the Scriptures we must know the difference between union and communion, between salvation by faith with­out works and salvation unto good works. The Bible teaches a great difference between salvation by grace through faith in the good works of the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer’s reward for the good works done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14. This is so clearly taught in: Ephesians 2:8-10 “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.” Also note: 1 Corinthians 3:14-15 “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burn­ed, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” Let us ever keep in mind that during this period of time in which we live God’s program differs in many respects from the program He gave Israel under the law. With their message of salvation was a mixture of law and religion. But note these words dictated to Paul by the Lord Ephesians 3:1-2 “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,” 2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with a 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.” Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Ephesians 5:31-32 “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 believer under this present reign of grace is united to Christ in an eternal union. The believing sinner is thus united to Christ when he goes to Calvary and receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Communion is not possible until the union has taken place. The believing sinner enters the Household or spiritual Family of God when he receives Christ. Ephesians 2:19 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Galatians 3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The relationship is established at Calvary where Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18. We are not serving a dead Christ but a living glorified Man at God’s right hand in the heavenlies. Note this blessed truth Ephesians 2:6 “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Now study and compare these Scriptures Hebrews 10:26 “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” 1 John 2:1-2 “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: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Hebrews 10:19-20 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter­cession for them.” Here we learn that when the believing sinner accepts Christ in His once-for-all sacrifice for sin, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 10:10 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” But we learn that Jesus Christ in heaven is the believer’s Ad­vocate and Intercessor. Confession of sin in the name of Christ brings forgiveness to the believer.Let us remember that “I John” is written to saints or believers. 1 John 5:13. The believer has the guarantee of uttermost salvation, because Christ is the believ­er’s never-ceasing Intercessor. The believer can, and should, run the good race because Christ is the Author and Finisher of his faith. Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” We read in 1 John 1:7, “if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another.” Therefore, we see that fellowship depends upon the believer’s walk; while relationship is established by the sinner’s faith in the perfect re­demptive work of Christ, and not by the sinner’s walk, conversa­tion, religious activities or behaviour. But let us, in this connec­tion, remember the words of: James 2:20 “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” THE LEVITICUS OFFERINGS The offerings, sacrifices and other religious services of Leviticus, pointed forward to the perfect work of the perfect Christ, in His sinless and perfect life in His once-for-all sacrifice and His never-ceasing intercession in God’s presence in heaven. Note again: Hebrews 8:1-2 “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven it­self, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” In Leviticus 1:1-17 we learn of “the burnt offering,” pointing for­ward to the Lord without spot, and His sacrifice. Hebrews 9:14. In Leviticus 2:1-16, “the meat offering.” In Leviticus 3:1-17, “the peace offering.” Christ made peace on the cross and He is the believer’s peace. Ephesians 2:13-18. In Leviticus 4:1-35, “the sin offering.” In Leviticus 5:1-19, “the trespass offering.” CONCERNING THE HIGH PRIEST Now let us note: Numbers 3:5-12 “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein and sanctified them. And he sprinkled there­of upon the altar seven times, and anoint­ed the altar and all his vessels. both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanc­tify him. Leviticus 8:6 and Leviticus 8:10-12. And the Lord spake unto Moses, say­ing, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, And I, be­hold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine.” While the Jesus Christ is a Priest or ever after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 7:11), note what we are told in: Hebrews 8:4 “For if He were on earth, He should not be a Priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law.” Hebrews 7:14 “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.” Aaron and his successors, with their offerings, spake in many ways of Jesus Christ as both the Offerer and the Offering. According to 1 Timothy 2:5, Christ is now the one Mediator between God and man. God has no special order of priests during this reign of grace except as all believers are priests in accordance with 1 Peter 2:5 “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Remember: Numbers 3:10 “And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.” Now note concerning: THE BELLS AND THE POMEGRANATE: Exodus 28:33-43 “And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: 34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not.” Exodus 39:22-43 “And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. 23 And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. 24 And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. 25 And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; 26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pome­granate, round about the hem of the robe to min­ister in; as the Lord commanded Moses. 27 And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28 And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, 29 And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the Lord commanded Moses. 30 And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.” The pomegranate spoke of the believer’s fruit in Christian living. The bell spoke of the believer’s testimony. We should live Christ and preach Christ. Note the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26. YOM KIPPUR “Yom” is the Hebrew for “day.” “Kippur” “covering” or “atonement.” This was a very important day with Israel. Read about it in Chapter 16 of Leviticus. We also find the story told in Hebrews 9:1-28, how the high-priest in his priestly robes first offer­ed the blood of the sacrifice for his own sins. Then in the after­noon, perhaps about the time Christ died on the cross, he took the blood of the slain goat behind the vail, in the most holy place, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat. Then he and his associates went to the goat that was tied outside, placed their hands upon it, and sent that scapegoat through the wilderness. All of this point­ed forward to Christ on the cross: Hebrews 9:26 “For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” TWO BIRDS Then note the story of the two birds: Leviticus 14:4-7 “Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.” The bird dipped in the blood of the sacrificed bird flying away into the heavens spake of the Lord Jesus Christ in His work described in: Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” In Leviticus 17:1-16, God’s instructions are plain and positive that the sacrifices must be killed on the brazen altar outside the taber­nacle. And remember this important verse Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” No higher laws were ever legislated than those recorded in Leviticus 19:1-37. After reading in that chapter God’s requirements of man in his dealings with God and his fellow-man, we can appreciate God’s statements in Romans 7:1-25. Take the time to compare Leviticus 19:1-37 with Romans 7:1-25. Note how Leviticus 19:1-37 closes: Leviticus 19:35-37 “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.” Now note these verses from: Romans 7:12-14 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” THE CAMP ACCORDING TO NUMBERS The place and arrangements of the children of Israel around their tabernacle in the camp is very interesting. This is described in Numbers 1:1-54; Numbers 2:1-34; Numbers 3:1-51; Numbers 4:1-49; Numbers 5:1-31; Numbers 6:1-27; Numbers 7:1-89; Numbers 8:1-26; Numbers 9:1-23; Numbers 10:1-36. Note the law of the Nazarite: THE NAZARITE Numbers 6:1-4 and Numbers 6:8 1 “And the Lord spake unto Moses, say­ing, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate them­selves unto the Lord; 3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried 4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.” 8 “All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.” We shall later study of such Nazarites as Samson and John the Baptist. Just how to observe the Passover is told in Numbers 9:1-23. Now in closing this lesson let us study The Tithe of the Levites. Smiting the Rock. The Brazen Serpent. The Story of Balaam’s Ass. THE TITHE OF THE LEVITES This is plainly told in­: Numbers 18:20-32 “And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. 21 And, behold, I have given the chil­dren of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the chil­dren of Israel they have no inheritance. 24 But the tithes of the children of Is­rael, which they offer as an heave offer­ing, unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.” THE SMITING OF THE ROCK In Numbers 20:1-29, we filed the record of Israel’s mur­murings against God at the time that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died at Kadesh. They said, “Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord.” Numbers 20:3. God commanded and Moses smote the rock to get water for the murmuring Israelites. But Moses made a mistake by smiting the rock twice: Numbers 20:11 “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.” If the rock spoke of Christ, remember, God smote His Son but once Romans 6:10 “For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth He liveth unto God.” THE BRAZEN SERPENT Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, note this statement in John 3:14-15 John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Numbers 21:4-9 “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived.” Thus we see that Christ on the cross was typified by that brass snake on a pole. Brass in the Bible speaks of judgment. All sinners have been bitten by the serpent and his poison is sin. Christ on the cross is the one and only cure. BALAAM’S ASS Numbers 22:9-41 “And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee? 10 And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying 11 Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them: peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out. 12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed. 13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you. 14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.” Numbers 22:20-41 “And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. 21 And Balsam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.” Numbers 22:22-41 “And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balsam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. 28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou bast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou bast ridden over since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. 31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 32 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, be­cause thy way is perverse before me: 33 And the ass saw me, and turned. 34 And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned.” Balak still insisted that Balaam curse Israel. Note Balaam’s reply: Numbers 23:8 “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?” Numbers 23:20-22 “Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.” Numbers 24:13 “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak?” Numbers 24:25 “And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.” QUESTIONS—LESSON THIRTEEN How many of the Israelites who left Egypt reached Canaan? Why did the Israelites journey so long to make the trip? How, when and where did the Israelites worship God in the wilderness? How did God lead and protect them? Mention several sins that sorely displeased Moses and brought judgment from God? Why did not God destroy Israel in the wilderness? Were many of them killed by God’s decree? Give Scriptures. What lesson are we to learn from Israel’s experience in sin and Divine judg­ment? What is said about God’s attitude toward Israel in Romans 10:21? Explain the difference between union and communion, between salvation and rewards. Mention the four broken things in our lesson. Why was Moses not permit­ted to put the two broken stones in the ark of the covenant? What stood immediately above the ark and on what particular day of the year did the high priest sprinkle blood thereupon? What was the blessing there from? What sin was committed by Israel to cause Moses to break the stones? What was the outstanding statement of Moses in his prayer of intercession for Israel after that great sin? What is it that God can do and does do for believing sinners because Christ took the sinner’s place in judgment. Romans 3:24-26. In the Lord’s Supper what does the broken bread symbolize? What is the great truth declared in Leviticus 17:11? Tell about the smiting of the rock by Moses at Kadesh. With respect to the law, what is the great difference between the Israelites in Leviticus and the members of Christ’s Body in Ephesians? How does a sinner become the child of God in this day of grace? To whom was the dispensation of the grace of God, for Gentiles, given, according to 2 Timothy 1:9 and Ephesians 3:1-3? Explain the vow and duty of a Nazarite and the inheritance of the Levites. Tell the story of the brazen serpent and its prophetic and symbolic signi­ficance. Tell the story of Balak, Balaam, and the ass. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: S. FROM GETHSEMANE TO CALVARY ======================================================================== FROM GETHSEMANE TO CALVARY We have learned that more than eighty percent of the facts stated in John’s Gospel concerning the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ are not found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. In all Four Gospels we find the record of the feeding of the five thousand, the so-called triumphant entry, the betrayal of Christ by Judas, Christ in Gethsemane, Peter’s denial of Christ, Christ before the high priest, Christ before Pilate, Christ’s cruci­fixion, the burial of Christ’s body by Joseph and the resurrection ministry of Christ. In the matter of Christ’s betrayal, trial, death, His sayings on the cross, and His resurrection ministry, John gives some facts not mentioned in the other Records, and he omits many facts stated in the other Records. According to John’s Record, Christ went to Gethsemane fol­lowing His wonderful prayer, in the seventeenth chapter. That prayer is recorded only in John’s Gospel. Gethsemane was over the brook Cedron. Christ and His disciples had often resorted thither. John 18:1-2. A mob from the chief priests and Pharisees came into the garden with lanterns, torches and weapons. Try to visualize this night scene: an angry mob after the greatest Benefactor the human race has ever known. That mob was led by one of the disciples of the Son of God. Note John 18:4 : “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?” Here we learn again that Jesus Christ knew all things and that His rejection and murder came as no surprise; but it did bring Him much grief. We note in John 18:6, that when Christ said, “I AM”, they went backward and fell on the ground. We have learned that Christ called Himself “I AM” more than twenty times in John’s Record. Undoubtedly here He, in some way, momentarily mani­fested His Deity. But immediately He yielded to them. John 18:10-11. Note in this connection what Christ said to Pilate in John 18:36 : “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” Again in John 19:10-11 : “Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, 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.” Here again we remember the sayings of Romans 15:3 : “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” This was in fulfillment of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Note Isaiah 53:7 : “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” BEHOLD THE LAMB—THE MAN—YOUR KING John 1:29—John 19:5—John 18:37 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!” “And it was the preparation of the pass­over, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!” John 1:29; John 19:5; and John 19:14. Pilate asked of Jesus, “Art Thou a King then?” John 18:37. Note Christ’s answer: “ . . . Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” John 18:37. Christ became the Man to be God’s Lamb and God’s King; Israel’s King. Note the Father’s will concerning His Son, who is also Head of the Church, Which is His Body “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the be­ginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18. We have observed that in John’s Gospel very little is men­tioned concerning the physical, literal aspect of Christ’s kingdom on earth, concerning David’s throne which Christ was born to occupy. Note these words in Luke 1:32-33 : “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” We do not read the words of John the Baptist in John’s Re­cord, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In the first chapter John the Baptist says, “Behold, the Lamb of God Which beareth away the sin of the world.” We have learned that the King is rejected in the very first chapter of John, “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Let us note John 6:15 : “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.” Here Christ refused to be made King. He had to be the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He will return to earth to be a King, the King of Kings. The mob led Christ, bound, from Gethsemane to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. John 18:12-13. He was treated as a felon. Remember His words in John 15:25 : “they hated Me without a cause.” Then note John 18:24 : “Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.” Early in the morning they led Christ before Pilate. Note John 18:29-31 : “Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a male­factor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” and John 19:7 : “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” Note Pilate’s verdict in John 18:38, “I find no fault in Him.” Note again John 19:4-6 : “Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.” “When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.” WE HAVE A LAW Note John 19:7 : “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” They referred to the law as recorded in Leviticus 24:16 : “And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.” The Jews said, “it is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” Pilate acknowledged that Jesus Christ had broken no law of the Roman government. The trial of Christ was illegal in every way. The witnesses were false witnesses who had been paid to swear to a lie. Christ’s execution by the decree of Pilate was contrary to justice. Note the Jews’ final appeal to Pilate the politician: “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” John 19:12 and John 19:15. We however note these words of Christ and the Holy Spirit in favor of Pilate, “He that delivereth Me unto thee hath the greater sin.” John 19:11. “His Son Jesus, Whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go.” Acts 3:13. We read all of the foregoing in the light of Acts 2:23 : “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” We have also referred to Acts 4:27-28 : “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.” The death of Christ was inevitable. He said, “For this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27. But this did not excuse the sin of Israel: “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Acts 7:52. It was God’s determinate counsel and foreknowledge, but by Israel’s wicked hands. Therefore note again Christ’s words in Matthew 22:7 : “But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Note these plain words of Christ in John 8:37, John 8:40 and John 8:44 : “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.” “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.” “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” IT IS FINISHED “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews; for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.” John 19:19-22. “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” John 19:26-27. “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accom­plished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, IT IS FINISHED: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” John 19:28-30 and John 19:37. Let us again carefully note John 6:28-29 : “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Again John 8:24 : “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” Here we note that man’s first work in the gospel of grace is to believe on God’s Son. In Luke 10:28 we read Christ’s words to the man who was under the law, reducing the law to the two great love command­ments. To him Christ said, “This do and thou shalt live.” But he could not do what he was given to do; so he could not live by doing. In John 8:24, “if ye believe not, ye shall die in your sins.” “Do and live.” Impossible. “Believe not and die.” “Believe and live.” Possible. “The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Something of Christ’s finished work is told in Hebrews 10:12 : “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” and Hebrews 9:12 : “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he enter­ed in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Then in Hebrews 12:2 Christ is called “the Author and Fin­isher of our faith.” We often speak of the finished work of Christ on the cross. There He cried “finished.” But there was more to be done. “He abolished death and brought life and incorruptibil­ity to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:10. Then note Hebrews 7:25 : “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” This word “uttermost” is from the Greek “pan-teleo.” The word Christ spoke on the cross, “finished” is from the Greek “teleo,” “the end” or “the finish.” “Pan” means “whole” or “all.” “Pan­teleo” has the thought of “all the way to the end.” Note Php 1:6 : “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The word “perform” is from the Greek “epi-teleo.” “Epi” has the meaning of “thoroughly” or “fully.” TO FINISH HIS WORK Let us note Christ’s words in John 4:34 : “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” John 5:36. “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John 5:17. “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” John 17:4. The Father gave the Son some very definite work to do. That Son said: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him: John 8:29. What did that Son say in John 18:11? “Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” Note Christ’s words in Matthew 20:28 : “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” “FOR THIS CAUSE CAME I UNTO THIS HOUR.” He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:26. He was made for the suffering of death, to taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Php 2:8. Note this deep mystery in Hebrews 5:8-9 : “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” So we read again Acts 13:29-30 : “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepul­chre. But God raised him from the dead.” The word “fulfilled” here is from the same Greek word which Christ cried on the cross, “telex.” When all prophecy was finished, concerning the sufferings of Christ, they took Him down from the tree and put Him in the sepulchre. “But God raised Him from the dead.” This is the story of John, chapters 19-21. Note John 19:28, John 19:36-37 : “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” “For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” With the nineteenth chapter of John read carefully the twenty-second Psalm. Remember that crucifixion was never used by any one at the time the Psalms were written and yet we read in Psalms 22:14-16 : “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet “ Note also in Psalms 22:1 and Psalms 22:18 : “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roar­ing?” “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” All the way from the manger to the open sepulchre, Jesus was born and lived and spoke and did everything that He did, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Many times the Jews tried to stone Him to death. That was the Jews’ method of putting lawbreakers to death. But note these words in John 18:32 : “That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying what death he should die.” and John 19:37 : “And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” Try to imagine the weeping and rejoicing that will take place when Zechariah 12:10 shall be fulfilled: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Perhaps you have wondered with me why more Jews do not realize and confess the great sin of their forefathers, in re­pudiating the claims of Christ, in rejecting Him and demanding that He be crucified. But we remember the words of John 12:39-40 : ““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.” THAT SABBATH—A HIGH DAY We note in John 19:31 that the devout Jews, who were religious sabbath-keepers, did not want Christ’s body on the cross on that sabbath day which was a high day. There have been many arguments as to whether or not Christ was crucified on Friday. Christ said that His body was to be in the earth three days and three nights. Note these words in Matthew 12:39-40 : “ . . . The sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The argument is, that if Christ died Friday afternoon and was raised before day on the first day of the week, His body was not in the grave three days and three nights, therefore He must have died before Friday. Some claim that the high day sabbath was not Israel’s sabbath. But whether or not He died on the day we now call Friday, He arose on the first day of the week. Note: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” John 20:1. “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” John 20:19. “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.” John 20:26. “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” Acts 20:7. Then it seems that the day of Pentecost was also the first day of the week. We learn from these Scriptures that there is a great differ­ence between Israel’s sabbath and the first day of the week. Although it has been by rather general agreement that the first day of the week has been called the Christian sabbath, there is no Scriptural authority for so doing. Neither can be sure that there is any scriptural authority for calling the first day of the week “the Lord’s day.” This has been done by some Christians who have taught that John was re­ferring to the first day of the week in Revelation 1:10 : “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” Let us note here several Scriptures: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17. “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” Romans 14:5-6. “Ye observe days, and months, and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:10-11. Let us learn from Ephesians 1:3 and Ephesians 2:6 that members of Christ’s body are a heavenly people, seated with Christ in the heavenlies and blessed with spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. We are not under the law. Sabbath is cessation of work: rest. We rest in Christ, Who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. We have no religious holy days. We have no ritualism or religious program. We are complete in Christ. He is our life. We are identified with Him in His death, His burial and His resurrection, as new creatures. He arose the first day of the week to become the Head of the New Creation, the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15. We should be delighted to gather in His name on the first day of the week to remember His resurrection and ours, whether or not we call it the Lord’s day. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST “For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” John 20:9. In this connection we think of Mark 9:9-10 : “And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, question­ing one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.” Note also Luke 18:33-34 : “And they shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this say­ing was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” For centuries Israel has been taught concerning the resurrection of the dead. But the resurrection from the dead or “out from among the dead” was something new. Israel had never been taught that between the first advent and the second advent of the Messiah there would be years and centuries, that Christ would be the first to rise from the dead; and that He would go back to heaven to remain in His glorified body during these centuries; that He would be the Head of the Church which is His Body during God’s reign of grace and then return and be Israel’s King. So far as Israel was concerned, the truth of the Lord’s program for His Body during this age was a secret. Some years after God had ushered in this present age, Christ, in heaven revealed God’s spiritual program for this age to the Apostle Paul. Concerning the resurrection Paul wrote: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 : “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Note verse 23. Christ was the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Note Php 3:20-21 : “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Concerning the present age Paul wrote: “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.” Ephesians 3:1-3. And note also Ephesians 3:9, that God wants His servants to make known the dispensation of the mystery. TILL I COME Note John 21:21-23 : “Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet. Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” Many saints will be alive when Christ comes. This we learn in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Peter and John died many years ago. And surely we know that saint Peter is not in heaven at the gate. As to the resurrection of Peter, John, Paul and all the saints of God God’s truth is: “Afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” “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.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. HE SHEWED UNTO THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” John 20:20-23. In Acts 1:3, we learn that Christ shewed Himself alive after His death by many infallible proofs. In John Chapters 20 and 21, we have several of the infallible proofs recorded. The little company of disciples were assembled behind clos­ed doors. It is not difficult to imagine what they were thinking about and talking about. They were thinking about the miracle of miracles, the resurrection of Christ. They were afraid. They feared the Jews. Peter had so feared them before he had denied Christ. In the midst of their fear they heard the words, “Peace”­—“Peace be unto you.” It was the first day of the week. The resurrected Jesus stood in their presence to repeat the message He had spoken before His death “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have over­come the world.” John 16:33. When the Lord Jesus shewed His disciples the place in His hands where the nails had fastened Him to the cross and the mark where the spear had been in His side, they were glad. There must have been strange sensations in their hearts and minds. In spite of the determined opposition of the Jews, twelve of them were to make their headquarters right in the midst of the Jews in Jerusalem and most of them were to remain there and testify to the Jews that the Jesus Whom they had crucified was both Lord and Christ. We have this testimony some months later, con­cerning these twelve men now locked in because of their fear of the Jews: “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” Acts 5:42. This is not the last time that John, on earth, saw the resur­rected Christ. It was perhaps more than fifty years later when Christ appeared to John, who was an exile in Patmos. Note what Christ said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18. GOD’S APOSTLE—CHRIST’S APOSTLES In Hebrews 3:1-2 we read: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, Who was faithful to him that appointed him . . . “ Christ was God’s Apostle to Israel. The word “apostle” is from the Greek word “send.” Now Christ was to have some apostles. “AS MY FATHER HATH SENT ME EVEN SO SEND I YOU” For some reason the so-called “great commission” of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:14-18 is not repeated in John’s Gospel. But Christ sent them to carry on His work. RECEIVE YE THE HOLY SPIRIT There has been much misunderstanding and speculation be­cause of the seeming discrepancies between John 20:22 and Luke 24:49 : “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” John 20:22. “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49. Why were they to tarry at Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, if Christ had breathed on them and said, “receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Christ had already told them that the Holy Spirit was with them and that He would be in them. John 14:17. Some have taught that they received the Holy Spirit in them when Christ spoke the words of John 20:22. But later on they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Some even go so far as to teach that Christians today must re­ceive the Holy Spirit to be saved and subsequently receive the Holy Spirit baptism to be sanctified. By reading Acts 11:12-18, we learn that Cornelius had no such experience; when he heard words whereby he was to be saved he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then we notice God’s order in 1 Corinthians 6:11. The Corinthians were sanctified, but many of them did wrong. They had the Holy Spirit in their hearts; but some of them defrauded one another. 1 Corinthians 6:7-10. Note 1 Corinthians 6:11 : “but ye are washed, but ye are sancti­fied, but ye are justified.” How? By the Spirit of our God. Note “sanctified” is placed before “justified.” Note God’s order again in 2 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.” Here we are taught in no uncertain language that sanctifica­tion precedes salvation. In Ephesians 4:30 we are taught that the believer may grieve the Holy Spirit, but by the Holy Spirit he is sealed unto the day of redemption. In Ephesians 1:13 the words, “after that ye believed” are translated from one Greek word “pisteusantes,” the participle of the word “believe.” “Believing” ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit. This same Greek “pisteusantes” is incorrectly translated in Acts 19:2—“since ye believed.” Tarrying-meetings for the Holy Spirit have never been in God’s program since the days of the twelve apostles. We do not tarry or work for God’s free gifts. We take God’s gifts by faith. Eternal life, salvation, sanctification, redemption, regenera­tion, peace and the Holy Spirit are all the free gifts of God to be­lieving sinners. Believers do not receive the Holy Spirit on the installment plan. Note Romans 8:32 : “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” However, we have not reconciled John 20:22 and Luke 24:29. It is suggested by some Bible teachers that Christ did say in John 20:22, “receive ye the Holy Spirit.” But He did not mean immediately. He was saying in different language what He said in Luke 24:29 that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit. There are others who teach, that not only did the apostles re­ceive the Holy Spirit when Christ spoke the words of John 20:22, but that that was the beginning of the New Testament Church. It seems, from the careful reading of Acts 1:5, and all of the second chapter of Acts, we may be positive that the Lord’s dis­ciples entered into a new experience in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. WHOSE SOEVER SINS YE REMIT There has been much discussion as to the meaning of Christ’s words in John 20:23 : “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” There is no doubt that special Divine prerogatives, power and authority were given to the apostles. But as to the forgiveness of sins, we think of the words of Mark 2:7 : “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” We join in the question, “What man hath power to forgive sins?” Note these several verses from the ministry of Peter and Paul. PETER Acts 10:25-26 “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.” Acts 10:43 “To him give all the prophets wit­ness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit your­selves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be cloth­ed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” PAUL Acts 14:12-15 “And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:” Acts 13:38 “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” Any child of God can forgive sins just as the apostles did; by preaching forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Jesus Christ; remembering the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:7-8 : “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God That giveth the increase. He that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” As to the teaching of apostolic succession, such teaching is scripturally controverted by the message of Paul in Galatians 2:6-15. Read these verses in your Bible. Matthias succeeded Judas. Acts 1:20-26. That is the only case of apostolic succession in the Bible. Paul took his own place. He was born out of due time. Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-10. After the Holy Spirit, in Acts 13:2, separated Paul for his unique apostleship, there is no record of the sayings and doings of the Twelve in the Book of Acts, except as they have dealings with Paul. Paul was the special ambassador, apostle and teacher of the Gentiles and the custodian of the highest truths concerning the Church (Body). But Paul never forgave sins except as he preach­ed Christ. Note his words in Romans 10:14-15 : “How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED Note the words in 1 Peter 1:8 : “Whom having not seen ye love: in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Thomas saw and believed. Note the Scripture: “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:25, John 20:27-28. Thomas was convinced. We learn in John 11:16 that Thomas was a man of extraordinary courage. The name “Thomas” is never mentioned after the day of Pentecost. It would be of great interest to know more of his apostleship. He must have been an uncompromising defender of the faith. We may well imagine that after his words, “my Lord and my God,” in his preaching he must have specialized in the eternal Deity of Christ. We are living today under the reign of grace when we must believe and then see. Some one has said, the world says “show me and I will believe.” God says, “believe Me and I will shew you.” THE APOSTLES GO FISHING After Thomas worshipped Christ, he went fishing with Peter and some of the other apostles. John 21:1-14. Jesus stood on the shore. That night the apostles had caught nothing. But by Jesus’ Word, what a difference! John 21:6-11. “And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw it for the multitudes of fishes.” “Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.” Some one has said that there were about 153 nations on the earth at that time. Christ said, “Come and dine.” What a meal! Now in closing we quote John 21:15-25 “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou know­est that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou know­est all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at sup­per, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be writ­ten. Amen.” It has been suggested that Christ asked the question of Peter three times because Peter had denied Him three times. In 2 Peter 1:13-15 we read Peter’s words as to how he was to shortly put off his tabernacle in fulfillment of Christ’s words in John 21:18. In Acts 12:1-10 we learn how Herod tried to kill Peter; but Peter was to die when he was old. Note the number of books that should be written if all of the wonderful works and words of Christ were recorded. QUESTIONS—LESSON THIRTY-FOUR What is said in John 18:1-2 concerning Christ, His disciples, and the Garden across the brook Cedron? What did the mob carry when they went to Gethsemene, led by Judas? What happened to the mob when Christ said, “I AM”? Then what did Christ say as He permitted them to bind Him and lead Him away? Why did Christ tell Peter to put up his sword? What did Christ say to Pilate concerning His kingdom in John 18:36? To whom did the band of men first lead Christ? Then to whom? What was the first thing Pilate said according to John 18:1-40 when Christ appeared before him? What time of day was it? What was Pilate’s opinion as to Christ’s guilt or sin? Name several propo­sitions which Pilate made to the Jews. What did the Jews say to Pilate in John 19:7 and John 19:12? How did Christ compare Pilate’s guilt with that of the Jews? Who were gathered together against Christ according to Acts 4:27? What verse in Psalms prophesied this? Quote several Scriptures to prove that Jesus Christ’s death was neither premature nor accidental; that His death was inevitable. What verses in Psalms 22:1-31 were fulfilled when Christ was on the cross? In what language and where were the words written, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews”? What is the meaning of the word of Christ on the cross, “finished”? In what verse in Hebrews 12:1-29 is Christ called the Author and Finisher of our faith? In what verse of Hebrews 7:1-28 do we learn of the believer’s uttermost salvation? Quote Acts 13:29-30 and explain same. Why did not Christ permit the Jews to stone Him to death? What is said in John 20:9 concerning the ignorance of Peter and John as to Christ’s resurrection? Peter and John ran to the sepulchre. Who beat in the race? Who went into the sepulchre first? What did Paul say about Christ’s and the Christians’ resurrection of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:21-23? What is the order of the resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18? What did the Lord say to His disciples when He showed them His hands and His aide? Why were they behind closed doors? Which two of the twelve apostles were absent when Christ came in their midst and showed them His hands and His feet? What did one of them say? Then what did that one say eight days later when Christ appeared again? Explain John 20:22 “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” And John 20:23, “Whose soever sins ye remit” Who went fishing with Peter after this visit of the resurrected Christ? Who stood on the shore and gave orders to the fishermen? How many fish did they catch? Who said “Come and dine”? What question did Christ ask Peter three times? What three answers did Peter give? What lesson did Christ teach Peter by binding him with the girdle? Quote again the last verses of John 20:1-31 and of John 21:1-25. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS ======================================================================== GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS By Pastor John C. O’Hair Lesson 5 In this lesson we shall consider and compare: PETER’S MESSAGE—­JERUSALEM—Acts 2:1-47. PHILIP’S MESSAGE­—SAMARIA—Acts 8:1-40. PAUL’S MESSAGE——EPHESUS—Acts 19:1-41. I—PETER’S MESSAGE—Acts 2:1-47 “Dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.” The day of Pentecost—one of Jehovah’s or Israel’s feasts, fifty days after First­fruits. Leviticus 23:15. These Jews, together with the proselytes (Acts 2:10), were all amazed because they had heard and witnessed God’s supernatural visitation. The Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak with other tongues. The Holy Spirit had come in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Christ had been raised from the dead, in ful­fillment of David’s prophecy, to occupy David’s throne. God had made the same Jesus, whom these Jews with wicked hands had crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36. Peter’s message was addressed “Ye men of Judea;” “Ye men of Israel.” Acts 2:14 and Acts 2:22. The convicted Israelites said unto Peter, “What shall we do?” Then Peter said unto them “REPENT, AND BE BAPTIZED EV­ERY ONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.” Note the results. Three thousand Is­raelites and proselytes (all considered Jews) were added. Acts 2:41. They sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need. At that time they had favor with all the people. “The Lord added daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:43-47. Some Israelites had been saved while Christ was on earth. Luke 10:20. They had been called “the little flock” and in­structed to sell their property and give alms. Luke 12:32-33. The Apos­tles had received the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. John 20:22. It is not definitely stated in the Scriptures whether or not the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost. The Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia,” literally the “called out”. Some Israelites were certainly called out while Christ was on earth. But the Church of God was to be purchased with His own blood and Christ had to go to the Father before He could send: the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit in early Acts was to witness to Israel concerning Christ as Israel’s Prince and Saviour. Acts 5:32. In the first nine chapters of Acts it was not lawful for the apostles to go to the Gentiles with the Word of God. Acts 10:28. So they preached to none but Jews only. Acts 11:19. Peter did not preach the unsearchable, or untraceable, riches of Christ to the Israelites, if in­deed anyone did. But God wrought ef­fectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. Peter preached to Israel none other things than Moses and the prophets said should come. Joel—David—Moses—­Samuel—all the prophets—Amos. Acts 2:16; Acts 2:25-33; Acts 3:21-26; Acts 10:43; Acts 15:14. Before we consider Philip’s Message in Acts 8:1-40, let us note several facts in the ministry of Peter and the Eleven in Acts 3:1-26; Acts 4:1-37; Acts 5:1-42; Acts 6:1-15; Acts 7:1-60. a. Acts 3:14-21. In these verses we learn that God, was willing to consider Israel’s crime of killing the Prince of Life an act of ignorance (in answer to Christ’s prayer on the cross) and be­cause God had foreordained that Christ should appear at the end of the ages and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Therefore “repent” was God’s message to the nation and God will send Christ back to earth to restore the kingdom to Israel. This is quite a different message from the fact stated in Ephesians, that sinners, redeemed by grace, were raised up to be seated where Christ is in the highest heavenlies. Where in the Acts is it recorded that Peter and the Eleven told the Nation Israel to believe in the grace gospel, and by believing in the shed blood of Christ they would be jus­tified and reconciled? b. Acts 5:29-31. God had raised Christ from the dead to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and for­giveness of sins to Israel. And the Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven to witness to this fact. This is quite dif­ferent from the witness of the Holy Spirit concerning the Divine sonship and special inheritance of members of the Body of Christ. No mention is made of a message of salvation for Gentiles. The Holy Spirit was sent in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. c. Acts 5:42. “And daily in the tem­ple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.” Study this in connection with the state­ment of Acts 8:1, that the Twelve remained in Jerusalem. In Matthew 23:38-39, the rejected Messiah said Is­rael’s house was left desolate. He was to send His Army to destroy them and burn up their city; armies were to compass their city. Matthew 22:7. Luke 21:20-22. Not one stone of the tem­ple was to be left. Matthew 24:2. Because of the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross God postponed the judgment pronounced upon Israel, in Matthew 23:33-39, and their Jerusalem and their temple stood until after the “Acts” period had ended. During those years of grace God gave Israel favor with Rome and the Twelve had access to the Jerusalem temple for their testimony. Acts 21:18-28. d. Acts 7:1-53. The message of Stephen to Israel ended with the statement that they were resisting the Holy Spirit, or committing the unpardonable sin, mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 12:31-32. Stephen saw the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. Christ called Himself the “Son of man” when ministering to Israel on earth. Stephen saw in heaven the same Son of man who warned Israel against the sin they were now committing, namely, rejecting the Holy Spirit, or committing the unpardonable sin. II—PHILIP’S MESSAGE—Acts 8:1-40 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria.” Acts 8:5. Philip was numbered with those who were scattered, when Stephen was mar­tyred, and preached the Word to none but Jews only. Acts 11:19. There was a difference between Samaritans and Gentiles. Matthew 10:5. In the light of Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:18, it is not probable that Philip, in the city of Samaria preached to Gentiles. God performed great miracles by the hand of Philip. To the people of Sa­maria Philip preached Christ. Philip was filled with the Holy Spirit, full of faith and of good report. Acts 6:3-8. “BUT WHEN THEY BELIEVED PHILIP PREACHING THE THINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, THEY WERE BAPTIZED, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN:” “WHEN THE APOSTLES WHICH WERE AT JERUSALEM HEARD THAT SAMARIA HAD RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD, THEY SENT UNTO THEM PETER AND JOHN, WHO, WHEN THEY WERE COME DOWN, PRAYED FOR THEM THAT THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST. THEN LAID THEY THEIR HANDS ON THEM, AND THEY RE­CEIVED THE HOLY GHOST.” In this ministry and Divine program of Philip, we observe something of the same order that prevailed in the min­istry and Divine program of Peter and the Eleven at Jerusalem. In both of these ministries we observe that water baptism preceded the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and undoubtedly was a pre­requisite for that reception. The message that the risen Christ gave to the Eleven is recorded in Mark 16:13-18. In that message Christ clearly stated, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” He did not say “he that believeth and is saved shall be baptized.” We observe in the order of Philip’s ministry that the people heard his gos­pel message, believed and were baptized. In accordance with Mark 16:15-16, they must have been saved. Several days after they received the Holy Spirit. Undoubtedly these Samaritans, or Jews in Samaria, became members of some church when they believed. But were they, at that time, baptized by one Spirit into the One Body of Ephesians 1:19-22? Were they saved before they became members of that Body? Is this God’s order for today? III-PAUL’S MESSAGE—Acts 19:1-41. In Ephesus were certain disciples who had believed John’s message for Israel. They had been baptized unto John’s bap­tism but had not received the Holy Spirit. They had not heard that the Holy Spirit had been given. Paul preached Christ Jesus unto them. “WHEN THEY HEARD THIS THEY WERE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS. AND WHEN PAUL HAD LAID HIS HANDS UPON THEM, THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME ON THEM; AND THEY SPAKE WITH TONGUES AND PROPHESIED.” Acts 19:5-6. There are some who believe that the translation of Acts 19:5, should be, “When they heard this having been baptized in the Lord Jesus.” This is rather doubtful. They suggest this translation because the Twelve Apostles received John’s wa­ter baptism and were not rebaptized on the day of Pentecost. But here we have again something of the same order that is found in both messages which we have considered, Peter’s and Philip’s. Here, in Ephesus, there were both Jews and Greeks in the assembly. The record here seems to indicate that these twelve disciples were Jews, disciples of Apollos. Acts 18:25; Acts 19:7-8. Water baptism and imposition of hands pre­ceded Holy Spirit baptism. Speaking with tongues and prophesying followed. This was about 54 A.D., or about twenty years after Pentecost. This is the last Bible record of any one receiving water baptism. To the Church at Ephesus, this same Paul wrote, about nine years later, “There is one Body and one baptism.” Ephesians 4:3-5. ONE BODY—ONE BAPTISM. Which of these orders are for the One Body? Perhaps the more we study the Book of Acts, the more we realize how little we really know about it. Doubtless the consideration of these messages have suggested some thoughts to our minds and hearts and we are ready to ask some questions. God’s Program for Today. Undoubtedly we have observed that no present day gifted spiritual teachers of the Word of God believe that any of these gospel programs are for today. Perhaps they eliminate the “imposition of hands” on the ground’s that that was only an apostolic prerogative. But in the light of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, they cannot eliminate miracles and signs, by stating that they were intended for apostles only. If they eliminate them—and they must or acknowledge themselves powerless and faithless—they should give an intelligent Scriptural rea­son for so doing. God linked water bap­tism and signs together. They stand together, or fall together, in the Church of Christ. These teachers teach dogmatically and positively that, if the believer has not already received the Holy Spirit, he should not be baptized with water. They also teach that the very moment that believer receives the Holy Spirit, he becomes a member of the Bible Church, called in Ephesians and Colossians, the Body of Christ. Most of them believe that Peter’s message of Acts 2:38 preached believing Israelites into the Body of Christ, and yet they acknowl­edge that that message is not the Lord’s message for today. By such an acknowl­edgment they teach that there are two ways, at least of becoming members of the Body of Christ, and in one way water baptism was altogether essential. They must also acknowledge there were different ways of getting into the Body of Christ, if that Body was there. Who can read the Scriptures in con­nection with the three messages we have quoted and compare them with the ex­perience of Cornelius, recorded in Acts 10:34-47, and say that Cornelius did not receive the Holy Spirit before he was water-baptized? But in the light of Acts 10:20 and 1 Corinthians 1:22 we might say this reversal of order was not because Cornelius was a Gentile, but because the Jews required a sign. God gave the tongues so Peter could say, “Can any man forbid water?” But if we insist that with the Gentile believers, water baptism followed Holy Spirit baptism and with Israelite believer’s water baptism was a prerequisite for Holy Spirit baptism, how can we then be consistent and say, that the Body of (Christ, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, began on the day of Pentecost? Surely we must turn to Romans and Ephesians to get our message of unmixed grace; for if we get our message and program from Acts 19:1-41, we must bear in mind that, associated with the last record of water baptism, which preceded the receiving of the Holy Spirit, there was the imposition of hands, Holy Spirit baptism, tongues, prophesying, casting out of demons, the blessing of handkerchiefs and aprons for physical headings. What God, hath joined together let no man put asunder until God does. “Let us go on to perfection.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS ======================================================================== GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS By Pastor John C. O’Hair LESSON SIX WHAT GOD DETERMINED BEFORE HAND CONCERNING CHRIST AND ISRAEL: “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 4:26-28. “AND WHEN THEY HAD FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF HIM, THEY TOOK HIM DOWN FROM THE TREE, AND LAID HIM IN A SEPULCHRE. “BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.” Acts 13:29-30. When Christ died at the wicked hands of Israel it was according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God: Acts 2:22-23. Before His death Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of Him”. Matthew 26:24. When He came to the time of His death Christ said: “for this cause came I unto this hour”. John 12:27-28. Christ was made to die. Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 2:14, Hebrews 2:17 and Hebrews 9:26. Christ said to His twelve apostles “all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished . . . they shall put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again.” Luke 18:31-34. The rejection of Jesus Christ, His death on the tree, His burial in the rich man’s grave, and His resurrection, had to be; that the Scriptures might be ful­filled. When they had fulfilled all that written of Him, they took Him the tree and laid Him in the sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead. Christ had to die at a set time and in a manner determined beforehand. They did whatsoever God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4:28. Because of this “before-hand” deter­mination and foreknowledge of God and because of Christ’s prayer on the cross, God was willing to fully pardon Israel’s great sin, “killing the Prince of life”, “crucifying the Lord of glory.” Per­haps these facts will help us to better understand the words of John 12:37-40 :—“But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him; that the saying of Esaias 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 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.” With these verses we should carefully study Matthew 12:15-21. Israel could not believe? This, of course, brings this question to our minds, “did God arbi­trarily cause Israel to reject His holy Son, as King and Messiah, that He might go to the cross to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself before He should come as the Son of man in the clouds, with power and great glory, to be accepted of Israel; in fulfillment of many Scriptures?” If Israel could not believe and rejected the Son of man who had to go, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, did that not minimize the guilt of Israel? Were they not the foreordained human in­struments of God accomplishing the foreordained purpose of God? Our first answer is, that God’s foreknowledge of Israel’s guilt, although God used their guilty and wicked deeds to provide sal­vation for the sins of the whole world, did not relieve Israel from their respon­sibility or in any way make them guilt­less. There was forgiveness for them, had they repented at the preaching of Peter in Acts 3:14-26. Our other answer is Romans 11:33-34 : “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 counselor?” This outcry of the Apostle Paul followed the Lord’s announcement of Israel’s judgment for the benefit of the uncove­nanted Gentiles who were by nature the wild olive tree. As Israel had to reject their Messiah and King and do whatso­ever God’s hand and God’s counsel de­termined beforehand to be done and with wicked hands crucify Him, some years after that crucifixion Israel must fall, that salvation be sent to Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. Romans 11:11. In spite of this inevitable fall of Israel, that Nation was solemnly warned; “beware lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets.” Acts 13:40. Because they killed the Lord Je­sus and their own prophets and perse­cuted Christ’s apostles and pleased not God, trying to prevent the salvation of the Gentiles, but were determined to fill up their sin away, the wrath came upon them to the uttermost. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15. Something of that “uttermost” wrath is declared in Romans 11:17-25, in Acts 28:25-28, Matthew 22:7 and Luke 21:20-24. The uttermost wrath of God fell when Rome destroyed Jerusalem about 69 or 70 A.D.. But again to Romans 11:19; did the Gentile tell the truth when he said, “The natural branches were broken off that I might be graffed in?” Hear the mes­sage which the Lord gave to Paul: “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.” Acts 13:46. “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.” Acts 18:6. “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.” Acts 28:28. In Romans 1:1-32 we are told how the Gentiles were cut off, given up by God. In Ephesians 4:18 we are told that they were alienated, from the life of God. But in Romans 11:15 we are told that the casting away of Israel meant the reconciling of the world. Hear these words of God to Gentiles: “FOR AS YE IN TIMES PAST HAVE NOT BELIEVED GOD, YET HAVE NOW OBTAINED MERCY THROUGH THEIR UNBELIEF.” Romans 11:30. There is a most interesting and signifi­cant story recorded in Acts 13:6-12. We quote these verses: “And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: “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 Ghost, 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.” Paulus, the Gentile, was astonished at the Lord’s doings, and believed when he saw what was done to the Jew. Every Gentile in the world who has given seri­ous thought to God’s dealings with the Jew should be astonished and believe. Just carefully read the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, and then study the history of Israel to see how the judgments, the punishments, the curses of that chapter have happened to that chosen race. “The Gentile shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.” (Deuteronomy 28:44). “These curses shall come upon thee—they shall be upon thee for a sign—because thou servedst not the Lord thy God—thou shalt serve thine enemies the Lord shall bring a nation against thee—He shall besiege thee in. all thy gates—and thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters—and ye shall be left few in number—because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God—and the Lord will scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other—among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the soles of thy feet have rest but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. (Deuteronomy 28:45-68). “Thou shalt become an astonishment, and a Sheniynah (shenee)-naw) among all na­tions whither the Lord shall lead thee.” (Deuteronomy 28:37). God created Israel for His own glory. He sanctified that nation and that holy nation was His peculiar treasure in the earth to witness to the other nations concerning the holiness, majesty, sov­ereignty, righteousness, justice and goodness of the one true and living God. Exodus 19:5-6, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 41:8-9, Isaiah 43:7-10, and Isaiah 43:15. Israel was the child of Jehovah-Sav­iour (Barjesus); but as a nation they were a disobedient and gainsaying peo­ple, to whom God stretched forth His hands all day long. Romans 10:21. “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?” Acts 7:51-52. The miraculous supernatural preser­vation of Israel, scattered all over the earth down through the centuries, fol­lowing that terrible judgment which fell upon them about 70 A.D. under the hand of Titus, in fulfillment of Christ’s words in Matthew 22:7 and Luke 21:20-24, should cause every one to be as­tonished at the doctrine of the Lord, be­lieve in the inspiration and infallibility of the Word of God, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the Divine Saviour. Bar-jesus, in Acts 13:6-12, typical of Israel, was blind for a season, not seeing the sun, because he tried to keep Sergius Paulus from hearing and believing Paul’s testimony concerning Israel’s Messiah, rejected and crucified by Israel. Because of Barjesus’ blindness, Paulus believed. The disciple Saul became the Apostle Paulus. This is the message of the eleventh of Romans. Israel’s blindness is only for a season. Some day Israel will see the Sun; for the Sun of righteousness is to arise with healing in His wings and Israel will look upon the One they pierced. Then Israel shall be saved. Malachi 4:2, Zechariah 12:10, Romans 11:25-26. Because of Israel’s blindness salvation was sent to the Gentiles. Because of Israel’s unbelief the Gentiles obtained mercy. Romans 11:11 and Romans 11:30. In the light of judgments which Christ on earth promised Luke 21:20-24, Matthew 23:33-39, Matthew 21:43, Matthew 22:7, perhaps it seems strange that to that wicked nation, the Lord directed Peter to tenderly and affectionately address them as brethren and children, and say to the murderers of the Son of God “un­to you first” Acts 3:26, Acts 3:12-25. In the light of Acts 13:46; Acts 18:6; Acts 28:28, and Romans 11:11 and Romans 11:30, it is difficult to believe that the Great Commission was Paul’s Divine authority for preaching the Gospel of grace to Gentiles. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS ======================================================================== GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS LESSON SEVEN By Pastor John C. O’Hair THIRTY FACTS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS 1. The Book of Acts was written by Luke, the beloved physician. He must have joined Paul when he received the call to Macedonia: for Luke uses “we” the first time in Acts 16:10, about the year 52 A.D. The beloved physician was with Paul, sailing to Rome, when the ship went to pieces and the passengers and crew reached land on pieces of the broken vessel. Acts 28:2. Among the last written words of Paul are these “only Luke is with me.” 2 Timothy 4:11. This will give us some idea of the un­wavering faith, the unfailing fellowship and the undaunted fortitude of this be­loved comrade of Paul, the human au­thor of “Acts”. 2. The last words of Luke’s Gospel, Luke 24:53, concerning the apostles are: “they worshipped Christ, and re­turned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” In Acts 5:42 it is recorded concerning them that “daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Je­sus Christ.” In Acts 8:1, it is recorded when the great persecution arose and many Christians were scattered, the Twelve Apostles remained in Jerusalem. It is interesting to note that Jerusalem is mentioned sixty times in Acts from Acts 1:4 to Acts 28:17 and the Jerusa­lem temple is mentioned twenty-four times in Acts. Jerusalem continued to be the headquarters for the Twelve throughout the Book of Acts: and so far as the “Acts” record is concerned, not one of the Twelve preached the gos­pel outside of Israel’s land. In spite of the judgment of Christ, pronounced up­on Israel’s temple and Jerusalem (Matthew 23:31-39), that Nation never received greater favor from Rome than they did during the period covered by the Book of Acts: during which time the temple stood and both believing and unbelieving Jews had access to it. 3. Aside from the statement: “Peter with the Eleven”, in Acts 2:14, only three of the twelve apostles are men­tioned by name from the day of Pente­cost, throughout the Book of Acts, ex­cept eleven words concerning the death of James, the brother of John, in Acts 12:2. The three apostles mentioned are Peter, John and James. These three are mentioned together in Galatians 2:7-9, as pillars of the church. After the council at Jerusalem, (Acts 15:1-19), only one short reference is made to one of these in the last half of the Book of Acts. This reference is to James, when Paul visited Jerusalem about 59 or 60 A.D. Acts 21:18-28. By all means use Acts 15:19, and Acts 21:18-25, and Galatians 2:7-9 as the key to James’ Epistle to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. And by all means study the min­istry of Peter, James and John, in the Book of Acts in the light of Galatians 2:7-9, where the statement is made in the clearest, plainest language pos­sible, that these three representatives of the Twelve, preached the “circum­cision” gospel to the “circumcision” peo­ple. 4. The ministry of the Twelve Apos­tles, in the Book of Acts, was a minis­try of confirmation witnessed by signs and miracles. Hebrews 2:2-4. The messages which they proclaimed were concerning events foretold by Israel’s prophets. Acts 1:16; Acts 1:20; Acts 2:16; Acts 2:25; Acts 2:30-31; Acts 3:22; Acts 3:24; Acts 4:11; Acts 4:25-26; Acts 7:1-50; Acts 8:32-33; Acts 10:43; Acts 15:13-18. All of this should be stud­ied in the light of Colossians 1:24-28 and Ephesians 3:8-9 : for in these writings of Paul we are plainly told that the “dispensation of the mystery”, “the mystery among the Gentiles”, the pe­culiar place of blessing of Gentiles in the Body of Christ, was unknown to Israel’s prophets. 5. One thousand years before Christ came from heaven, the Holy Spirit prophesied that a successor would be chosen to take the place of Judas, who would lose his bishopric, in fulfillment of prophecy. Acts 1:16 and Acts 1:20. That successor had to be a fellow-companion of the Eleven, who, with the Eleven, had been several years in company with Jesus of Nazareth; and an eye witness of His resurrection. Acts 1:21-22. This would exclude Saul of Tarsus as ineligible to succeed Judas. 1 Corinthians 15:5. It would also disprove the claim of some that Paul succeeded Judas as one of the Twelve. 6. Although the resurrected Christ gave his commission to the Eleven, He required twelve men for the ministry and message to “all the house of Israel”, on the day of Pentecost. Mark 16:14. Matthew 28:19-20. Acts 1:8. Acts 2:14. The fact that they were all to­gether with one accord is proof of God’s approval of the selection of Matthias. After repentance of life was granted unto the household of Cornelius, the God-fearing Gentile, the Lord was not concerned about having twelve apostles; for no successor was chosen to take the place of James, whose death is recorded in Acts 12:2. This should be studiously and spiritually considered: that is, the fact that the Lord required twelve apostles during the first eleven chapters of Acts. Why? 7. The “far off” people of Acts 2:39 were Israelites and not Gentiles. Acts 10:28 and Daniel 9:7. Not one word, in the early chapters of Acts was spoken to Gentiles. No messenger of the Lord today has Divine authority to proclaim the messages and the religious programs and Divine orders of those chapters to any Gentile today, except preaching Christ. Paul never preached “baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins” unto Gentiles. 8. There are four classes of Jews mentioned in the first eleven chapters of Acts: “Hebrew Jews”, “Grecians (Greek Jews)”, “Strangers or visiting Jews from Rome” (Acts 2:10), and “Proselytes”. The Grecians of Acts 6:1; Acts 9:29 and Acts 11:20, are not to be confused with the Greeks (Gentiles) of Acts 14:1; Acts 16:1 and Acts 16:3; Acts 17:4; Acts 18:4; Acts 18:17; Acts 19:10; Acts 19:17; Acts 20:21; Acts 2:28. Also there was a difference between many of the religious Greeks and the idolatrous Gentiles. Many of the Greeks were interested in the Jews’ religion. Acts 13:43; Acts 13:48; Acts 14:1; Acts 17:4. 9. Peter and his associates were sent by Christ to Israel only, with a kingdom message and kingdom signs, according to Matthew 10:5-7. To them the keys of the kingdom of heaven were com­mitted. To Peter and his associates the great commission was given. To the Eleven Christ said, “he that believ­eth and is baptized shall be saved.” To them the gospel of the circumcision for the circumcision was given. Matthew 16:18-19. Matthew 28:19-20. Mark 16:14-18. Galatians 2:7-9. Paul received his commission, ministry, mes­sage and program from Christ by reve­lation. Galatians 1:11-19. Ephesians 3:1-11. 10. During the Book of Acts Israel was committing the unpardonable sin; sinning against the Holy Spirit, or blas­pheming the Holy Spirit. Read Matthew 12:31-32. Christ said to Is­rael, “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blas­phemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men”. Israel sinned against the Son of man. They put Him to death. But on the cross He cried, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. God was willing. Acts 3:14-18. He sent the Holy Spirit to witness that He had raised Christ from the dead, ex­alted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. Acts 5:29-32. Stephen was filled with that Holy Spirit and saw the Son of man standing in heaven. He accused them of killing the Son of man and resisting the Holy Spirit. They com­mitted the unpardonable sin. Paul went to Israel’s synagogues to testify that Jesus was Messiah. He was a watchman to the house of Israel. Ezekiel 3:16-20. Israel blasphemed. Acts 13:45; Acts 18:6. They committed the unpardonable sin. Paul turned to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46; Acts 18:6; Acts 28:28. 11. Beginning with the preaching of John the Baptist, whose message was for Israel, (Luke 1:16; Luke 1:80; Acts 13:24), during the several years of the earthly ministry of Christ, with His Twelve Apostles, which was exclusively for Israel (Matthew 15:24; Romans 15:8; Matthew 10:5-7), and for seven or eight years after Pentecost, the gospel was not sent to Gentiles. Jesus of Nazareth was a man ap­proved of God in the midst of Israel. He responded to the appeal of two Gentiles of “great faith”, by healing their loved ones. Matthew 8:1-12; Matthew 15:20-28; Luke 7:1-10; Mark 7:27-37. The one and only Gentile man, to whom Christ in blessing, ministered on earth, as far as the Gospels record, was this Roman official who had built Israel a synagogue. This Roman reached Christ through elders of Israel. Luke 7:3 and Luke 7:5. The first and only Gentile to whom the Twelve Apostles preached, as far as the Book of Acts records, was a Roman official and his friends, Cornelius who gave alms to Israel. and worshipped Israel’s God. Acts 10:1-6; Acts 10:22; Acts 10:28; Acts 11:18-19. The first Gentile to whom Paul preached, accord­ing to the “Acts” record, was a Roman official. Acts 13:6-12. 12. During the seven or eight years, covered by the first nine chapters of Acts, there is not a single word to sug­gest that “Peter with the Eleven” preached justification by faith, the gos­pel of the grace of God, the ministry of reconciliation; or that they urged the Israelites to whom they preached to for­sake Moses, give up circumcision, or to abandon their hope of the Messianic kingdom. Of course there was the ele­ment of grace in their messages of re­pentance and restitution. But they preached to Israel only the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the circum­cision. Galatians 2:7-9. They preached to Cornelius the word that God sent to Israel Acts 10:36. Paul preached to Gentiles the gospel of the uncircum­cision.. This gospel was not sent to Is­rael. God preached the gospel to Abram, when he was 75 years old, in uncircum­cision. Abram was circumcised when 99 years old, (Genesis 17:3-20). From that day until Cornelius was saved all blessings were on the grounds of circum­cision. 13. In Acts 2:36, and through chap­ter seven in Acts, the Twelve and their associates were testifying to Israel that Jesus was Christ (Messiah). Paul and his associates continued in the syna­gogues of Israel to testify that Jesus was Christ (Messiah). Acts 9:16-28; Acts 17:3; Acts 18:5; Acts 28:19-28. Jesus specifically instructed His Apos­tles not to testify that He was Messiah, after the rulers had rejected Him. Matthew 16:20-21. If Jesus did not re­scind this order, then His Apostles wilfully disobeyed Him. When did He re­scind this order? Christ’s prayer on the cross (Luke 23:34) rescinded the order. God began anew with Israel on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:36; Acts 3:14-26. Compare the kingdom com­munism of Acts 2:45; Acts 4:34 with Luke 12:33. 14. According to Acts 2:29-33, Pe­ter declared that David prophesied that Christ would be raised from the dead to take David’s throne. All the prophets, beginning with Moses and Samuel, fore­told Israel’s kingdom days. Acts 3:21-24. In Acts 3:19-21, Peter declared that God would send Christ from heaven to establish these kingdom days, if Is­rael would repent. What a contrast be­tween these messages and the fact con­cerning Christ and the members of His Body seated in the upper heavenlies. Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 2:5. Christ, on David’s throne, as Israel’s King, fore­told by the prophets, is quite a differ­ent relationship and ministry, than Christ far above in the heavenlies, Head of the Church, which is His Body. It is one thing for a believer to be raised up where Christ is, in the heavenlies. Ephesians 2:6. It is quite a different thing for God to send the standing Christ back from heaven to the believers on earth. 15. In the Book of Acts we learn that, with the exception of the miracles performed by Phillip and Stephen, either Peter or Paul was present when the recorded miracles were performed. Peter and Paul each raised a man lame from his mother’s womb, (Acts 3:1-5; Acts 14:8). Each had a miraculous jail deliverance (Acts 5:19-20; Acts 12:11-17; Acts 16:23-31). Each was told in a vision, to preach to Gen­tiles (Acts 10:1-28 and Acts 22:17-22). Each of them miraculously healed those who came near their bodies (Acts 5:11-14 and Acts 19:11-12). Each pronounced a Divine judgment (Acts 5:1-42; Acts 1:1-26; Acts 2:1-47; Acts 3:1-26; Acts 4:1-37; Acts 5:1-42; Acts 6:1-15; Acts 7:1-60; Acts 8:1-40; Acts 9:1-43; Acts 10:1-48 and Acts 13:8-11). Each raised the dead (Acts 9:37-41 and Acts 20:9-10.) 16. During the first half of the Book of Acts, Peter, the minister of the circumcision is mentioned 67 times. In the last half Peter is never mentioned after Acts 15:13 and Paul, as Paul, is men­tioned 132 times, beginning with Acts 13:9. In all the messages of Paul, from Acts 9:14 to 2 Timothy 4:22, he uses the first person pronoun in speaking of himself, more than 1200 times. The Book of Acts closed in the middle of Paul’s Epistles. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Timothy, Titus, Philemon and II Timothy were written after Acts closed. As the Book of Acts is principally the record of the acts of Peter and Paul, why did that record close several years before Paul’s life closed; especially since it is evident that Paul had two imprisonments and he acted between these imprisonments. 1 Timothy 4:13; Philemon 1:22. It is generally believed that he wrote Titus between the two imprisonments. 17. In the Book of Acts the Lord is carrying out His program, declared in Mark 7:27 and in Matthew 8:12. Read the very interesting accounts of the Lord’s conversations with a Roman man and a Greek woman; the only account of the Lord’s dealings with Gentiles until He stood before Pilate. The Records are Matthew 8:1-12 and Luke 7:3-10, the Roman man; Matthew 15:22-28 and Mark 7:24-30, the Greek woman. Concerning each of these Gen­tiles it is recorded “great faith”. Matthew 8:10; Matthew 15:28. To the Greek woman, the Saviour said: “Let the chil­dren (Israel) first be filled.” Mark 7:27. To the Roman man, the Saviour said “The children of the kingdom (Israel) shall be cast out into outer darkness.” Romans 8:12. The judgment of the outer darkness is announced by Paul in Acts 28:25-28 (about 62 A.D.) and in Romans 11:6-25. The awful judg­ment came with the destruction of Je­rusalem, about 69 or 70 A.D. During the Book of Acts the children were be­ing “filled first”. With the close of Acts they were cast into outer darkness. 18. With Acts 2:38, “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall re­ceive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Compare Matthew 3:1-12 with Mark 1:4. Luke 3:3, John’s water baptism unto re­pentance for the remission of sins and the promise of the Holy Spirit. Both messages were for the same people, Is­rael. Both were repentance and water baptism for the remission of sins. John’s water baptism was that Christ might be made manifest to Israel. John 1:31. The Twelve Apostles received their water baptism, at least three years before the day of Pentecost. If, as some claim, Christian baptism began on the day of Pentecost, the Twelve Apostles never received Christian baptism. There is no Scriptural proof that water baptism was given a new meaning on the day of Pen­tecost. Water baptism was a kingdom ordinance. 19. In Acts 3:26 Peter said to Israel “to you first”. In Acts 13:46 Paul said to Israel it was necessary that God’s words should first have been spoken unto Israel. Let us compare these state­ments with the judgment of the Lord Jesus pronounced upon Israel in Matthew 23:31-33. Note what He called them in Matthew 23:33, “serpents” and “vipers”. He called the Gentiles, “dogs”. Matthew 15:26. If Israel’s rulers were “serpents” and “vipers” before they added the greatest of all crimes to their list, “they killed the Prince of Life” (Acts 3:15), were they not then worse than serpents and vipers after Pente­cost? Why after that should Israel be “first”? Why was it necessary that the word should first be sent unto them? Why should a “serpent” come before a “dog”? The answer is Luke 23:3-4, Acts 1:8 and Acts 3:16-18. (To be continued) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: S. GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS ======================================================================== GLEANINGS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS THIRTY FACTS FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS . LESSON SEVEN By Pastor John C. O’Hair 20. In Acts 19:3-7, we find the last record of any person baptized with wa­ter. In the same chapter we learn that those who were baptized received the Holy Spirit after the imposition of hands; and that then they spoke with tongues and prophesied. In the same chapter we have the record of Paul’s casting out demons and miraculously healing with the use of handkerchiefs and aprons. We find that the circum­cision of believing Jews was endorsed after this last record of water baptism, Acts 21:18-21. Sign healings are also recorded after this last record of water baptism. Acts 28:8. After Acts 28:28 there are no evidences of the continua­tion of signs or water baptism. Read 1 Timothy 5:23 and Ephesians 4:5. It would seem consistent to continue the imposition of hands and expect tongues, prophesying, healing, miracles and other signs, if we continue the practice of water baptism. 21. In the Book of Acts the following eight Jewish words are found 264 times, whereas the same eight words are found only 241 times in the synoptic. Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are 98 per cent Jewish: “Jew”, “Israel”, “syna­gogue”, “law”, “Moses”, “temple” “Je­rusalem” and “father”. The Book of Acts opens with a little company of Jews in Jerusalem. In the second chap­ter, the Book deals with devout Jews from every nation under heaven, includ­ing some Jews from Rome. Acts 2:10. In the last chapter of Acts, 30 years later, Paul is addressing a company of Jews in Rome concerning Moses and the prophets. Acts 28:19-28. Israel’s “fathers”, are mentioned from Acts 3:13 to Acts 28:25 twenty-eight times. As long as Israel was addressed as “breth­ren” they were protected nationally be­fore God. The Book of Acts is 85 per cent Jewish. Israel, as a nation, was not set aside by God until after the close. of Acts. 22. In the Book of Acts we find no beginning of the fulfillment of Luke 21:24 : “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away cap­tive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be ful­filled.” There is not the slightest hint in the “Acts” period that the judgment pro­nounced in Luke 21:20 would fall upon Israel, except the words of Paul in Acts 13:40, Romans 11:11-25, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16. Israel enjoyed the favor of Rome during the “Acts” period. Politically the “times of the Gentiles” began about 600 B.C. 2 Kings 25:1-30; Jeremiah 52:1-34. Spiritually, or religiously, “the times of the Gen­tiles” began after Acts 28:28. Paul, the Israelite, was the Apostle to the Gentiles. He instructed Timothy what to teach others. 2 Timothy 2:2. Timothy was half Jew and half Gentile. Acts 16:1-5. Timothy was the connecting link in the transfer of spiritual author­ity from Israel to Gentiles and the hand­ing down of Paul’s deposit. 2 Timothy 1:12-15 : 2 Timothy 2:2. (R.V.) Po­litically and spiritually the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled when the Son of man comes to redeem Israel, after the fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2:2-9. 23. From the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, until God granted unto Cornelius repentance, unto life, about seven or eight years after: Pentecost, God’s order was, “to the Jews only”. Beginning with Paul’s ministry out of Antioch, until Acts 28:25-28, God’s order was, “to the Jews first, also to the Gentiles.” After Paul’s statement, in Acts 28:28, “the salvation of God is sent to Gentiles;” God’s order was “to the Gentiles, also to the Jews.” Ephesians 2:17. After Acts 28:25-28, credential signs, signs-gifts and tongues ceased, (1 Corinthians 13:8); for God’s order was no longer “to the Jew first.” Php 2:27. 2 Timothy 4:20. 1 Timothy 5:23 After Acts 28:28 there was one baptism, a Divine baptism not made with hands Colossians 2:12. Ephesians 4:5. After Acts 28:28, Paul wrote his prison epistles and in them mentioned “the mys­tery” twelve times. Read Ephesians 3:9 and obey it. 24. During the years covered by the Book of Acts, God’s order was “to the Jew first”. Believing Jews remained un­der the law, (Acts 10:28, Acts 21:18-25, Acts 20:16) keeping Pentecost twen­ty years after Christ’s resurrection. “The Jews require a sign.” 1 Corinthians 1:22. Water baptism was, that Christ might be manifest to Israel.” John 1:31. During the “Acts” period Paul wrote I and II Thessalonians, I and II Corinth­ians, Galatians and Romans. During that period sign and water baptism continued and sign-gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, During that period Paul be­came as one under the law to those who were under the law, in accordance with 1 Corinthians 9:20-22. Read Acts 16:3; Acts 18:18; Acts 21:18-28; Acts 20:16; Acts 23:5 and Acts 23:6. There was one order for the Jews that believed and another order for the Gentiles which believed, Acts 21:25. (To be Continued) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: S. GLORYING IN THE LORD ======================================================================== GLORYING IN THE LORD By Pastor John C. O’Hair “That no flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness And sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:29-31. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Php 3:3. After carefully and prayerfully reading the verses quoted above, or better still, after spiritually studying them to­gether with their contexts, we shall be taught by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that even the redeemed sinner is forbidden to glory or boast in any of his excellent qualities or claim any special Divine favor because of his sincerity and faithfulness in his religious observances: Salvation, eternal life, is God’s gift—It is free. It is by grace. Christ accom­plished the sinner’s redemption. Likewise the believer is all that he is by the grace of God. Even if the believer is daily giving forth a spiritual testi­mony for the Lord Jesus Christ, by word of mouth, in a con­sistent Christ-like life, controlled by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, he is to glory in the Lord. The Lord is ever to be his glory: “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Galatians 2:20. Some Christians claim a unique experience, something different from the general run of Christians, a baptism, or a sanctification, that has lifted them above ordinary saints and placed them upon a super-spiritual plane. Surely, all believers should commend and praise their fellow-believers who are constantly enjoying the joy of salvation and bringing honour to Christ by a life of righteousness, peace, and victory: daily manifesting that fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 : love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control. But if the experience is genuinely spiritual, and not re­ligiously carnal, if the believer is truly controlled by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit-filled believer will fulfill John 16:14 : “the Spirit of truth shall glorify Me (Christ).” How true that is. But how many “super-spiritual”, “satisfied”, “religious” Christians there are who glory in their piety, their sanctifi­cation or their Holy Spirit baptism, witnessed by visions and ecstasies of the flesh, instead of glorying in the Lord. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” Why? Because Christ Himself is the believer’s righteousness, and holiness, and redemption. Some Christians glory in their ability or success, and are proud of their records as evangelists, or soul-winners, of their Bible-teaching, their money-raising campaigns, the multi­tudes that have heard them, the increase in their attend­ances, their popularity as public speakers, or as Christian leaders, or something else. “He that glorieth, let him glory, in the Lord.” “So, then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:7. “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do.” Luke 17:10. According to Galatians 2:20, the believer is crucified, and dead to the law. According to Galatians 5:23, there is no law against the spiritual believer. According to Galatians 5:24, “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the af­fections and lusts”. The believer who is daily experiencing the result of this crucifixion has the Scriptural right to be filled with satisfaction and, joy, as well as with genuine praise. But he will give all the glory to the Author and Finisher of his faith. According to Galatians 6:14, the believer is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to him. He will not have fellowship with a world that still hates God, spurns His love, despises His grace, and rejects His crucified and glori­fied Son This does not mean that he will withdraw himself as a religious recluse, into a religious prison. The Lord’s prayer, in John 17:9-25, is against this religious practice. But it does mean that a “worldly Christian” is a paradox. The believer is not of the world, although in the world. The Saviour’s prayer is: “Father sanctify them (set them apart—separate them) with Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.” John 17:17. “If any man love the worlds the love of the Fa­ther is not in him.” 1 John 2:15. But a spiritually, separated believer will not glory in his separation. He will glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer, who really knows how to glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, will not only depart from worldly habits; but he will give up all religious practices. No spirit­ual believer will take the offense of the cross away by claim­ing any contribution to his standing, which is all by God’s grace in Christ, because of any religious observance of any kind. “The believer is complete in Christ. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Php 3:3. Let the truth of this verse grip your mind and soul and then read the remaining verses of the chapter. See the utter futility and folly of mixing anything religious with Christ. “Let him that glory, glory in the Lord”. Dear reader, is not Christ sufficient, without religion, without “churchianity”, without ritualism”? Every need is available in Christ, all spiritual blessings are on deposit in Him. He is our all-sufficient Christ. Christ is the believer’s life and hope, his peace, his complete redemption. “Glory in the Lord.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: S. GOD ALMIGHTY - THE I AM ======================================================================== GOD ALMIGHTY - THE I AM “AND WHEN ABRAM WAS NINETY YEARS OLD AND NINE, THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD, WALK BEFORE ME, AND BE THOU PERFECT.” Genesis 17:1. WHEN GOD APPEARED TO MOSES, GOD SAID TO MOSES: “AND I APPEARED UNTO ABRAHAM, UNTO ISAAC, AND UNTO JACOB, BY THE NAME OF GOD ALMIGHTY, BUT BY MY NAME JEHOVAH WAS I NOT KNOWN TO THEM.” Exodus 6:3. “AND GOD SAID UNTO MOSES, I AM THAT I AM: AND HE SAID, THUS SHALT THOU SAY UNTO THE CHIL­DREN OF ISRAEL, I AM HATH SENT ME UNTO YOU:” Exodus 3:14. More than 400 years after God ap­peared to Abraham as “God Almighty,” He appeared to Moses as “JEHOVAH, the I AM.” Now note the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:8 : “I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Note again the words of Christ in John 8:24 and John 8:58-59 : “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” “Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” Most interesting and significant. state­ments. They should be studied with John 10:30-33. In those verses we learn that the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because He said, “I and Father are one.” Jesus Christ, the Man, was accused of making Himself God. He called Himself, the I AM. He said, “if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” Then how are we to be saved from our sins? “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt be­lieve in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. Note also 1 John 5:5 - “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.” Note again the consequences and penalty of denying the Deity of Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that be­lieveth not God hath made Him a liar; because be believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:10-12. There have been many arguments “pro” and “con” as to whether the Jehovah of the Old Testament was the Christ of the Four Gospels. We are sure that Christ was God manifest in the flesh. John 1:14, John 14:9 and John 20:28. THE DEITY OF CHRIST “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.” “HE WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT.” John 1:1 - John 1:10 and John 1:14. “But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” Hebrews 1:8. “And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and My God.” John 20:28. “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:14-17. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Php 2:5-6. “And now, O Father, glorify thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” John 17:5 and John 14:9. “Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Corinthians 2:8. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ John wrote, “that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us!” 1 John 1:2. Then again in 1 John 5:20, “We know that the Son of God is come. This is the true God and eternal life.” JESUS CHRIST - THE I AM I AM the Bread of Life.John 6:35. I AM the Light of the World. John 8:12. I AM the Messiah. John 4:26. I AM the Door. John 10:9. I AM the Good Shepherd. John 10:14. I AM the True Vine. John 15:1. I AM the Resurrection. John 11:25. I AM the Way. John 14:6. I AM the Truth. John 14:6. I AM the Life. John 14:6. “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I AM, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.” John 8:28. “ I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24. The Lord Jesus Christ is the “I AM” more than twenty times in the Gospel of John. Thus we see that the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was God before He became flesh. He was in the form of God and in the bosom of the Father. John 1:18. We also see that the Bible clearly teaches that faith in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential for salvation. Note Christ’s own words in John 5:22-23 : “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honour­eth not the Father which hath sent Him.” Again John 6:47 : “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” Again Romans 6:23 : “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The one and only way to God, salva­tion, heaven and eternal life, is Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain con­versation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; Who verily was fore­ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” 1 Peter 1:18-20. “And without shedding of blood is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22. “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 1:6-7. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” 2 John 1:9. The Lord Jesus Christ is “the Second Man from heaven”; “the Lord of Glory” and “the Prince of Life.” 1 Corinthians 15:47 - 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 and Acts 3:15. GOD AND CHRIST IN SALVATION “And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us 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. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. “For, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso­ever believeth in Him should not perish, but hath everlasting life.” God gave His Son. God spared not His own Son, but offered Him up for us all. John 3:15 - Romans 8:32. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave Himself a ran­som for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 2:4-6. “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suf­fering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9. “`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.” 1 Peter 3:18. Why should any person be ignorant of God’s way to God’s heaven? It is clearly, simply, and dogmatically stated in God’s Book. “Ye which were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13. THE RESURRECTED CHRIST AND SALVATION “Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make in­tercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having ob­tained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12. “Him, being delivered by the deter­minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” Acts 2:23-24. “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepul­chre. But God raised Him from the dead.” Acts 13:29-30. “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 1:19-23. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3. “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.” 1 John 2:1. “Wherefore seeing we also are com­passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him en­dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Hebrews 12:1-3. The same wonderful, supernatural story is woven into every part of the Divine message, from Matthew to Revela­tion: The incarnation of God in Christ for the specific purpose of dying for sinners. The sinless perfect life of the God-man, Christ. His supernatural miracles to prove His eternal Deity, His unity, and equality with God the Father. His once-for-all sacrifice in fulfillment of prophecy and God’s foreordained re­demption for sinners. His triumphant bodily resurrection and ascension into the highest heavens. His work of intercession, forgiveness, keeping, cleans­ing, for saints as He appears in heaven itself, in the presence of God, as the be­liever’s Advocate. Hebrews 9:24. ­The promise that He will come for His redeemed ones and take them in glorified bodies to see and share His glory. God was with Christ on earth. Acts 10:38. God was in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:19. Christ was with God before He became a man. John 1:1-3. Christ was in the form of God. Php 2:6. Christ was God. The Holy Spirit caused Isaiah to write concerning the Virgin’s Son. Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Isaiah 7:14. Christ was Emmanuel. Matthew 1:23. Mary, the Virgin was a Jew. So Em­manuel was Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew. He worshipped as a Jew. Luke 4:16. He said, “We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22. Do not forget those solemn words of the Lord Jesus, “if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: S. GOD AND CHRIST IN SALVATION ======================================================================== GOD AND CHRIST IN SALVATION Note several verses quoted from one of the last Epistles written by the Apostle Paul. “God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not); a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” 1 Timothy 2:4-7. Let us emphasize the fact that God will have all men to be saved. Christ Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and men. Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. “To be testified in due time.” To the Apostle Paul was com­mitted this truth for Gentiles. Note Paul’s testimony in 1 Timothy 1:11; “According to the glorious gos­pel of the blessed God, which was com­mitted to my trust.” Then note one other important fact, stated in this chapter; namely, that Paul was chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 12) to be a pattern for believers. “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” 1 Timothy 1:16. During the years that Christ Jesus was on earth He was Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles, in the midst of Israel. Acts 2:22. Just before the Lord Jesus went to the cross He said “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.” John 12:31-33. Some years after the Lord Jesus died on the cross and went back to heaven, these messages were written to the Lord’s people concerning the once-for-all sacri­fice of the Son of God “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. “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.” Colossians 1:20. “And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”1 John 2:2. This message. of grace was sent out to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews: “For the grace of God that bringeth sal­vation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and re­newing of the Holy Spirit; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7. Note Paul’s testimony written about 65 A.D., more than thirty years after the Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, tasteth death for every man: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world.” Colossians 1:5-6. “The gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Colossians 1:23. Here we learn that the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven. The great majority of those human creatures had rejected the gospel and refused to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved by grace. The religious people, who claimed to love and serve God, were responsible for Paul’s imprisonment. He was in jail at Rome when he wrote to the Colossians. He wrote from that jail to Timothy concerning, “My gospel: where­in I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound.” 2 Timothy 2:9. Note again Paul’s testimony: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13. Note what the risen Christ said to the Apostle Paul - “And He said unto me, Depart; for I will send thee far hence un­to the Gentiles.” Acts 22:21. “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. “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.” Ephesians 3:8. Now by way of contrast note what Jesus of Nazareth said to the twelve apostles while He was in the midst of Israel, in the land of the Jews, and what they agreed to do many years after Christ had gone back to heaven: “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.” Matthew 10:5-6. “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. Therefore even the superficial student of the Bible knows that neither the Lord Jesus nor any of His accredited messen­gers proclaimed while the Lord was on earth - “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. Note the attitude of the twelve apostles about seven years after Christ went back to heaven - “And He said into 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 shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” Acts 10:28 Later on something happened. Note Acts 13:46 - Romans 10:12-13 - ­Romans 11:30 - Romans 11:15 : “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 there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” “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?” Thus we see when “the due time” came for the Gentiles. We see why salvation and reconciliation was sent to them. Be­cause Israel put the Word of God from the .. Because of Israel’s blindness and unbelief, the casting away of Israel brought reconciliation for the Gentiles. Then Paul preached the gospel to every creature under heaven. Note the state­ment in Acts 19:10 - ”And this con­tinued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” We have learned that Jesus Christ of­fered one sacrifice for sins and then sat down in heaven. We have learned that Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasteth death for every man. We have learned that by His once-for-all sacrifice and His once-for-all entering into heaven Christ obtained eternal redemption for us. We have learned that He made peace by the blood of His cross. Now note those who experience this peace. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 Those who are justified by faith. What about those who do not believe? “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36 “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flam­ing fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting de­struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:12. But for believers, this blessed truth: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Thus we see that God, Who will have all men to be saved, has provided salvation by grace, for any child of Adam who will be the recipient of His grace and receive Jesus Christ as his or her Saviour. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23. “Being justified without a cause by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24. “He that believeth on Him is not con­demned; but he that believeth not is con­demned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18. “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 skew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that be­lieve to the saving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:39 Settle the matter of your salvation now, according to the will of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: S. GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION ======================================================================== GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION In 1 Corinthians 14:33 we read this very interesting statement: “GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION.” In this same Epistle, we read in 1 Corinthians 12:25, “that there should be no schism in the Body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” With this statement let us read Ephesians 4:4 : “THERE IS ONE BODY.” And let us also read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13. “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.” Then note the question, in 1 Corinthians 1:13 - “IS CHRIST DIVIDED?” There is one Christ. There is one Body of Christ. That Body is called, “the ful­ness of Christ.” In Ephesians 5:31-32, we learn that Christ and His Body are one flesh. They are called in Ephesians 2:15, “ONE NEW MAN.” Then we read in Ephesians 4:7-14, that every mem­ber of the Body is given grace to help in God’s work, “for the edifying (building up) of the Body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12. All the members of that one Body, who have special gifts, are: “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 4:12-13. “Unto a perfect man”, “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” God will accomplish His pur­pose. The Perfect Man will be a reality. The Body of Christ is the fulness of Christ. This is what God is doing during this age of grace - If you are a labourer together with God, this is what you should be doing. Now it must be apparent to any intel­ligent spiritual Christian that God is not building two or three churches, to say nothing of two or three hundred churches. No; God is interested in com­pleting His own one Building. “In Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In Whom ye also are building together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22. Now remember that God is not the author of confusion. But there is plenty of confusion. God’s desire is that there should be no division in the Body. In God’s purpose and program Christ is not divided. The Body is one. So also is Christ. Just as true as there is one God the Father, God recognizes but one Church in this age; and God does not look with favor and approval upon the sectarian churches of men. There is one Body, even as there is one Christ, the Lord, one Spirit and one baptism. God is building “One New Man”, and not 300 New Men, except as every member of the One Body has put on the new man. God’s will is, that all the members of His one Church should believe and prac­tice the truth of Ephesians 4:1-7; that they should recognize the seven-fold unity mentioned in those verses and keep the unity of the Spirit. We emphasize the fact that all saved people are members of Christ’s one Body, members one of another, all one in Christ Jesus, with Him, “one flesh” and, “One New Man.” Romans 12:4-5 , Galatians 3:27-28. By one Spirit all believers are baptized into One Body. God’s will is, that there should be no division in the Body. The members of Christ’s Body are growing up into Him in all things, which is the Head, Christ. Ephesians 4:15. How many Christians give any heed to Colossians 2:19, “holding the Head, from which all the Body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit. together, increaseth with the increase of God?” Members of Christ’s Body are labour­ers together with God. 1 Corinthians 3:9. Spiritual, intelligent. obedient believers will not create or contribute to confusion by labouring to build up a sectarian church. Sectarianism is confusion. God demands unity. God is not the author of confusion. But confusion exists. There are more than three hundred sec­tarian churches, with different denomina­tional creeds and church programs. Think of the Christians who glory in “our Bap­tist denomination”, “our great Metho­dist church”, “our great Lutheran church.” Most Christians are indifferent as to the pitiable state of affairs. Others see the malady, but they see no remedy. They say, “we are helpless”; “denomina­tions will continue and any endeavor to better the predicament only makes it worse.” What a revolution would take place if Christians would learn and pro­pagate the truth of Ephesians and Colos­sians. Many advocate union meetings and join interdenominational organizations with the understanding that no mention be made of doctrinal differences. But God is not interested in building up a united interdenominational organization. God is more interested in breaking it up. God is building into, and building up, one Building, and that Building is the one Bible Church which is the Body of Christ, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. That Church in Ephesians and Colossians was truly “the Church of the Mystery”, but the mystery has been disclosed and God wants all of His children to see it. Ephesians 3:9. Church officers and sectarian leaders receive members into their church or­ganization; but God never by the Holy Spirit baptized any individual into the Lutheran Church, or the Baptist Church, or the Methodist Church, or the Presby­terian Church, or into any other sectar­ian church. Not one of those churches is mentioned in the Bible. God baptizes be­lievers into the Body of Christ, all in one Body. God wants no division in the Body. In most communities, the Lutherans and the Baptists have very little fellow­ship in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Luth­erans receive their little children by sprinkling into Lutheran Church mem­bership. The Baptists declare such teach­ing and practice to be unscriptural and heretical. They declare that immersion is the only true Bible form of baptism, and the individual must first exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ before be­ing immersed. There are other doctrinal differences. All saved Lutherans and all saved Baptists have been baptized into the death of Christ, into the Body of Christ, have been buried with Christ, raised up with Christ, and all together seated in the heavenlies in Christ. They are members one of another in God’s sight. But they do not endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, in obedience to Ephesians 4:3, principally because they have added a sectarian water ceremony to the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5. Anyone who brings water baptism into the dispensation of the mystery attempts to make God the author of confusion. We might also consider the Church of the Disciples and the Presbyterian Church. They have very decided differ­ences in doctrines. But the principal rea­son why they do not endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit is because they have added their sectarian baptism to the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5. The Disciples teach baptismal regeneration by immersion. The Presbyterians practice sprinkling and teach that a little water on the head now takes the place of cir­cumcision in the flesh. They sprinkle parents and children. They have over­looked the fact that girls were not cir­cumcised. Unity is impossible because one of the conditions of the unity of Ephesians 4:3-6 is one baptism; and that one baptism has nothing whatever to do with any human religious cere­mony. God’s one circumcision today is the Divine circumcision of Colossians 2:11, not made with hands. God’s one baptism is the very same and man has nothing to do with it except to receive it by faith. Every intelligent member of the Body of Christ, who obeys 2 Timothy 2:15, knows that he is living under God’s reign of grace when sinners are saved “by grace through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. From any such student of the Word you will receive a dogmatic, hearty, nega­tive answer to any of these questions: Does a person have to join any or­ganized company of believers to be saved, or to reach heaven? Does a person have to be baptized with water, in any manner, to be saved ? Is water baptism necessary to be­come a member of the one and only true Bible Church during this clay of grace? Is water baptism a Scriptural re­quirement for Christian fellowship? The messenger of grace will say “no” to every one of these questions. And most of them will then join some sectarian or non-sectarian church organization where some form of water baptism is required for membership in the organization, and then refuse to fellowship on the basis of the Divine baptism of Ephesians 4:5. If the “grace” preachers are not to en­deavor to clear up the confusion by tak­ing an uncompromising stand for the truth of Ephesians, who will do anything about it? RECOVERY OF TRUTH During one of the recent Founders’ Week Bible Conferences, in the audi­torium of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, one of the speakers who is a spiritual servant of the Lord and a “grace” preacher, gave a very interest­ing message on “The Recovery of Lost Truth.” He said, “the first blessed truth lost in the first century, was truth con­cerning the Church of the Mystery, the believer’s union and unity in the Joint Body of Ephesians 3:6; the second truth was the blessed hope, the Lord’s return; the third lost truth was justification by faith.” Then he remarked that they are being recovered in inverted order. “Mar­tin Luther,” he said, “recovered justi­fication by faith.” John Darby recov­ered the Blessed Hope and something of Church Truth. “But,” said the speaker, “God is still waiting for the recovery of the Truth of the Mystery, as revealed in Ephesians and Colossians.” In spite of this beloved brother’s knowledge concerning the lost truth, and his apparent convictions, he con­tinues his popular ministry among the Premillenarians with scarcely a mention of the truth that got Paul behind prison doors. It would be interesting to have his answer to the question, “why?” PAUL’S “MY GOSPEL” Paul was chosen by the Lord to be a pattern for believers. Then we referred to his testimony, in Php 3:4-16, that he had given up his religion for Christ. He adds this, in Php 3:17, “Breth­ren, be followers together of me,” “ye have us for an ensample.” Again we read in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” It is utterly impossible for any mem­ber of the Church of Jesus Christ, under the present reign of grace to intelligent­ly interpret, appropriate and apply the Holy Scriptures unless he follows Paul as an ensample and pattern, and is guided by the writings of this man who magnified his office, the apostle to the Gentiles. Romans 11:13. Note the Holy Spirit’s instructions, by the pen of Paul in Romans 16:25-26 : “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to MY gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the command­ment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Members of the Body of Christ are not stablished unless they are stablished ac­cording to “MY” gospel of the Apostle Paul. Glorious profound truths were re­vealed to the Apostle Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ to give to members of His Body, for the specific purpose mentioned in Ephesians 4:14. “That we henceforth be no more chil­dren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” Christians who are babes tossed to and fro are not stablished. The Divine Truth, which Paul designated “MY GOSPEL,” “the revelation of the Mys­tery,” is the message concerning the Son of God that will keep Christians from be­ing “tossed about babies.” Not only does Paul exhort Christians to be “followers together of me,” but he instructs them to be “builders together with me.” “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 (together) there­upon.” 1 Corinthians 3:10. Note the Greek of this word ‘‘build­eth” is “sun-oiko-domeo,” meaning lit­erally “to build a house together.” In the glorious profound truth of Ephesians that will keep the Christian from being a “tossed baby” we learn that God’s pur­pose, during this present reign of grace, is to build a House. In order that this definite and specific work might be ac­complished, the risen Christ gave gifts unto men: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying (House building) 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 4:12-13. Let us emphasize that. God’s will is to “build up the Body of Christ.” Chris­tians are labourers together with God in the “House-building” business. But if they are to build intelligently and well pleasing to God, they must build together with Paul, the wise masterbuilder. Chris­tian laborers are thus instructed in 1 Timothy 3:15 : “how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pil­lar and ground of the truth.” Every member of the Body of Christ should desire to know how to behave in the House of God, which is the Body of Christ. Every member of the Body of Christ should desire to know how to build up that House while they are preaching the grace of God to get sin­ners to believe and go into the House of God once for all. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: S. GOD WILL HAVE ALL TO BE SAVED ======================================================================== GOD WILL HAVE ALL TO BE SAVED By Pastor John C. O’Hair 1 Timothy 2:4 Our God is the Judge of all the earth. Hear His own question: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25. Surely He will. But did He do right when He permitted His holy, obedient, sinless, innocent Son to die for guilty, condemned, sinful men? God is sovereign. He had the perfect right to vindicate His holiness and righteousness and to satisfy His justice by permitting Christ to suffer for sins once, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18. Because God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, because Christ was both God and man, and the sins of men were imputed to Him, God has been reconciled to the world. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Because Christ, the God-man, was obedient un­to death, and then abolished death, God can be just and the justifier of every one who believes in Jesus. Romans 3:24-28. The question is so frequently asked, “if Christ so completely satis­fied God, by taking the sinner’s place in judg­ment, and declared that His death was the judg­ment of the world (John 12:31), and if God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), and if God is not willing that any should perish (1 Peter 3:9), will not all men be saved? “God our Saviour, Who will have all men to be saved.” 1 Timothy 2:4. In what sense does the Bible teach “universal reconciliation?” Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1. Christ gave Himself a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6. The Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, “tasted death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9. In the shadow of the cross the Saviour said, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto ME.” John 12:32. And the risen Christ gave this message to Paul: “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.” When our appeal is to human reasoning, rather than to Divine revelation, we may be led to the conclusion that, as man is not responsible for his predicament under the universal law of sin and death, he is not under obligation to take any step to get himself out of his predicament; for God’s Word declares that death is reigning in and upon all men by Adam’s offence: that by the offence of Adam judgment came upon all unto condemna­tion. Romans 5:17-18. If universal sin, judgment and death came by Adam, why not universal righteousness, salvation and eternal life by Christ, especially since God will have all men to be saved? What saith the Scriptures? “He that believ­eth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Christ said “And ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.” John 5:40. Reconciliation becomes mutual when the sinner, by faith in Christ Jesus, responds to 2 Corinthians 5:20 : “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” There are several Greek words translated “will”. They mean desire, resolve, determine, etc.” Let us remember that “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared toward all men.” That universal salvation or reconciliation provided is not universal salvation accepted and appropriated. The way of salvation is belief of the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13. “But he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16. Let us be faithful ambassadors, get busy and keep busy, beseeching sinners to be reconciled to God. “ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HATH RECON­CILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, AND HATH GIVEN TO US 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. NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSA­DORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD DID BESEECH YOU BY US: WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST’S STEAD, BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD. FOR HE HATH MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN; THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: S. GOD'S STANDARD OF PERFECTION ======================================================================== GOD’S STANDARD OF PERFECTION By Pastor John C. O’Hair Only perfect human beings are fit for the presence of the holy God, and only perfect human beings will come in to the realization of that hope which is laid up in heaven. Hear the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to Is­rael and the instructions of the same Lord, by the pen of the Apostle Paul, to the saved Gentiles “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. “That ye may stand perfect and complete in all of the will of God.” Colossians 4:12. The perfect God will not lower His high and holy standard to the level of even the very best that the most respect­able, moral, upright, charitable and benevolent man can do. By nature man is in a pitiful spiritual predicament. He is born with a disease that knows no human cure. This dis­ease is universal, according to God’s pronouncement: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “there is none righteous: no not one.” God has a supernatural remedy for this disease and unless His remedy is appropriated and applied, every case will prove fatal, resulting in a death that is far worse than physical death. All who miss heaven will not miss the second death. Most men and women are so absorbed in the temporal things that are seen that they spend but little time in serious meditation and consideration of their spiritual responsibility to the true and living God. God is the judge of all the earth and He solemnly declares that every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. He also declares in clear, unmis­takable language that no unrighteous man shall enter the kingdom of God. Here then we see our great problem: we are all unright­eous and no unrighteous man shall enter the kingdom of God. God is the great Physician. He has thoroughly diagnosed our case and given us a clear record of that diagnosis. But he has done much more. He has prescribed an absolute cure and, at the greatest possible cost to Himself, He has provided that remedy. So far as the charges are concerned, He has put the price within the reach of the poorest of the poor. Yes, with no human scheme, philosophy or remedy avail­able, the Almighty God has proved that He is the God of all grace and He has revealed to sinful humanity His own Di­vine way of making an imperfect man perfect. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12. There are many self-righteous, conceited, deceived human beings who are willing to be religious and even tell God that they are religious and quite decent: somewhat different from the average run of sinners. They present their self-right­eousness to God as a substitute for His plan: “being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God which is by faith.” God has given His well beloved Son to pay the penalty for sin. The wages of sin is death. In the shadow of the cross the Son of God said: “now is the judgment of this world”. John 12:31. By His death, propitiation for the sins of the whole world was provided. “Whosoever will,” is God’s most gracious invitation. It was by the grace of God that Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God, in His Book, declares that He can be just and the justifier of every one who believes in Christ. While true jus­tice knows no mercy, God can be both just and, merciful; because Christ the Just died for the unjust that He might bring us to God. Read it in God’s Book, and believe it with all your heart. It is good news. Romans 3:24-28. 1 Peter 3:18. Now we are beginning to see how we can be perfect. Per­fection must be the work of God and not of man. Man’s work was the law. Under that perfect work man was an absolute failure. “The law made nothing perfect; but the bringing in of a better hope did.” Hebrews 7:16. The “better hope” did. Did what? Made something per­fect. Then surely we shall not be satisfied until we find that better hope. Think of such a better hope that can make an imperfect sinner perfect. Here’s the better hope “By the which will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once-for-all; and by one offering He hath PERFECTED forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:10 and Hebrews 10:14. Blessed good news! “He hath perfected forever.” “By the one offering!” Surely the Father was more than well pleased with that one offering of His Son on the cross. When we go by faith to that cross we find, everything we need to take away our guilt and to fix us up for God’s presence and bless­ing. “Perfected forever?” “Too good to believe”, you say? But it is no good unless you do believe. Then God declares that He wants every man to be taught in all wisdom: “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 1:28. Then God wants every man to present himself, his body, as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God and to be transformed by the renewing of his mind that he may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Colossians 1:28, Romans 12:1-3. Then, by the pen of James, God adds: “By works was faith made perfect.” James 2:22. And the noblest of all saints, the most obedient and faith­ful of all Christians said: “Not as though I had already at­tained, either were already perfect.” Php 3:12. But before we are disturbed or discouraged by this state­ment we should read Php 3:15, and all of the context: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” Certainly there seems here to be a contradiction, for in one verse the great apostle seems to be striving for perfection, while in the other verse he already had perfection. Surely Paul was neither dissatisfied with his standing in Christ nor labouring for sinless perfection. When we carefully and prayerfully study God’s Word, we see that there is a great difference between the believer’s perfect standing in Christ and the believer’s state of sinless perfection. In Christ the believer is without condemnation before God. In Christ he is made accepted. In Christ he is complete. No one can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect. No one or no thing can separate the believer from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The babe in Christ, like the most matured spiritual saint, has a perfect standing be­fore God. It is because he is in Christ. The justified sinner stands in the presence of God as though he had never com­mitted a sin. By one offering forever perfected. It is all of grace and all by grace. Then, as to the believer’s state: his behaviour, his walk, his conduct, his service. Does he ever reach the state of sin­less perfection? The believer is a new creature in Christ Jesus. His old man has been crucified; and he has received a new nature, a Divine nature. The new man is created in true holiness and righteousness after the image of Him who created him. Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24, Romans 6:6. Here are three very interesting questions in Romans 6:1-23 “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” “Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?” “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” The answer to the first question is, “certainly not.” The answer to the third question requires much searching of the Scriptures. When we have done our best we are only unprofitable servants and we never reach the spiritual state when we do not want to confess, “Lord we have done the things that we should not have done and we have left undone the things that we should have done.” We can fall short of perfection by leaving things undone just the same as we can by doing what we should not have done. The believer is told how to walk, how to run the race, how to look, how to pray, how to yield, how to submit, how to re­sist, how to study the Word, how to be sober and vigilant, how to put on the whole armour of God, how to confess, how to serve, how to worship, how to witness, how to grow, how to obey, how to love, how to endure, how to suffer and how to rejoice. We are reminded that Christ, the captain of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering. Hebrews 2:10. And by the pen of Peter we have these words: “The God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10. And we are assured that the God of peace, Who raised Christ from the dead, can make us perfect in every good work. Hebrews 13:20-21. The mighty power of God that raised Christ from the dead is to usward. Ephesians 1:18-22. God is able to make all grace abound toward us for every good work. 2 Corinthians 8:9. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20. “My God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, Php 4:19. The true child of God knows that he has from God no license to sin; but he also knows that he does miss God’s high and holy mark; and he is always conscious of imperfections No believer ever reaches a state of sinless perfection on this earth, but he is presented in God’s Book with no lower standard to adopt. His heart’s desire is to measure up to the highest spiritual standard that is possible by the grace of God, knowing that perfect love casteth out all fear. PERFECTION IN DOCTRINE Then the Bible speaks several times of perfect doctrine, and, surely, every Christian should be established in this perfection, as far as it is possible in this dispensation. The Bible declares that “strong meat” belongeth to them that are of “full age”. Hebrews 5:14. “Full age” is the same Greek word translated “perfect”. “Strong meat belongeth to then that are perfect”; and the very next verse, Hebrews 6:1, says “let us go on to perfection”. Not perfection in conduct, but on with the revelation of truth, from the first principles given to Israel to the highest truth given from the risen Christ to the Apostle Paul. Let us not forget that Christ chose Paul to bring to completion the Word of God with the Mystery. Colossians 1:24-27. Certainly on from the word spoken to Israel to the revelation of the Mystery, through Paul, is progressive revelation: “On to perfection”. This should convince any Christian of the folly of the slogan of the Modernist: “Back to Jesus”, or, “give me the program of Jesus”, or, the folly of red-lettering the words that Jesus spoke to Israel. Not “back to Jesus”; but “on with the risen Christ’s revelations to the Body of Christ.” All Scripture was given on the installment plan. There is progressive revelation from Genesis 1:1-31 to Revelation 22:1-21. Then and there it ceases. Neither would we have such counterfeit Christian movements as the Pentecostalists, if we go on to perfection with Christ and Paul instead of “back to Pentecost”, with Peter and the Eleven. These Twelve were ministers of the circumcision with the gospel of the circumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. Moreover, we must carry this progressive revelation and perfection of doctrine beyond the thirty years covered by the Book of Acts; for in 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, written a few years before Acts closed, we are specifically instructed in this very thing. Certain things, which are spoken of as childhood, or “that which is in part”, had their rightful place in the Church program before “Acts” closed, before Israel was set aside (Acts 28:25-28). But they were to be done away as the Church moved on to perfection. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith unto a perfect man”. “No more children, tossed to and fro”. Ephesians 4:13-14. “When I became a man I put away childish things”. 1 Corinthians 13:11. “When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 1 Corinthians 13:10. The word “perfect”, translated “teileios”, from “teleo”, to accomplish, to end, to complete, to finish, to fill up. “Tello”­to set out for a certain goal. “Teleo” is the word Christ cried out on the cross, “finished”. “Pleroo” is also translated “complete”, “end”, “fulfill”, to “perfect”. This is the word used in Colossians 1:25, wherein Paul writes that Christ chose him to finish the Word of God. And, as Christ on the cross cried “Teleo”, after He said, “I must finish the work”, “I have finished the work”, so Paul said, “I must finish my course with joy.” Acts 20:24, and finally, “I have finished (teleo) my course.” 2 Timothy 4:7. For your eternal redemption rest in simple trust in the finished work of Christ. Then by the grace of God give Him your very best. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: S. GOD-S WORKMANSHIP-GOD'S WORKMEN ======================================================================== GOD’S WORKMANSHIP—GOD’S WORKMEN By Pastor John C. O’Hair “WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.” Ephesians 2:10. “STUDY TO SHEW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.” 2 Timothy 2:15. Before any man can walk in the good works which God hath before ordained, before he can be a workman for God, he must be the workmanship of God. He must first be worked upon by God before his work will be acceptable to God. No man can work himself into God’s favor or by any labour assist in his own creation in Christ Jesus. God is the Creator. God, the Divine Workman, does the work of cre­ating. The believing sinner is the recipient of God’s grace, and is made acceptable in Christ, the Beloved. It is God, the Father “Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have re­demption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins”. Colossians 1:12-14. It is all the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. Not of works; but unto good works. All believers are to learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. The Apostle Paul was directed to write much more about the believer’s spiritual walk and good works than about the sinner’s salvation without works; but he was never directed by the Lord to confuse the futile good works of an unbeliever with the fruitful good works of a believer. In setting forth the gospel of salvation for the sinner, the Apostle Paul was directed to write that a man is declared righteous by faith “without the deeds of the law”, “without works”, even “without a cause” (freely). Romans 3:24. Boasting is excluded; not by the law of works, but by the law of faith.” Romans 3:27. If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creation, he is God’s workmanship. The works of Christ were not only good works, but absolutely perfect works. Christ came to put away sin and He accomplished His task. Hebrews 9:26. Christ abolished death. Christ provided a perfect righteousness for the unrighteous. Christ suffered for sins once, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. The sin­ner’s first good work is to acknowledge himself the ungodly sinner for whom Christ died and accept the perfect redemp­tion work of Christ, His death and resurrection. Having taken this step of faith, the redeemed sinner is ready for good works. But he must look to God for God’s program of good works. God hath before ordained that he should walk in them. As it is possible for unbelievers to think they are saved when they are not, it is possible for believers to think that they are walking in the good works, ordained by God, when they are not. Be assured that no amount of sincerity and zeal will take the place of spiritual knowledge in the matter of walking in God’s program. Zeal without knowledge means ignorant disobedience. As members of the Body of Christ we may be walking in a path marked out in Scripture, we may be working relig­iously at some God-given task mentioned in the Bible, we may be enthusiastically and faithfully carrying out some specific program plainly described in the Word of God, and still not walk in the good works that God hath foreordained us. Such a workman of God is one who needs to be ashamed. God wants a believer to be enthusiastic, zealous, sincere and faithful in constantly maintaining good works; but unless that believer studies the Word of God and rightly divides the Word of God, he may be wasting his time in dead works instead of in good works. There are many zealous, religious people much occupied with a program given to a different group of God’s people in a different dispensation, earnestly trying to carry out orders from God which were never in­tended for members of the Body of Christ. Here are some good definite, specific instructions to follow, that will keep us busy walking in the good works that God hath before or­dained: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Timothy, Romans 12:1-21, Romans 13:1-14, Romans 14:1-23, Romans 15:1-33, Romans 16:1-27, Galatians 3:1-29; Galatians 4:1-31; Galatians 5:1-26; Galatians 6:1-18, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and Titus. When we have learned our path from these chapters, there are many others. But reading these and understanding them first, it will help us to intelli­gently and spiritually appropriate and apply the others. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: S. GOD’S ECONOMY DURING THIS AGE ======================================================================== GOD’S ECONOMY DURING THIS AGE THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE In recent years Bible teachers have talked much of “dispensationalism”, “studying the Bible dispensationally.” All Bible teachers, who are attempting to teach the Bible dispensationally, are sure that they are instructed to employ their method of teaching in 2 Timothy 2:15, “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” In this verse, “rightly dividing” is translated from the Greek “ortho­tomeo”, which means, “to cut right,” “to properly dissect.” The word “dispensational” is used for the want of a better word. Before we consider the Greek word translated “dis­pensation” several times in the Bible, let us read concerning. THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE, according to the will of God and our Father.” Galatians 1:3-4. Believers are delivered from “this present evil age” by the redemp­tive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, ac­cording to the will of God. In 2 Timothy 4:10 we read, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this pres­ent age.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4, we read that Satan is, “the god of this age.” Then note 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9. The mystery of lawlessness is working and the culmination of this evil age will be the reign of the lawless one, the man of sin, the servant of the god of this age. GRACE MORE ABOUNDING In this present evil age, with the mys­tery of lawlessness at work, sin is abounding. “But where sin abounded grace did much more over-abound.” Romans 5:20. God’s over-abounding grace is sufficient for the salvation of the vilest sinner on the earth. Certainly then if this age is called “this present evil age”, because of abounding sin and the power of the god of this age, it should also be called “the age of grace”, because of the grace more abounding than the abounding sin. We do know that after God has finished His purpose in this age, the “kingdom age” will follow. Then there will be other ages after the coming “kingdom age.” “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:7. Then note Colossians 1:26 : “Even the mystery which hath been HID FROM AGES and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints.” Here we learn that the risen Christ re­vealed Divine truth which God did not make known to the sons of men in other ages. “Which IN OTHER AGES was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gen­tiles should be fellowheirs (joint-heirs) and of the same Body (Joint-Body), and partakers (joint-sharers) of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Ephesians 3:5-6. Noah’s ancestors lived before the flood. We have the right to speak of that period (1656 years) as “the antediluvian age.” “Whereby the world that then was, be­ing overflowed with water, perished.” 2 Peter 3:6. We have the Scriptural right to speak of “the dispensation of the law”. “the economy of law”, “the reign of law”, from the day that Moses was on Mount Sinai, about 1500 B.C. until after the death and resurrection of Christ. But we might not speak scripturally correct, if we speak of “the law age.” However, there was a definite period of time when God governed His people, according to the law, under the reign of law. It is not difficult to mark when the “law dispensation” began in Exodus 20:1-26, but it is not any simple matter to mark when in the “Acts” period the reign of law ceased. Acts 10:28. In Matthew 12:32 the Lord Jesus, on earth, spoke of the age in which He lived under the law as, “this age”. Although we say that we are living in 1941 A.D., or 1941 years after the Lord Jesus was born, this present “age of grace” did not begin with the birth of Christ. It began after the resurrection of Christ, after the call of the Apostle Paul. THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE “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.” Ephesians 3:1-3. The Lord Jesus Christ committed unto Paul “the dispensation of the grace of God.” Note Paul’s testimony, in 1 Corinthians 9:17. “For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, A DISPENSATION” is committed unto me.” Note again Paul’s testimony, in Colossians 1:25-26. “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.” The Greek word translated, “dispensa­tion” is “oikonomia”. This literally means “house-law”. This word is trans­lated “stewardship”, in Luke 16:2-4. In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, we are told that ministers of Christ are “stewards” of the mysteries of God,. and that they should be faithful stewards. The word stewards is, “oikonomos” This word, in Galatians 4:2, is translated, “governors”. Our English for “oikonomia” is “econ­omy”. To Paul was committed a Divine “econ­omy.” Then note Ephesians 1:10 and Ephesians 3:9 : “THAT IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES HE MIGHT GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE ALL THINGS IN CHRIST, BOTH WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, AND WHICH ARE ON EARTH; EVEN IN HIM.” “AND TO MAKE ALL MEN SEE WHAT IS THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYS­TERY, WHICH FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD HATH BEEN HID IN GOD, WHO CREATED ALL THINGS BY JESUS CHRIST.” A DISPENSATION NOT NECESSARILY AN AGE We see that a dispensation is not nec­essarily an age. As we might correctly speak of “the law period,” “the dispen­sation of law,” and mean by either ex­pression, the reign of law for more than 1500 years, we might use either the ex­pression, “this age of grace” or “the present dispensation of grace.” But in 1 Corinthians 9:17, when Paul said, “a dispensation is committed unto me”, he was not saying, “an age is committed unto me.” The dispensation, of Colossians 1:24-26, committed unto Paul, the faithful steward, was a specific task, “to com­plete the Word of God with the Mystery.” God wants all Christians to see “the dispensation of the mystery”; but when the Father of glory has made the truth known to His child, it is no longer a mystery, or a secret, so far as that particular child is concerned. “Having made known the mystery of His will.” Ephesians 1:9. What the Lord really wants the Chris­tian to know is, when and to whom, and by whom, that secret was revealed, what is its breadth, and length, and depth, and height, what is God’s spiritual program for His children who are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. How can the members of Christ’s Body walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called (Ephesians 4:1-2), if they know not what their vocation is? “To the intent that now unto the princi­palities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wis­dom of God.” Ephesians 3:10. Think this over seriously and prayer­fully. DISPENSATIONAL BIBLE STUDY Dispensational Bible students perhaps become confused at times and fail to clarify their teaching concerning “ages” and “dispensations”. God may have more than one dispensation for one age. All Christians who have gone very far in obedience to 2 Timothy 2:15, “rightly dividing the Word of truth”, have learned that in the ministry of the twelve apostles, from the day Jesus of Nazareth called them (Matthew 10:5-8 and Matthew 10:23) until the day the same Jesus of Nazareth met Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-15), and for some time thereafter, God was carrying on a two-fold program. He was not bap­tizing believing Jews and Gentiles into the same Body, according to Ephesians 3:6 and 1 Corinthians 12:13. God was very definitely presenting the Messianic kingdom to Israel and her rulers, while He was offering salvation to individual Israelites. But remember Matthew 10:5, Matthew 15:24 and Acts 10:28, that dur­ing those years the Lord’s ministry was not to Gentiles. We rightly divide the Word of truth, when we speak of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ as “the days of the Son of man.” In preaching to Israel and to Cor­nelius note the Lord’s message. “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. “How God anointed JESUS OF NAZARETH with the Holy Spirit and with power; Who went about doing good. and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both IN THE LAND OF THE JEWS, and IN JERUSALEM; Whom they slew and hanged on a tree.” Acts 10:38-39. It was concerning “JESUS OF NAZ­ARETH.” Note Paul’s “henceforth” in 2 Corinthians 5:16. “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.” “The days of the Son of man” are coming again. “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also “IN THE DAYS OF THE SON OF MAN.” Luke 17:26. Unto Peter was given the commission of Matthew 10:5, the so-called “great commission” of Matthew 28:19-20, “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” of Matthew 16:16-19, “the gospel of the circumcision” of Galatians 2:7. And for some reason he even addressed his Epis­tle to “the dispersed Israelites.” 1 Peter 1:1-3. But read concerning the Lord’s com­missions, revelations and messages given to Paul: CHRIST AND PAUL “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.” Acts 13:2. “Will send thee far hence to the Gen­tiles.” Acts 22:21. “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. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24. “But I certify you, brethren, that the gos­pel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12. “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. “Now to Him that is of power to estab­lish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” Romans 16:25. “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.” 2 Timothy 1:9. “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gen­tiles.” 2 Timothy 1:11. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.” Colossians 2:16. “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.” Ephesians 3:8. “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:19-20. “Whereof I am made a minister, accord­ing to the dispensation of God which is given td 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.” Colossians 1:25-26. “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.” Ephesians 3:2. God instructs His children to test things that differ. Php 1:10. Even the superficial student of the Scrip­tures claims to know the difference be­tween the Old Testament and the New Testament; but even the great majority of these teach that the Old Testament began with Adam instead of with Moses, and that the New Testament began with the birth of Jesus Christ instead of after His death and resurrection. All “grace” preachers contend earnestly for the dif­ference between “the dispensation of law” and “the dispensation of grace”, and they even attempt to show the dif­ference between “the kingdom age” and the dispensation of the grace of God. Most of them have followed the faulty dispensationalism of the Plymouth Brethren, the Scofield Bible, and the out­standing Bible Schools of America by ignoring Paul’s positive statements, in Ephesians 3:1-9, and erroneously teaching that God inaugurated “the dis­pensation of the mystery” on the day of Pentecost, and began on that Jewish feast day to baptize members into the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6, “the Church of the Mystery”. PENTECOST AND THE DISPENSA­TION OF GRACE Of course they do not know what to do with the Pentecostal message of Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16, baptism as a wash­ing and for the remission of sins. They do not sell their houses and lots, put their money in the common treasury, as all of the disciples did during that Pentecostal period. Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:34. Se­cretly, of, course, many of them are troubled about the signs, of Mark 16:16-18, because they know they are twist­ing and corrupting the Scriptures when they change the order and preach “he that believeth and is saved shall be bap­tized”, and “forget the signs”. They do not know what to do with those peo­ple in Samaria who received water bap­tism several days before they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:5-15. They do not know what has become of the sign­gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, but they get such a blessing putting people under the water they just forget them. They know they have no visitations from angels, no miraculous jail deliverances by angels or earthquakes, no blessed hand­kerchiefs, or aprons, but they have set­tled down complacently to these incon­sistencies, and they are banded together with a grim determination that no fel­low-saint shall proclaim Divine truth that will deliver the Church from such confusion. They boycott, persecute, and dis­fellowship. They cry “Bullingerism” “hyperdispensationalism”, “ultradispen­sationalism”. In the meantime, the Pentecostalists are capitalizing on the faulty dispensa­tionalism of the “grace” preachers, and they are possessing much land. The “grace” preachers, who begin this pres­ent economy on the day of Pentecost, have no Scriptural answer to the Pente­costalists and other healing fanatics. One leader among the Fundamentalists has been very bitter against Pauline truth. He slams and slanders any breth­ren who have tried to straighten out the saints that he has led into confusion by mixing Peter’s kingdom circumcision message with the Pauline gospel and truth concerning the Church of the Mys­tery. This man of God was formerly pas­tor of a large denominational church. He chuckled with delight when he led sev­eral hundred of those members out of that denominational organization. He had the right to be delighted when he led them from “under the law”. But he led them from “under the law” to “under the water”. He got them partly into the dis­pensation of grace. But how he did scold, and fuss, and fume, and fight when an­other servant of the Lord led them from “under the water” into the full sunlight of God’s grace. Then he joined in the cry against the rebels, “mark them that cause division”, “Bullingerites”, “hyperdispensational­ism”. And so goes the battle. Thank God for the victories thus far. Many saints are now obeying Ephesians 3:9 who knew nothing of it a few years or a few months ago. What are you doing about it? “AND TO MAKE ALL MEN SEE WHAT IS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE MYSTERY, WHICH FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD HATH BEEN HID IN GOO, WHO CREATED ALL THINGS BY JESUS CHRIST.” Ephesians 3:9. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: S. GOD RESTED, THE SERPENT BEGUILED, MAN SINNED ======================================================================== GOD RESTED—THE SERPENT BEGUILED—MAN SINNED Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it He had rest­ed from all His work which God created and made.” “And He RESTED on the SEVENTH day.” “And God bless­ed the SEVENTH day and sanctified it.” God rested. The Hebrew word translated “rested” is “shabath.” From this word comes the other Hebrew word “shabbath” translated “sabbath.” There are several Hebrew words translated “rest”; but the word in Genesis 2:2 is “shabbath”. God “sab­bathed” on the seventh day. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. In the Bible the words “seven” and “seventh” occur 549 times. When God had finished His six days of work He saw every­thing He had created was very good. He finished His creative work. It was perfect. So He rested in a finished, perfect work. But God’s rest was soon broken. Something happened to His perfect work. We read in Romans 5:12 that sin entered into the world. Sin and rest do not go together. We might speak of man as the climax of God’s perfect creation. THE FIRST DAY—Light—Day and Night. (Genesis 1:4-5) THE SECOND DAY—The Firmament—Dividing the Waters—­Heaven. (Genesis 1:7-8) THE THIRD DAY—The Land—Earth—Grass—Herbs—Plants—and Trees. (Genesis 1:9-13) THE FOURTH DAY—Lights in the Firmament for signs—Seasons—Days—Years—Two Great Lights and The Stars. (Genesis 1:14-18) THE FIFTH DAY—The Fish and Creatures of the Sea and the Winged Fowls of the Air. (Genesis 1:20-23) THE SIXTH DAY—The Cattle—Creeping things Beasts of the Earth—Adam. (Genesis 1:24-25 and Genesis 1:27) THE SEVENTH DAY—God Rested on the Seventh Day. (Genesis 2:3) In Genesis 1:12 and Genesis 1:21 and Genesis 1:24-25, we learn that in the vegetable kingdom and in the animal kingdom God’s law is “after its kind.” Plants cannot be changed to fish, fowl or beast. Fish, fowl and beast each propagate and reproduce “after its kind.” Man was originally created in the image and likeness of the eternal, living, personal Creator. Man did not evolve from some lower order of life. Every theory of evolution has been disproved. At the present time there is not one scientific proof of any evolutionary hypothesis that is being taught in our schools. Improve­ment of the species is not an evolutionary change of species. Methods of planting corn may change, but the seed corn is the only seed that will bring forth corn. Carefully note God’s warnings: 1 Timothy 6:20 “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” THE SECOND MAN BEFORE THE FIRST MAN In our first two lessons we learned from the Bible that Adam was the first man and that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Second Man, the last Adam, the Lord from heaven. And we learned that all things were made by the One called “the Second Man from heaven.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ created the first man Adam. At the time of Adam’s creation Christ was in the form of God. “CHRIST JESUS WHO BEING IN THE FORM OF GOD.” Php 2:6 The first two men born into the world were Cain and Abel. About them we shall study in another lesson. Of course, Cain was the first man born of woman. Adam was not born of woman. He had no mother. Adam was created by “Elohim” (God). Eve was created by God; but she came out of Adam. More than 4000 years after Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the Holy Spirit wrote these words THE WOMAN FROM THE MAN 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 “For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman: but the woman for the man.” 1 Timothy 2:12-14 “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Ephesians 5:23 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the body.” ADAM AND EVE CREATED We turn to the very first two chapters of the Bible for the Divine record of the Creation of Adam and Eve. Genesis 1:26-31 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him: male and female created He them. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruit­ful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every­thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 2:7-8 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Genesis 2:18-25 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof: And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast Of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Thus we learn that the first man was created in the image and likeness of God. Adam was created on the sixth creation day. Then note what followed: Genesis 2:2-3 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” HOW SIN ENTERED THE WORLD THE CURSE PRONOUNCED—THE CURE PROMISED The Third Chapter of Genesis 1:1-31. “Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the ser­pent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, know­ing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves to­gether, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The ser­pent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” We have here recorded the beginning of sin and death on earth. In our, next lesson we shall study the beginning of sin in heaven. Romans 5:12-14 “Whereby as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him That was to come.” Romans 3:22-23 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 5:18-21 “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to con­demnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One many shall be made righteousness. Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:21-23 “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive . . . They that are Christ’s at His coming.” Eve preferred Satan’s lie to God’s truth. Millions are today rejecting God’s truth and believing Satan’s lie. God has warned men in this matter: 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of un­righteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” It is strange how men believe that they can get into God’s heaven with many sins when God banished Adam and Eve from an earthly paradise because of one act of disobedience. Let us read: Romans 8:19-24 “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not will­ingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 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. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” Here we learn that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” And we read in 1 John 5:19, “the whole world lieth in the evil one.” The translation is “lieth in the lap of the devil.” But note the good news of: Romans 16:20 “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” When God pronounced His judgment upon Adam and Eve, He promised (in Genesis 3:14-15) the Redeemer, the Seed of the woman. Then God sacrificed His creatures and provided a cover­ing for the nakedness of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had tried to cover their nakedness with aprons made of fig leaves. It is interesting to study the symbolic garments of the Bible. Isaiah 64:6. Isaiah 61:10. Exodus 28:2. Genesis 37:3. Luke 15:22. Luke 23:11. Matthew 22:12. Revelation 19:8 and Revelation 19:13. Now note: 1 John 2:16-17 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” We learn in Genesis 3:6, that Satan made the three-fold appeal to Eve: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. The first question of the Bible was asked by Satan and the second one by God. Satan asked, “hath God said?” Genesis 3:1. God asked, “Adam, where art thou?” Genesis 3:9. Satan is still causing men to question, doubt and reject the sayings of God, in the Bible. God is still saying to the children of Adam, “Where art thou?” The first question of Matthew is, “Where is He That is born King of the Jews?” Where is Jesus Christ? This question was asked of a little Christian girl by an infidel man, “Where is this Christ you love?” He is in the Bible. He is at God’s right hand in heaven. He is in my heart, the Hope of Glory. Colossians 1:27. BY ADAM—BY CHRIST There are about one billion, seven hundred and fifty million (1,750,000,000) people in the world. It is estimated that more than 20 billion people have been born of woman since Adam was created. Adam was not born, but concerning all others, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, the story of every human being, up to the present time, (excluding the living 1,750,000,000) can be briefly told “he was born”, “he lived”, “he died”, “he was buried”. This is not all of the story, for God has an answer to the question of: Job 14:10 “But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Together with this question, let us study: Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give an amount of himself to God.” And: John 5:28-29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” RUIN BY ADAM—REDEMPTION BY CHRIST The twenty billion people who have been born into this world have all been descendants of Adam. The twenty billion have followed the first man Adam into sin. Galatians 3:22 “But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Note these words of the Second Man, the Lord Jesus Christ: John 8:24 “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” And then carefully note: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” In Adam all die. In Adam all men are dead in trespasses and sins. From ruin to redemption means out of Adam and in Christ. By one man judgment and condemnation came upon all men. By one man, (Adam) came sin and death. This universal law of sin and death still prevails. The hope of Adam’s children is to become God’s children by a new creation in Christ Jesus. IN ADAM—IN THE FLESH John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Romans 8:8 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunken­ness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the king­dom of God.” Mark 7:20-23 “And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolish­ness, All these evil things come from within and defile the man.” REDEMPTION IN CHRIST Romans 5:20-21 “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sinners now live under God’s reign of grace. Hebrews 2:9 “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” 1 Peter 2:24 “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.” 2 Timothy 1:9-10 “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 is now 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.” Titus 2:11-14 “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 the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” We learn then that Jesus Christ became flesh to taste death and put away sin, to abolish death. Now note: Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” About 4000 years after Christ (Elohim) created Adam, the first man; Christ the Second Man, was born of Mary, the Seed of the woman. Eve descended from the first man, Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:21-23 “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Note the first statement in Romans 5:20 : “The law entered that the offence might abound.” When did the law enter? About 1497 B. C., or about 2500 years after Adam brought sin and death into the world. John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Romans 5:14. From Adam to Moses means, from the day Adam left Eden until the day that Moses, at the age of eighty years, was on Mount Sinai, receiving the ten commandments and God’s law to govern Israel. Note Romans 3:19-20 and then the good news of Acts 13:38-39 : Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Acts 13:38-39 “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” By Adam the entrance of sin. By Moses the knowledge of sin. By Jesus Christ the forgiveness of sin. QUESTIONS—LESSON THREE Who was the first man born of woman? On what day was Adam created? Which were created first, plants or animals? What are the first recorded words of God in His creative work? How was Adam’s body formed and from what was Eve formed? What did Adam say concerning Eve because of the manner in which she was created? How many creative days were there and on what day did God rest? In what form was the Second Man when He created the first man? What lie did Satan speak to Eve? According to Romans 8:22 and 1 John 5:19, what happened to creation because of Adam’s sin? How many human creatures hath God declared to be under sin? What came as the result of sin? Is the law of sin and death universal? According to Genesis 3:14-15, who was to come as the Seed of the woman and what would He do with Satan? What judgment did God pronounce upon the ground? Upon man? Upon woman? Upon the serpent? What great sacrifice was typified by the coats of skins which God provided for Adam and Eve? In what three-fold manner did the serpent appeal to Eve? In 1 John 2:16-17, what does God say about the world and its lusts? About those that do the will of God? What came by the first man and by the Second Man? In John 8:24, what did Christ say would happen to the one who believed not in His Deity? What happens to the man in Christ Jesus according to 2 Corinthians 5:17? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: S. HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT SINCE YE BELIEVED? ======================================================================== HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT SINCE YE BELIEVED? By Pastor John C. O’Hair God has ordered that members of the Body of Christ, “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.” Ephesians 4:3. “There is one Spirit.” Ephesians 4:4. Every sinner saved by grace is a member of the Body of Christ. “In Whom ye also are builded together for an habita­tion of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22. The justified sinner becomes a member of the true Bible Church the very moment he believes on the Lord Jesus for justification, without any formality or reception by church officials. Ev­ery believer, from the moment of his salvation, is in the Spirit and the Spirit is in him. “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?” 1 Corinthians 6:19. “If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25. Now for a little study of two Scripture expressions in the matter of the believer and the Holy Spirit. Acts 19:2 : “And he (Paul) said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Spirit SINCE YE BELIEVED? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 1:13 : “In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also AFTER THAT YE BELIEVED, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” The two expressions: “SINCE YE BELIEVED”. Acts 19:2; “AFTER THAT YE BELIEVED”. Ephesians 1:13. It is most interesting to know that both expressions are translated from one same Greek word. The word is “pisteusantes”. “Pisteusantes” is the participle of the Greek verb, “believe.” “Pisteusantes” should be translated “believing” or “on believing”, or “having believed”. The thought sug­gests, the very moment ye believed or “when ye believed.” Paul did not say, in Acts 19:2, “Since ye believed”. The King-James translation said that. Paul did not write, in Ephesians 3:1, “after that ye believed”. The King James translation thus mistranslates it. These two mistranslations have supported certain relig­ious people in their unscriptural teaching that receiving the Holy Spirit is a Divine work subsequent to, and separate from, believing the Gospel for salvation. Paul asked in Acts 19:2, “believing received ye the Holy Spirit?” The answer “No”. They did not hear the Grace of God Gospel. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:13, “believing (the gospel of your sal­vation) ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit.” They believed the Gospel of Grace. “By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves: not of works—the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. No sinner saved by the Grace of God tarries for a single moment for the Holy Spirit. We quote Galatians 3:14; “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” And Galatians 3:2-3 : “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” The Holy Spirit has been sent down from heaven. 1 Peter 1:12. The Holy Spirit is given to believers. Romans 5:5. As eternal life is the free gift of God, so also is the Holy Spirit the free gift of God. No believer has eternal life un­less he has the Holy Spirit. All Bible Christians have the Holy Spirit. “Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. Note that the Greek word “Christ” is “Christos”. The Greek word “anoint” is “Chrio”. A Christian is a “Christ’s-one”—an anointed one. No one is a Christian unless the Holy Spirit is in him. In the true Scriptural meaning no Christian can receive a fresh anointing. This would mean to begin to be a Christian again. “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.” 1 John 2:27. No member of the Body of Christ prays “take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” Psalms 51:11. Even though a Christian may grieve the Holy Spirit he is sealed by the Holy Spirit un­to the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30. But some one asks: “how about John 14:17?” John 14:17 : “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; for He dwelleth WITH you, and shall be IN you.” At the time the Lord spake these words to His apostles, “the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified”. (John 7:39), They had the Holy Spirit with them but not in them, be­cause they lived before the Holy Spirit was sent. John 16:7-8. Christians today have the Holy Spirit in them the moment they become Christians. We could not have the experience of the Twelve, in the dispensation of the Grace of God, committed to Paul. Ephesians 3:1-2. The Twelve traveled with Christ on earth several years before the Holy Spirit came from heaven. The order of Acts 8:5-15 is not the Divine order for members of the Body of Christ in Ephesians. Whatever we may mean by “the baptism of the Holy Spirit”, let us remember that we rightly divide the word of truth when we teach that the believer’s baptism, sealing and anointing of the Holy Spirit is never a future experience but always received at the time of salvation. Ephesians 5:18 is something different: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” This experience is realized as the faithful Christian walks each day in the Spirit in obedience to the Word of God, rightly divided, in prayer, worship, spiritual service and practical daily Christian living. We cannot spend too much time in genuine spiritual prayer for Holy Spirit control, but let us not be so unwise as to join in a tarry-meeting for the coming of One who came centuries ago. Neither let us be so unscriptural as to pray for more of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not enter a child of God on the installment plan. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: S. HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOREVER ======================================================================== HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOREVER By Pastor John C. O’Hair 1 John 2:17 There is something radically wrong with the person who does not want to abide forever; that is, abide forever, as everlasting life is described in the Bible. Of course, some are in such wretched physical health and others in such miserable sinful condition, that to abide forever unchanged would be more of a curse than a blessing. However the majority of these so dread death and the hereafter that they would pre­fer to live indefinitely, even in their suffering, rather than take a chance on the after-death experience. But just think what it will mean to live forever and ever in bliss and joy, in the midst of eternal glory with the holy God and Saviour, where sin, sickness, suffering, unhappiness of any kind and death will be unknown. It is such eternal bliss and heavenly glory that God has promised to the person who does His will. “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” But the word “doeth” may fill our souls with dis­couragement and despair, instead of hope, unless we go to God’s Book and learn that God has made it possible for every man to do His will and reach heaven. True, God expressed to man His will on Mount Sinai where He gave His perfect law, the true Divine standard of right and wrong. True, it is stated that God requires man to love mercy, to do justly and walk humbly with God. Micah 6:8. The whole duty of man is to fear God and to keep His com­mandments. Ecclesiastes 12:13. This we learn is the con­clusion of the whole matter, But we thank God it is not the conclusion of the way of salvation. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to do.” Romans 8:2-3. All that God’s perfect law could do for a sinner was to condemn him; leave him where it found him, helpless and hopeless. “By the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified in Gods sight.” “The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was sent into the world to be the Saviour of the world; to save sinners from the curse of the law and from religion as well as from sin and the consequences of sin. Before Christ came it was, written of Him in the volume of the Book “Lo I come to do thy will, O God”. Hebrews 10:7; Hebrews 10:9. Being perfect, sinless in birth and life, that holy Son was able to perfectly do the perfect will of the perfect God. He tabernacled on earth in the flesh for more than thirty-­three years without making a single mistake, in unfailing obedience to all of the perfect will of His Father. Christ was able to truthfully say, “I do always the things that please my Father”; “I have overcome the world”. “Which one of you convinceth Me of sin?” Hear the words of this faithful, holy, obedient Son, Jesus Christ the Righteous: “MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, AND TO FINISH THE WORK.” John 4:34. “I CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, NOT TO DO MINE OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME.” John 6:38. “FATHER, IF THOU BE WILLING, REMOVE THIS CUP FROM ME; NEVERTHELESS NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE. “AND THERE APPEARED AN ANGEL UNTO HIM FROM HEAVEN, STRENGTHENING HIM. AND BEING IN AN AGONY HE PRAYED MORE EARNESTLY, AND HIS SWEAT WAS AS IT WERE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD FALLING DOWN TO THE GROUND.” Luke 22:42-44. His meat was to do the Father’s will and finish the work. After several years, suffering as the man of sorrows, Christ said “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” To finish the Father’s work meant misunderstanding, false accusations, insults, disgrace, the bloody sweat, cruel mocking, the crown of thorns, the disfigured face, the pierced hands and feet from the hissing hellish mob, a death of shame. But He was obedient unto the death of the cross. “It is finished” or “finished”, He cried on the cross as He yielded up the ghost. John 19:30. Just what did the Son of God finish? “He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”. Hebrews 9:26. “He took the law out of the way.” Colossians 2:11-14. He became a curse to do away with the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13. “He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4-5. On the cross He was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Then by His resurrection, and because He went back to the Father, He abolished death and destroyed Satan’s power of death, and sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to indwell believers, witness to them of their acceptance by God, and cause them to be sealed until the day of redemption. Now let us read John 6:39-40 : “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Having perfectly done the will of His Father, and ready to do the Father’s will in death, the obedient Son uttered this prayer. He could have truly said, “Father I have done thy will, and now I desire to express my will”. “FATHER, I WILL THAT THEY ALSO, WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN ME, BE WITH ME WHERE I AM; THAT THEY MAY BE­HOLD MY GLORY, WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME; FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.” John 17:24. Now let us study John 6:40 in connection with Hebrews 10:10 and Hebrews 10:14. “BY THE WHICH WILL WE ARE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL.” Hebrews 10:10. “FOR BY ONE OFFERING HE HATH PERFECTED FOREVER THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED.” Hebrews 10:14. “AND THIS IS THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, THAT EVERY ONE WHICH SEETH THE SON, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM, MAY HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE; AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP AT THE LAST DAY.” John 6:40. By nature we are altogether unholy. How are we made holy (sanctified)? By the will of God done by Christ, offer­ing Himself without spot unto God, by the offering of the body of Christ. Hebrews 9:14 and Hebrews 10:10. This once-for-all sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God has provided redemption for us. 1 Peter 1:18-20. This shed blood and resurrection of Christ have been accepted by the holy God as payment in full for the sinner’s debt. “By Him all that believe are justified from all things,.” Acts 13:39. Believing sinners are forever made perfect by this one offer­ing. Hebrews 10:14. Surely to such a message of love, mercy and grace, the sinner’s worthiness or religious, social, moral or financial standing never contributes one iota. The sinner, spiritually speaking, has neither earning capacity nor special influence to help him in any way with God. God demands that the sinner take the bankruptcy law, under the law of sin and death, from which there is only one way of escape; and that is, that the (bankrupt sinner must become the recipient of God’s grace, and the beneficiary of the testament which Christ sealed and validated with His precious blood. Christ came down from heaven to do the will of the Father who sent Him. And then Jesus knew His hour was come that He should depart out of this world, He loved them unto the end. John 13:1. He knew that He was come from God, and went to God. John 13:3. Let us read again the words of Christ in John 6:39 : “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Ephesians 1:11. The Father’s will is that Christ should lose none of those given to Him by the Father. The Father will hear the Son’s prayer and will bring all sinners, redeemed by the blood of that Son, to glory. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will per­form it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Php 1:6. It was the Lord Jesus who said “if any man willeth to do My will he shall know of the doctrine.” John 7:17. And as He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present age, according to the will of God our Father (Galatians 1:4), surely the Lord Jesus Christ knew the will of God, for those who are His, and all who have been saved by Christ should earnestly desire to do His will and have no desire to do anything else. As members of the Body of Christ, God predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:5. Thus we see that we are going to abide forever, because it is God’s will concerning us and because we are the bene­ficiaries of God’s infinite grace, by which we are saved through faith; all because the Lord Jesus Christ did the will of God in our behalf on the cross of Calvary. But we have been saved to do the will of God while we are here in the flesh. Hear these plain words “WHEREFORE BE YE NOT UNWISE, BUT UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE WILL OF THE LORD IS,” Ephesians 5:17. “AS THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST, DOING THE WILL OF GOD FROM THE HEART.” Ephesians 6:6. Before we can do the will of God from the heart we must be saved. And then before we can do the will of God we must understand what the will of God is. Doing the will of God is the most important matter in the life of any individual. Therefore, it is most important to understand what God’s will is. God’s desire is, “that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understand­ing; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowl­edge of God.” Colossians 1:9-10. As we go on in the will of the Lord the standard becomes even higher. As expressed in Colossians 4:12 : “that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” As God works in us both to will and to do of His own good, pleasure (Php 2:13), He wants us to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, recorded in John 6:40 : “And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Sinners are to see Christ and believe on Him and receive eternal life. It is the will of God concerning believers that so do His will in the midst of unbelievers that the unbelievers will see Christ and believe unto life everlasting. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but HE THAT DOETH THE WILL. OF GOD ABIDETH FOREVER.” 1 John 2:15-17. It is a great privilege and honour to be a child of God, but likewise a great responsibility. We are to be in the world, but not of the world, but witnessing to the world concerning the grace of God and the saving and keeping power of Christ. “JESUS SAITH UNTO THEM, MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, AND TO FINISH HIS WORK. “Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. “And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. “And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. “I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour; other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” John 4:34-38. As we witness far Christ, as labourers together with God we may rest assured that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. “Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:4. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: S. HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST ======================================================================== “HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST.” 2 Peter 1:21 There are sixty-six Books in the Bible. The first Book is call­ed Genesis. Genesis is the Book of beginnings. The first five Books of the Bible are called the “Pentateuch.” “Pente” means “five.” Some Jews refer to these five Books as “the Books of Moses.” The five Books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses was born in Egypt. Moses was a descendant of Levi, who was one of the sons of Jacob, or Israel. We shall study about Israel, Levi and Moses later on. Moses was the man whom God chose to write the first Books of the Bible. The last Book of the Bible is called “The Revelation”, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word translated “Revelation” is “Apokalupsis.” This word means “the unveiling.” The human author, whom God used to write “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, the last Book of the Bible, was the Apostle John. While Jesus Christ was on earth He selected twelve apostles, four of whom were fishermen. These four apostles were Andrew and Simon and James and John. Andrew and Simon were brothers. Simon was later on named “Peter” by the Lord Jesus Christ. James and John were also brothers. They were called “Boan­erges” Mark 3:17 “And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and He surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder.” “Boanerges” means “the sons of thunder.” Simon Peter and John were partners in the fishing business Matthew 4:18 “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.” Then He saw James and John with their father. They were in their fishing boat mending their nets. Matthew 4:21. The Lord said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Peter and John became partners in the business of fishing for men. They labored together in the service of the Lord, witnessing con­cerning His life and works and ministry, His death and resurrec­tion. Luke 22:8; Acts 3:1, Acts 3:3 and Acts 3:11; Acts 4:13 and Acts 4:19, and Acts 8:14. John, the brother of James, outlived all the other apostles of Jesus Christ. He is called in the Bible, “that apostle whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23; John 19:26; John 20:2; John 21:7 and John 21:20. Like Moses, the first human author, the Apostle John wrote five Books of the Bible: “The Gospel of John” and three Epistles, “I John”, “II John”, and “III John”, and “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Concerning Moses, note this statement in the Bible: Numbers 12:3 “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Moses died about 1455 B. C. (Before Christ). Moses was 120 years old when he died Deuteronomy 34:7 “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died.” The Apostle John was about 100 years of age when he died. He died about 100 A. D. (Anno Domini), “the year of the Lord.” The last Book of the Bible was written between 1500 and 1600 years after the first Book of the Bible was written. Moses was God’s appointed deliverer and leader of Israel. Moses was God’s law-giver. Later on we shall study concerning him as the mediator of a covenant, or agreement, a contract, that God made with His people Israel. God’s call of Moses is recorded in: Exodus 3:4-7 and Exodus 3:10 and Exodus 3:14 “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. “And He said, ‘Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’” “Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” “Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” Exodus 3:10. “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14. At the time of his call by God Moses was a shepherd. Exodus 3:1. That was about 1495 B. C. At that time Moses was 80 years old. Exodus 7:7 “And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.” Other shepherds who wrote Books in the Bible were David and Amos. 1 Samuel 16:11 and 1 Samuel 16:13 “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down until he come hither.” “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.” Amos 1:1 “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jereboam, the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” Thus we see that the first Book of the Bible was written by a shepherd and the last Book by a fisherman. We learned also that Peter was a fisherman. Peter wrote two Books of the Bible: two Epistles, I Peter and II Peter. Peter was quite an old man when he died. When Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ were here on earth together the Lord Jesus told Peter when and how he would die. John 21:18-19 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Thus spake He signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.” Shortly before his death Peter referred to the statement of Jesus Christ: 2 Peter 1:13-14 “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance: Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.” We have learned that Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John, were four of the twelve apostles whom Jesus Christ, while on earth, selected from His many disciples. Of His twelve apostles, John wrote five of the Books of the Bible, Peter wrote two of the Books, Levi (Matthew) wrote one. Matthew wrote the first Book after the death of Christ; it is called “Matthew”. It is generally believed that James, who wrote the Epistle of James, was one of the twelve apostles. This James is thought to be the James called “the Lord’s brother”. Galatians 1:19. He was not the brother of John. John’s brother, James, was killed by Herod about 45 A. D. Acts 12:1-2 “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John, with the sword.” So we learn that Christ had two apostles by the name of James. Then the sixty-fifth Book of the Bible, one of the shortest Books in the Bible (one chapter of 25 verses) was written by Jude. It bears his name. It is generally believed that he was one of the twelve apostles. We have mentioned six of the twelve apostles, Simon Peter, John, James, Andrew, Jude, and James. It is thought that Jude was also called “Thaddaeus”. Matthew 10:3. ADAM AND CHRIST B. C. and A. D. We have explained that B. C. means “before (Jesus) Christ”, that is, before He was born of Mary in Bethlehem. A. D. means years since that great event took place. Dating back B. C. from the birth of Christ to the creation of Adam there were about 4000 years of the history of the human race. According to the Bible the first man was Adam: 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 1 Corinthians 15:47 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.” “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the Second Man is the Lord from heaven.” If we date from the birth of Adam, we call the year “A. H.”, Anno Homini. This means, “the year of man”. Some people speak of A. M., “Anno Mundi”. This means, “the year of the world.” We have no way of telling how many thousands, or mil­lions, of years since the world was made. But we can be quite accurate in fixing the date of the making of the first man and his wife, Adam and Eve. They were in the garden of Eden about 4000 years “Before Christ”. Therefore Christ was born about 4000 Anno Homini, “the year of man”. Later on we shall study concerning Adam and Christ “the first man” and “the Second Man”, “the first Adam” and “the last Adam”. But for the present we will note that about 4000 years elapsed between the time the first man was in the garden of Eden and the time that the little Child Jesus was in the manger at Bethlehem. GOD—CHRIST Now, note the first verse of Genesis and the last verse of The Revelation Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Revelation 22:21 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Thus the Bible begins with God and the Bible closes with the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall study later on that the Lord Jesus Christ was God before He came to earth as a human being and He is included with God, His Father, in that first verse of Genesis. Note the words of Christ in Revelation 1:8 : “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the Almighty.” The Bible is peculiarly God’s Book. It is God’s revelation to the human race. Note this plain and important statement in the Bible concerning the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The Greek word translated “given by inspiration of God” is “theopneustos”. This means “God-breathed”. This is somewhat explained in: 2 Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.,” The Holy Spirit is infallible. Men who wrote the Books of the Bible did not write their own ideas or doctrines. They were moved or “carried along” by the infallible Holy Spirit. Hence these statements concerning God’s Word. 1 Peter 1:24-25 “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away: But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Psalms 119:89 “For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.” Psalms 138:2 “I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy loving kindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.” Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-­edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Now let us note what Jesus Christ said about the Scriptures and Himself. John 5:39 “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” Luke 24:25-27 “Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:45-46 “Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.” Then note several other Scriptures, spoken or written after Christ went back to heaven: Acts 4:27-28 “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 26:22-24 “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: That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gen­tiles. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad.’” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; “And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” The Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in the 27 Books, from Matthew to Revelation, by noun and pronoun, more than 6900 times. The very heart of the Bible is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was in the Godhead in creation, came down from heaven to die for sin; that is, He appeared once in the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:26. But note the fact also of His resurrection and ascension; for He went back to heaven where He now lives at God’s right hand: “This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. This was all in fulfillment of God’s infallible Scriptures, ac­cording to God’s infallible Word. God’s free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23. QUESTIONS—LESSON ONE Mention several things recorded in the Bible concerning the Scriptures, as to their origin, authority, purpose, and value. By Whom were the human writers moved along? Name six men whom the Holy Spirit used to write Bible messages. Name the Books that Moses and John wrote. Mention two facts concerning each of these writers. Name six of the twelve apostles. Which two were called “the sons of thunder?” Which apostle remained alive the longest? How did he close the last Book of the Bible? Which two apostles labored together for the Lord Jesus Christ? Which of these two were told by the Lord that he would be put to death? By what name did the Lord call Himself when He appeared to Moses? What did Jesus Christ call Himself in Revelation 1:8? What are Adam and Christ called in 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 1 Corinthians 15:47? About what year A. H. was Christ born? About what year B. C. did Moses die? What shepherd was anointed by Samuel? Who said, “The Scriptures testify of Me”? Where is God’s Word for ever settled? State two or three things the Scriptures said concerning Christ. What did Christ do for sin and sinners? 17. Where is Christ at the present time? Which apostle was called “the Lord’s brother”? For what are the Scriptures profitable? 20. What Book did Levi write? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: S. HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM ======================================================================== HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM Every Christian believes in “household baptism” and every Christian should be­lieve in “household baptism” because the Bible teaches “household baptism,” but Christians are by no means agreed on this “household baptism.” All Christians should be agreed that sectarianism is not Scriptural, that God’s purpose during this present economy of grace is to build into, to build up, and to complete the Church which is the Body of Christ. Note how definitely this is stated in Ephesians 4:11-13 : “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” This Body, when completed, will be with Christ, the Perfect Man, the Fulness of Christ. Now note Ephesians 2:15-19 : “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 which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens 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.” Believing Jews and believing Gentiles, together with Christ, will be “One New Man,” both reconciled unto God in “one Body,” “the Household of God.” Now note 1 Timothy 3:15 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 : “But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in THE HOUSE OF GOD, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth.” “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.” Here we learn that “the Household of God” is called “the House of God,” “the Church of the living God,” “the pillar and ground of the truth.” How are be­lievers made members of “the Household of God,” the Body of Christ? By baptism. Baptized by one Spirit into one Body. Now note Galatians 3:27 - Romans 6:3-4 - Colossians 2:11 - and Ephesians 4:4-5 : “FOR AS MANY OF YOU AS HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST HAVE PUT ON CHRIST.” Galatians 3:27. “KNOW YE NOT THAT SO MANY OF US AS WERE BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? THEREFORE WE ARE BURIED WITH HIM BY BAPTISM INTO DEATH THAT LIKE AS CHRIST WAS RAISED UP FROM THE DEAD BY THE GLORY OF THE FATHER, EVEN SO WE ALSO SHOULD WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE,” Romans 6:3-4. “IN WHOM ALSO YE ARE CIRCUM­CISED WITH THE CIRCUMCISION MADE WITHOUT HANDS, IN PUTTING OFF THE BODY OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH BY THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.” Colossians 2:11. “THERE IS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT, EVEN AS YE ARE CALLED IN ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING; ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.” Ephesians 4:4-5. There is one Christ. The believer is baptized into Christ. There is one way of salvation. The believer is baptized in­to the death of Christ; buried with Him by baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. There is one Body. There is only one baptism that will make a believer a member of that Body. That is the one Divine baptism with which man has nothing to do except to receive for him­self by faith and then preach it to others. Inasmuch as it is impossible to get into “the Household of God” without the Di­vine baptism, every member of Christ’s Body has received this “Household bap­tism,” God’s baptism that brings him into God’s Household. HOUSEHOLD - WATER BAPTISM The Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and others, including the Reformed and Chris­tian Reformed churches, believe in “household baptism,” that is, they sprin­kle with water little children. The pas­tors of most of these churches sprinkle only the children of parents who are mem­bers of their denominations. The Reformed and Christian Reformed churches generally agree with the Presby­terians that sprinkling is the New Testa­ment ordinance which superseded Old Testament circumcision. Inasmuch as baby boys, eight days old, whose parents were God’s covenanted people were cir­cumcised, the little boys and girls of mem­bers of the New Covenant Church should be sprinkled. We can’t see just how or why the baby girls are included, We quote what an outstanding theo­logian in the Reformed denomination has written, Dr. Albertus Peters “The Bible is entirely silent about infant baptism, either pro or con. We admit it. We do not profess to get infant baptism from its pages.” “We would not find infant baptism in the Bible, because it is not there, and can­not be gotten out of the Bible.” The Lutherans are not unanimous in their doctrine, but generally they believe that the children of Lutheran parents are made both Christians and Lutherans by infant baptism. The Roman Catholics do not accept the sprinkling of any other denomination as valid or efficacious. The sprinkling must be by a Roman Catholic, with blessed, holy water. This ceremony is a cleansing that takes care of original sin, according to their unscriptural “baptism” theory. BAPTIZED BOTH MEN AND WOMEN Note Acts 8:12 : “But when they believed Philip preach­ing the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” Here we learn that both men and women were baptized. As to whether this baptism was by sprinkling, pouring or immersing, we may not agree, but there is no reference to the baptizing of the children. Note Hebrews 9:10 : “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers BAPTISMS, and carnal ordi­nances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” We have changed the word translated “washings” to read “baptisms.” Israel’s baptisms were generally by sprinkling or pouring, and the children of the Israelit­ish parents were included under the cov­enant with their parents. The word in Hebrews 9:10 is “baptizo.” Can we not prove household baptism by Acts 10:2 and Acts 10:48 - Acts 16:15 - Acts 16:34 - 1 Corinthians 1:16? Note these verses. “A DEVOUT MAN, AND ONE THAT FEARED GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE, WHICH GAVE MUCH ALMS TO THE PEOPLE, AND PRAYED TO GOD AL­WAY.” “AND HE COMMANDED THEM TO BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. THEN PRAYED THEY HIM TO TARRY CERTAIN DAYS.” Acts 10:2 and Acts 10:48. “AND WHEN SHE WAS BAPTIZED, AND HER HOUSEHOLD, SHE BESOUGHT US, SAYING, IF YE HAVE JUDGED ME TO BE FAITHFUL TO THE LORD, COME INTO MY HOUSE, AND ABIDE THERE. AND SHE CONSTRAIN­ED US.” Acts 16:15. “AND HE TOOK THEM THE SAME HOUR OF THE NIGHT, AND WASHED THEIR STRIPES; AND WAS BAPTIZED, HE AND ALL HIS, STRAIGHTWAY.” “AND WHEN HE HAD BROUGHT THEM INTO HIS HOUSE, HE SET MEAT BEFORE THEM, AND REJOICED, BELIEVING IN GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE.” Acts 16:33-34. “AND I BAPTIZED ALSO THE HOUSE­HOLD OF STEPHANAS: BESIDES, I KNOW NOT WHETHER I BAPTIZED ANY OTHER.” 1 Corinthians 1:16. Yes, we can certainly prove household baptism by these statements but can we prove that infant baptism is here proved? ‘The argument is that there must have been some real young children in some of these households. PLYMOUTH BRETHREN HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM Among the several doctrines that have divided the Brethren, generally called “the Plymouth Brethren,” is the question of water baptism. Few, if any of them, believe in sprinkling or pouring. They agree with the Baptists that “baptizo” means “immerse” and so they are almost unanimous that water baptism means to be submerged, to be put completely under the water. Like all other baptizers they do not know why they practice the water ceremony. They are unanimously agreed that there is not one iota of saving value in the water. They know that water bap­tism is work, man’s work. They know and emphasize that man has nothing to do with his own salvation except to believe and receive that it is not of works, but altogether by grace. They know that water baptism is not required for mem­bership in the Household of God, the Body of Christ. But they arbitrarily and unscripturally make water baptism a re­quirement for fellowship in their circle. They thus have built a religious fence around their circle, whereas their founder, Mr. John Darby, purposed the very op­posite. But this circle has been broken, their fellowship has been disturbed by two “baptism” theories. One is called “be­liever’s baptism,” and the other is called “household baptism.” Those who hold for “believer’s baptism” teach that only those who can, and do, intelligently exer­cise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should be immersed. They generally quote Romans 6:3-4 : “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized in­ to death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” But a very careful unprejudiced study of the sixth chapter of Romans should cause the student to agree with Mr. Ken­neth Wuest, of the Moody Bible Insti­tute “The mechanical meaning of the word, namely, the introduction of something in a new environment or into union with something else, is in view of Romans 6:1-23 and 1 Corinthians 12:13. It is set in a context of supernatur­alism. It refers to the act of God placing us in Christ. This precludes any suggestion of water baptism as a means whereby a believing sinner is joined to Christ. It is a question, of course, as to what the inspired writer had in mind when he used the word, and certainly Paul was not thinking of the rite of water baptism, but of the act of God uniting a be­lieving sinner with Christ, thus using the word in its original meaning rather than its ritual­istic connotation. Thus one could render Romans 6:3 “Introduced into Jesus Christ . . . were introduced into His death,” and 1 Corinthians 12:13 : “For by one Spirit we are all introduced into one body.” This is transla­tion here, not transliteration.” The Brethren who teach “household baptism” represent the minority group. But they are positive that their “immer­sion” water theory is Scriptural. They stand or fall with their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:1-3 : “MOREOVER, BRETHREN I WOULD NOT THAT YE SHOULD BE IGNORANT, HOW THAT ALL OUR FATHERS WERE UNDER THE CLOUD, AND ALL PASSED THROUGH THE SEA; AND WERE ALL BAPTIZED UNTO MOSES IN THE CLOUD AND IN THE SEA; AND DID ALL EAT THE SAME SPIR­ITUAL MEAT.” Before we comment on this theory, we ask you to read Exodus 12:37, giving the record of the number of Israelites who left Egypt about 1495 B.C. “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hun­dred thousand on foot that were men, be­side children. Exodus 12:37. “And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: “And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” Exodus 14:19-21. “AND THE WATERS RETURNED, AND COVERED THE CHARIOTS, AND THE HORSEMEN, AND ALL THE HOST OF PHARAOH THAT CAME INTO THE SEA AFTER THEM: THERE REMAINED NOT SO MUCH AS ONE OF THEM. BUT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. WALKED UPON DRY LAND IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA; AND THE WATERS WERE A WALL UNTO THEM ON THEIR RIGHT HAND, AND ON THEIR LEFT.” “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. “And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” Exodus 14:28-31. Note carefully Exodus 14:31. The great miracle of God caused the Israelites to believe in Him and in His servant Moses. Compare this with Acts 2:22 and John 5:36 : “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.” “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me.” The wonderful works that God did by Jesus were to persuade Israel to accept Him as Messiah. The wonderful works that God did by Moses was to make Israel accept Moses as leader. Thus they were baptized unto Moses by the cloud and the Red Sea. But not one of the Israelites, parents or children, got wet. It was indeed a dry baptism for Israel, but a real submergence into death for the Egyptians. But this could not be symbolic of the burial in Romans 6:3-4, because the Egyptians were not raised to walk in newness of life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: S. HOW CHRIST WAS MADE MANIFEST TO ISRAEL ======================================================================== HOW CHRIST WAS MADE MANIFEST TO ISRAEL By Pastor John C. O’Hair Let us compare these three verses: “AND I KNEW HIM NOT; BUT THAT HE SHOULD BE MADE MANIFEST TO IS­RAEL, THEREFORE AM I COME BAPTIZING WITH WATER.” John 1:31. “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 “BUT I HAVE GREATER WITNESS THAN THAT OF JOHN; FOR THE WORKS WHICH THE FATHER HATH GIVEN ME TO FINISH, THE SAME WORKS THAT I DO, BEAR WITNESS OF ME, THAT THE FATHER HATH SENT ME.” John 5:36 Certainly there is no reason why any student of the Word of God should mis­understand the plain language recorded in John 1:31. Here the significance of John’s water baptism is clearly and spe­cifically stated; that “Christ might be made manifest to Israel.” The Greek word here translated “manifest” is translated , in John 7:4, “shew”: “shew thyself to the world.” Now by way of comparison. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God.” This word “approved” in the Greek is “apodeiknumi”, and literally means “to show off or to put on exhibition”. With­out the prefix “apo”, the Greek word is translated “shew” 23 times in the New Testament Scriptures.. For example Matthew 16:21, John 14:8, 1 Corinthians 12:31 and: James 2:18. In Acts 2:22, we learn that God was placing His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, on exhibition in the midst of Israel; that is, He was showing Him off; by mir­acles and wonders and signs. According to John 5:36 quoted above, these supernatural works of Christ were to bear witness that the Father had sent Him. According to the plain statement of Jesus of Nazareth, He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24. Therefore, whatever new meaning may have been given to miracles and signs, as well as to water baptism, after the death and resurrection of Christ, it is plainly taught in the Four Gospels that both miracles and water baptism were to shew Christ to Israel. In this connection we read in John 10:41, that John the Baptist did no mir­acle. We also read in John 4:2 that Je­sus of Nazareth did no baptizing. We read in Luke 1:16; Luke 1:80 that John’s commission and message was to Israel. In Acts 13:24 Paul confirmed this. We may be sure, therefore, that the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, like the testimony of John the Baptist, was specifically, if not exclusively, for the children of Israel. And the diligent student of the Word of God has observed that signs, wonders, miracles, super­natural demonstrations, and manifes­tations are inseparably connected with water baptism. We quote Luke 3:3 : “And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” In this verse, as well as in Matthew 3:11 and Mark 1:4, we are taught something of the significance of John’s baptism with respect to Israel, sin and repent­ance. It was baptism of repentance for (unto) the remission of sin. There is little or nothing said about water baptism, or signs, and miracles in the closing year of the Lord’s earthly ministry. In fact, there is no record of any Israelite having received water bap­tism after the statement of Christ, re­corded in Luke 12:50, which we quote. ­“I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accom­plished” Perhaps the explanation of the absence of both miracles and water baptism is Matthew 16:20, which we quote “Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Je­sus the Christ.” If twelve apostles were to no longer tell to Israel that Jesus was the Messiah, there was no further need for signs or water baptism until this order was rescinded and the Twelve again testified that Jesus was the Mes­siah; for signs and water were to shew Christ to Israel. After Christ’s prayer on the cross for Israel, God instructed the Twelve to again shew Jesus, as Mes­siah, to Israel. Acts 2:36. In Mark 16:16-18 we find the commission which the resurrected Christ gave to the Eleven. Most assuredly we again have signs and water baptism connected. We quote these verses: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall fol­low them that believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” There are many baptisms in our day, but no signs except “counterfeit signs”. On the day of Pentecost we learn by reading Acts 2:36 that the twelve apos­tles were doing what they were forbid­den to do in Matthew 16:20. They were testifying that Jesus was the Messiah. As they were filled with the Holy Spirit and fulfilling the will of God, the Lord must have rescinded the order of Matthew 16:20. And therefore, immedi­ately follows the same message of bap­tism unto repentance for the remission of sins. We quote Acts 2:38 : “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Now let us bear in mind that it was the supernatural demonstration on the day of Pentecost, as well as the message, that caused the Israelites to say, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” The Jews require a sign 1 Corinthians 1:23. The Jews always had signs and bap­tisms. Hebrews 9:10. We turn now from the second chapter of Acts to Acts 19:1-7. Here we have the last Scriptural record of bap­tism of any of the Lord’s disciples. Af­ter these disciples received water bap­tism they received the Holy Spirit, by the imposition of hand’s, and immediately spake with tongues. In Acts 19:12 we have the record of mighty signs. Be­tween Acts 19:1-41 and Acts 28:1-31 we have no record of water baptism and the record of very few signs. However, by reading Acts 28:5-10, we learn that there is a record of miraculous healing after the last record of water baptism. By read­ing Romans 6:3-4 we learn of the abiding baptism, “not made with hands’’. We also learn by comparing 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, wherein we find listed sign-gifts to members of the Body of Christ, that more emphasis is placed upon these gifts than upon water baptism, in the special ministry of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles. It is interest­ing to compare 1 Corinthians 1:14, “I thank God I baptized none of you, but” and 1 Corinthians 14:18, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all”. We would particularly empha­size the words of Paul “I thank God”. Any honest student of the Word must acknowledge that Paul was more thank­ful to God for speaking with tongues than for baptizing with water. Most Christians make much of water today and wholly ignore signs, (many ridicule tongues). In every Scriptural record of water baptism there is in the same chapter, if not in the immediate context, a record of either a supernatural manifestation or some other Jewish sign or program. How strange, therefore, it seems that men of God, who claim to be expositors of God’s truth, contend so earnestly for some kind of water baptism and are wholly indifferent as to whether mem­bers of the Body of Christ exercise any of the sign-gifts that are mentioned in the Bible after the last mention of water baptism. I Corinthians was written af­ter the last recorded baptism in Acts 19:1-7. Signs were in the church as late as 58 A.D. What has become of them? We have held on to the water and let go of the signs. But we can’t explain why. Hold on to both or give up both. Surely we should have more respect for the consistency and sincerity of the Pentecostalists who are contending for the signs with the water, than for the ability of our so-called leading Funda­mentalist Bible teachers who have to re­sort to church history rather than to the Word of God for the explanation of the absence of signs and miracles in the spiritual program of the Body of Christ in this age. Many of them tenaciously, and sometimes belligerently, contend for water baptism, although there are more than a dozen different interpretations among them as to the mode, formula, and signification of the water ceremony. They think they are proving their prac­tice by the Bible; but in reality it is by tradition We give here every reference to water baptism in the New Testament Scrip­tures. Search these Scriptures and find one where water baptism is a witness to the world and then mark every one prov­ing that water baptism is both efficacious and meritorious: Matthew 3:7-16; Mark 1:4-9 ; Luke 3:3-21; John 10:40; Mark 10:38-39; Mark 16:16; Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:5 - Acts 2:38-41 - Acts 8:12-13, Acts 8:16, Acts 8:36, Acts 8:38 - Acts 9:18 - Acts 10:47-48 - Acts 11:16 - Acts 16:15; Acts 16:33 - Acts 18:8 - Acts 19:3-5 - Acts 22:11; 1 Corinthians 1:17; Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 1:14, 1 Corinthians 1:16 - 1 Corinthians 10:2 - 1 Corinthians 12:13 - 1 Corinthians 15:29; Galatians 3:27; Hebrews 6:2 - Hebrews 9:10 (washings); 1 Peter 3:21; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 4:5; Acts 18:25. Refer to 1 Corinthians 10:2; “baptized unto Moses”, and 1 Peter 3:21, “Noah in the ark”. We are sure that the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, and Noah with his family, did not get wet. They were all saved from the water. We are all sure that the baptism of Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12 and Ephesians 4:5, is the same baptism and if water, then we are saved by water. If so, then Romans 3:26 and Romans 3:28, Ephesians 2:8-9 and Titus 3:5-8 are not true. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: S. HOW LONG WAS ALL DAY LONG? ======================================================================== HOW LONG WAS ALL DAY LONG? Let us read Romans 10:21 and Romans 11:21. “BUT TO ISRAEL HE SAITH: ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED FORTH MY HANDS UNTO A DISOBEDIENT AND GAINSAYING PEOPLE.” “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee (the Gentiles).” In answering this most interesting question concerning God’s dealings with Israel, “how long is all day long,” let us note carefully one of the most solemn and significant messages that came from the mouth and heart of the Lord Jesus Christ; namely, “the parable of the vineyard.” “Then began He to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season, He sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give Him of the fruit of the vineyard; but the husband­men beat him, and sent him away empty. And again He sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third, and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the Lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send My beloved Son: it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him. But when the husbandmen saw Him, they rea­soned among themselves, saying, This is the Heir: come, let us kill Him, that the in­heritance may be ours. So they cast Him out of the vineyard, and killed Him. What therefore shall the Lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vine­yard to others. And when they heard it they said, God forbid. And He beheld them and said, What is this then that is written, The Stone which the builders re­jected, the same is become the Head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that Stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever It shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Luke 20:9-18. As we look into the Scriptures to find an answer to the question, “how long was all day long,” we know that that long day of God’s longsuffering toward His disobedient and stiffnecked people, Israel, began after the birth of that nation. Per­haps we should mark the beginning of that day from the month that Israel left Egypt. CALLED OUT OF EGYPT About 1500 B.C. the children of Israel were under the tyrannical oppression of Pharaoh in Egypt. God sent Moses to Pharaoh with signs and wonders. Then the Lord commanded Moses to lead His people out of that land: “And the chil­dren of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.” Exodus 12:37-38. “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” “And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” Exodus 14:13-31. Then followed the song of Moses and the children of Israel. Exodus 15:1-19. But in that same chapter we read, “. . . and the people murmured,” and we find this same statement in Exodus 16:2 and Exodus 17:3. Then in Exodus 32:7, God had something to say, “And the Lord said unto Moses, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” The children of Israel were worship­ping Aaron’s golden calf. God threatened to destroy them and Moses said, “Remem­ber Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom Thou swarest.” Exodus 32:13. God did. God will again remember these men to whom He sware. But note God’s Word in Exodus 32:9 : “And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.” So Israel was a stiffnecked and dis­obedient people from 1495 B.C. up to the time that Jesus Christ came unto His own, and then what? “His own received Him not.” Read again “the parable of the vine­yard” and get the full force and meaning of those words of Christ. What are we to understand by this statement, “Christ came. unto His own, and His own received Him not?” We read in John’s Gospel several times, “many of the Jews believed on Him,” “many of the people believed on Him.” But this significant question was asked in John 7:48 : “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?” And then this significant statement in John 12:37. “But though He had done so many mira­cles before them, yet they believed not on Him.” Then we are told in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, that the rulers crucified the Lord of glory. Again we read in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 : “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 to fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” Let us consider God’s dealings with Israel in three different periods: First - ­From Egypt to the coming of John the Baptist. Second - During Christ’s days on earth. Third - From the resurrection of Christ until the Divine judgment recorded in the eleventh chapter of Romans. Let us note one statement of the Lord to Moses about 1495 B. C. and another to Israel by Stephen about 35 A. D.: Exodus 33:5 : “For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a mo­ment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” Acts 7:51-53 : “YE STIFFNECKED AND UNCIRCUM­CISED IN HEART AND EARS, YE DO AL­WAYS RESIST THE HOLY GHOST: 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: WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE LAW BY THE DISPOSITION OF ANGELS, AND HAVE NOT KEPT IT.” Here we note that Israel’s gainsayings and disobedience began in the days of Moses and continued until the days of Stephen. Note what they did to the sec­ond messenger: “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart.” Acts 7:58. They rushed on Stephen and stoned him to death. All during those 1530 years God was stretching forth His hands to a gainsaying and disobedient nation. God still stretched forth His hands to that nation for some years after they killed the Prince of Life (Acts 3:14-17) and after they killed Stephen. Then note Acts 12:1-3, that it pleased the House of Israel when one of Christ’s twelve apostles was murdered. In Luke 19:41-44 we learn that Jesus Christ, weeping, pronounced an awful judgment upon Israel. Then in Luke 23:34 it is recorded that He prayed on the cross that His Father would forgive them. So years after Christ called them “ser­pents,” He sent Paul to them to warn them: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers and won­der, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” Acts 13:40-41. ISRAEL’S GREAT SIN The history of Israel, from Egypt to Isaiah, was one of some glory and honour but more of disgrace and dishonour. Then the history of Israel, from Isaiah until the day they said to Pilate concerning their own Messiah, “let Him be cruci­fied” (Matthew 27:23), was one of sin, disgrace, judgment and sorrow. They asked for the blood of Christ to be upon them; and it has been. Hear the words which the Lord Jesus spoke to them: “Fill ye up then the meas­ure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye gen­eration of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:32-33. Then He wept over His people and their city. Luke 19:41-43. His people did not know the time of their visitation, that is, the King’s visit. Note the judg­ment He pronounced: “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. After that they “killed the Prince of Life.” Acts 3:12-18. What a scene! The Lord of Glory hang­ing on Barabbas’ cross. Hear His words “. . . Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. Christ had said in Matthew 12:30-32 that Israel’s sin against the Son of man would be pardonable, but that if they sinned against the Holy Spirit, their sin would be unpardonable. They sinned against. the Son of man when they persuaded Pilate to kill Him. They sinned against the Holy Spirit when they rejected the testimony of Stephen and stoned him to death. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:55) and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of Clod.” Acts 7:56. Note carefully the words of Acts 5:29-32 : “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.” The Holy Spirit here is the witness of Peter’s statement to all the House of Israel in 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.” Let us not follow the blunder of Chris­tians who teach that Israel was set aside at Calvary and that Paul’s dispensation of grace began on the clay of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost twelve men stood up. Acts 2:14. Their audience was made up of devout Jews from every na­tion under heaven. Acts 2:5. There were some Gentile proselytes in the audience. Acts 2:10. The message was for all the House of Israel, twelve tribes. Acts 2:36. One of the Twelve later addressed a mes­sage to the twelve tribes of Israel. James 1:1. We have also read, in Acts 12:1-2, that James, the brother of John, was killed, and that reduced those who were apostles before Paul to ELEVEN. When the number ceased to be “TWELVE” the Lord ceased to record, in Acts, the activ­ities of Peter and the Ten except as they had dealings with Paul. In the last six­teen chapters of Acts Paul is mentioned more than 100 times. We find, in Acts 13:7-17, the record of the dispensational miracle, the salva­tion of a Gentile, because of the blindness of a Jew sent by God. This was the be­ginning of the turning away from Israel as a nation. This turning away is stated in Acts 13:46. We learned that Peter’s message in Acts 5:29-32 was addressed to Israel. In the warning of Acts 13:40-41 we learn that God’s judgment upon Israel, as a nation, had not yet taken place. Let us see by studying the Book of Acts that God deferred for nearly 40 years the awful judgment pronounced upon Israel in Luke 21:20-24. It is true that Christ, in Matthew 23:30-39, called them “serpents” and announced the deso­lation of Israel. But in Luke 21:20-24 we learn that that desolation would be when armies were surrounding Jerusalem. The Lord deferred His wrath and gave Israel another chance. Christ, on the cross, prayed for their forgiveness. Then note the message of love and mercy delivered to them in Acts 3:12-26. Later on Israel committed the unpardonable sin and be­cause of that sin and God’s judgment salvation was sent to the Gentiles. ISRAEL SET ASIDE Some Christians teach that God ceased His dealings with “the House of Israel” as a nation, when Christ was crucified and that “the House of God” of 1 Timothy 3:15 had its historical beginning on the day of Pentecost, or a few weeks be­fore that day. You will observe that “the House of God” in 1 Timothy 3:15-16, is mentioned in connection with a great mystery. Others teach that the Lord dealt with “the House of Israel” as a nation and as an Israelitish church up to the close of Acts and then, “the House of God” of 1 Timothy 3:15 began. The care­ful student of the Book of Acts will note that the casting away of Israel and the reconciling of the Gentiles was gradual rather than abrupt. “The House of God” in Ephesians 3:6, is called the Joint-Body and a Secret not made known to Israel’s prophets (Ephesians 3:5). Certainly it was not made known to the Twelve in their ministry in the first chap­ters of Acts. The Eleven contended with Peter for preaching to a Gentile. Acts 11:1-7. Peter himself said it was un­lawful until God gave him the housetop vision. Acts 10:28. Certainly no “mys­tery” began on the day of Pentecost when everything was in fulfillment of Scrip­tures. There was not yet the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6 when Cornelius was con­verted. Not one of the Twelve ever used the word “Body” in referring to the Church. The Body is the Church of God. But the Church of God was not neces­sarily the Body. THE END OF ISRAEL’S DAY God’s all day long to the Jews, ex­tended this side of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In Acts 3:26 Peter said to the Jews, “unto you first.” In Acts 13:46 and Acts 18:5-6, Paul said to the Jews, “unto you first.” Surely Acts 28:25-28 marked a crisis in the history of Israel. So did the ston­ing of Stephen in the seventh chapter of Acts. But Romans 11:15 marked the end of Israel’s day, so far as their priority rights, special privileges and any King­dom offer were concerned. Israel was cast away and reconciliation was sent to Gentiles. Today God could truly say, “all day long have I given Gentiles the opportun­ity to be saved by grace.” Let us remem­ber, “If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee (Gentiles).” When will God’s day of grace end? He knows. We can only say, “it may be today.” BUT AS TO ISRAEL’S FUTURE We have looked into Israel’s past. Let us see something of their glorious future. Read carefully Ezekiel 37:22-28. We quote a few of God’s promises to and con­cerning Israel: “I will save them” - “I will cleanse them” - ­“So shall they be My people, and I will be their God.” - “David My servant, shall be king over them. “ - “They shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob wherever your fathers have dwelt . . . They shall dwell there­in, they and their children and their children’s children for ever.” Read also Ezekiel 36:24-38, for some very interesting information concerning Israel’s future. Note the Lord’s state­ment in Ezekiel 36:37 : “Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.” In this chapter we read, “I will take you from among the Gentiles and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you to your own land.” “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” “And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the gar­den of Eden . . .” Here we are reminded of God’s prom­ise in Isaiah 62:1-4 : “For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as bright­ness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see Thy righteousness, and all kings Thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed For­saken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephizibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighted in thee, and thy land shall be married.” In contemplating the wonderful future of Israel and Jerusalem, let us remember the Word of the Lord in Ezekiel 36:22 and Romans 11:26-28 : “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.” Ezekiel 36:22. “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: For this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.” Romans 11:26-28. Thus we see that the Lord is to do won­derful things for Israel and Jerusalem for His own holy name’s sake and because His gifts and calling are without repent­ance. About 1495 B.C. the children of Israel were led out of Egyptian bondage. Why? “AND GOD HEARD THEIR GROAN­INGS AND GOD REMEMBERED HIS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, WITH ISAAC AND WITH JACOB. AND GOD LOOKED UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND GOD HAD RESPECT UNTO THEM.” Exodus 2:24-25. God remembered His covenant with Abraham. He will do that again and again deliver Israel. Romans 11:26-29. Note again Jeremiah 23:7-8 : “Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth, which brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. “ Yes, we can surely believe that things are going to happen for Israel and for Jerusalem. But until the coming, and reign of the Messiah and King, Whom they rejected and put to death, the indi­vidual unbelieving Jews are headed for an awful judgment. Note God’s Word in Romans 2:6 : “. . . God; Who will render to every man according to His deeds.” “Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” Romans 2:9. Here is God’s message for Jews and Gentiles in this day of grace: “For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoso­ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:11-13. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: S. HOW TO ENJOY SALVATION AND THE SCRIPTURES ======================================================================== HOW TO ENJOY SALVATION AND THE SCRIPTURE The Bible has much to say about sal­vation. The Bible is divided into differ­ent economies. For more than 1500 years, from the day that Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments from the Lord, until the day that the Lord Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, God kept His people under the reign of law. During that Divine economy God’s people were “kept under the law, shut unto the faith which should afterward be revealed.” Galatians 3:23. After centuries of waiting, the Lord Jesus came from heaven to live for some years with the Jews who were under the law. Galatians 4:4. Then the Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man. Hebrews 2:9. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4. By His death on the cross the Lord Jesus abolished the Old Covenant. That has been done away. 2 Corinthians 3:12-16. Concerning the Lord’s visit to earth, where He lived among His people, we read: “THOUGH HE WERE A SON, YET LEARNED HE OBEDIENCE BY THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED; AND BE­ING MADE PERFECT, HE BECAME THE AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION UN­TO ALL THEM THAT OBEY HIM.” Hebrews 5:8-9. Beautiful expression! Wonderful truth! Blessed good news! Jesus Christ the Son of God became the Author of eternal sal­vation! Note how this glorious truth is stated in 1 Peter 3:18 and Hebrews 9:12 : “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.” “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having ob­tained eternal redemption for us.” The Lord Jesus Christ was both God and man. He was altogether perfect. He accomplished a perfect redemption. He provided perfect salvation for lost human beings, sinners. We are living in the day of grace, under God’s economy of grace. We are made saints by faith in Christ and His once-for-all sacrifice. Hebrews 10:10 and Hebrews 10:14. Note the “grace” good news. “FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.” John 1:17. “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHT­EOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” Romans 5:20-21. NOT BY WORKS - BUT UNTO GOOD WORKS “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 2:8-10. What part does sinful man play in his salvation? He is the recipient of God’s grace. Hear the cry of a poor condemned sinner, “What must I do to be saved ?” And the reply, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31. By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves­: “IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD.” “NOT OF WORKS.” “GOD’S WORKMANSHIP.” Note how the wonderful “grace” message is stated in 2 Timothy 1:9-10 : “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 is now 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 the future: “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches, of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7. From “before the foundation of the world” to “the ages to come, “GRACE.” Salvation is God’s gift to the believing, receiving sinner. “ The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. Because most human beings are incur­ably religious they cannot be persuaded that Paul’s statement, in Romans 7:18, is generally true. Note his statement and with it Romans 8:8 : “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Romans 7:18. “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8. Some of the self-sufficient and self-­righteous religious sinners repudiate and reject the Holy Spirit’s message by Paul in Romans 4:4-5. Others say such a message of salvation is too good to be true. It is good and it is true. Hear it. Believe it. Claim it. Appropriate it. Ex­perience it. Thank God for it. Here it is: “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 4:4-5. Hear it in different language “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in ma­lice and envy, hateful, and hating one an­other. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man ap­peared. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour: That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profit­able unto men.” Titus 3:3-8. Here then is God’s order, God’s mes­sage, God’s way of salvation. Note the human material that God has to work with, how He works, and what He really does with sinners who will let Him do the work of salvation. Keep in mind the word “let.” “Let” God save you. Ac­knowledge that you by nature are not fit for God’s presence and God’s heaven. You can be made fit by God’s grace and Christ’s redemptive work. Not by your unrighteous works, which you may consider works of righteousness, but by God’s mercy and grace and Divine power, in, through, and by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Note Ephesians 2:3-5 : “Among whom also we all had our con­versation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the chil­dren of wrath, even as others. But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). Ephesians 2:3-5. Out of dead sinners God makes living saints, “by grace.” Hear again this good news: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” 1 Timothy 2:4-7. God will have all men to be saved. Do you really want to be saved? Then let God save you. Note the Divine process in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 : “BUT WE ARE BOUND TO GIVE THANKS ALWAY 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.” Yes, salvation is of the Lord. God does the work. God is a great Giver. Man is a poor receiver. God has chosen us unto salvation. How? By sanctification of the Spirit. Belief of the truth. Note the truth of Romans 10:9 and Romans 10:13 : “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Believe the truth. Believe it not only in your head; but believe with all your heart. Believe that you are ungodly and that Christ died for the ungodly. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own individual personal Saviour. Believe unto the saving of your soul. Accept at full face value this glorious truth recorded in Titus 2:11-13 : “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 THE GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.” What has appeared? The grace of God. To whom has it appeared? To all men. What has the grace of God brought? Salvation. And then that grace of God teaches the believer “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 the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. “ The saved sinner is taught “to live” and “to look.” THE KNOWLEDGE AND JOY OF SALVATION The real joy of salvation is experienced by those who “live” and “look”, in obedience to Titus 2:12-13. The Lord Jesus Christ said to His dis­ciples, “rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits, are subject unto you; But rather rejoice that your names are writ­ten in heaven.” Luke 10:20. The Holy Spirit directed John to write an Epistle to saints. In that Epistle he wrote “AND THESE THINGS WRITE WE UN­TO YOU, THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL.” 1 John 1:4. “THESE THINGS HAVE I WRITTEN UNTO YOU THAT 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.” 1 John 5:13. What does the Holy Spirit desire con­cerning those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? “That they may know that they have eternal life.” “That their joy may be full.” The Holy Spirit wants those who are saved by grace to have a “know-so,” salvation and a joyous fel­lowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Note what the Holy Spirit said by the pen of Paul: “NOW THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEV­ING, THAT YE MAY ABOUND IN HOPE, THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.” Romans 15:13. So we learn that the Lord desires that His redeemed ones should live righteous­ly, soberly and justly in this present evil age, that they should know that they are saved, that they should rejoice because their names are written in heaven, that they should be joyous, filled with joy and peace, and be full of hope. MEMBERS OF GOD’S HOUSEHOLD Let us note carefully 2 Timothy 2:19-21 : “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge Him­self from these, he shall be A VESSEL UNTO HONOUR, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” And 2 Timothy 2:15 : “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, rightly divid­ing the Word of Truth.” Here we learn that God knoweth them that are His. We also learn “them that are His” should be “vessels of honour” in God’s great House, and they should be workmen that need not to be ashamed. We learn that “them that are His”, “who name the name of Christ,” are to “depart from iniquity.” Unless God’s children do depart from iniquity and do rightly divide the Word of truth, they cannot be vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the Master’s use. Here then is the secret of the joy of sal­vation. God’s children cannot lose their salva­tion, but the majority of God’s children know, by their own personal experience, very little about the real joy of salvation. We all love the parable of the Vine and the branches. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus in John 15:8 : “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My dis­ciples.” There are two ways of bearing fruit; one is, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23. The other is leading other sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. Next to the joy of receiving Christ for salvation is the joy of leading some one else to receive Jesus Christ for salvation. There is also joy in heaven: “Likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just per­sons, which need no repentance.” Luke 15:7. The Holy Spirit has presented a very high plane of spiritual living for members of the Body of Christ in the different Epistles written to them. In Colossians 1:9-11, the Lord’s desire for His saints, is thus expressed “THAT YE MIGHT BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDER­STANDING. THAT YE MIGHT WALK WORTHY OF THE LORD UNTO ALL PLEASING, BEING FRUITFUL IN EVERY GOOD WORK, AND INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; STRENGTHENED WITH ALL MIGHT, ACCORDING TO HIS GLORIOUS POWER, UNTO ALL PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING WITH JOYFULNESS.” Colossians 1:9-11. Here then is the secret of enjoying sal­vation, a spiritual walk, and a fruitful life, patient and longsuffering with joy­fulness. Note again carefully 2 Timothy 2:21 and 2 Timothy 2:15 : “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto hon­our, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. “ “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. “ If the believer departs from iniquity and rightly divides the Word of Truth he will be an unashamed workman and a vessel meet for the Master’s use. This brings us to the consideration of: “HOW TO ENJOY THE SCRIPTURES.” In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for re- proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Note Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Let us consider these statements to­gether with 1 Corinthians 10:32 : “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.” Redeemed sinners during this present Divine economy are members of Christ’s Body. They belong to the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood, the House of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Acts 20:28. Some of the Scriptures are addressed directly and specifically to these Church-members. Note the wonderful truth addressed to and concerning members of Christ’s Body in Ephesians. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citi­zens with the saints, and of THE HOUSE­HOLD OF GOD.” “In Whom ye also are builded together for an HABITATION OF GOD through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19 and Ephesians 2:22. “But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy­self in THE HOUSE OF GOD, which is THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mys­tery.” 1 Timothy 3:15-16. “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 4:12-13. In rightly dividing the Word of Truth, it behooves God’s workmen to know defi­nitely that God is building a House, that He is building up the Body of Christ, which He called “the House of God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The Holy Spirit declares that God is not the author of confusion. God is not responsible for all the different Sectar­ian groups into which the Church of Christ is divided. God recognizes but one true Bible Church during this present economy of grace, and that Church is not primarily an organization, but an organ­ism. It is not Israel. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE BODY OF CHRIST No one rightly divides the Word of truth, or can truly enjoy or understand the Scriptures, who confuses “the House of Israel” with “the House of God” de­scribed in Paul’s Epistles to Timothy and to the Ephesians. “The House of Israel” has fallen. It is going to be rebuilt or re-established during a future Divine economy. If you want a real vivid picture and guarantee of this, read the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel and Isaiah 62:1-5. The Scriptures which were written to and concerning “the House of Israel” are to be diligently and faithfully studied by members of the Body of Christ. They are for admonition, and they are profitable for instruction in righteousness. They are not written to members of Christ’s Body. Note in Genesis 35:10-11 and Genesis 35:15 how Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel.” “And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and He called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a com­pany of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.” When God met Jacob, Jacob said, “this is none other than “the House of God.” Genesis 28:17. That desert lonely place was to Jacob “the House of God.” Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel” about 1732 B.C. The first time the ex­pression “the House of Israel” is found in the Scriptures is Exodus 40:38. That was about 1495 B.C. Now let us read Exodus 1:1 and Exodus 1:5, and learn that about 1710 B.C. seventy Israelites went down into Egypt. Then note about 1495 B. C.; Exodus 12:41. “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much ob­served unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt; this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the chil­dren of Israel in their generations.” “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.” Exodus 12:37. Out of “the house of bondage” went “the House of Israel” about 430 years after God called Abram to leave his home and loved ones. Genesis 12:1-4 - Galatians 3:8. Israel was forty years in the wilder­ness, journeying from Sinai to Canaan. Then they went to Canaan to become “the Commonwealth of Israel.” They reached Canaan about 1455 B. C. Now read Acts 13:17-23 : “The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king; and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years, And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will. Of this man’s seed hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” As God gave “the House of Israel” judges about the space of 450 years, He gave kings to reign over Israel and Judah about 500 years. Then about 606 B. C. Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon to Jerusalem. He be­sieged and destroyed the city, took the vessels out of the temple and took many of the Jews to Babylon. This was the be­ginning of “the times of the Gentiles.” Luke 21:24. Read the last two chapters of II Kings and Jeremiah. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IN THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES In Isaiah 43:7 God declared that Israel was created for His glory. In Romans 11:25-26 we read that a blindness in part is happened to Israel until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now read the judgment of the Lord Jesus upon that people and city. “There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:23-24. What are we to understand from these statements? God is not, by any means, through with the House of Israel. “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.” Hebrews 8:10-11. The Israelites are today where Christ said they would be, in Luke 21:24. So also is the city of Jerusalem. The future redemption of the House of Israel is re­corded in Luke 21:27-28 and Luke 21:31. “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.” “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the king­dom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke 21:27-28 and Luke 21:31. So we should realize how very impor­tant and imperative it is to know when God created Israel and when God set “the House of Israel” aside temporarily, if we are to enjoy and understand the Bible. Before God created Israel, from Adam to Jacob, God had some faithful servants, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Eber and Abram. None of these belonged to “the House of Israel.” Abram belonged to “the House of Shem” to “the House of Eber”, to “the House of Terah.” Terah, Abraham’s father, was an idolatrous Gen­tile. Joshua 24:2. ABRAHAM - ISAAC - JACOB - NOT UNDER LAW Abram was an Eberite, a Hebrew, a descendant of Adam, Noah, and Shem. But Abram was neither an Israelite nor a Jew. Abram did not belong to the House of Israel because there was no House of Israel at the time he died. Judah was the son of Jacob (Israel). Judah was the great grandson of Abraham. The Jews, as to race, were “Judahites”. But all Israelites became “Jews” by religion. Abram became “Abraham” when he was 99 years old. Genesis 17:7-17. Abram was justified in uncircumcision. Galatians 3:8 and Romans 4:8-11. But when Abram was declared righteous he was not baptized into the Body of Christ, as were Jews and Gentiles 1900 years later. 1 Corinthians 12:13. Abram was not under the law, or un­der the Mosaic Covenant that became the “Old Covenant” after Christ died on the cross. 2 Corinthians 3:13-15. Hebrews 8:11. Note carefully Galatians 3:19 and Romans 5:20-21 : THE LAW WAS ADDED. “WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW? IT WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS, TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME TO WHOM THE PROM­ISE WAS MADE; AND IT WAS ORDAIN­ED BY ANGELS IN THE HAND OF A MEDIATOR.” “MOREOVER THE LAW ENTERED, THAT THE OFFENCE MIGHT ABOUND. BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND: THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED UNTO DEATH, EVEN SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” Let us carefully compare these two verses of Scripture with Romans 5:13-14 “UNTIL THE LAW SIN WAS IN THE WORLD: BUT SIN IS NOT IMPUTED WHEN THERE IS NO LAW. NEVERTHE­LESS DEATH REIGNED “FROM ADAM TO MOSES.” ‘The period “from Adam to Moses” was subdivided into other periods or dis­pensations. “From Adam to Noah and the flood, about 1656 years.” “From Noah to the casting away of the Gentiles and the call and circumcision of Abra­ham, more than 400 years.” “From the call and justification of Abram to the adding of the law, the Old Testament and Israel’s religion (Hebrews 9:10), about 430 years.” LET US LEARN THESE IMPORTANT LESSONS First: That from Adam to Moses, about 2500 years, Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Levi, Joseph, and other men of God were not under the law. They were not Old Testament saints. In fact Moses was 80 years old when God gave the law to Israel at Sinai. They lived “when there was no law.” So God has very definitely marked a period in the Bible, designated FROM ADAM TO MOSES WHEN THERE IS NO LAW Second: We learn in Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:16-17 and Galatians 3:19, that 430 years before God added the (Old) Testament at Sinai, God preached the gospel to un­circumcised Abram, and by faith Abram was declared righteous. Let us keep in mind that the covenant given to Israel at Sinai was entirely new to Israel at that time and it did not become “Old” until after Christ had died on the cross. Abraham was circumcised at the age of 99. Genesis 17:7-17. With that cove­nant of circumcision (Acts 7:8) God cut off the Gentiles and began a new Divine movement. Romans 1:21-31. God made a covenant with Abraham in which He guaranteed to Abraham’s seed (Israel) the land of Canaan. He con­firmed that covenant with an oath. Third: We learn in Galatians 3:16-19 that God added the law to the gospel preached to Abraham, to the covenant of promise which God gave to Abraham 430 years before Moses was on Mount Sinai. God added the “Law” Covenant to the Abrahamic Covenant. The “Law” Cov­enant was abolished after Christ died on the cross. But the Abrahamic Covenant has not been annulled. Because of this Covenant Israel will yet be saved. Romans 11:26-29. Fourth: We learn in Matthew 1:1, that Jesus Christ was the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. In Romans 15:8, we learn that Jesus Christ was the Minister of the circumcision to confirm promises which God made to Israel. In Galatians 4:4 we learn that Jesus Christ was born under the Old Testament to redeem them that were under the Old Covenant. In Luke 2:12-20 we learn that Jesus Christ was circumcised. In Hebrews 9:15, we learn that Jesus Christ was the Medi­ator of the New Covenant. Jesus Christ was sent only to the children of Abraham (Israel), while on earth. Matthew 15:24. Luke 13:16. Luke 19:9. Fifth. We learn in Romans 11:15 that the glorified risen Christ sent Paul with the message of reconciliation to Gentiles when and because Israel was cast away. Then and there began “the times of the Gentiles” spiritually. Since that time we have been living in “the times of the Gentiles” in every sense of the word. It is so important that we see “the times of the Gentiles” began with Nebuchad­nezzar, politically, and with Paul spirit­ually. Premillenarians are dispensational Bible-teachers and all dispensational Pre­millenarians teach that when “the House of Israel” fell, God began to build a new and different House, “the House of God” of 1 Timothy 3:15. Then believing Jews and Gentiles were baptized by the One Spirit into the One Body. 1 Corinthians 12:13. That One Body is called in Ephesians 3:6, “the Joint­Body.” Divine Truth concerning this “Joint-Body,” its hope and calling, is called “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Ephesians 3:8. The word “unsearchable” means “not-­to-be-tracked.” That truth was not prophesied by Israel’s prophets. It was called God’s Secret. Ephesians 3:9. It was disclosed to Paul, and by him to us. And it is our duty “to make all see what is the dispensation of the Secret.” Ephesians 3:9. “Having made known the Mystery of His will.” Ephesians 1:9. WHEN DID THE BODY BEGIN? The historical beginning of “the Church of the Mystery” was not while Christ was on earth. And assuredly “the Church of the Mystery,” disclosed to Paul, did not begin with Peter on Israel’s feast day, Pentecost. Let us learn that “the Body of Christ” is “the Church of God,” but “the Church of God” is not always “the Body of Christ.” Note the definition of the Body of Christ in Ephesians 1:23, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” The Church is one flesh with Christ. This was one phase of “the Mystery.” Ephesians 5:30-31. Now let us carefully read and consider the radical change recorded in Acts 14:27. In that verse we learn that God opened up the door of salvation unto the Gentiles shortly after the Holy Spirit said, “separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them,” (Acts 13:2), shortly after Paul turned from the Jews and said, “lo, we turn unto the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. We would impress upon your minds and hearts the importance of marking the change from Jews to Gentiles in Acts 13:46, Acts 14:27, Acts 18:5-6, Romans 11:11-15, and Acts 28:25-28. NO DIFFERENCE In Matthew 15:24-28 we learn the great difference between Jews and Gen­tiles, “children” and “dogs.” In Romans 10:10-15 we learn that difference no longer existed. Believing Jews and Gentiles were then one in Christ and all bap­tized into One Body by One Spirit. Galatians 3:26-28, 1 Corinthians 12:13. Romans 6:14 : “Ye are not under the law. “ MEMBERS OF CHRIST Now let us note Romans 12:4-5 : “For as we have many members in one Body and all members have not the same office, go, we being many, are one Body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Note how this was accomplished in Romans 6:3-4 : believers were bap­tized into the death of Christ, buried with Him by baptism, and raised to walk in newness, of life. Christ’s Body is called in Ephesians 3:6, “the Joint-Body.” We learned in 1 Corinthians 10:32 that the members of Christ’s Body were not to offend Jews, Gentiles, or the Church of God. In 2 Timothy 2:15, members of Christ’s Body are thus instructed, “rightly divid­ing the Word of Truth.” GOD’S DIVINE PRINCIPLE Let us study the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as from Genesis to Malachi, and the first twelve chapters of Acts, in the light of God’s truth revealed after the radical change marked by Acts 14:27. Then let us study all Divine Truth, from Acts 14:27 to the other radical change, marked by Acts 28:25-28, in the light of Paul’s Epistles, written after the close of the “Acts” period. Thus we should find that God’s “gold­en key” for the interpretation, appro­priation, application and enjoyment of the Scriptures, is in the “Body Truth” in Paul’s Prison Epistles. Let us study all Scripture in the light of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Titus, II Timothy and other Epistles and be careful not to frustrate the grace of. God or eliminate any precious truth that God wants brought over from some former dispensation. “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 this mystery among the Gentiles; Which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:24-27. NOTHING TO PAY Nothing to pay ! Yes, this is true, There is nothing left for the sinner to do. There’s nothing to pay to earn God’s love There’s nothing to pay for a home above. The sinner has nothing good within; The sinner has nothing to pay for sin. No human can keep God’s holy law None can remove a single flaw. God’s debtors we are in our bankrupt state ; How can we pay our debt so great? Apart from grace, though doing our best, We find no pardon, peace or rest. Christ came from heaven to die on the tree. Eternal life! God’s gift, is free; For God hath accepted the work of His Son, He saves, guilty sinners by the work He has done. God saves by grace, without good deeds; Christ is all that the sinner needs This is the gospel so often we’ve heard The message of grace in God’s own Word. Why should a sinner think he can aid? Why should he pay what Christ has paid? No value is there in a human plan; But Christ tasted death for every man. No payment more will God require, What more than Christ should man de­sire ? Complete in Christ and justified, Forgiven, cleansed and sanctified. Let us thank God for His infinite grace; And the Saviour Who was willing to die in our place, To die on the cross to put sin away, Rejoicing to know there’s nothing to pay. The work of our Saviour we’ll never forget; Forever we’ll praise Him for paying our debt. We’ll honor and praise Him, looking above, Seeking each day to be filled with His love. Yes, looking to Jesus, we’ll run well the race, Depending each day on God’s wonderful grace. God’s Word is true; we’re sure of re­ward For all that is done in the name of the Lord, ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: S. HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE ======================================================================== HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE BY PASTOR CHAS. F. BAKER Are you one of that large class of people who has tried to read and to study the Bible, only to discover that you didn’t get out of it what you expected, or what others seem to get? If so, this article is especially for you. Your failure to under­stand the Bible and to be blessed by it was caused either by an unspiritual or an unintelligent manner of ap­proach, or perhaps both. It may be that you are an unbeliever, hence possessing no spiritual life, and you didn’t understand that the Bible is a spiritual book. “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” (1 Corinthians 2:14). If so, you need to receive Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, and when you do God will give you His Holy Spirit, who inspired the Bible and who alone can make it known (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; 1 John 2:27). It may be that you are saved, and yet the Bible has no particular appeal or meaning to you. And why? It is either because you are living an unyielding and unspiritual life in which the Spirit of God is grieved (1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Ephesians 4:30-32); or else you have approached the Bible unintelligently, opening it at random, having no idea who is be­ing addressed, what the subject is, or what the application may be to yourself. If you studied any other book in the world in the same man­ner, you would get just as little out of it as you do from your hit-and ­miss, or perhaps, miss-and-miss Bible reading. It is impossible for me to give you the Spirit of God or a spiritual life - those are matters which you must settle between yourself and God - but I can endeavour to give a bird’s eye view of the Bible which will help you to approach the Book intelligently Several facts and principles should be kept in mind. First, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Second, not all Scripture was given at once nor addressed to the same people. The writing of the Bible covered some fifteen to sixteen hundred years. It is a progressive revelation. Third, the Bible contains not only truth but lies. Inspiration guarantees that a lie be recorded exact­ly as it was spoken, and branded as such. See Genesis 3:4; Genesis 4:9; Genesis 18:15; Genesis 27:31-32; 1 Samuel 15:13; 1 Samuel 19:14; 1 Samuel 21:2; 2 Kings 5:22; Job 2:4; Matthew 26:72; Acts 5:4. In other words, everything in the Bible is recorded truthfully, even though it be a lie. Fourth, The Bible contains God’s re­velation to man, which is that knowledge of Himself and His will and purpose which man could never know by intuition or by knowledge acquired through the experience of his five senses. Fifth, the Bible is to be taken literally, except in those places where a figurative or symbolic meaning is clearly implied. Remem­ber that the Bible was written for the common people, not for an educated priest-craft, and that it is in the lan­guage of the common people. Sixth the Bible, because it is a dispensa­tional Book, must be rightly divided in order to be rightly understood, 2 Timothy 2:15. Miles Coverdale, the first man to translate the entire Bible into the English language, wrote: “It shall greatly help ye to under­stand Scripture, if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, con­sidering what goeth before and what followeth.” The Bible may be approached from a four-fold point of view: His­torically, Spiritually, Typically, and Dispensationally. True Bible study should combine all four. The follow­ing may serve as a simple historical outline of the Bible. The original creation - “in the beginning”- no one knows how long ago this was, Genesis 1:2. The state of chaos which came upon creation, Genesis 1:2. The remaking of the universe and the creation of plant, animal, and human life, Genesis 1:3 to Genesis 2:25. The Temptation and Fall of Adam and Eve. Sin and death enter­ed the world. Genesis 3:1-24. 5. From the Fall to the Flood, about 1650 years, Genesis 4:1-26; Genesis 5:1-32; Genesis 6:1-22; Genesis 7:1-24; Genesis 8:1-22. 6. From the Flood to the Tower of Babel, about 100 years, Genesis 9:1-29 7. From Babel to call of Abram, about 300 years, latter half of Ge­nesis 11. From Abram to Moses, in­cluding lives of Abraham, Isaac, Ja­cob and his twelve sons, and the story of the Egyptian bondage, and deliverance about 500 years, Genesis 12:1-20 to Exodus 18:1-27. From Moses to Christ, about 1500 years, Exodus to Matthew. The Law given at Sinai, Exodus 19:1-25—Leviticus 27:1-34; 38 years of wild­erness wanderings because of unbelief, Numbers. Deuteronomy gives a review of Israel’s history and a restatement of the Law; Israel brought into Canaan by Joshua; Israel under the judges, about 300 years, judges and Ruth; Israel under kings Saul, David, and Solo­mon, I Samuel—1 Kings 11:1-43; I Chronicles—2 Chronicles 9:1-31; Is­rael divided into two kingdoms. Ten tribes carried captive by Assyria after 250 years; Judah endures 400 years until Babylonian captivity. 1 Kings 12:1-33—2 Kings 25:1-30; 2 Chronicles 10:16. Prophets of this period were Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. The 70 years of Babylonian captivity, Esther, Ezekiel, Daniel; The res­toration of Judah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; The 400 silent years until the birth of Jesus. Period of Persian, Graeco—Macedonian, and Roman servitude. From birth to death of Jesus Matthew through John. Jesus ministers only to Israel and not to Gentiles. Ministry of the 12 Apostles Israel, Acts 1:1-26; Acts 2:1-47; Acts 3:1-26; Acts 4:1-37; Acts 5:1-42; Acts 6:1-15; Acts 7:1-60; Acts 8:1-40; Acts 9:1-43; Acts 10:1-48; Acts 11:1-30; Acts 12:1-25. Ministry of Paul to Jews and until nation of Israel is divi­nely set aside, Acts 13:1-52; Acts 14:1-28; Acts 15:1-41; Acts 16:1-40; Acts 17:1-34; Acts 18:1-28; Acts 19:1-41; Acts 20:1-38; Acts 21:1-40; Acts 22:1-30; Acts 23:1-35; Acts 24:1-27; Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32; Acts 27:1-44; Acts 28:1-31. Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Thessalon­ians written during this period. Further ministry of Paul to the Body of Christ until his death at Rome, covered in Ephesians, Phi­lippians, Colossians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon. Prophecy of future tribulation and Kingdom at Second Coming of Christ, Revelation. The Bible is not a mere history book, although it does record historical events, over a period of 4000 years, with a pre-written history of the future. Everything, including the events of history, was written down for our admonition, for spiritual lessons (1 Corinthians 10:6 and 1 Corinthians 10:11). The natural mind can understand the history, but only the spiritual mind can grasp the spiritual significance of that history. Even the names and numbers in the Bible have significance. Care must be taken not to go into fanciful extremes or the denial of the literal facts of the Bible in trying to spiritualize these things. The first five books of the Bible have been called the Divine Kinder­garten. There God revealed in type, shadow, and symbol, through sacri­fices, ceremonies, and ordinances, His redemptive plan and work which was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Book of Hebrews is the especial commentary upon those shadows of which Christ is the reality. The nec­essity, meaning and accomplishments of Christ’s death can hardly be un­derstood apart from these types. But to continue practicing these ceremo­nies and ordinances of religion after Christ has fulfilled them all, is to deny Christ and His work, and to fall away from Grace and to go back under the Law and its curse. Apart from a dispensational ap­proach the Bible will appear to be filled with contradictions. A dis­pensation is a divine stewardship or economy in which God deals with man in a certain manner. If God imposes or removes restrictions or commands, or changes His purposes, it may be said that the dispensation has changed. If one persists in doing a thing which God has changed, al­though he is obedient to an earlier command or order, he is disobedient to a later one, and is therefore undis­pensational. Some things remain the same in all dispensations, others are radically changed. Careful study and rightly dividing the Word alone will reveal which. There is disagreement as to the number of dispensations, but dispensational changes should surely be recognized at the Fall of man, at the Flood, at Babel, at the call of Abraham and the giving of Circumcision, at the giving of the Law, at the Cross and Pentecost, at the beginning of Gentile ministry in Acts 13:1-52, at the setting aside of na­tional Israel at Acts 28:1-31, and in the future at the rapture of the Church, at the Second Coming of Christ, and at the New Heavens and the New Earth. We are at present living in the Dispensation of the Mystery and of the Grace of God. (Ephesians 3:2, Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:25-26). INSIDE BACK COVER 2 Timothy 1:7-14 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 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 is now 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; WHEREUNTO I AM APPOINTED A PREACHER, AND AN APOSTLE, AND A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES. For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep THAT (my deposit: Greek text) which I have committed unto Him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. THAT GOOD THING (deposit) which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Spirit Which dwelleth in us.” 2 Timothy 2:1-15 “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. AND THE THINGS THAT THOU HAST HEARD OF ME AMONG MANY WITNESSES, THE SAME COMMIT THOU TO FAITHFUL MEN, WHO SHALL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead ac­cording to my gospel: Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him; we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us: If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself. Of these things put them in remembrance; charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. STUDY TO SHEW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: S. IMPOSSIBLE ======================================================================== IMPOSSIBLE Hebrews 6:4-10 CHAS. F. BAKER The impossibility expressed in Hebrews 6:4-6, namely the impossibility of renewing certain people to repentance, has caused difficulty to almost every Christian who has read the passage. It troubles those who believe in the eternal se­curity of the believers; for it seems to teach that some will fall away and be lost, and it troubles those who believe that salvation may be lost; for it seems to teach the impossibility of one ever being saved again after having fallen away. It is the author’s opinion that a careful examination of the text itself, along with a dispensational interpretation of the pas­sage, will clear away all seeming difficulties. It may be well to state first of all what the passage does not teach. It does not teach that the falling away is the result of sinful acts or immorality or indecency, but it is the result of going back to the first principles or shadows of Judaism, instead of going on to perfection in Christ who is the fulfillment and end of Judaism. Neither does the passage teach the impossibility of the grace of God availing for any sinner, no matter what his sin may have been. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Even under the Law God stood all the day long with outstretched hands to that disobedient and gainsaying people (Isaiah 65:2), and how much more gracious is He now in this dispensation of the grace of God. If you are unsaved, all of your sins are unforgiven, but not one is unforgiveable if you by faith re­ceive Jesus Christ as Saviour. If you are saved, you have already been forgiven all trespasses Colossians 2:13; for Christ your substitute suffered the penalty for all of them. If you are a child of God but have left the Father’s house, as did the prodigal (Luke 15:1-32), remember that while the son was yet a great way off, the father was moved with compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. There is not a passage in the Bible which teaches that God will not receive the sinner whose heart is turned to Him, no matter how great his sin may be. Therefore, the subject of this passage is seen to be outside the category of general sinning and a renewing to repentance. It will be helpful next to examine the text a little more critically. This is one passage which should be read in the Revised Version for greater clearness of meaning. The Authorized Version clouds the meaning by placing an “if” at, the beginning of verse six, which is not in the Greek text nor in the Revised Version, and by translating, “seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,” instead of, “while they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh”. A very literal translation of the passage would read: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, as well as tasting of the heavenly gift and becoming partakers of Holy Spirit, both tasting the good Word of God and the mir­acles of the coming age, and are falling aside, to be renewing them again unto repentance while crucifying again for them­selves the Son of God and putting Him to open shame.” This translation is not a private interpretation, but is in harmony with other more accurate and recognized translations. It makes one point very plain, and that is that the impossibility is not caused by one act of sin or of rejection, but by the con­tinuation in that falling back into a religion which has been brought to an end through the death of Christ. It is impos­sible to renew them to repentance while they are crucifying again the Son of God. But there is nothing here nor in any other place which would indicate the impossibility of such an one being saved if he desisted from putting the Son of God to an open shame and instead turned to Him and con­fessed Him as Saviour. The impossibility continues only as long as the re-crucifying of the Son of God continues. This should satisfy any soul who is trusting in Jesus that this pas­sage has no reference whatsoever to themselves. But to whom does it have reference? This passage had reference and primary application to those Hebrews who lived in the days of the apostles, when God’s dispensations were changing, when the old was decay­ing and vanishing away and the new was being established (Hebrews 8:13). There is no one upon earth today who could possibly exist under similar conditions; for these con­ditions have passed away and no longer exist. Adam lived under what is called the dispensation of Innocence and also the dispensation of Conscience; Noah lived under the dispen­sations of Conscience and of Human Government; Abraham lived under those of Human Government and of Promise; Moses likewise saw two dispensations, that of Promise and that of the Law added. It should not be difficult for anyone to see the impossibility of one today in this dispensation of the Grace of God living in exactly the same circumstances and in the standing before God which Adam knew in Inno­cence or that Moses knew under the Law, or that any one in any other dispensation past or future has known or yet will know. In like manner, the Hebrews addressed here had been born under the Law and in their lifetime they were seeing a change of Dispensation from Law to Grace. No other gen­eration has gone or ever will go through this experience. They were adherents of Judaism and as such they were children of God in covenant relationship, and that even after they had crucified the Lord Jesus Acts 3:17, Acts 3:25; Ephesians 2:11-12, Ephesians 2:17). It is evident that no Gentile could ever stand in this position; for all Gentiles were aliens and strangers from the covenants, and were not nigh to God, but afar off. These Hebrews who had been reared under a Divine religion which stood only in meats and drinks and divers baptisms and carnal ordinances (Hebrews 9:10), are now informed that the One who was typified by all of this religion has now come and by means of His efficacious and vicarious death He has brought an end to that religion and that its forms and ceremonies and sacrifices have no further meaning. Peter had told them at Pentecost that they crucified their Messiah in ignorance and that God was willing to forgive them and to send Jesus back to them if they would only repent (Acts 3:17-21), but Paul tells them in Hebrews 6:4 that they are no longer in ignorance, but have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and that to again reject the Son of God after His resurrection and the manifestation of the powers of the Millennial Age, was to recrucify for themselves the Son of God and to make impossible their salvation. These people had crucified Him once, and now there was the danger that they would by their action crucify Him again. It would be impossible for any today to recrucify Him in that sense; for none such had part in His first crucifixion. We may crucify Him by rejecting Him, but we cannot re-crucify Him, as could these Hebrews. The true meaning of the passage can be found only by considering it in the light of its context (Hebrews 5:11 through Hebrews 6:9), as well as in the light of the entire epistle and its relation­ship to the other epistles of the New Testament Scripture. “The first principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews 5:12) are synon­ymous with “the principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6:1). These principles or rudiments were the foundations of Juda­ism. These Hebrews should have known that all of their religion was typical and emblematic of a Reality which was yet to come, but they didn’t, and the Apostle said that they needed a teacher to instruct them in these things which con­cerned infanthood. Being instructed concerning these things in this epistle, they are told to leave behind (same word translated “forgive, send away, neglect”, etc.) these first principles and to go on to perfection (or to maturity; the same word translated “full age” in Hebrews 5:14). Judaism was the kindergarten, but Christ was and is the University for those of full age. If a university graduate should go back to kin­dergarten, he would by that act be making void all that he had acquired in college; and just so for one to return to re­ligion after being enlightened concerning the crucified and resurrected Christ, was to make Christ of none effect. The kindergarten had its place once, but there, is no place for it now that Christ has come. These Hebrews had now come to a place of crisis. The book of Hebrews makes it to be another and a greater Kadesh-barnea (Hebrews 3:7-19). They had to choose whether they would go on with Christ or go back to their religion. The former involved going forth unto Jesus outside the camp, bearing His reproach (Hebrews 13:13), the leaving behind of the ceremonies and ordinances of their religion, and the desertion of their magnificent temple; the latter re­sulted in crucifying afresh the Son of God, putting Him to an open shame. Those who fell in the latter class were like the land which drank in rain from heaven but brought forth thorns and thistles, being rejected and nigh to cursing. Considered in the light of the entire New Testament Scrip­ture it is interesting to notice that Hebrews 6:4-5 refers to the Pentecostal experience. The whole nation was enlight­ened and made to taste of the heavenly gift, as Israel of old tasted of the good fruit of the land which the spies brought back (Numbers 13:25-27), they were made partakers of Holy Spirit (the name so used without the definite article usually refers to powerful manifestation of the Person of the Spirit, but not to the Spirit Himself), and they tasted of the powers of the age to come. It is noteworthy here to understand that the miracles of the Pentecostal era were manifestations of the powers of the age to come (i.e., the Millennium), and not a means of establishing the Body of Christ in the world, as is so often taught. To reject this testimony of the Holy Spirit was to sin against the Holy Spirit. They had sinned against the Son of Man in crucify­ing Him, but that had been forgiven them (Luke 23:34). Now they were sinning against the Holy Spirit, and in so do­ing they were re-crucifying the Son of God, and there was no forgiveness possible for that sin (Luke 12:10); for in that sin they had rejected the once for all sacrifice for sins which Christ had made, and there remained no more a sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:28). There is only one sin that the death of Christ cannot cover, and that is the sin of re-crucifying Him, and thus making void the once for all sacrifice for sins. The nation of Israel committed this sin all during the period of the book of Acts, and forty years after Pentecost God de­stroyed their city, their temple and their religion. The Apostle Paul is proof that one may commit the unpar­donable sin, and yet be pardoned. His own testimony con­cerning himself was: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious” (1 Timothy 1:13). It was the Holy Spirit who was witnessing to the resurrection of Christ in the Acts period, and Saul was blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. This constituted the unpardonable sin, and the re-crucifying of the Son of God. But God’s grace found this blaspheming Saul, the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:14-15), and not only saved him, but made him the greatest apostle and exponent of the grace of God that the world has ever known. Paul’s experience does not contradict the fact of an unpardonable sin, but shows that sin to be that of continuing to crucify afresh the Son of God, and the while one is doing that it is impossible to renew him to repentance. Saul ceased and was saved. Likewise, it is impossible today for sinners to be saved the while they reject the Son of God, but if they cease they may be saved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: S. INTO GOD'S MARVELOUS LIGHT ======================================================================== INTO GOD’S MARVELOUS LIGHT By Pastor John C. O’Hair “That ye should show forth praises of Him, Who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. “God’s marvelous light.” Inasmuch as God is a marve­lous God, we are sure that His light is marvelous. And we marvel that into that marvelous light we have been called, “out of darkness.” The Bible is a story of “darkness” and “light”. The his­tory of the sinner saved by grace is the story of darkness and light. God’s grace finds the sinner, where the first chapter of the Bible finds the earth, in darkness and chaos. But “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” Genesis 1:3-5 and Genesis 1:16. The first day of the Christian is the day when God speaks light into his soul. “The way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble.” “But the path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:18-19. Concerning the Son of God’s love, we read these words “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4-5 and John 1:9. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent from heaven, “to give light to them that sit in darkness.” Luke 1:79. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light.” Matthew 4:16. Great and marvelous is God’s light as given to the world in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. When Saul of Tarsus was converted “there shined round about him a light from heaven.” Acts 9:3. After that he became the Apostle Paul and had much to say about light and the children of light. When Paul saw that light he heard the voice of the Light of the world Who said unto him, “I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Acts 26:18. All who are in darkness are in the power of Satan. “The whole world lieth in Satan.” 1 John 5:19. Therefore the whole world lieth in darkness. The soul of the sinner is in darkness even though he may be surrounded by many Christians and be influenced by Christian environment. It is the en­trance of God’s Word that giveth light. Psalms 119:105. It is God’s Word that tells of God’s Son and His glorious gospel. “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light and he does not want sinners to have the true light of the true gospel. The Gospel of Christ’s Glory transforms the believ­ing sinner and also translates him. Hear God’s Word: “Giv­ing thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us, into the kingdom of His dear Son: in Whom we have re­demption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:12-14. Now saints in light: Now delivered from the power of darkness. What a transformation! Called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Then God says to the believer, “be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers—What communion hath light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 8:14. How pitiable to see a child of light walking in darkness or enjoying fellowship with the children of darkness. God says to the believer: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Ephesians 5:11. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Romans 13:12. “Ye are all the chil­dren of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night: and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8. “For God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Php 2:15. “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill can­not be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Matthew 5:14-16. Believers are to walk in the light: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with an­other, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. Let us remember the words of the Psalmist: “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalms 27:1. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105. We must diligently, prayerfully, spiritually, systematically read and study and feed upon God’s Word and hide it in our heart if we walk through the darkness of this world in light. THE WORLD AND THE LIGHT “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of dark­ness for ever.” Jude 1:13. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4. “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.” 2 Peter 2:17. . “But he that, hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:11. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3:17-20. Because of evil deeds men still love darkness rather than light. ISRAEL’S DARKNESS Christ’s chosen race, His own Nation, refused the light of His revelation. And He said: “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:12. “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13. “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30. The story of the Nation Israel is told in the blindness of Bar-Jesus (meaning the child of Jehovah-Saviour). “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; add he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.” Acts 13:10-11. Israel is blind, not seeing the Son for a season. But they will yet say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They rejected their Messiah with this cry, “Away with Him, Crucify Him.” “We have no king but Caesar.” Christ went to Calvary to die because of man’s darkness “And they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched Him there.” Matthew 27:35-36. “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:45-46. “DARKNESS OVER ALL THE LAND” Christ was being made sin, made a curse. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Galatians 3:13. There will be darkness over that land again. “The sun is to be turned into darkness.” Joel 2:2; Joel 2:31; Zephaniah 1:15. THE MILLENNIUM LIGHT “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee and give thee for a cove­nant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” Isaiah 42:6. “Then shall Thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.” Isaiah 58:8. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light; and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3. “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory Thy sun shall no more go down: neither shall thy moon with draw itself for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” Isaiah 60:13 and Isaiah 60:20. “And there shall be no night there: and they need NO candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 22:5. Sinner, come on out of that darkness before you enter into everlasting darkness. Fellow-believer, let us be indeed and in truth children of light. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: S. IS IT UNSCRIPTURAL TO GIVE A PUBLIC INVITATION TO SINNERS TO ACCEPT CHRIST? ======================================================================== IS IT UNSCRIPTURAL TO GIVE A PUBLIC INVITATION TO SINNERS TO ACCEPT CHRIST? By Pastor John C. O’Hair The immediate response to this in the heart and mind of the great majority of Christians is, “how absurd to ask such a ridiculous question.” But we present the question for more than a moment’s consideration and for more than your own private and personal opinion. There are many practices in churches today which may seem right in the eyes of all people but which do not have the Divine sanction of the Word of God. We are perhaps familiar with the theological controversies that have taken place from time to time during the past two or three cen­turies in America and Europe between the “Hyper-Calvinists” and the “Arminians”, “Irresistible Grace” versus “Free Will”. The “Irre­sistible Grace” theologians have been frequently called “Fatalists”, because they have taught that the omniscient God, knowing the end from the beginning, has not only foreknown the eternal destiny of every member of the human race, but He has arbitrarily predesti­nated and foreordained that some should be the vessels of His wrath. They quote in support of this teaching Romans 9:22 with other scrip­tures such as Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2. I was preaching the Gospel for ten days in a southern town. I was asked to call on a prominent business man, who had made it a practice to criticize and condemn every evangelist, as well as the local pastors, who had proclaimed a “whosoever” message. He was especially bitter and sarcastic in his denunciation of what he called the high-pressure tactics and cunning tricks of the professional evan­gelists. If he had the right to be the judge in such matters, perhaps some of his criticisms were just. There are many who are quite sure that these so-called professional evangelists have done much harm to the Lord’s work by substituting carnal schemes, clever methods and a compromise message for a spiritual, Scriptural method and for God’s pure Gospel of grace. How many times have we heard the statement, “professional evangelists have killed evangelism”. The only thing that can kill true evangelism is for the servants of the Lord to cease to proclaim the pure evangel or cease to get to the sinners with that saving message. When I called on the “critic” I found him to be quite a theologian, and from his own theological point of view quite a student of Scrip­tures. He told me that his father for many years was a Primitive Baptist preacher. He was quite sure that his father belonged to the elect; but he had serious doubt as to his own spiritual welfare. Then he added, “my own deep concern can never alter the foreordained decree of God. If God knows that I am predestined to be a vessel of wrath, all of your preaching and all my anxiety and emotional de­sires and struggles will not change God’s mind. If I am ordained to be numbered with the elect, God knows all about it and He will yet call and justify me.” Romans 8:29-30; Acts 13:48. All my ap­peal to the Scriptures to show him the responsibility of man was in vain. When I left him he said, “perhaps when you come again I will be numbered with the elect.” I asked him if he would have assurance, if and when God should elect him to eternal life. He was quite posi­tive that he would. This man was also quite positive that Christ died for the elect; and he was also of the opinion that the number was not only strictly limited, but limited a very small percentage of the human race. In recent years there has been quite a revival of Universalism in the religious movements of Charles T. Russell and Judge Rutherford known as “Jehovah’s Witnesses” alias “International Bible Students”, alias “Millennial Dawnism”. They have worked out a salvation scheme to refute all the arguments and counteract all the evil influences of the “limited atonement” theologians. Along the same line we now find the literature of the “Universal Reconciliationalists”, claiming by Colossians 1:20 and a few other disconnected Scriptures that the atonement (reconciliation) by Christ on the cross was so unlimited that all humanity will finally be reconciled to God; and perhaps Satan also and the fallen angels. Those of us who are somewhat familiar with this movement know what it has done to the evangelistic zeal of preachers who have been caught in its grip. Several years ago I was an eye-witness of the wreck of a spiritual assembly of the Lord produced by a “limited atonement” preacher who viciously denounced, as servants of Satan, every evangelist and pastor who preached what he called a “whosoever Gospel.” He was a very clever juggler of the Scriptures, and won for the defense of his “elec­tion” hobby a sufficient number of the leaders in the assembly to control the work. About seventy per cent of the believers withdrew and were scattered. There was no longer a sane, spiritual testimony given out by the believers left behind: It is needless to add that mis­sionary zeal died out and soul-saving ceased in that assembly. But here is an interesting fact: One of the believers, who withdrew from the assembly to which we have just referred, ascertained from those who remained with the “election” preacher that, without a single ex­ception, one hundred per cent of them, as well as the preacher him­self, had been saved by hearing and responding to what they called the “whosoever Gospel”. Mr. Moody related an experience with one of his critics who protested against his emotional urge and his prolonged appeal to sinners to accept Christ. He asked “how do you know they have been elected?” He proceeded to preach “predestination” and “foreordination” to Mr. Moody. Mr. Moody very graciously replied to the man with this statement, “I feel quite sure if by chance a sinner, who had not been elected, should believe the Gospel, should respond to his invitation and receive Christ, that God will forgive me for my blunder.” Perhaps you have heard of the evangelist who had preached several nights about the death of the Lord Jesus, in sincerity and with deep devotion, describing the sufferings and sacrifice of the eternal Christ, saw no visible effects upon his audience. Then, with much pathos in his voice, he related a story. It was the unsuccessful attempt of a father to save a drowning dog, a pet of his little son, who looked on the scene with tearful eyes and pleading cries. As the evangelist pictured the last death struggle of the dog, he observed that there were but few dry eyes in the audience. A number responded to his invitation. Later on in the meetings he reminded them that not one had shed a tear when he had described the death of the Son of God on the cross, but most of them cried over the drowning dog. It is rather unfortunate that in many meetings the success of an evangelist and the amount of his pay-check depend upon the number of hands that are raised in the meetings. This is rather a temptation. Many men of God fall into the trap and are not altogether honest in their invitations; they make them so broad and so general that a larger number may respond and give to the evangelist his coveted record. It is interesting to compare God’s assurances to Paul and Paul’s appeals, recorded in the Book of Acts. God assured Paul that he would reach Rome: yet Paul solicited human aid and appealed to Caesar. Acts 23:11, Acts 23:17. “I appeal unto Caesar.” Acts 25:11. Again: “Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” Acts 27:24. “I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.” Acts 27:22-23. Paul is sure to reach Rome. All aboard the sinking vessel are sure to reach land in safety. It is an assured fact. But hear the word: “Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” Acts 27:31. We can never remove the human element from salvation Compare Ephesians 1:4-5 with Colossians 1:23 : “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 Ephesians 1:4-5. 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 heaves; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Colossians 1:23. As to the sinner’s responsibility in the matter of salvation, it is clearly set forth in Romans 10:8-13, “the word of faith his heart”, “believe and confess”, “call upon the name of the Lord. And the preacher’s responsibility is set forth in the verses that immediately follow; Romans 10:14-15. The preacher will be held responsible for withholding or proclaiming the saving Gospel. Read carefully 2 Corinthians 5:11 as to why believers should persuade unbelievers. There is no Scripture limiting the ambassador of Christ to a private interview with a sinner. Whether private or public every Christian worker should believe John 6:44 and John 6:37 : “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. The Christian worker should make no attempt to do the work of God or the Holy Spirit. “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; Of sin, because they believe not on Me.” John 16:8-9. “I (Paul) have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-8. The sinner’s salvation is accomplished according to 2 Thessalonians 2:13 : “But we are bound to give thanks alway 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.” But the true servant of the Lord will never forget Romans 10:14-15 : “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? at how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” In the light of the foregoing Scriptures no servant of the Lord will allow himself to be put in bondage by the dictation of theological critics; but will look to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word for direction, and give God’s invitation to sinners privately or publicly, just as frequently as the opportunity is at hand. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: S. IS THE ONE BODY OF ROMANS THE ONE BODY OF EPHESIANS? ======================================================================== IS THE ONE BODY OF ROMANS THE ONE BODY OF EPHESIANS? By Pastor John C. O’Hair By request I am printing this message on the Body in the Epistle to the Romans. Let me say, first, that I have sympathy with brethren who are troubled with the problem of the “fatherhood of Abraham” and “the root and fatness of the olive tree” of Romans 4:16 and Romans 11:17, with that ever present question: “Are members of the Body of Christ the seed of Abraham and “Is the Body of Christ ‘Spiritual Israel’?” I have tried to see a new Body beginning after that im­portant climax in Acts 28:25-28; but I have seen too much spirit­ual disaster result from unsound exegesis and fanciful speculation of well meaning brethren, who have not only distinguished between things that differ, but between imaginary differences. Many of them begin by eliminating all that pertains to the New Covenant and they proceed to eliminate some things that they imagine are exclusively associated with the New Covenant, dropping the Lord’s Supper, the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the judgment seat of 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Romans 14:10, the believer’s need of a high Priest, Intercessor, or Advocate. These eliminations are only step­ping stones toward other eliminations. In their determination and zeal to prove that these things are not binding on members of the Body of Christ, these brethren seek to prove that John wrote his Gospel, his three Epistles and Revelation before Paul wrote Colossians 1:24-28 (about 65 A.D.). Begin­ning the Body of Christ, of which we are members, this side of Acts 28:25-28, it leaves it optional with the individual member, accord­ing to his judgment or inclination, as to what orders he accepts from Romans, Galatians and Corinthians. The selections and rejections may be according to the peculiar fancies of the different individual Christians. By such an unwise, unsound and unscriptural procedure many unconsciously and unintentionally use the pen-knife of so-called dispensationalism joining with Jehudi. I am satisfied that the Enemy is responsible for these “extremists” to hinder the progress that has been made in recent years to uncover the glorious message of salvation by grace so long covered up in de­nominational creeds and religious traditions, and recover the blessed truth of the One Body. Let us pray that God may give us that power, love and sound mind along with 2 Timothy 2:15. May I beseech believers, who are eager for the clear message of grace and the Lord’s spiritual program for His Body today, not to rush hastily into these fantastic ideas. Be careful, prayerful and spiritual in your Bible study. With all my heart I do believe in “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” In no other way can we hope to deliver believers from the ritualism, fanaticism and undispensational mixtures so prevalent. We must “test the things that differ”, if we are to intelligently inter­pret and apply the Scriptures; that is, we should test and see if they really do differ. But that does not give us liberty to force the difference to support our theory of interpretation. Surely no intelligent student of the Word should deny that there is a difference between Paul’s preaching the faith that he once de­stroyed and the gospel of the uncircumcision which was unknown to any of the apostles at the time Paul was in the faith-destroying busi­ness. Most assuredly there is a difference between the counsel of God referred to in Acts 20:27 and the eternal purpose of God in Christ, mentioned in Ephesians 3:11 and 2 Timothy 1:9-10. And according to internal Scriptural evidence and the opinion generally held by acceptable authorities, the Epistle to the Romans and II Cor­inthians were written after Paul’s declaration in Acts 20:24 and Acts 20:27. We would ask that you kindly read this chapter; for we shall refer principally to these two Epistles, Romans and II Corinthians, in our investigation and answer to the question under consideration. If you fail to read the full message, we suggest that you study diligently, prayerfully and spiritually the twenty questions at the close and answer them from the Word of God. To teach that all that the Holy Spirit wrote by the pen of the Apostle Paul in Romans and II Corinthians was known to Moses and the prophets and is mentioned in their writings, is certainly not the mark of intelligent and careful Bible searching. And likewise, to agree that the mystery refers to that which was “unprophesied” but revealed by the risen Christ, and then teach that that mystery is not found in some of Paul’s Epistles, written during the “Acts” period, is teaching wholly unworthy of any Christian who passes for a com­petent and spiritual Bible teacher. On the other hand, to teach that there are not glorious truths presented in Paul’s prison Epistles, not found in his other Epistles, regardless of the time he received the revelation of these truths is just as absurd. IS THE BODY OF ROMANS THE BODY OF EPHESIANS? It is conceded by all intelligent students of the Scriptures that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans about 60 A.D. This Epistle is the only one that Paul wrote before he visited the city and ministered, to the people of the city in person. We read these words in Romans 1:13, “Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was hindered hitherto.” “I long to see you.” Romans 1:11. Perhaps the very same year that Paul wrote to the Rom­ans, “The Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Acts 23:11. About four years before this testimony came to Paul from the Lord Paul said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also see Rome.” Acts 19:21. In Romans 15:24 we read these words of Paul, written to the saints at Rome; “Whenever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you.” Unlike the opening verses of other of Paul’s Epistles, he does not address the Epistle to the Romans, “to the Church which is at Rome”, but “to all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Romans 1:7. The word “church” does not appear in the Epistle until the last verse is reached. “Church­es” is found in Romans 16:4 and Romans 16:16. “Church” is found in Romans 16:5; Romans 16:23. In Romans 16:5 reference is made to the “church” which is in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. The word church is the Greek word “ekklesia”. The verb is “ek . . kaleo”, mean­ing to call out. The Greek verb “Kaleo”, in several forms, is translated “call” one hundred times in the New Testament Scriptures. There is a mystery, mentioned in the Bible in connection with a certain Church in that Bible, but it is rather unfortunate that the word “church” has for centuries been shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. From the Greek word, translated several hundred times in the New Testament Scriptures, “Lord”, we get our word “church”. The Greek word is “Kurios”. We simply state these facts that our readers may know how indefinite is the word “church” when it is found in the Scriptures, unless de­fined. The word is found in Acts 19:32, Acts 19:39, translated “assembly”, referring to sinners. Also in Acts 7:38, refer­ring to Israel in the wilderness, 1490 B.C. Because of the many “churches” in Christendom today we emphasize a fact known to all earnest, intelligent stu­dents of the Word of God; and that is, that God has but one true Bible Church in this dispensation of Gentile favor, and God definitely designates that Church, “The Church which is Christ’s Body”. Ephesians 1:19-22. Colossians 1:24-28, Moreover God’s Word declares that in connection with that One Body, there is one Head, or Lord, one hope of your call­ing, one faith and one baptism, even as there is one Spirit. Ephesians 4:4-5. THERE IS ONE BODY Perhaps you are aware of the no small stir that is abroad concerning this One Body. In some sections of the land there is a controversy, even unpleasant in spots, and Fundamentalists are much exercised about definitely fixing the time of the beginning of this Body historically. They all know that this church was purposed by God in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world; that members of that Body were predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, to be children of God and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ; that members of His Body were chosen to be seated with Him where He now is, in the heavenlies, and there blessed with Him with all spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1:1-22. The Divine Record is, that that Body is One New Man. Ephesians 2:15. The aggressive Fundamentalists of today are mostly Pre­millenarians. All of these Premillenarians believe and teach that after this dispensation of grace, after the calling out of the Church, which is Christ’s Body, that is, after this Body has been filled up with the last member, the same Christ, who is now the Head of the Body, will return as King to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth. This will be the same Kingdom which Christ proclaimed when He was here as the Man Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of His people Israel. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Most of these aggressive Fundamentalists state dogmat­ically and positively that that Body had its birthday on the day of Pentecost, about fifty days after the resurrection of the Son of God. There are a number of objections to this date. Some of these aggressive Fundamentalists, very much in the minority, state with the same degree of dogmatism and positiveness, that that Church, the Body of Christ did not have its historical beginning until after the events, re­corded in the Book of Acts, had come to an end. They teach that the Body of Ephesians is altogether different from the Body of Romans. Let us now examine the Scriptures to see whether these things are true. That the Church of Christ, which existed before Paul reached Rome, was called “one Body”, no intelligent person would think of denying; for no language could be more sim­ple than this statement found in Romans 12:4-5; “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.” But these brethren, who fix the date of the beginning of the Body of Ephesians and Colossians after Paul’s arrival at Rome, state that the Body of Romans is a different Body, although it was the Church of God in Christ. No student should deny that in Ephesians and Colossians there is a position; that there are possessions; that there are glories; that there is a ministry belonging to the Body of Christ, not mentioned’ in Paul’s pre-prison Epistles. But let us show, by stating the blessings which are common to the Body of the “Acts” period and the Body of the later pe­riod, that the two Bodies are identical; at the same time agreeing with the “later-date” brethren that there is a new administration and order in the “Post-Acts” Church. This is quite different from teaching that there are two separate, different, or distinct Bodies. Some of these brethren seek to prove by 1 Timothy 4:13, Philemon 1:22 and 2 Timothy 1:15, that between Paul’s two imprisonments in Rome he went back to Asia (perhaps Europe also) and preached a message which superseded the message he had preached in the same cities before the “Acts” period closed. This was a new revelation from Christ and was the dispensation of the mystery”, the “untraceable riches of Christ”, guaranteeing to members of this new Body, a hope and a calling different from the hope and calling of the members of the Body in Romans. These brethren are divided as to whether the entire living membership of the Body of Romans was transferred into the new Body, or only those members who were willing to receive the new teaching; or whether all of the members of the first Body were left in the first Body, and only new converts were baptized into the “Post-Acts” Body. Of course, with this last theory, they have trouble getting Paul and Timothy and Luke and Titus into the new Body, but this does not seem to bother some of them. They are willing to leave them out, if this is necessary to prove their theory. THE KINGDOM AND THE BODY The Premillenarians, who teach that the Lord Jesus, while on earth, was offering the Kingdom of Heaven to the Nation Israel, admit that many individual Israelites were saved during those years of His earthly ministry. They say that any such saved Israelite, who died before Pentecost, died outside the Body of Christ, which did not begin until the day of Pentecost. They say they were not members of any Church; but that those who lived until the day of Pen­tecost became members of the Body of Christ. Perhaps you would like to ask them this question: “What about the Israelites who had visited the land of the Jews while Christ was in the flesh, had believed on Him, and then had gone back to their homes in Asia or Europe or the Islands of the sea? Without being present on the day of Pentecost, did the Holy Spirit fall on them at home and make them mem­bers of that Body, which so many teach began on the day of Pentecost?” We could ask them a hundred questions which they could not answer. But if they could, Scripturally, refer to the company of Israelites saved while Christ was on earth, as a “Kingdom Church,” because they entered the Kingdom and were the Lord’s “called-out”, perhaps it would not be unscriptural for them to say, that, on the day of Pentecost the “Kingdom” Church became the “Body” Church to which 3000 were added. Acts 2:41-47. We are referring to the dispensa­tionalism of the Premillenarians, who teach dogmatically that the Body of Ephesians 1:19-22 began on the day of Pentecost. It is the teaching of the brethren, who fix the historical beginning of the Body of Ephesians after Acts 28:31 that there was a “Kingdom” Church during the “Acts” period superseded by the Body, which began after that period. Be­cause they teach that the Church of the “Acts” period was the “Kingdom” Church and the Body of Ephesians did not begin with Acts 2:41, but after Acts 28:31, those whom we call the “Pentecost Body” brethren, call the “Post-Acts Body” brethren, “ultradispensationalists.” But now to the question: Is there Scriptural authority for calling the Body of Romans 12:4-5 a “Kingdom” Church altogether different from the Body of Ephesians 1:19-22? Undoubtedly the expression “the Kingdom Church” may be something new to many Christians. Indeed, any Chris­tian will fail to find the expression in the Bible. We should be willing to admit that the Lord Jesus was not saying, “The Church which is My Body, is at hand,” when He preached “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” or when He said “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” Matthew 4:17. Mark 1:15. The particular kingdom, concerning which Christ preached, was that Kingdom mentioned by Israel’s prophets in Israel’s Scriptures. The Body of Colossians 1:24-28 and the Dispen­sation of the Mystery” of Ephesians 3:9, were God’s own secrets, withheld from those prophets. So we must admit a difference between the “prophesied kingdom” and the “un­prophesied Body.” Christ and His Twelve Apostles proclaimed “the gospel of the kingdom”. Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35. That gospel of the kingdom is to be Israel’s message again after this present dispensation of grace. Matthew 24:14. THE PROPHETS AND THE KINGDOM If we refer to Israel’s Old Testament Scriptures, we shall learn that the kingdom gospel was foretold and that Gentiles were to receive blessings with God’s Nation, Israel. Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 42:1-6; Isaiah 49:6 and Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 52:15; Isaiah 60:3; Isaiah 62:2; Isaiah 66:12-19; Malachi 1:11; Psalms 46:10; Psalms 59:5; Ezekiel 26:3; Ezekiel 37:28; Ezekiel 38:16; Ezekiel 39:7; Ezekiel 39:21; Zechariah 9:10; Zechariah 2:11; Zechariah 8:22-23; Zechariah 14:16-18; Micah 4:2. By studying all of these promises we shall learn that the Gentiles were to share, and shall yet share, the kingdom blessings with Israel and be joined with them in their religious ceremonies; “from one new moon to another, from one sabbath to another”: “go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of taber­nacles.” Isaiah 66:23. Zechariah 14:16. In these prophecies we learn that the Gentiles are to seek the Lord. Let us read God’s Kingdom program and God’s gospel of the king­dom for Israel and the nations in Amos 9:11-15 : “IN THAT DAY WILL I RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID THAT IS FALLEN, AND CLOSE UP THE BREACHES THEREOF; AND I WILL RAISE UP HIS RUINS, AND I WILL BUILD IT AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD:” “THAT THEY MAY POSSESS THE REMNANT OF EDOM, AND OF ALL THE HEATHEN, WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SAITH THE LORD THAT DOETH THIS.” “BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD, THAT THE PLOWMAN SHALL OVERTAKE THE REAPER, AND THE TREADER OF GRAPES HIM THAT SOWETH SEED: AND THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP SWEET WINE, AND ALL THE HILLS SHALL MELT.” “AND I WILL BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF MY PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, AND THEY SHALL BUILD THE WASTE CITIES AND INHABIT THEM; AND THEY SHALL PLANT VINEYARDS, AND DRINK THE WINE THEREOF; THEY SHALL ALSO MAKE GAR­DENS, AND EAT THE FRUIT OF THEM.” “AND I WILL PLANT THEM UPON THEIR LAND, AND THEY SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP OUT OF THEIR LAND WHICH I HAVE GIVEN THEM, SAITH THE LORD THY GOD.” We desire to emphasize these verses because they were quoted by Simon Peter in Acts 15:14-18. A careful study of the ministry of Peter and the Eleven should convince any student of the Word of God that, during the days of the Lord on earth, they preached Israel’s gospel of the kingdom to Israel. Matthew 10:5-12. And that student should also be convinced that Peter and the Eleven proclaimed that same kingdom gospel, with the resurrection of Christ added, on the day of Pentecost and thereafter. Acts 2:38. Acts 3:19-21. Acts 5:29-32. These Twelve later on agreed to preach the gospel of the circumcision to the circumcision. Galatians 2:7-9. In Matthew 16:16-18, we learn, that the Lord Jesus committed to Peter the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. In Matthew 28:19-20 He likewise committed to them the so-called Great Commission. The keys of the kingdom of heaven will not fit into the dispensation of the mystery, men­tioned in Ephesians 3:9. The Twelve, in the future, have some duties to perform in the kingdom; for they are to sit on twelve thrones and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Mat­thew 19:28. Later on we shall refer to the Great Commis­sion in the coming kingdom dispensation; for all Premillen­arians, whether or not they work under this Commission now, teach that the Commission is to have an important place after the Body has been completed and this present dispensa­tion of grace has ended. Under the terms of the New Cove­nant, all Israel shall be saved. Romans 11:25-28. Jeremiah 31:31-35. Surely Israel, called-out from all nations to their God and their King David, will be a “New Covenant Ekklesia”. If then they can be Scripturally called a Church, they can be Scripturally called a “Kingdom” Church. But we might properly ask this question: “What will the Apostle Paul have to do with that Church?” Will he then be preach­ing and practicing Matthew 28:19 and the Great Commission? Will he be preaching the gospel of the kingdom as the Apostle to the Gentiles? If not, did he preach such a gospel to the Gentiles in the Epistles to the Romans? Did he then work under the Great Commission when the Gentiles ob­tained mercy through Israel’s unbelief? Romans 11:30. PETER AND THE CHURCH From Acts 1:21 to Acts 12:3, we learn how God held all of the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). He did not let one of them die until the household of Cornelius (the religious Gentile who was seeking Israel’s God) received from Peter, with his kingdom keys, the Word which God sent to Israel, the gospel of the Kingdom. Acts 10:34 to Acts 28:1-31. Af­ter Acts 13:2, “separate unto me Barnabas and Saul”, noth­ing more of Peter’s preaching is recorded in Acts, except his statement of what took place from Acts 2:22 to Acts 11:18. Here is the order, “Christ, in fulfillment of the Scriptures, raised to take David’s throne”. Acts 2:27-33. “The residue of Israelites”. Acts 2:41 and Acts 4:4; Acts 6:7; Acts 11:19. “Then the seeking Gentile.” Acts 10:31-32. Peter did not preach reconciliation, or the gospel of glory, to any of these converts. That was not committed to him. He had the keys of the kingdom. Mark 16:16-18. Now observe, that Peter declared that all of this was in fulfillment of Amos 9:11-15; and as Amos was ignorant and silent concerning the Body of Christ, what the Lord was doing by Peter was not the making of the One New Man. Whether or not the Twelve and others became members of the Body after Acts 11:19 is another matter; but this is certain Peter’s declaration concerning the taking out of Gen­tiles was not the mystery. This was made known to the sons of men in other ages. PAUL’S MINISTRY But now for the words of Paul, quoted in Acts 26:22-23. “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.” “THAT CHRIST SHOULD SUFFER, AND THAT HE SHOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND SHOULD SHEW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE AND TO THE GEN­TILES.” When we consider what the prophets of Russellism, Mormonism, Adventism and Eddyism have done by taking a verse of Scripture and making their whole religious scheme fit into that verse, we should profit by their blunder and not try to rule the Church which is Christ’s Body out of Romans, by the “none other things” of Acts 26:23. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he was determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and yet, when we carefully read his two Epistles to them, we learn that he had told them many other things. We must search for the mind of the Spirit in taking one verse and not give to it a disconnected interpretation so literal as to prove a pet theory, while many other verses contradict that theory. Salvation for Jews and Gentiles was foretold by the prophets: the Gentile salvation to follow the restora­tion of the kingdom to Israel. But now we ask this question: What gospel did Paul preach in his Epistle to the Romans and other pre-prison Epistles? It is true that he was ac­cused of saying that there was another King Jesus. Acts 17:7. But was the gospel of the uncircumcision of Galatians 2:7-9; Galatians 3:6-8, the gospel of the Kingdom? Was the gos­pel of the glory of Christ of 2 Corinthians 4:4, or the gospel of reconciliation of 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, or the gospel of righteousness by grace without a cause of Romans 3:24, the gospel of the Kingdom? Was the gospel of the grace of God, of Acts 20:24, the gospel of the Kingdom? Think of how we have had to contend against Pentecostalism for the great difference in these two gospels; and now let us not preach the negation of what we have stood for so uncompro­misingly by stating that Paul was preaching the gospel of the Kingdom to get believers in the Kingdom Church. This is not the Berean method. THE PROPHETS AND THE BODY OF ROMANS Now let us cover these two points in our answer. 1. Can we find in Moses and the prophets all the doctrines of Paul proclaimed in Corinthians and Romans, written before Paul spoke the words of Acts 26:22-23? 2. If the “Kingdom” Church of the “Acts” period is to be revived and continued in the coming tribulation or kingdom age, will all that Paul wrote in those pre-prison Epistles be God’s order, program and message in that coming Kingdom age? We are herein under presenting some messages, ministry, positions or blessings which are to be found in the Scrip­tures belonging to the Body in Romans 12:4-5 and also to the Body in Ephesians 1:19-22 and Ephesians 4:5. These common blessings seem to prove that they are not different Bodies, but the same Body: 1—Both of these Churches are described as Bodies, made up of members, who are sinners saved by grace, and who are in Christ. “We are one body in Christ.” Romans 12:5 Did the prophets foretell a Body in Christ? Will there be a Body in the next dispensation, such as is described in Romans 12:4-5? 2—The members in the Body of Romans and the members in the Body of Ephesians were saved without religion or works of righteousness. Romans 3:24 and Romans 4:1-6. Titus 3:5-7. Ephesians 2:8. 2 Timothy 1:9. Will sinners be saved without religion or works of righteousness during the coming Tribulation or Kingdom? Is there a difference between the gospel of the kingdom of Matthew 24:14 and the gospel of the grace of God in Acts 20:24. 3—Members of the Body of Romans and members of the Body of Ephesians were sealed with the Holy Spirit, as the earnest, and were sealed in both churches unto the day of redemption. 2 Corinthians 1:22. Romans 8:23. Ephesians 1:13-14 and Ephesians 4:30. Where do we find in Old Testament prophecy anything concerning members of a Kingdom Church who will have the Holy Spirit earnest of a redemption body 4—One outstanding truth concerning the Body of Ephesians is that members of that Body are IN CHRIST. It is just as much true concerning members of the Body of Romans. Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:21. 5—Believing Jews and Gentiles in both Bodies were one in Christ. This might be considered the truth of John 17:9-20. But where is the prophecy that these two groups would be baptized into one Body, baptized into Christ, in whom there was neither Jew nor Greek. They had put on Christ Galatians 3:26-27. Ephesians 2:13-18. 6—The members of the Body of Romans and the Body of Ephesians and Colossians were rejoicing in the hope of glory; and Jesus Christ was within, that hope. 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20; Romans 5:2; Colossians 1:27. If this is called the mystery in Colossians 1:27, why was it not a mystery in II Corinthians and Romans? 7—In the Body of Romans members were predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, to be God’s children, to be joint-heirs with Christ, all witnessed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14-28. Compare with Ephesians 1:2-18. 8—In Romans 6:13 and in Ephesians 2:1-7, members of both Bodies were alive from the dead; and the members of both Bodies were not under the law. They were all saves wholly by grace; and were raised to walk in newness of life Romans 6:1-14. What about members in the coming Kingdom age? 9—Believers, as members of the Body of Romans, were cut off from Adam; their old man was crucified. Romans 5:14 to Romans 6:8. Now note that the members of the “Romans” Body and of the Body of Ephesians were identified with Christ in death, burial and resurrection. Romans 6:2-15; Colossians 3:1-4. 10—Note the same baptism and burial in Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12. Compare the language very carefully to see that they are identical. This baptism burial links the two Bodies together. It is conceded by those who teach that the Church of Romans is different from the Church of Ephesians and Colossians, that the baptism is identical, having reference to a Divine death baptism, having nothing whatever to do with water. 11—If the water baptism of the Great Commission is to be God’s program in the coming Tribulation or Kingdom age, and that was neither the commission nor the baptism of Romans 6:4 for the Body of Romans, it must be admitted that the two Churches differ as to baptism, and the Church of Romans was no “kingdom” church. It has already been conceded by the teachers of “Two Bodies” that the one bap­tism of Ephesians 4:5 is the one baptism of Romans 6:3-4. And these same teachers say that water baptism will be practiced in the coming age. What confusion to prove an un­scriptural theory! 12—The ministry of reconciliation and the glorious gospel were the messages for both Bodies. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Colossians 1:14-21; 1 Timothy 1:11. Will this be the kingdom gospel, referred to in Matthew 24:13? Surely the gospel for the Tribulation period will be the gospel of the kingdom. 13—Will there be an Apostle to the Gentiles, with the gos­pel of the uncircumcision during the coming kingdom age; and if so, will he receive a commission by revelation different from the Great Commission? Where is the prophecy telling of this? 14—The Body of Romans with the members are spoken of as a new creation in Christ, the work of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15. The members of the Body of Ephesians are the same. Ephesians 2:9-11. Where in the Old Testament prophecy is the new creation of 2 Corinthians 5:17 mentioned? 15—In the “Romans” Church and the Church of Ephesians the members are told that their old man had been put off, and that they were to put on the new man. Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; Romans 13:14. 16—Compare the “my gospel” of Paul, preached in Rom­ans, with the Gentile salvation prophesied in Zechariah and Micah and Ezekiel and Isaiah. Read Romans 2:16 and Romans 16:25, Romans 3:24 with Zechariah 8:23. 17—Will salvation in the coming kingdom age be sent to Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy, with blindness upon Israel, as was the case when Paul wrote Romans? 18—A—Let us compare “the day of the Lord Jesus” in 2 Corinthians 1:14, “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” in 1 Corinthians 1:8, “the day of the Lord Jesus” in 1 Corinthians 5:5, and “the day of Jesus Christ” in Php 1:6, “the day of Christ” in Php 1:10, Php 2:16 and 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 1:18, 2 Timothy 4:8, and prove by the Scriptures that the mem­bers of the two Bodies were not waiting for the same event. B—Also compare the believer’s judgment in 2 Corinthians 5:10 with his judgment in Colossians 3:24-25 : 19—Compare the “absent from the body, at home with the Lord”, with the “depart to be with the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 5:8; Php 1:23. Also “the house from heaven” of 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, “the incorruptible body of 1 Corinthians 15:25, with the “body like unto His own glorious body” of Php 3:20-21, and show wherein they differ. 20—Compare the Lord Jesus Christ as Intercessor in Romans 8:34 with the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Mediator, in 1 Timothy 2:5 and state whether you agree with the teachers of two Bodies that the members of the Body of Ephesians have no intercessor or Advocate to represent them in heaven? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: S. IT IS THE LAST TIME ======================================================================== IT IS THE LAST TIME We read in the Bible of “the end of the age”, “the last days”, “then cometh the end”, and “the last time.” We quote 1 John 2:18-19. “LITTLE CHILDREN, IT IS THE LAST TIME; AND AS YE HAVE HEARD THAT ANTICHRIST SHALL COME, EVEN NOW ARE THERE MANY ANTICHRISTS; WHEREBY WE KNOW THAT IT IS THE LAST TIME. THEY WENT OUT FROM US, BUT THEY WERE NOT OF US; FOR IF THEY HAD BEEN OF US, THEY WOULD NO DOUBT HAVE CONTINUED WITH US; BUT THEY WENT OUT, THAT THEY MIGHT BE MADE MANI­FEST THAT THEY WERE NOT ALL OF US.” There were many antichrists in John’s day. There was a falling away. From the time of John, down through the cen­turies, the Church passed through some perilous times. There were many heretics, false-prophets and corrupt religious lead­ers in the Church. Even the funda­mental doctrine of Christianity was lost to most professing Christians for centur­ies. But it was recovered when Martin Luther and others proclaimed “justifica­tion by faith.” All during that dark period of the history of the Christian Church there was a remnant of spiritual faithful saints who knew that their hope was the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the members of His Body to heaven. “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.” Php 3:20-21. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13. “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.” Colossians 3:3-4. Note what Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth. “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 1:7 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. Note what was written to the Hebrews “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” He­brews 9:28. The Christians of the first century were instructed to wait for, to look for, to confidently expect the Lord Jesus Christ to appear. They believed in the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus for His Church. It is interesting to note the Greek word translated “shall come” in 2 Thessalonians 1:10. This word is “elthe” and should be translated “shall have come.” Note in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ was expected in the first century. He would come in wrath and destruction upon the disobedient sinners. “When He shall have come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that be­lieve (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:10. Now remember John’s statement, “it is the last time.” Note what John wrote in connection with this - “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3. “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed be­fore Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28. This hope of the coming of Christ was a vital, blessed, purifying hope. And we remember the words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke 14:14 - “And thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” At the time the Lord Jesus spoke these words none of His disciples knew any thing of the mystery of 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, or the blessed hope of Titus 2:13. But all of the saints of the Lord were instructed by the Lord’s apostles to wait every day, and to look every moment for the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus for His Church. They believed in the im­minent coming of the Lord Jesus for His Church. This is called by some Christians “the any-moment theory”. With those Christians it was no theory, but the blessed hope that caused them to be prac­tical Christians., They were not told to wait until Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and the Emperor of Japan entered into a pact and conspiracy against the rest of the world, in 1940 A.D., before they could expect Christ to redeem their bodies. They were waiting for God’s Son from heaven in John’s day. They knew the difference between the blessed hope of Titus 2:13, that Christ would appear for His Body, and the sec­ond coming of the Son of man for Israel’s redemption, and to judge the world, as recorded in Luke 21:27-32, and Matthew 25:31. THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN “AND THEN SHALL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY. AND WHEN THESE THINGS BEGIN TO COME TO PASS, THEN LOOK UP, AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, FOR YOUR RE­DEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH. AND HE SPAKE TO THEM A PARABLE; BEHOLD THE FIG TREE, AND ALL THE TREES; WHEN THEY NOW SHOOT FORTH, YE SEE AND KNOW OF YOUR OWN SELVES THAT SUMMER IS NOW NIGH AT HAND SO LIKEWISE YE, WHEN YE SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS, KNOW YE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND. VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, TILL ALL BE FULFILLED.” Luke 21:27-32. “ When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Matthew 25:31. This has nothing to do with the re­demption of the Church. Members of the Body of Christ are already redeemed. “Having predestinated us unto the adop­tion of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. 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 1:5-7. “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased pos­session, unto the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:14. “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of re­demption.” Ephesians 4:30. The bodies of the members of the Body of Christ will be redeemed by the appear­ing of Christ for His Church. Christ is not “the Son of man” to His Church. When Christ comes for His Church He will find more Christians on this earth, and more faith on this earth, than ever before. There are more genuine Chris­tians in Chicago today than ever lived at any one time in Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, or in any other city. When the Lord Jesus comes for His Church there will be many faithful saints here. But when He comes as the Son of man to the earth, He will not find faith on the earth. Luke 18:8. Christ is not coming to the earth for the Church which is His Body. He is not coming to the earth for His Church. His Church is go­ing to rise to meet Him. Christ is not coming for His Church as “the Son of man.” That is His title to Israel. Note again, Matthew 25:31 - “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” THE LAST DAYS OF ACTS Now let us consider the last days of Acts 2:16-17 and Acts 15:16. “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” “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.” These verses should have very serious, diligent, prayerful consideration. Here we have prophecies of Israel’s Old Testament prophets concerning Israel’s last days. The two prophets are Joel and Amos, Read carefully the sec­ond chapter of Joel and the last part of Amos, chapter nine, and you will learn that both of these Israelitish prophets wrote concerning the coming kingdom age of Israel. This present age of grace, during which the Body of Christ is being completed, is not Israel’s kingdom age; and therefore, neither Joel nor Amos was referring to this dispensation. Neither Joel nor Amos said one word about the beginning of this age, or about the course of this age, or about the culmination of this age. They were the sons of men in other ages to whom the Holy Spirit re­vealed nothing concerning “the Church of the Mystery.” Note Colossians 1:24-26. “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 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 agrees with Ephesians 3:5-8. “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be joint-heirs, and of the same (Joint) Body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel; Whereunto I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto Me by the effectual working of His power. 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.” Truth concerning the Joint-Body, the Church of the Mystery, is called “the un­searchable (unprophesied) riches of Christ.” This truth was God’s mystery, God’s secret at the time Joel and Amos wrote concerning Israel’s “last days”. They knew nothing and therefore they wrote nothing concerning the Joint-Body of Ephesians 3:6, the Church of the Mystery. Then surely we know that no member of the Body of Christ is receiving the Holy Spirit or any other spiritual bless­ing in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. If members of Christ’s Body are being blessed with all spiritual blessings, in ful­fillment of Joel’s prophecy, or are becom­ing members of the Church of the Mys­tery, in fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy, then Paul was deluded when he wrote Colossians and Ephesians. No! Paul did not err. He wrote to save us from the faulty dispensationalism of the present day Fundamentalists who teach that “the Church of the Mystery”, “the dispensation of the mystery” (Ephesians 3:9), “the dispensation of the grace of God for Gentiles” (Ephesians 3:1-3), “the unsearchable riches of Christ”, began on a Jewish holy day, Pentecost, when Peter used the keys of the kingdom of heaven to devout Jews from every nation under heaven. (Acts 2:5.) Note the clear language of Peter in Acts 2:16 - Acts 3:24 - Acts 15:15. “BUT THIS IS THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET JOEL.” “YEA, AND ALL THE PROPHETS FROM SAMUEL AND THOSE THAT FOLLOW AFTER, AS MANY AS HAVE SPOKEN, HAVE LIKEWISE FORETOLD OF THESE DAYS.” “AND TO THIS AGREE THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS; AS IT IS WRITTEN.” All that Peter preached to Israel and concerning the salvation of the house­hold of Cornelius was in fulfillment of, in agreement with, Joel, Amos, Moses, Samuel, David, and all of the other prophets who wrote. They foretold the program of Acts 15:14 - “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” “To this agree the words of the prophets (Amos).” Therefore this prophecy has no refer­ence to the Church of the Mystery, con­cerning which Amos knew nothing. The doctrine of “the any-moment com­ing of Christ for His Church” is wholly irreconcilable with the teaching that His coming is imminent because of what the Gentile rulers of Europe and Asia are doing at present. It is a mistake, yea, a serious dispensa­tional blunder to call “the last days” concerning Israel’s kingdom, the first days of the Church, or Body, of the mys­tery. “The dispensation of the mystery” did not begin with Peter, Israel and Pentecost, but with Paul when and be­cause Israel was set aside after the death of one of the twelve apostles. (Acts 12:1-2) As long as the number of apostles re­mained twelve, (Peter and the eleven), God had a kingdom program for the twelve tribes of Israel. But note Acts 13:2 - Acts 13:46 and Acts 14:27. “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.” “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.” “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.” A new movement began with Acts 13:46. God has not abandoned His pro­gram prophesied by Joel and Amos, con­cerning Israel’s last days. The kingdom is in abeyance. Israel’s kingdom coven­ants have been interrupted for a paren­thetical “grace” period. God will fulfill Acts 15:16 - “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.” Yes, He will pour out His Spirit, in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, after the Church of the Mystery has been completed, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:23. Note again Acts 3:24 : “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise fore­told of these days.” “These days”. What days? Not the days of the dispensation of the grace of God. Israel’s kingdom days. THE END TIME In the light of the foregoing we should be very careful to qualify the question, “Are we living in the end time?” What end time? The members of the Body of Christ will not be here during the “time of the end”, mentioned in Daniel. This present period is a paren­thesis. Daniel received revelations and answers from the God of heaven, but nothing concerning the revelation of this age which Christ gave to Paul. Every member of the Body of Christ should know the difference between “the signs of the times” and “the times of the signs,”. This is not the “sign” age. We are looking for the Son and not for signs. Let’s keep busy with God’s program as set forth in 2 Timothy 1:7-10 and Titus 2:11-14. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God: 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 is now 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.” “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 the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” We are not told to look to Europe for the coming of Christ. “For our con­versation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” Php 3:20-21. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: S. ISRAEL IN DEUTERONOMY AND JOB ======================================================================== A PECULIAR PEOPLE ABOVE ALL PEOPLE ON EARTH Let us again note the words of Romans 3:1 Romans 9:4-5. Romans 3:1-2 “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” Romans 9:4-5 “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adop­tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” There are some students of the Scriptures who believe that Luke was a Gentile; but they have no positive proof. Luke wrote “The Gospel of Luke” and “The Acts”. The other 64 Books of the Bible were written by Israelites. Remember the words of Christ, “salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22. Note the testimony of the apostle to the Gentiles (Paul): “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee.” Php 3:5. Note the words of the Psalmist Psalms 135:4 “For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.” ISRAEL IN DEUTERONOMY And now to Deuteronomy, the last of the Books of Moses, the Pentateuch: Deuteronomy 14:2 “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” In the Book of Deuteronomy God, through Moses, instructs His people how and why they are to enter Canaan and what they are to do and how they are to behave after they have reached that promised land. Note: Deuteronomy 7:1-3 and Deuteronomy 7:6-26 “When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many na­tions before. thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.” 6 “for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Let us keep in mind that the children of Israel were not to possess Canaan; because they were worthy or obedient; but rather because God promised the land to the seed of His friend Abraham. Genesis 17:8. It was for this same reason that these rebellious, murmuring Israelites were taken out of Egypt. “God remem­bered His covenant with Abraham.” Exodus 2:24. Read again Deuteronomy 7:8. God will fight Israel’s battle for them. Deuteronomy 7:22-23 “And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field in­crease upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 8:7-9 “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valley and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” But after they get into the land, God’s continued blessing is to be conditional. Deuteronomy 11:22-28 “For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Leb­anon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. Be­hold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the command­ments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known” Deuteronomy 28:1-3; Deuteronomy 28:13 “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and over­take thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:” But note what is to happen if Israel fails to be faithful and obedient: Deuteronomy 28:15, Deuteronomy 28:25-26, Deuteronomy 28:32, Deuteronomy 28:47-48 and Deuteronomy 28:62 “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:” “The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.” “Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.” “Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.” “And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars in heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.” Now note these very solemn words of the Lord to Israel: Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord aware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” THE REPORT OF THE SPIES Numbers 13:16-20 “These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way south­ward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.” These spies were in the land forty days. They returned after forty days. Note their report to Moses and the Israelites: Numbers 13:27-33 “And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Never­theless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amale­kites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people: for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabi­tants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grass­hoppers, and so we were in their sight.” After this report the Israelites were filled with fright. They wept and they cried, “would God that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this wilderness.” Numbers 14:2. The two courageous men who stood against the murmurers were Joshua and Caleb. Numbers 14:6. They were sure that the Lord would lead them into the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 14:8). God became very angry and spoke of disinheriting the rebels (Numbers 14:12). Then Moses again interceded for them. Read why Moses told the Lord that He should forgive and preserve Israel. He closed his intercession with these words: Numbers 14:19 “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven is people, from Egypt even until now.” Note the result: Numbers 14:20 “And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word” But an awful judgment fell upon the sinful Israelites. Numbers 14:29, Numbers 14:30 and Numbers 14:39 “Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.” “And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.” GOD’S LAW CONCERNING SPIRITIST MEDIUMS, CLAIRVOYANTS AND FALSE PROPHETS Deuteronomy 13:1 and Deuteronomy 13:5 “If there arise among you a prophet, of a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,” “And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.” Deuteronomy 18:9-12 “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abom­inations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necro­mancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. “ Deuteronomy 18:21-22 “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not he afraid of him.” GOD DEMANDS THE FIRST AND BEST Deuteronomy 16:16-17 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of taber­nacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessings of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee. Deuteronomy 17:1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. Deuteronomy 26:2-4 and Deuteronomy 26:10 That thou shalt take the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. GOD FORBIDS MIXTURES Deuteronomy 22:9-11 “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.” CURSED IS THE MAN THAT HANGETH ON A TREE Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ‘And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is ac­cursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” Galatians 3:10-13 “For as many as are of the works the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that contin­ueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” THE DEATH OF MOSES THE DEDICATION OF JOSHUA Deuteronomy 31:1-2 “And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, 1 am an hundred and twenty years old this day: I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.” Deuteronomy 31:14 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.” Deuteronomy 31:23-26 “And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee. And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished. That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.” Deuteronomy 32:48-49 “And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession.” Deuteronomy 34:5-12 “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.” Numbers 12:3 “(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)” In these lessons we have studied from the creation to the death of Moses; from Eden to Canaan; from Adam to Moses. We shall begin the next series of lessons with the conquest of Jericho, entering the promised land. Under the heading of “From Israel’s Commonwealth to Israel’s Messiah,” we shall have about ten lessons. CHARACTER STUDY Let us note the meaning of the names of some of the men we have mentioned in our lessons: Adam meaning “ruddy.” Abel­—“vanity.” Abraham—“father of many nations.” Joseph—“added.” Jacob—“supplanter.” Israel—“prevailing with God.” Isaac—­“laughter.” Noah—“rest or quiet.” Enoch—“dedicate.” Peleg—“division.” Eber—“across.” Melchisedec—“king of righteous­ness.” Judah—“celebrated.” Levi—“attached.” Moses—“drawn out.” Also in the study of these characters, note a few dispensation­al lessons. Adam lived in Eden before the fall and then outside after the fall. Noah lived 600 years before the flood and 350 years after the flood. After the flood Noah entered into a new age under a new covenant. In this sense he lived during two different dispensations. Moses lived 80 years under the Abrahamic Covenant, before the law was added because of transgres­sion, and then he lived 40 years after the law was added; that is, he lived 40 years under the covenant that was made old at Cal­vary when the Lord Jesus died. So Moses also lived in two differ­ent dispensations. Israel, under the law, was protected and pre­served because of God’s promise to Abraham and His oath. We learn from the study of Genesis 5:1-32, Genesis 11:1-32, and other chapters of Genesis and Exodus these interesting facts; that Adam’s son, Seth, was 168 years of age when Noah’s father, Lamech, died. We learned that before the flood six to nine generations were living at the same time. We also learned that Noah, who saw eight generations before the flood, lived until Abraham’s father, Terah, was 128 years of age. We learned that Abraham was 150 years of age when Shem died. Shem was born nearly 100 years before the flood. Shem and Abraham could have had some very interesting and instructive conversations concerning the antediluvian days. Adam’s grandson, Enos, and Noah were contemporaries for 84 years. THE PATIENCE OF JOB James 5:11 “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Every child of God should prayerfully and carefully study the Book of Job. Truly Job was a man of God. In Ezekiel 14:20 he is mentioned with Noah and Daniel. Job lived some time between the days of Noah and the days of Moses. There are some wonderful statements concerning God’s glory in the Book of Job not to be found elsewhere in the Bible. In the Book of Job we have the record of conversations between Job and four men. Three of these men conspired together against Job trying to convince him with their wise arguments that his afflictions were from God because he was a hypocrite. These three man were Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. The fourth man was Elihu. Elihu knew very much concerning the character of God and His dealings with man. He gave Job some very good advice. But note what God thought of the other three who claim­ed to be Job’s friends Job 42:7 “And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath” We quote from the pen of another concerning these four men and their attitude toward Job, his God and his sufferings. “Despite minor differences, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have one view of the problem of Job’s afflictions. He is a hyprocrite. Outwardly good, he is, they hold really a bad man. Otherwise. according to their conception of God, job’s sufferings would be unjust. Job. though himself the sufferer, will not accuse the justice of God, and his self-defense is complete. Before God he is guilty, helpless, and undone, and there is no daysman (Job 9:1-35). Later, his faith is reward­ed by a revelation of a coming Redeemer, and of the resurrection (Job 19:1-29). But Eliphaz, Bildad. and Zophar are sinners also as before God, and yet they are not afflicted. Job refutes the theory of the three that he is a secret sinner as against the common moralities. but the real problem, Why are the righteous afflicted? remains. It is solved in the last chapter” “Elihu has a far juster and more spiritual conception of the problem than Eliphaz. Bildad, and Zophar because he has an infinitely higher conception of God. The God of Eliphaz and the others, great though they perceive Him to be in His works, becomes in their thought petty and exacting in His relations with mankind. It is the fatal misconception of all religious externalists and moralizers. Their god is always a small god. Elihu’s account of God is noble and true, and it is noteworthy that at the last Jehovah does not class him with Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (of Job 42:7): but he is still a dogmatist, and his eloquent discourse is marred by self-assertiveness (e. g. Job 32:8-9; Job 33:3). Jehovah’s judgment of Elihu is that he darkened counsel by words (Job 38:2); the very charge that Elihu had brought against Job (Job 34:35 : Job 35:16). Furthermore the discourse of Jehovah is wholly free from the accusations of Job with which even Elihu’s lofty discourse abounds.” JOB’S WEALTH AND PROSPERITY The Book of Job opens with this record of Job’s wealth Job 1:1-4 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright; and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them.” The Book of Job closes with this record of Job’s wealth: Job 42:10-17 “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they be­moaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear­ring of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his be­ginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousands camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.” Between the time that Job lost all his possessions and was again brought to prosperity he suffered much in body, soul and spirit. SATAN DEALS WITH JOB In chapters one and two are recorded Satan’s arguments that Job fears God because he is enjoying good health and material prosperity. Satan challenged God to deprive Job of his earthly possessions and take away his health and he would turn against God. Job 1:9-12 “Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” Job 2:4-6 “And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” Job lost all his possessions. The members of his family died. Satan smote Job with disease. God permitted Satan to deal with Job. Job 2:9-10 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” JOB’S COUNSELORS Then Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, went to Job Job 2:11 “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made all appointment together to come to mourn with him, and to comfort him.” Job, too, grieved much because of his sufferings. Note his words in: Job 3:11 “Why died I not from the womb? why did I hot give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?” Note how Eliphaz accounted for Job’s sad predicament. Job 4:7 “Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being inno­cent? or where were the righteous cut off?” He reasoned that Job was not right with God. Job replied: Job 6:8-9 “Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!” Bildad added no comfort. He also accused Job of sin and hypocrisy. Job 8:6-8 “If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers.” Job 8:13 “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.” Job 8:20 “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers.” GOD’S WONDERFUL WORKS In chapter 9 Job has much to say concerning the power and glory of God. We quote a few verses: Job 9:7-10 “Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth hot; and sealeth up the stars; Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; Which maketh Arc­turus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.” Then note what Job’s counselor said concerning God. “Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the won­drous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?” Job 37:14-16. “Touch­ing the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.” Job 37:23. “Behold God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.” Job 36:26. “God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.” Job 37:5-6. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?” Job 38:22. “Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” Job 38:28-31. “Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat” Job 38:41. “Hast thou given the horse strength? bast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.” Job 39:19-21. “both the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.” Job 39:27. “Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?” Job 9:1-2. “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Job 9:20. “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any days­man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.” Job 9:30-33. Here Job argued that only a Divine-human Arbiter could adjust the difference between the holy God and the unholy man. Then read how Christ came to be that Daysman 1 Peter 3:18 “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.” and: 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Then Zophar added his remarks in chapter eleven. He said to Job, “know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.” Job 11:6. “And Job answered and said, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.” Job 12:1-2. “What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.” Job 13:2-5. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job 13:15. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” Job 14:1-2. Then note these two questions of Job: “But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Job 14:10. “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Job 14:14. Note these two very interesting and important questions “Where are the dead?” “If a man die shall he live again?” Note several Scriptural answers to these questions Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave It.” Now for the believer’s experience note: 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present (at home) with the Lord.” John 11:25-26 “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?” After Eliphaz had again accused both Job and God, note what Job said: “Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.” Job 16:1-2. “God hath delivered me to the un­godly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.” Job 16:11. “Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provo­cation?” Job 17:2. Then Bildad brought this accusation the second time and Job’s answer: “How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?” Job 19:2. “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” Job 19:20. “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.” Job 19:21. Then note these words: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Job 19:25-27. Then Zophar repeated his charge against Job: “That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” Job 20:5. “This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.” Job 20:29. Note Job’s reply: “Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.” Job 21:3. “How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there re­maineth falsehood?” Job 21:34. After some further charges by Eliphaz and his companions, we read: Job 32:1-3 “So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” Elihu proceeded to give Job some splendid advice, showing much knowledge of God’s wisdom and ways: “He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his fate with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” Job 33:26. “For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.” Job 34:11-12. “But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven? There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.” Job 35:10-13. In chapters 38 to 41 we have a record of God’s very plain talk with Job: Job 38:1-2 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” Read those wonderful sayings of God and note their effect upon Job: Job 40:3-5 “Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.” Job 42:2 and Job 42:6 “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And then note what happened: Job 42:10 “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” And we have already mentioned how God then blessed Job with greater prosperity than he had ever enjoyed. QUESTIONS—LESSON FOURTEEN In what verse are recorded the words of Christ “salvation is of the Jews”? In what verse is Israel called God’s peculiar treasure? From how many nations in Canaan did God promise to deliver Israel? What would Israel find in, the promised land according to Deuteronomy 8:8? Mention several things that God would do for Israel in the land of Canaan if they would obey His commandments. Tell of the report of the spies. What did the people of God do when they heard the unfavorable report of the spies? What did God do to the Israelites because of their murmuring? What did Moses do? Who were the two Israelites of great courage? Mention God’s commandments against necromancers and mediums. What did God demand concerning the sacrifices and gifts which Israel offer­ed to Him? What mixtures did God forbid? 13. Why was Christ made a curse on the tree? Whom did Moses command to put the Book he wrote in the ark? At what age did Moses die and what is written concerning his eye and natural force? Mention the mountain that Moses ascended. Upon whom did Moses place his hands to be dedicated to take up the leader­ship of Israel? Under what two dispensations or covenants did Moses live? How meek was Moses? How did Job’s possessions in the end compare with his possessions in the beginning? Relate some of the outstanding statements of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar and Job’s reply to them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: S. ISRAEL IN EGYPT ======================================================================== ISRAEL IN EGYPT Hebrews 6:13 “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, He swear by Himself.” Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” As we open the Book of Exodus we find Note these several verses: Exodus 1:5-8 “And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” The Nation Israel was born about 1700 B. C. About 70 Israelites went down to Egypt about that time. Pharaoh gave orders to destroy the male babies born in the Israelitish families: “And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” Exodus 1:22. THE BIRTH OF MOSES Exodus 2:1-10 “And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bul­rushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along, by the river’s side: and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ chil­dren. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.” Moses lived in Egypt until he was 40 years old. Then he left Egypt and dwelt in the land of Midian. Exodus 2:15. There Moses became a shepherd for his father-in-law, and lived until he was 80 years of age. In the meantime, Pharaoh, in Egypt, was persecuting and afflicting God’s people Israel. More than 400 years before this time God had told Abram about this. Genesis 15:13-16 “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” Now remember that the gifts and calling of God are with­out repentance. In this connection we rejoice in Titus 1:2 : “In the hope of eternal life, which God, That cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Reverently speaking, God cannot do anything but save the sinner who will receive Jesus Christ as Saviour. God cannot lie. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23. And all of this means that God is going to do something about it: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” There are about 18 million Jews in the world today. Note what God says concerning Israel: “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom and Israel is defiled.” Hosea 5:3. The Jews are suffering some from the hands of the Gentiles. They are going to suffer much more. And again God will hear, remember, look and have respect and act. Romans 11:25-28 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, whey I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. “ God swore by Himself. Note again God’s guarantee to Israel in: Genesis 17:7-8 “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” JEHOVAH APPEARS UNTO MOSES Moses is to be Israel’s deliverer. Exodus 3:1-22 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task­masters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this moun­tain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, ap­peared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Ca­naanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ Journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.” Moses brother Aaron, was sent with Moses to stand in the presence of Pharaoh, and, in the name of Jehovah, to demand the release and liberty of the children of Israel. The Lord gave Moses a rod. That rod is described in Exodus 4:1-5. That rod would turn into a serpent and then turn back into a rod. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him what the Lord had commanded them. Note Pharaoh’s reply: “And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” Exodus 5:2. “Then Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he added greater affliction to Israel.” GOD’S SIGNS TO PHARAOH The following miracles .were performed in the presence of Pharaoh Moses’ rod became a serpent. Exodus 7:10. The waters of Egypt were turned into blood. Exodus 7:20. “And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.” Exo­dus 8:6. There came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pha­raoh. Exodus 8:24. The cattle of the Egyptians visited with disease and death. Exodus 9:1-7. God sent boils upon the men and beasts of Egypt. Exodus 9:10. The hail plague. Exodus 9:24 and Exodus 9:26 : “So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.” The plague of locusts. “And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.” Exodus 10:14. The plague of darkness. “And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.” Exodus 10:22. THE SMITING OF THE FIRST BORN Exodus 11:4-7 “And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidserv­ant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Is­rael shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” Exodus 12:28-30 “And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt: for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” THE PASSOVER “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. Thus we see that what happened that dark and awful night in Egypt spoke of the work of the Lamb of God Who suffered for sins and for sinners on Calvary’s cross. Exodus 12:1-7 “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the be­ginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man accord­ing to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congrega­tion of Israel shall kill it in the eve­ning. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” Exodus 13:3-4 “And Moses said unto the people, Re­member this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bond­age; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall be no leavened bread to be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib.” Exodus 12:12-14 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your genera­tions: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” Exodus 12:26-28 and Exodus 12:42 “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Is­rael in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had com­manded Moses and Aaron, so did they.” “It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” Pharaoh’s heart was again hardened and he sent his army in pursuit of the Israelites who were leaving the land of Egypt to start for their promised land Canaan. The Israelites were sore afraid. Moses calmed them with these words Exodus 14:13-15 “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward;” Exodus 14:19-31 “And the Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fight­eth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appear­ed; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyp­tians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” We should study prayerfully and carefully this marvelous work of God in behalf of Israel. In Exodus 15:1-19 is recorded the song of Moses and Israel, giving praise to Jehovah for their deliverance. “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.” Exodus 15:22. ISRAEL ACROSS THE RED SEA The bitter waters of Marah were miraculously made sweet. Israel came to Elim where there were twelve wells of water and 70 palm trees, and they camped there. Exodus 15:27. God sent manna down from heaven to feed His people: “And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wilt not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” Exodus 16:14-15. Now compare with this the statements of Christ in John 6:1-71 John 6:30-35 and John 6:51 “They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, an giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, ever­more give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that be­lieveth on me shall never thirst.” “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Now compare: Exodus 17:1-16 “And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me, wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel. and because they tempted the Lord saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?” 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our ex­amples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were de­stroyed of serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroy­ed of the destroyer.” Then the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites. Joshua defeated them. Exodus 17:8-16 MOSES AND HIS LEADERS Exodus 18:25-26 “And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.” ISRAEL A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS Exodus 19:3-6 “And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE GIVING OF THE LAW Exodus 19:18-25 “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. And Moses said unto the Lord, The people can­not come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargest us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.” Hebrews 12:18-21 “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burn­ed with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.)” Acts 15:10 “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” How many Israelites went on to Egypt about 1700 B. C.? Seventy. Exodus 1:1-5. How many Israelites came up from Egypt about 1495 B. C.? “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.” Exodus 12:37. Let us keep in mind then that there were no Israelites before the flood. There was no Nation Israel until several centuries after Noah left the ark. The Nation Israel began with Jacob and his twelve sons. Israel (Israelite, Israelites) is found 2571 times in the Bible. The Nation Israel was preserved and protected in Egypt under the Abrahamic Covenant. From the call of Abram to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt God’s people were not under the law.Moses lived 80 years not under the law, and 40 years under the law. After Moses received the law he was under the Abrahamic Covenant and the Law (Old) Covenant during the last 40 years of his life. QUESTIONS—LESSON ELEVEN How many souls out of the loins of Jacob (Israel) went down to Egypt more than 200 years before the law was given? In Genesis 15:13-16 what did God say He would do for Israel in Egypt and when? Who was the first of the house of Israel to go to Egypt? From what tribe of Israel did Moses come? Who was his brother? What does the name “Moses” mean: Who employed Moses’ mother to nurse Moses? Show how Moses’ life was divided into three 40 year periods. Describe God’s visit to Moses and his message when God chose him to deliver Israel. Mention five of the miracles performed by Moses in Pharaoh’s presence. What did God remember that caused Him to deliver Israel? What about the gifts and calling of God? Tell the story of the smiting of the firstborn and the Passover. Tell the story of Israel crossing the fled Sea. Describe the giving of the manna, its meaning, and what did that manna typify? According to 1 Corinthians 10:4, of what did the journeying Israelites drink? Of Whom did that rock speak and of Whom did the Passover lamb speak? Tell two of Israel’s murmurings. What kind of a kingdom was Israel to be to God according to Exodus 19:6? What did God tell Moses at Sinai immediately before giving the law? About how many Israelites came out of Egypt about 1495 B. C. if there were 600,000 men? Under what covenant was Israel before the law was added (Galatians 3:19)? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: S. JESUS CHRIST THE SAME ======================================================================== JESUS CHRIST THE SAME What meaneth this statement? “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8. Jesus Christ is mentioned, in the New Testament Scriptures, by noun and pro­noun more than 6,900 times. Let us behold Christ before His incar­nation, during His incarnation, His pres­ent exaltation, and His future glory on earth. FIRST­ - BEFORE HIS INCARNATION a - He was in the bosom of the Father. John 1:18. b - He was in the form of God. Php 2:6. c - He was with God and was God. John 1:1. d - He was before all things and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:15-18. e - He had glory with the Father before the world was. John 17:5. God is a Spirit. But God has a form. Christ was in. the form of God when He was in the bosom of the Father. SECOND - ­ THE WORD BECAME FLESH. John 1:14. a - He took upon Himself the form of a servant. Php 2:6-7. b - He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Romans 8:3. c - He was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Hebrews 2:9. d - He took on Him the Seed of Abra­ham. Hebrews 2:16. e - Made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17. f - Made flesh and blood to destroy Satan’s death power, by death. Hebrews 2:14. g - The Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. h - He came down from heaven to do His Father’s will and give His flesh for the life of the world. John 6:38 and John 6:51. i - Christ was the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person. Hebrews 1:3. j - Christ was the Son of David the Son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1. k - He was the King of Israel. John 1:49. When Christ was on earth He said, “before Abraham was I AM”. John 8:58. “Father, Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world” John 17:24. “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9. “I and My Father are one.” John 10:30. We have noted the Scriptures stating that Christ was made flesh to die on the cross. Hebrews 2:9. Note His own words “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.” Matthew 26:24. But in Luke 1:29-33 and Luke 1:67-77 we learn that Christ was born in the city of David, in the house of David, of the Seed of David, to occupy the throne of David, to reign over the house of Jacob forever. So Jesus Christ was born to go to the cross of Calvary and to go to the throne of David. “Where is He that is born Sing of the Jews?” Matthew 2:2. Now read these several statements: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4. “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. “He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24. “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.” Romans 15:8. We emphasize WAS. Jesus Christ WAS a minister of the circumcision. It would be contrary to fact to say that Jesus Christ IS a minister of the circum­cision for He is not during His present ministry. THIRD - ­ CHRIST IN HIS EXALTATION. a - “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.” Php 2:9. b - “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12. c - “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3. d - “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.” Acts 5:31. e - “Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Acts 7:56. f - “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” Hebrews 8:1. g - “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 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 1:19-23. After Christ had died and abolished death, He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. He said to His disciples “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” Luke 24:39. Stephen recognized Christ as the Son of man standing in heaven. When Christ called Saul of Tarsus He said, “I am Jesus.” Acts 9:5. The ministry of Christ, in Acts 5:31, seemed to be different from His ministry in Ephesians 1:21-23. “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.” Acts 5:31. “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 1:21-23. Before Christ’s incarnation He was in the Father’s bosom, a Spirit. Now He is on the Father’s throne, at the right hand of His Majesty, the Man Christ Jesus. We must note these differences when we say “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” FOURTH­ - CHRIST THE COMING KING. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting. Father, The Prince of Peace. of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7. “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Matthew 25:31. “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name One.” Zechariah 14:9. “And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.” Ezekiel 37:24. “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:39. “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.” Matthew 19:28. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: S. JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER ======================================================================== JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER By Pastor John C. O’Hair We might well wonder if the Holy Spirit did not have in mind the foolish healing theories that were to be propagated by the use of the statement, “Jesus Christ the same yester­day, and today, and forever,” when He added, in the next verse, (Hebrews 13:9), “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines: For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” Your attention is called to those two verses, because it is a fact that those who teach that the healing miracles and other signs of the Lord Jesus and His apostles should be perpet­uated, or restored, as a part of the program of the Body of Christ during this dispensation, never seem to understand God’s pure message of grace. Is it because their hearts are not established with grace? At any rate, they are not es­tablished in this “grace” message; and therefore, they are carried about with divers and strange “healing” doctrines. They teach that, because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”, He longs to carry on with members of the Church, which is His Body, the healings and other signs that were included in His Kingdom message and the commis­sion which He gave to the Twelve, in Matthew 10:5-8 and Mark 16:16-18. These healing preachers claim that the low spiritual state of the members of the Church, and their sin of unbelief, ac­count for the absence of these miraculous healings and sign gifts. They say that God is not permitted to work all things today after the counsel of His own will, because Body-mem­bers will not work out with fear and trembling the salvation which God desires to work in them to do His own will. If there was first-century apostolic faith, there would be first ­century apostolic miracles, is their claim. Some of these messengers of divers and strange doctrines are bold to teach that the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was for the healing of the believer’s body, just as much as for the salvation of his soul; that is, the believer can and should look to Calvary and claim salva­tion for the body here and now. They teach that as it would be unscriptural and foolish to ask God to save a soul, “if it be Thy will”, it is just as absurd and unscriptural to include “if it be Thy will”, when asking God to heal the body of the believer. Truly, this is a strange doctrine: contrary to the plain teaching of the Word of God. As some teacher has said, thus commanding God, is not the prayer of humility but the presumptuous orders of a dictator. The greatest of all of the Lord’s saints gloried in his af­flictions, but found the grace of God sufficient. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. He said, “though the outward man perish (de­cay thoroughly) the inward man is renewed from day to day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16. Timothy, the beloved companion of Paul, who had as great faith as any man living today has, and who was as uncompromising a soldier of the cross as has lived since his days, was instructed to take wine for his oft sicknesses. 1 Timothy 5:23. Why? Why was Trophimus left at Miletus sick? 2 Timothy 4:20. Like all other saints of their time, and like all saints of today, Paul and Timothy had the Spirit, but were in bondage waiting for the redemption of the body. Romans 8:23. Like our bodies, their bodies were bodies of humiliation. Php 3:20-21. Some of God’s most faithful and spiritual saints of today suffer much physical pain, while many self-appointed preach­ers of a perverted gospel are abroad in the land setting forth their strange unscriptural “healing” theories; demonstrating with hit-or-miss success, mostly miss. As members of the Body of Christ, we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, but we are not Israel with the kingdom gospel and Israel’s kingdom signs. Jesus of Nazareth was here on earth presenting Himself as Israel’s Messiah and King, and was approved by God by mir­acles and signs and wonders in their midst. Acts 2:22 He sent out the Twelve to the same Nation to proclaim that Kingdom gospel, saying to them: heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, cleanse the lepers. Matthew 10:5-8. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder. Why heal the sick and not raise the dead? First, miracles and signs were the credentials of the Apostles. Hebrews 2:2 and Hebrews 2:4; 2 Corinthians 12:12. When Christ was in the midst of Israel both the messenger and message were here, in fulfillment of Scripture. Christ’s ministry was to the circumcision. It was a ministry of confirmation and fulfillment. Romans 15:8 and Matthew 5:17. Israel’s Messiah was to come with healing of the body, sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf and speech for the dumb. Isaiah 35:3-6. Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision. As such, He was “Jesus of Nazareth”. Before the Word became flesh He was in the form of God. The Eternal Deity of the Lord Je­sus Christ is unchangeable. He is now far above principalities and powers, in the highest heavenlies. He is not now a minis­ter of the circumcision, but Head of the Church which is His Body. Ephesians 1:19-21. When we say that Jesus Christ on earth was Israel’s King, but is now Head of the Church, we acknowledge that, notwithstanding His unchangeable Deity, the Lord is not the same yesterday, today and forever, as to His form and ministry. In the Gospel of John the statement is made, that the Rec­ord is given to prove that Jesus was Messiah, the Son of God. His unchangeable Deity is certainly declared in the Record. If, by perpetuating or duplicating the miracles of Christ, we are to prove that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, let us duplicate the seven miracles of John which witnessed to Israel the unique claim of the Lord Jesus. Seven is the perfect number. Christ was the perfect God-man. If we are to prove it by signs, let us include all seven in our religious program: “turn the water into wine”, “walk on the water”, “heal the nobleman’s son”, “feed 5000 people with one half pound of fish and bread”, “heal the impotent man 38 years afflicted”, “give sight to the man born blind”, “raise from the dead a man four days in the grave”. What a spectacle we behold in the “healing” meetings to­day! First, the healing is limited to certain afflictions; and then, nine-tenths of those who respond in great sincerity and faith go away “unhealed”. Most of the preachers who use, or misuse, the Scriptures to support their Divine healing theories, slip away to the physician or the medicine-cabinet now and then. Some of these who carry on their traffic with human souls apparently make no attempt to explain their inconsistency in an occasional visit to the dentist for a little repair work, or the use of glasses for impaired eyesight. In Matthew 8:16, in Mark 16:17 and in Acts 5:14-16, we learn concerning the sign healings of Christ and His Apostles, “healed all manner of disease” and “healed every one of them”. No hit-or-miss quack healing, or tricking the poor unfortunate victims, or a cure within a week or a month. Such quackery cannot convince any thinking person that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our heavenly Father does hear and answer prayer for His children who are sick or in other trouble; but always ac­cording to His will. He raised up Epaphroditus. Php 2:20-24. All of us have some real blessed experiences in the matter of answered prayer. I am alive and well today by the grace and mercy of God. Many far more worthy than I are alive but in miserable health. And regardless of our various healing theories, the death rate of saint and sinner is one apiece. We look back to Calvary for soul redemption. 1 Peter 1:10-12. We look forward to our meeting in glory with our Lord for our body redemption. Php 3:20-21. In the meantime we accept Romans 8:28 as apply­ing to both health and sickness. No child of God would, for a moment, question the om­nipotent power of God: His ability to restore to health any child of faith, but yet, every sane student of the Word of God knows by the experiences of the saints that so long as God extends this dispensation of grace there is no perma­nent cure for physical diseases, and no matter how sincerely and religiously the most faithful or spiritual Christian may look to Calvary for the healing of the Body, day by day that body is headed for utter corruption. Among the members of the Body of Christ there is no trace to be found of the sign-gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, except in the counterfeit. These sign gifts served their place in that “Acts” program of God, which was “in part”. Look out the most zealous, sincere, faithful, gifted Bible teacher of this generation and you will fail to find one who has the miraculous gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. Has the prayer of faith saved the sick? Thousands say “yes, I have had the experience”. Thousands of others, just as faithful and spiritual, are in their graves. Many other thousands, still in their sickness, testify that it has not worked for them. The statement, “the prayer of faith”, like all other Bible statements must be studied in the light of other Scriptures. If healing is the proof that Jesus Christ is the same yes­terday, today and forever, then it must be that there is more abundant proof in the testimonies of the “unhealed” that Jesus Christ is not the same yesterday, today and forever. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: S. JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF ABRAHAM ======================================================================== JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF ABRAHAM “THE BOOK OF THE GENERATION OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF DAVID, THE SON OF ABRAHAM.” Matthew 1:1. “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.’; Hebrews 2:16-17. “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Which was made of THE SEED OF DAVID according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holi­ness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Romans 1:3-4. Jesus Christ was the Son of David, the son of Abraham. Notice the first ques­tion, in Matthew: “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” Matthew 2:2. The Jews came from Abraham. God’s Jewish kings came from David. Note God’s promise concerning the Man to take David’s throne: “For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” “Thus saith the Lord; If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.” Jeremiah 33:17, Jeremiah 33:25-26. Now read carefully Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Jeremiah 33:15-16. “‘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. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” “In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” God’s covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:13-16 : “He shall build an house for My name, and I will stab­lish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever be­fore thee; thy throne shall be established for ever.” More than 800 years before God made this covenant with David, and concern­ing his Seed and kingdom, God made a covenant with Abraham. “NEITHER SHALL THY NAME ANY MORE BE CALLED ABRAM, BUT THY NAME SHALL BE ABRAHAM; FOR A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE THEE. AND I WILL MAKE THEE EXCEEDING FRUITFUL, AND I WILL MAKE NATIONS OF THEE, AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF THEE. AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT BE­TWEEN ME AND THEE AND THY SEED AFTER THEE IN THEIR GENERATIONS FOR AN EVERLASTING COVENANT, TO BE A GOD UNTO THEE, AND TO THY SEED AFTER THEE AND I WILL GIVE UNTO THEE, AND TO THY SEED AFTER THEE, THE LAND WHEREIN THOU ART A STRANGER, ALL THE LAND OF CANAAN, FOR AN EVERLASTING POS­SESSION; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD.” Genesis 17:5-8. THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION “And He gave THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION; and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.” Acts 7:8. Note the covenant in Genesis 17:10, Genesis 17:14 and Genesis 17:24 - Genesis 21:2-5. “This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you SHALL BE CIRCUMCISED.” “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.” “And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abra­ham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” Then note God’s word to Jacob, who was Abraham’s grandson “And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, BUT ISRAEL SHALL BE THY NAME: and HE CALLED HIS NAME ISRAEL. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multi­ply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” Genesis 35:10-12. JESUS CHRIST THE MINISTER OF THE CIRCUMCISION In the Book of Matthew Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, presents Himself as the promised Seed of Abraham, the promised King of the Jews. Of course, as we compare Hebrews 2:16-17 and Hebrews 2:9 with Luke 1:29-33, we ask the question, “did Jesus Christ come to Israel the first time to be a living King on David’s throne, or did He come to be a dying Saviour on Cal­vary’s tree?” We have quoted Hebrews 2:16-17. We quote Hebrews 2:9 : ­“But we see Jesus, Who was made a lit­tle lower than the angels for the suffer­ing of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Read this statement with the words of Christ in Luke 24:45-47­ “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scrip­tures, And said unto them, Thus it is writ­ten, and thus it behoved’ Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusa­lem.” Here we learn, as we learn in Acts 2:23, Acts 4:27, Acts 13:29, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and Hebrews 9:26 that Jesus Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and thus become the Saviour of the world. But as we read the first chapter of Matthew, Mark and Luke, we learn that Jesus Christ was born in the house of David, in the city of David, of the seed of David, to take the throne of David and deliver Israel from Gentile subjuga­tion. “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His, father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:31-33. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy cove­nant; The oath which He sware to our father Abraham, That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear.” Luke 1:68-74. After Christ had presented Himself to Israel as their promised King, Deliverer and Messiah, and they had rejected Him, He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Luke 13:34-35. Now note these significant words of Christ in Luke 19:41-44 : “AND WHEN HE WAS COME NEAR, HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT, SAYING, IF THOU HADST KNOWN, EVEN THOU, AT LEAST IN THIS THY DAY, THE THINGS WHICH BELONG UNTO THY PEACE BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES. BE­CAUSE THOU KNEWEST NOT THE TIME OF THY VISITATION.” Israel knew not. They knew not the time of their visitation. They knew not the things that belonged to their peace. When will Israel see their King and Mes­siah again? When they say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” THE KING IS COMING AGAIN “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7. “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jeru­salem, the spirit of grace and of supplica­tions; and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10. “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.” Ezekiel 37:25. God has not abandoned His “king­dom” program guaranteed in the Abra­hamic and Davidic covenants. No; God has postponed the earthly kingdom promised to His earthly people. But let us believe 2 Peter 1:19 : “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where­unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” Note Christ’s own words in Matthew 25:31 and Matthew 19:28 : “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” “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.” Surely we know that the Lord Jesus was not, in any way, referring to the Church, which He calls the Body of Christ, when He spoke of the throne of His glory. Those who are in Christ’s Body also belong to Christ’s kingdom: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; In Whom we have re­demption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14. “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17. “And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort, unto me.” Colossians 4:11. But here we have a different phase or department of the kingdom of God. THE KINGDOM - THE BODY Compare Matthew 10:5-8 and Matthew 10:23 with Titus 2:11 and Titus 2:13. “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. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have re­ceived, freely give.” “But 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.” “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” The kingdom of heaven at hand for Jews, a message and program by Christ’s apostles in the cities of Israel, is quite different from the “grace of God at hand for all men”. Strictly speaking, Christ is the Head of the Body rather than the King of the Body. The king­dom that was at hand in Matthew 10:7 is in abeyance. The Body of Christ is not that kingdom of heaven. We will study Matthew in several other lessons, but we have learned that the Lord Jesus, in that Book, is fulfilling covenants which God made with Abra­ham and David for Israel. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT We shall study in another message Galatians 3:6-8 and Romans 4:3-11 and shall learn that Abram, the Gen­tile, was declared righteous in uncircum­cision, just as uncircumcised Gentiles are now justified by faith without religion or good deeds. The Scripture foresaw this when God preached the gospel to Abram 430 years before the law was given. Galatians 3:8 and Galatians 3:16-17. Therefore when we say that there has been an interruption of the Abrahamic covenant it is not concerning the justi­fication of believing sinners but con­cerning God’s guarantees as to Israel’s land and kingdom. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-john-c-ohair-volume-1/ ========================================================================