By
Arthur J Licursi
Mankind has long ago declared war on God, His
prophets and His Son, but presently God is still withholding judgment…
that all men “should come to
repentance.”
“The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
10 But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2
Peter 3:9-10)
There is no doubt from Scripture that the
Lord Jesus Christ will come to this earth again, but
this time not as the sacrificial “lamb
of God,” He will return as the “King
of Kings,” in righteousness and in judgment.
“Seeing
it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel (good news) of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2
Thessalonians 1:6-9)
Paul goes on to say
this “vengeance” (v8)
will fall upon those who
“receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved” (2
Thessalonians 2:10).
Ultimately, in the consummation of the ages
when Christ returns to earth, He will not forget His promise to give “the
twelve Apostles” who walked
with Him twelve thrones in His eternal Kingdom on the earth (Matt. 19:28).
Some men claim to be successors to the Apostle Peter but there can be no
successors to Peter or the eleven other Apostles, since the original twelve
will have been resurrected in the “first
resurrection” (Rev 20:6) to fill those thrones of authority in the
Kingdom.
We need to recognize that almost immediately
following
Israel
’s “fall” (Rom 11:11-12) in
Acts 7, after
Israel
’s stoning of Stephen, the Lord inserted an unknown time period of
parenthesis or interruption in God’s prophesied program for
Israel
and the coming Kingdom.
During this interim of the delay in God’s
Kingdom program for Israel, God chose yet another Apostle, Paul, a Jew with
Roman citizenship, sending him as “to
Apostle to the Gentiles,”
(Paul, Rom 11:13) with the new “gospel
of the grace of God”
(acts 20:24). This period of parenthesis in
Israel
’s program, in which we live today, then also delays Christ’s return to
both judge and reign
in His Kingdom.
The Apostle Paul is not one of “the
Twelve.” We must note that Paul is separate from “the
twelve Apostles,” being converted after the cross and quite some time
after Christ’s ascension to heaven. The Lord from heaven then reached down
from heaven to convert “the chief
of sinner” Saul of Tarsus (Paul). Paul then was sent to bring the new
gospel of God’s “grace” to
this Christ-rejecting world. God’s love and mercy was been extended to the
Gentiles through Paul’s ministry.
In the light of these facts, how are men
saved today? How are their sins remitted?
Must men today come to some recognized
religious authority and be “baptized
for the remission of sins”? Some still follow Peter, who was “the
Apostle to the circumcision (
Israel
),” rather than Paul. They say, “Yes.” Sadly, much of Christianity
still clings to
Israel
’s program and God’s promises to and concerning
Israel
, not recognizing their own Apostle, Paul, and his message of pure grace of
God for the Gentiles.
Let’s now see what the Apostle to the
Gentiles, Paul, by divine inspiration, has to say about salvation
and the remitting of sins, comparing it to what Peter preached to
Israel
. Paul wrote:
“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).
“NOT
BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO
HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION, AND THE RENEWING
OF THE HOLY GHOST” (Titus 3:5).
Note the difference
between Peter’s and Paul’s words. Paul’s words stands in striking
contrast to Peter’s words here, “Repent
and be baptized... for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). Peter was
addressing “Ye men of
Judah
(
Israel
)” not “the body of
Christ,” which was yet to be revealed through Paul.
Paul’s words also stands
in contrast to the words of the so-called Great Commission that Jesus gave
to His Jewish disciples exclusively (Matt 15:24, 10:5-6): “He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Paul said
Acts 16:31 …Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved… Yes, Paul says
salvation today is by grace through faith alone.
Sadly, many today who are bound by
religion’s manmade laws miss out on the security
and assurance of salvation that they could enjoy because it comes
only “by
grace through faith… not of works.”
These differences indicate
that a change in God’s program took place when the Lord raised-up of Paul,
that other apostle for the predominantly Gentile “body
of Christ.” Yes, there has been a massive paradigm shift since God
turned His focus from
Israel
to the Gentiles during this interim period when
Israel
has been set aside. Paul says
Israel
has “fallen” so the gospel
would go to the Gentiles.
Romans
11:11-12 I say then, Have
they (
Israel
) stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather
THROUGH THEIR (
ISRAEL
’S) FALL salvation is come
unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them (
Israel
) to jealousy. 12 Now if THE
FALL OF THEM (
ISRAEL
) BE THE RICHES OF THE
WORLD, and the DIMINISHING OF THEM THE RICHES OF THE GENTILES; how much
more their fulness?
Romans
11:25 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.
But what about the “Kingdom…
on earth” promised to Abraham’s seed,
Israel
? Does some man on earth today really hold the keys to the kingdom? No!
The King, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom currently remain in exile until His
enemies become His “footstool”
(Heb 1:13b).
Yet believers today can enter the invisible
kingdom or realm of God by the Spirit of Christ coming to indwell their
human spirit. You see, when a sinner today believes “the
gospel of the grace of God” that Paul preached he receives Christ as
His Savior; he then also receives the resurrected “Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus” whereby he is simultaneously “translated
into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13), and “made
accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
We today live in a time
when all men of all nationalities may be saved “by
grace through faith… not of works” to enjoy the peace
and rest of their eternal
security that rests in the finished work of Christ on the cross - for us.
2
Corinthians 5:19a To wit,
that GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING
THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING (COUNTING) THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM…
Paul says these believers
then are no longer Jews or Gentiles – they are one in God’s new agency
on earth that is called “the body
of Christ.”
1
Corinthians 12:13 For by one
Spirit are we all baptized into
one body (of Christ), whether we
be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we
be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
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.
Christ has settled the
problem between fallen rebellious mankind and God by the cross of His Son
Jesus.
Galatians
1:4 (Christ) Who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father:
Titus
2:14 (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.
Hebrews
10:22 Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil (dirtied) conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water.
<END>