Part 22 of 24 – Common Erroneous Teachings
Taught by Various Christian Groups Today (Continued)
12.
The idea there is Prophecy concerning “the church, which is His body.”
All
Biblical prophecy speaks only of that
which concerns
Israel
and its Messiah. Peter said this at Pentecost. Acts
3:19-21 (KJV) 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; 20 And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21
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
By contrast, NOTHING concerning
“the mystery” (Greek, musterion, secret plan) of “the gospel of
the grace of God” and “the church, which is His body” had ever
been prophesied.
Romans 16:25 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,
which was kept secret since the world began…
So, that which concerned
Israel
has been “spoken by all the prophets since the world began,”
while Paul’s “mystery” (secret) gospel had been “kept secret
since the world began.” Under Paul’s mystery gospel there was a new
dispensational God/man relationship, based upon the pure grace of God, that had
been kept secret until it was first revealed by the ascended Christ to the
Apostle Paul (Gal 1:12).
Ephesians 3:1-3 For
this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God
which is given me to you-ward: 3How
that by revelation he (Jesus Christ, v1) made known unto me the
mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words)
This “mystery”
had “been hid” in God. Ephesians 5:32 This is a great
mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church (the body of
Christ). Colossians 1:26 Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
13. The idea that
“the church which is His body” started in Acts 2 at Pentecost.
Having now
understood that the definition of the Greek word “ekklesia,” only
sometimes means “the church, which is His body,” (see
Part 18 of 24) helps us to always take note as to which church is specifically
being spoken of when we read reference to “church.” “The church which
is His body” is different that church or “assembly” of “ye men of
Judea,” “men of
Israel
,” which is “the circumcision,” to whom Peter was called to
preach at Pentecost (Matt 10:5-6, Gal 2:7).
Today, “the
church” is “the body of Christ” (Eph 1:22b-23a),
which was first revealed to Paul. “The body of Christ” could not
possibly begin until Paul was called, saved, and received “revelation of
the mystery” from the ascended Christ. Paul received this gospel from
Christ and then taught it (Eph 3:1-5).
For the “church,
which is His body” to come into being,
Israel
first, as a nation, had to reject not only Christ but also the Holy Spirit,
which it did in Acts 7.
Israel
not only rejected the Father, as it did by rebelling against God and killing
the God-sent prophets of
Israel
, but they also rejected and crucified the Son of God. Then
Israel
rejected the witness of the Holy Spirit through Stephen (Acts 7:51), by stoning
Stephen to death in Acts 7:58. Only then does God “cast away”
Israel
, for a time (Rom 11:1, 15). Only then did Christ save Paul to reveal to him the
mystery “gospel of the grace of God,” and give him unique ministry to
the mainly Gentile “church, which is body of Christ,” under “the
dispensation of the grace of God” (1Cor 12:27).
Only Paul explains
the detailed information of the mystery gospel that he received from the risen
Lord. Paul reveals the cross, with its full meaning. In contrast
to Pewter on the day of Pentecost, when he scolded the Jews for “killing
the Prince of Peace,” Paul tells us that it is by virtue of Christ’s
death and shed blood that we have justification, propitiation, redemption,
liberation from Sin’s power. Paul goes on to tell us of Jesus’ resurrection,
by which we have His “Spirit of life” indwelling every member of “the
body of Christ.” No Bible writer but Paul uses the term “the body of
Christ.” All of the other Bible writers are principally concerned with
Israel
of the past and/or
Israel
’s future. By contrast, only Paul uses the term “but now”
speaking of today under “the dispensation of the grace of God.”
The only way revival can come to the individual and “the body of Christ,”
in this day of “the dispensation of the grace of God,” is to get back
to the Pauline truth of the pure grace of God. This has happened to a degree
beginning with Martin Luther in the early 1500’s as a prime example, as he saw
the light on Paul's presentation of “justification by faith”
in Christ alone, apart from works, as taught by Paul in
Rom 11:6. Then John Nelson Darby,
the father of modern dispensational theology, C.I.
Scofield, Charles Ryrie, and others recovered the truth of “the rapture of the
body of Christ” during the early to late 1800’s.
Still, most of the
church at large today marginalizes Paul’s thirteen epistles for “the body
of Christ,” preferring to mix law with Paul’s grace gospel. They confuse
Pentecost as being for “the body of Christ,” when in fact the body of
Christ came into being some several years later.
14. The idea that “the
church which is His body” is destined for the earthly “
kingdom
of
God
”.
Genesis 1:1 In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Ephesians 3:15 Of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named… God has and
will have family in both heaven and on the earth for eternity.
Israel
, as the descendants of Abraham, has been promised “a
land” upon the earth as an “everlasting inheritance” (Gen 17:7).
This land extends from the river Nile to the river Euphrates, encompassing the
whole
Fertile Crescent
. Jesus gave His Jewish disciples a prayer in accord with that promise, “Thy
kingdom come…thy will be done…on earth.”
The focus here is the kingdom from heaven coming to be upon the earth.
By contrast, Paul clearly says
those of “the body of Christ” have their citizenship in heaven.
Paul writes this to the members of “the body of Christ” at
Philippi
. Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: We of “the
body of Christ” are destined for the eternal paradise of heaven as our
home forever. The earth is not our home.
Paradise
has been relocated from the place “below” that Jesus and the thief on the
cross descended to. It now is located in heaven, where Paul later was “caught
up” (2Cor 12:2). “The body of Christ” is a heavenly people (Eph
1:3, 20), living now as ambassadors of Christ (2Cor 5:20) while we are upon this
earth. With our home in heaven, and we currently being on earth, then we today
are His ambassadors on earth (2Cor 5:20), currently in a place that is not
our home.
Thus, it is by these
two people groups, “the body of Christ” and the nation of “
Israel
,” that Christ will thereby fill those things which are in heaven
and on earth. He will be “all and in all” to the two
groups who receive Him and become His expression in their two spheres; “the
body of Christ” in heaven, and
Israel
on earth. Ephes. 1:10 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: