Part
10
The
Delay in Israel’s Program
“The
Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering (patience) to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish (Gk., apollymi, be
destroyed), but that all
should come to repentance.
10 But
the DAY OF THE LORD (judgment)
will come as a thief in the night (suddenly); 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 (of man’s
hands) therein shall be burned up.
(2 Peter 3:9-10)
Paul
wrote that God’s “vengeance”
(v8) will ultimately fall
upon all those who “receive not
the love of the truth, that they
might be saved” (2 Thess
2:10). At the consummation of the ages when Christ returns to earth,
the Lord’s wrath will fall upon this Christ-hating world, and upon
Israel
as a refiner’s fire that they
might call upon His name (Zech 13:9).
“For
we know Him Who said, Vengeance
is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me];
I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says
the Lord. And again, The
Lord will judge and
determine and
solve and
settle the cause and
the cases of His people.”
(Hebrews 10:30 AMP)
But
then, in bringing the Kingdom He will not forget His promise to give “twelve
thrones” to the “the
twelve” Apostles who walked with Him on the earth (Matt. 19:28) in
His eternal Kingdom. They will reign over the twelve tribes of
Israel
in the eternal Kingdom.
Rome
claims its Popes to be successors to the Apostle Peter but there can be
no successors to Peter or the other Apostles, since it is the original
twelve (Mathias, not Judas) who will be resurrected in the “first
resurrection” of Rev 20:6.
They will fill those thrones of authority in the Millennium and eternal
kingdom on earth. Even Paul was not qualified to be one of “the
twelve.”
We need to
recognize that almost immediately following Israel’s “fall”
(Rom 11:11-12), when its religious leaders stoned Stephen to death,
the Lord “blinded” Israel
and set Israel aside for a time, that is “until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom 11:25) at the
Rapture. With
Israel
’s fall the age had turned from Israel
under the Law to the Gentiles
under the pure grace of “the
dispensation of the grace of God”
(Eph 3:2, cf. Rom 6:14). The Lord interrupted
Israel
’s prophesied program and inserted
a new program for the Gentiles that will last for an unspecified
time period, which some call the
parenthesis. (See chart: “Daniel’s 70 Weeks (490 Years) of
Israel Under Gentile Rule”) The Lord’s interruption of His program
for
Israel
delayed His coming Kingdom on earth. He turned to and saved Paul,
sending him with the message of “the
mystery” and “gospel of
the grace of God” (Act
20:24) to “ye Gentiles”
(Eph 3:1-5).
Peter, as “the
Apostle to the circumcision (
Israel
),” came to understand this interruption
and delay in God’s program
for
Israel
some years after the cross. Peter suggests that it was through Paul’s
spoken words and epistles that he came to understand Paul’s unique
calling to the Gentiles and…Paul’s explanation of the full meaning
of the cross to save all men
of all ages who would trust in the Lord. Peter then understood that the
Lord had, so to speak, pressed
the pause button on
Israel
’s program when He inserted
the unprophesied
“dispensation of the grace of
God” into the timeline of the ages for the Gentiles.
Being unprophesied,
Paul’s message was God’s “secret”
plan that Paul calls “the
mystery” (secret), his
unique “gospel” message.
“Now
to him that is of power to stablish you according to my
(Paul’s) gospel, and the preaching of Jesus
Christ, according to the
REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY (the secret plan of God), which
was KEPT SECRET
SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN”
(Romans 16:25)
Thus, there
was a delay in God fulfilling His prophesied program for
Israel
and the coming Kingdom in wherein
Israel
will reign with Christ as His agents on earth. So, Peter wrote these
words below to
Israel
, “the circumcision” (Gal
2:7) to whom he was sent (Matt
10:5-6). Peter refers them to read Paul’s epistles that explain
the
delay in the appearing of Christ in His 2nd coming,
warning them of ignoring Paul’s words.
“And
account that the
longsuffering (patience) of
our Lord is
salvation (opportunity
for salvation before the prophesied judgments that are to come);
even as our beloved brother Paul
also according to the wisdom given unto him (Paul) hath written unto you;
16 As also in
all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be
understood, which THEY THAT
ARE UNLEARNED AND UNSTABLE WREST (twist), AS
THEY DO ALSO THE OTHER
SCRIPTURES, UNTO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION. (2
Peter 3:15-16)
Paul
here explains the delay in Christ’s 2nd coming for
Israel
. Paul says
Israel
is under “blindness” for
a time, but only until
the inserted Gentile age is
finished. The parenthesis in
God’s program for
Israel
will end with the Rapture or out-taking of the then completed mainly
Gentile “body of Christ.”
“…
BLINDNESS in part is HAPPENED
TO ISRAEL, UNTIL
the fulness (pleroo, COMPLETION)
OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN.” (Romans 11:25).
When
the “body
of Christ” is
Raptured, God will simultaneously turn again to
Israel
to restart and fulfill all prophesy concerning Christ’s Kingdom to
come to earth, and believing
Israel
’s reign with Him.
The
first thing that occurred during this God ordained interim
period of delay in God’s Kingdom program for Israel, was that
God chose “another Apostle,” who was NOT one of “the
twelve.” The Greek word for “apostle” is apostolos,
meaning “a sent one” This
new Apostle, Paul, who stands apart from “the
twelve.” Christ actually descended from the 3rd heaven
to appear to “Saul of Tarsus” as a bright “light”
(Act 9:3) and a “voice”
(Act 9:4). Saul of Tarsus was a Jew with freeborn Roman citizenship
(Acts 22:27-28). God saved “Saul of Tarsus” sending Him now as “Paul,”
“THE
Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom
11:13), with a new gospel message called “the
mystery” (Rom 16:25). The
“mystery” was the “gospel
of the grace of God” (Acts
20:24), “for ye Gentiles” (Eph
3:1-5), which included the Rapture of the mainly Gentile “body
of Christ” (1Cor 15:51).
We
today are blessed to live in the period of the parenthesis
or time of delay in God’s
program for
Israel
. While we are blessed today with the grace gospel and eternal
salvation, the parenthesis serves
to delay Christ’s return to bring judgment
as well as the blessings of
His righteous Kingdom on earth.
So it is
clear that the Apostle Paul was not and is not one of “the
twelve,” nor is Paul an afterthought on God’s part. In fact Paul
would not have qualified to be one of “the
twelve Apostles,” which required that the Kingdom Apostles had to
have “walked with Him (Jesus)
from the beginning,” per Acts 1:21.
Paul is
separate from “the twelve
Apostles,” being converted after
the cross, after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
The Lord, in His celestial ministry reached down from heaven to convert “the
chief of sinners.” Paul then was sent to bring his new gospel of
God’s “grace” to all
races in this Christ-rejecting world. Thus, Paul’s
far-flung missionary journeys are the most noted in the New Testament.
God’s love
and mercy was extended to the Gentiles
through the Apostle Paul. Paul is to “the
body of Christ” as Moses was to “
Israel
” – God’s chosen sent ONE. Paul “laid
the foundation” (1Cor 3:10)
of the faith through the revelation He received from Christ and his
subsequent “preaching of the
cross” (1Cor 1:18) as
the “power of God” to
save men by faith in Christ, apart from any requirement of works (Eph
2:8-9, Titus 3:5).
In the light
of these facts, how then 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” as Jesus instructed “the
twelve”? The answer is
“No”! Men are to simply
“believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” to be “saved”
(Acts 16:31).
Yet, many
today still follow Peter, “the
Apostle to the circumcision (
Israel
).” Sadly the vast majority of the church-at-large today still
clings to
Israel
’s program and law. Many mistakenly expect God’s promises to
Israel
will to be fulfilled for them as Christians today – then they wonder
why it does not work for them. They fail to recognize the age has
changed and that they have their own Apostle, Paul. They marginalize
Paul and his “(unique)
gospel that I (Paul) preach.” Christ sent Paul with His
distinctive message of the pure grace of God for “ye
Gentiles,” which includes a new way of living – purely
by faith.
Let’s now
see what “the
Apostle to the Gentiles,” Paul, had to say about salvation
and the remitting of sins, under the grace gospel for today,
then comparing it with what Peter
preached to “ye men of
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” (Tit 3:5).
Paul’s
words stand in striking contrast to Peter’s words to “Ye
men of
Israel
” (Act 2:22, 3:12,
5:35). Peter preached, “Repent
and be baptized ... for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38).
Peter at Pentecost and thereafter was preaching to
Israel
, to whom he was explicitly sent by Jesus. His words were for
Israel
ONLY (Matt 10:5-6). Peter was NOT
sent to address the Gentiles, or “the
body of Christ,” which was yet to be revealed to and through
Paul some time later.
Romanism
today still says water
baptism offers justification
for salvation from punishment
for sin. Catechism 192:“The
remission of all punishment
that we owe because of sin, both temporal (in this world and in Purgatory)
and eternal (the punishment that we would suffer in hell).” “Justification
is conferred in Baptism…”
Jesus
said, “He that believeth
AND is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Water
baptism was for
Israel
only, being required for salvation under the “gospel
of the Kingdom” that Jesus said was to be preached to the “the
circumcision (
Israel
)” (cf. Matt 10:5-6). Paul’s preaching stands in stark contrast
to the words of the so-called Great Commission that Jesus of Nazareth
gave to His Jewish disciples.
By
contrast, Paul offers these words of pure unadulterated grace,
simply “…BELIEVE
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and (this is offered to all in) thy house (Acts 16:31). Paul
says salvation under the “gospel
of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) today is freely
made available by
God’s grace alone, through faith
in Christ alone.
This is the great doctrine of “justification by faith” (Rom
3:28) that Luther and the Protestant reformers recovered, noting its
stark contrast with the requirements of Romanism in their day.
The
majority of Christians today are bound by religion’s manmade laws and
misinterpreted or twisted Scripture, so they miss out on the security
and assurance of their salvation. This is lost because such
salvation joy comes only “by
grace through faith… not of works.” Paul says every genuine
grace believer is “sealed”
securely with “the
Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption” (Eph 1:13,
4:30).
These
and many other differences indicate a major change in God’s program
took place when the Lord raised-up Paul, that “other apostle” for
the predominantly Gentile “body
of Christ.” With Paul’s calling and ministry there was a massive
paradigm shift. God turned His focus from
Israel
to the Gentiles during
this period of the
gap or parenthesis
in
Israel
’s Kingdom program. Today
Israel
has been set aside, temporarily.
Here Paul clearly says
Israel
has “fallen”… so
that… the gospel would go to the Gentiles.
“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 … THE
FALL OF THEM (
Israel
) BE
THE RICHES OF THE WORLD, and the DIMINISHING OF THEM THE RICHES OF THE
GENTILES… (Romans
11:11-12)
“…blindness
in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the FULNESS OF THE
GENTILES BE COME IN. (Romans
11:25b)
The King
of all kings, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom currently remain in exile
until
His enemies become His “footstool”
(Heb 1:13b) by the many judgments to be suffered by the end of
the Tribulation.
Yet TODAY believers can participate in and enjoy the riches of
the invisible
kingdom (realm) of God by freely receiving the “Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus” who will come to indwell their human
spirit as their new and eternal life.
“…
CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE…”
(
Col
3:4b)
“But
he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit (with
Him).” (1 Corinthians 6:17)
“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)
You see, when
a sinner today believes “the
gospel of the grace of God” that Paul preached he receives Christ
as His Savior.
But then even more, the believer also simultaneously receives the
literal resurrected “Spirit
of Christ” by which he is “translated
into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13), and “made
accepted in the Beloved (Jesus)” (Eph. 1:6). Christ has
settled the problem between fallen mankind and God by His death of the
cross on our behalf; all one needs is to believe,
trusting in the resurrected Christ.
“(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)
“Let
us DRAW NEAR WITH A TRUE HEART IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH….”
(Hebrews 10:22a)
We
today live in a time when all men of all nationalities may be saved “by
grace through faith as the gift of God… not of works,” to
enjoy the peace and rest of eternal security. That security rests solely
in the finished work of Christ on the cross offered
for us. “…
GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING
THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING (counting) THEIR TRESPASSES (sins)
UNTO THEM…” (2
Cor 5:19a)
Paul
says all believers today are no longer Jews or Gentiles – they
are “all
one in Christ Jesus.”
“For
by one Spirit are we
all baptized (immersed) 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.” (1 Corinthians
12:13)
“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.”
(Galatians 3:28)
Thus,
the fall of
Israel
delayed the purpose of God on
earth, but because of the delay,
God has gained more than He would have otherwise gained because, as it
is now, God will have gained two great people groups.
1.
The
Raptured heavenly glorified people of the “church,
which is… the body of Christ,” to
reign in heaven, and…
2.
The Resurrected
glorified people of Israel
who will co-reign with Christ
over the coming generations of natural believing people on the New Earth.
Therefore,
if the fall of Adam and fall of
Israel
had not come, then all men would have continued as natural
people forever – not
having God’s life by Christ in them.
There would have been no class of resurrected
glorified saints taken from the human race to be
used of God in administering the affairs of the
heavens and affairs on earth in place of Satan and His angels.
Thus, God is working by use of both the fall
of Adam and the fall
of
Israel
in order to accomplish His “eternal
purpose that was purposed in Christ Jesus” (Eph 3:11).
After
the Millennium, the resurrected
glorified saints (Rev 20:6) of
Israel
will return to earth to reign over and bless all the surviving
believers who are still in their in natural human bodies on the
New Earth in the
Eternal
Kingdom
. They will be fully redeemed and will live on the New Earth in human
bodies just as Adam did before the fall, but with Christ
resurrected eternal life dwelling in them. They will enter the gates of
the Holy City the New Jerusalem to eat of “the
tree of life” and drink of “the
river of life” knowing that it is His life that is their life and
source, for eternity.
These
restored natural believing people will carry out God’s original
purpose of replenishing and having dominion on the earth (Gen 1:27-31;
9:12, Isa 45:18), now in a world free of sin. With the “Tempter and
Accuser” (the Devil) and “Sin and death” in “the
lake of fire,”
and the truth of the cross made evident, the former “Sin nature” in
man’s flesh body will have been made absolutely “of
no effect” (Rom 6:6-7). Man’s identification with the cross will
be manifestly actualized in their human living on the New Earth.