DISPENSATIONAL BIBLE STUDY
By J. C. O’Hair
INTRODUCTION
Christians are told in I
Corinthians 2:14 and 15, that the ‘THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD’ are
spiritually discerned, that they are foolishness to the natural man. The Spirit
searcheth ‘THE THINGS OF GOD’. (I Corinthians 2:10). “He that is spiritual
judgeth all things.” When the Lord Jesus told his disciples that He was going
back to heaven by the way of the cross, after His body would be three days in
the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40), He would send the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of Truth, to guide them into all truth. (John 16:13) . Christ explained,
in John 7:38 to 40 and John 16:7, why the Holy Spirit would not come and would
not be in them until He went back to His Father. (John 14:17). Christ told His
people that they could not see the kingdom of God except they were born from
above, born of the Spirit. (John 3:3 to 7). Because the twelve apostles were
the disciples of the Lord Jesus many months before the Holy Spirit was sent down
from heaven (Acts 1:5 . . . I Peter 1:12), they had to tarry at Jerusalem for
the advent of the Holy Spirit, the infallible, Divine Guide and Teacher. (Luke
24:49). The Israelites to whom Peter preached Acts 2:38 were instructed to be
baptized for the remission of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
But they did not have to tarry for the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:13, after
that ye believed’ should be translated ‘believing’ (pisteusantes). After the
FALL of Israel (Romans 11:11) any and every sinner who believed the gospel of
salvation immediately received the Holy Spirit, all of the Holy Spirit, the
anointing, the sealing and the baptism. (II Corinthians 1:21 and 22). When the
believing sinner receives Christ, meeting God at Calvary where Christ was made
sin (II Corinthians 5:21), that believer receives God’s own perfect, Divine
righteousness as God’s free gift, and at the same time he receives the Holy
Spirit as God’s free gift. (Galatians 3:14 . . . Romans 4:5). At the same time
that believer is delivered from the wrath to come, eternal conscious perdition
(I Thessalonians 1:9 and 10 . . . Revelation 21:8), the penalty of sin. At the
same time that believer is once-for-all baptized into the Body of Christ (I
Corinthians 12:13), he is sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.
(Ephesians 1:14 and 4:30). The anointing which abides in the believer is to
keep the yielded believer from being seduced by false teachers. (I John 2:26
and 27). Seeking the Holy Spirit, tarrying for the Holy Spirit, or praying for
the Holy Spirit, is not God’s way to receive the Holy Spirit in this age of
grace. God’s way is Ephesians 1:13 and Galatians 3:14. All who live in the
Spirit do not walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25). All who have received the
once-for-all baptism of the Holy Spirit are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
(Ephesians 5:18). The babe in Christ is instructed to desire the sincere milk
of the Word and grow. (I Peter 2:1 and 2). He is expected to continuously study
God’s Word. under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, until he is numbered with
those of ‘FULL AGE’ (PERFECT), to whom belongeth the ‘STRONG MEAT’ of God’s
Word (Hebrews 5:12 to 6:2). ‘THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD’. Christ ascended FAR ABOVE
ALL HEAVENS and gave gifts unto men, for the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 1
:9 to 14) . The Lord thus provided for members of the Body of Christ to keep
them from being ‘tossed to and fro’ children. In Romans 16:25 members of the
Body of Christ are instructed to be
established by Paul’s gospel, the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. We are
told in Ephesians 1:15 to 23 that, to comprehend some of ‘THE DEEP THINGS OF
GOD’, members of the Body of Christ need something extra special; namely, the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation to have the eyes of their understanding
enlightened. In Ephesians the deep things of God are called, ‘the MYSTERY of
His will’ (Ephesians 1:9), ‘the MYSTERY of the gospel’ (Ephesians 6:19 and 20),
‘the MYSTERY of Christ’ (Ephesians 3:3 and 4), ‘the dispensation of the
MYSTERY’, which from the beginning of the world hath been ‘HID IN GOD’
(Ephesians 3:9). All of this is ‘according to the ‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’ which God
PURPOSED in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:11). This is explained in
Ephesians 1:11 and 1:4: In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the PURPOSE of Him who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will According as He hath chosen us in Christ before the
‘OVERTHROW OF THE WORLD’. Note also II Timothy 1:9; God saved us and called us,
according to His own PURPOSE and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. In Matthew 21:42, quoted by Christ from Psalm 118:22
and 23, we learn that when Israel rejected Christ in incarnation, it was ‘THE
LORD’S DOING’. Christ’s suffering had to precede His glory. (I Peter 1:11).
After God has accomplished His ‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’ set forth in Ephesians, Christ
will take the throne of His glory on earth, because ‘THE ZEAL OF THE LORD OF
HOSTS WILL PERFORM THIS’, (Isaiah 9:7). ‘KNOWN UNTO GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS FROM
THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD’. (Acts 15:18). So God knows, and we should know,
that He will build again the tabernacle of David. (Acts 15:15 to 17). By the
mouth of all of His holy prophets God foretold the ‘THESE DAYS’ of Acts 3:24
and the ‘RESTITUTION’ of Acts 3:19 to 21. In Romans 11:33 we read what Paul
wrote when Israel rejected Christ in resurrection. Were it not for the
interference of religious, sectarian leaders, it seems that even the babe in
Christ should know the difference between the prophesied KINGDOM OF GOD
prepared ‘FROM THE OVERTHROW OF THE WORLD’ (Matthew 25:34), which KINGDOM is to
be established when Christ returns to earth as the Son of man (Luke 21:27 to
33) to be a KING and a JUDGE (Matthew 25:31 to 34), and the unprophesied
‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’ of God, concerning ‘THE CHURCH OF THE MYSTERY’, chosen in
Christ ‘BEFORE THE OVERTHROW OF THE WORLD’.
STEWARDS OF THE MYSTERIES OF GOD
According to I Corinthians 4:1 to
4, every minister of Christ is expected to be a faithful ‘STEWARD’ or the
‘MYSTERIES’ of God. The Greek word translated ‘STEWARD’ is ‘OIKONOMOS’. In Luke
16:1 to 3 we read of a man who was commended for his ‘STEWARDSHIP’. The Greek
word translated ‘STEWARDSHIP’ is ‘OIKONOMIA’. Several times in Paul’s Writings
the word ‘OIKONOMIA’ is translated ‘DISPENSATION’. In I Corinthians 9:17 Paul
testified that a ‘DISPENSATION’ was committed unto him. (‘Of the gospel’ not in
the Greek). In Colossians 1:25 and 26 Paul was made a minister, “according to
“THE DISPENSATION OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME FOR YOU, TO FILL UP (COMPLETE) THE
WORD OF GOD, ‘THE MYSTERY’,” Here we learn that ‘THE MYSTERY’ was to complete the
Word of God, and that this ministry and DISPENSATION
given to Paul, for Gentiles, was
called ‘THE MYSTERY’ (THE SECRET), because it was ‘HID FROM AGES AND
GENERATIONS’. Then Paul wrote in very plain language, in Ephesians 3:1 to 3 “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, how that by
REVELATION He (Christ) made known unto me ‘THE MYSTERY’.” Because Paul received
‘THE MYSTERY’ and proclaimed it, he was ‘THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST’ for
Gentiles, he was AN AMBASSADOR IN BONDS (Ephesians 6:19 and 20 and Colossians
4:3 and 4), he suffered trouble ‘AS AN EVIL DOER’ unto bonds. (II Timothy 2:9).
Paul was not thus suffering in the Roman jail because he preached the saving
gospel of I Corinthians 15:1 to 4, “Christ died for our sins; was buried, and
was raised from the dead”: for that was “ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES”, in
fulfillment of prophecy (Acts 13:29 and 30. Luke 24:26 and 27 . . . 46 to 48 .
. . Acts 26:21 to 23). Concerning ‘THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL’ of Ephesians 6:19
and 20 and Romans 16:25, for which Paul suffered as an evil doer, all of
Israel’s Old Testament prophets were both silent and ignorant. Therefore, that
distinctive message included in ‘THE DISPENSATION OF GOD’, given by special
revelation from Christ to Paul, is described in Ephesians 3:8, as ‘THE
UNSEARCHABLE (PASTTRACING-OUT) RICHES OF CHRIST’, meaning ‘THE RICHES OF
CHRIST’ not prophesied in the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi. (Same Greek
word in Romans 11:33, past-finding-out). This unprophesied Divine truth,
according to Ephesians 3:9, was “FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD ‘HID IN GOD’.”
But beginning with the time the risen Christ revealed these ‘DEEP THINGS OF
GOD’, which even the apostle Peter found ‘HARD TO BE UNDERSTOOD’ (II Peter
3:16), down to this very moment, God has wanted every member of the BODY OF
CHRIST to see what is ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’, (Ephesians 3:9). In II
Timothy 1:12 Paul wrote of ‘MY DEPOSIT’ (Paratheke). Christ gave to Paul a
precious ‘DEPOSIT’. Perhaps, the translators should have given us a better
translation of ‘OIKONOMIA’ than ‘DISPENSATION’. ‘OIKONOMIA’, is literally
‘HOUSE-LAW’. ‘OIKONOMEO’ has the meaning of managing a house. It might be a business.
Let us think of ‘OIKONOMIA’ as the government of a household. Let us use the
illustration of ‘THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION’. President Roosevelt was the
author and the sponsor of ‘THE NEW DEAL’. He was the chief ‘STEWARD’. So
perhaps, ‘STEWARDSHIP’ or ‘ADMINISTRATION’ would be a more correct translation
than either ‘DISPENSATION’ or ‘ECONOMY’. But regardless of the word we use,
‘OIKONOMIA’ is not a period of time. The minister of Christ, who does not know
and teach that the risen Christ, by special revelation, gave to the human race
‘A NEW DEAL’ and made Paul the wise masterbuilder (I Corinthians 3:10) and the
first and chief ‘STEWARD’ of ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’, is not a
faithful ‘STEWARD’ of the MYSTERIES of God. The faithful ‘STEWARD’ of the
MYSTERIES of God knows that no Christian should be ignorant of the MYSTERY of
Romans 11:25, for the verse says that very thing. He should know that he is not
a faithful ‘STEWARD’, if he does not obey Ephesians 3:9 and do his utmost to
make all other Christians see what is ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’, which
from the beginning of the world was ‘HID IN GOD’. It was hid until the risen
Christ first revealed that wonderful truth to and through the apostle Paul. The
faithful ‘STEWARD’ knows that no Christian, who does not first understand the
MYSTERY of Romans 11:25 and the DISPENSATIONAL crisis recorded in all of the
eleventh chapter of Romans and the postponed
national redemption of God’s
kingdom nation (Romans 11:26 to 29), will understand God’s ‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’,
‘THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’, God’s Divine program and message concerning the
‘JOINT-BODY’ (not ‘same’ Body) of Ephesians 3:6, the Church ONE FLESH with
Christ (Ephesians 5:31 and 32), PURPOSED in Christ and predestinated before the
overthrow of the world. (Ephesians 1:11. . . 3:11 . . . 1:1 and 5 . . . 5:25 to
27).
THE MYSTERY OF ROMANS 11:21
“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.” Then something else will HAPPEN TO ISRAEL. When will
that something else HAPPEN TO ISRAEL? What will HAPPEN? Why will it HAPPEN? Let
us answer the last question first: “it will HAPPEN ‘FOR THE FATHERS’ SAKE”. It
will HAPPEN because of God’s COVENANT promised in Jeremiah 31:31 to 37. It will
HAPPEN, because ‘THE GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD ARE WITHOUT REPENTANCE’. (Romans
11:27 to 29). What will HAPPEN to the NATION ISRAEL? That NATION will be saved.
(Romans 11:26). When will Israel be saved and how? By the coming of their
Deliverer out of Zion, when ‘THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN’. (Luke
21:27 to 33). When will this present age and Dispensation, this present period
of special favor for the nations, end? God’s people in this ‘grace’ age are
waiting for God’s Son from heaven (I Thessalonians 1:9 and 10), looking for
that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour, Jesus
Christ (Titus 2:13). They are looking for the Saviour’s appearing and for
bodies of glory. (Philippians 3:20 and 21). Every faithful ‘STEWARD’ of the
MYSTERIES of GOD, including the MYSTERY of I Corinthians 15:51 to 55, who obeys
II Timothy 2:15, is a ‘PRETRIBULATION PREMILLENARIAN’. In II Thessalonians 1:10
‘ELTHE’ should be translated ‘SHALL HAVE COME’. In Romans 11:25, 11:11, 11:15.
11:30 we learn that a blindness in part happened to Israel, and then God
ushered in ‘THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES’, SPIRITUALLY. When and because of the
FALL of Israel, salvation was sent to the nations. When and because God cast
Israel away the ministry and word of RECONCILIATION mentioned in II Corinthians
5:16 to 21 was sent to the rest of the world. Because of Israel’s unbelief
special Divine mercy was sent to the Gentiles. All Christians should know the
difference between God’s message for the Gentiles BEFORE and AFTER Israel’s
FALL. That God will do for Israel what we are told in Romans 11:26 to 29 He
will do, was not a MYSTERY or a SECRET ‘HID’ in God, from the beginning of the
world. No: this was spoken by the mouth of all of God’s prophets since the
world began. (Acts 3:21, Luke 1:70 . . . Amos 9:11 to 15). God, for His own
holy Name’s sake (Ezekiel 36:21), will redeem His ‘kingdom’ nation and plant
them in Canaan. The Prince of Peace will sit on the throne of David and take
over the government of the world, because the zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this. (Isaiah 9:6 and 7). It is interesting to compare this statement
with Psalm 118:23, ‘This is the Lord’s doing’. God will have a NEW ISRAEL and a
NEW JERUSALEM (Isaiah 62:1 to 4), after He has made the ‘ONE NEW MAN’ of
Ephesians 2:15, when ‘THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN’. The truth of
Romans 11:25 was the ‘MYSTERY’; that God suspended or interrupted His ‘kingdom’
covenants which guarantee to Israel ‘THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID’ of Acts
13:34 and Luke 1:67 to 77, and
‘THE RESTITUTION’ of Acts 3:21, until He has accomplished His unprophesied
eternal purpose concerning the Church of the Mystery, ‘THE CHRIST’ of I
Corinthians 12:12. The definite article ‘THE’ is important in I Corinthians
12:12, for ‘THE CHRIST’ of that verse is ‘THE SPOTLESS CHURCH’ of Ephesians
5:25 to 27, Christ and the Church ‘ONE FLESH’ of Ephesians 5:31 and 32. ‘THE
BODY IS THE FILLING-UP OF CHRIST’ of Ephesians 1:21 to 23, ‘THE JOINT-BODY’ of
Ephesians 3:6, 4:15 and 16 and Colossians 2:19. Before Adam and Eve sinned they
were called ‘ADAM’ (Genesis 5:2), ‘ONE FLESH’ (Genesis 2:21 to 24). They
prefigured ‘THE CHRIST’ of I Corinthians 12:12, the ‘ONE FLESH’ of Ephesians
5:31 and 32, ‘THE SPOTLESS CHURCH’ or ‘SPOTLESS CHRIST’ of Ephesians 5 :25 to
27. The ‘HID IN GOD’ of Ephesians 3:9, ‘HID FROM AGES AND GENERATIONS’ in
Colossians 1:24 to 26, ‘THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST’ of Ephesians 3:8,
and ‘KEPT SECRET SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN’ of Romans 16:25, should convince any
faithful ‘STEWARD’ of the MYSTERIES of God, that the ‘AS’ of Ephesians 3:5 does
not suggest comparative revelation. No prophet of God, from Genesis to Malachi,
knew anything or said anything concerning ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD
FOR THE NATIONS’ which the risen Christ committed to the apostle Paul when
blindness was sent upon Israel, and Israel fell. (Romans 11:7 to 11). Israel
was the enemy of the gospel ‘for the Gentiles’ sake.’ (Romans 11:28). God will
save Israel later on, ‘FOR THE FATHERS’ SAKE’. This is why God saved Israel
from Egypt (Exodus 2:23 to 25), and from destruction on the way from Sinai to
Canaan. (Exodus 32:13 and 14). This is why God will perform Jeremiah 23:7 and
8. For the fathers’ sake (Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s sake), and for
Jehovah’s sake (Ezekiel 36:21), Israel will be redeemed and their land, Canaan,
will be restored to them. When they are again planted in the promised land by
God they shall no more be plucked up (Amos 9:11 to 15). All of this is
guaranteed to Israel in the ‘TWO IMMUTABLE THINGS’ in which it is impossible
for God to lie. (Hebrews 6 :17 to 20): The first of the two immutable things is
God’s COVENANT, God’s PROMISE to Abram in uncircumcision (Genesis 13:14 to 18).
That COVENANT or PROMISE was confirmed when God instituted CIRCUMCISION, at the
time Abram became circumcised Abraham at the age of 99 (Genesis 17:24). That
was 406 years before the ‘OLD TESTAMENT’ began. Note in Genesis 17:1 to 7 and
17:10 to 14 ‘THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION’ (Acts 7:8). Note now Genesis 17:8;
“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.” Read Ezekiel 36:21 to 38 and Amos 9 :11 to 15 and know what
God will do and why. Abram was declared righteous by faith 430 years before
Israel became God’s OLD TESTAMENT nation, (Galatians 3:6 to 8 . . . 3:16 to
19). About 40 years later Abraham placed his only son, Isaac, on an altar on
Mt. Moriah. Then and there God confirmed His COVENANT OF PROMISE with an OATH,
(Genesis 22:3 to 14). That OATH was the second of the ‘TWO IMMUTABLE THINGS’
Because of God’s COVENANT and OATH with Abraham, concerning Israel and Canaan,
confirmed to, or with, Isaac and Jacob, that is, for these fathers’ sake, and
because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, the nation Israel
will be saved and Canaan will be restored to Israel. (Romans 11:28 and 29).
This will be a very important part of the RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, spoken by
the mouth of all of God’s prophets since the world began, the message that
Peter proclaimed to Israel in Acts 3:19 to 26. This ‘RESTITUTION’ will not take
place so long as the heavens retain the Son of Man.
Thus we should understand the
meaning of Galatians 2:7, that the GOSPEL OF THE CIRCUMCISION was committed
unto Peter. The redemption of the NATION and the occupation of CANAAN by that
NATION were included in the GOSPEL OF THE CIRCUMCISION. Also the NATION and
David’s THRONE have a very important place in ‘THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.’
WHEN ISRAEL’S ALL-DAY-LONG ENDED
Let us compare the statement in
Romans 10:21, “but to Israel He (God) saith, all day long I have stretched
forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people”, with I Thessalonians
2:14 to 16: “the Jews, who both killed
the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us: and they please
not God, and are contrary to all men . . . forbidding us to speak to the
Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath
is come upon them to the uttermost.” Then we read in Romans 9:29 to 33, that
Israel stumbled at the STUMBLINGSTONE when Paul preached to them Acts 13:39,
justification by faith in the Lord Jesus without the deeds of the law. It has
been erroneously assumed, or presumed, by many ministers of Christ, who
consider themselves faithful ‘STEWARDS’ of the ‘MYSTERIES’ of God, that
Israel’s ‘ALL-DAY-LONG’ ended when Christ said to them, in Matthew 23:38, “your
house is left unto you desolate.” They fix the date of Israel’s FALL of Romans
11:11 with that pronouncement of Christ. They do greatly err by teaching that
‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD FOR GENTILES’ (Ephesians 3:1 to 3), ‘THE
DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’ (Ephesians 3:9), ‘THE JOINT BODY’ OF EPHESIANS
3:6, began with Peter and Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in fulfillment of
Joel’s prophecy concerning Israel’s ‘LAST DAYS’. We wonder if they have read I
Corinthians 3:10. We learn in Acts 10:28 and 11:19 and 11:1 to 5, that for some
years after Pentecost it was unlawful for the apostles to go to Gentiles; that
when Peter did preach to Cornelius it did not meet with the approval of the
other Christian Israelites, who had preached to none but Jews only. Joel
foretold nothing of the ‘DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’ or ‘THE BODY OF CHRIST’.
Every Christian should find real interest in studying together ‘THE PARABLE OF
THE VINEYARD’ of Isaiah 5:1 to 7 and ‘THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD’ of Matthew
21:33 to 46. These two parables refer to God’s faithfulness and Israel’s
unfaithfulness, to Israel’s awful sins against the Lord. In the ‘VINEYARD’
parable of Matthew 21:33 to 16, the Lord Jesus spoke particularly of two of the
sins of Israel, ‘killing God’s prophets’ and ‘killing God’s Son the Heir’. Note
in Matthew 21:42; Christ said that second great sin would be the fulfillment of
Psalm 118:22 and 23: “the Stone rejected by the Builders: the Lord’s doing.”
“And it is marvelous in our eyes.” About the time Christ uttered these words
right after He had entered into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass and then told
His people that He had come to die on the cross (John 12:27 to 33); strange
language is recorded in John 12:37 to 40: Though Christ had performed many
miracles, Israel did not believe; Israel could not believe; because Isaiah 53
had to be fulfilled and Isaiah 6:9 to 12 had to be fulfilled. This is why
Christ said, in Matthew 26:24, “the Son of man goeth, as it is written of Him”;
why He said, “the Son of man MUST be lifted up” (John 3:14). Then after His
death Christ said: “thus it is written, and thus it BEHOOVED Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day.” (Luke 24:46). This is why the Holy
Spirit led Paul to utter some
years after Pentecost: “Christ MUST NEEDS have suffered, and risen again from
the dead” (Acts 17:3 . . . 26.21 to 33). Christ had to die when He died, as He
died. Christ MUST NEEDS have suffered and then be raised from the dead. Christ
also MUST NEEDS have been in the heart of the earth for three days and three
nights, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
(Matthew 12:40). So the final judgment of Israel, the end of their
‘ALL-DAY-LONG’, was not until God had given them the sign of Matthew 12:40.
They were to be given the opportunity to reject the WITNESS of the Holy Spirit;
that Christ was raised from the dead to be Israel’s Saviour. (Acts 5:31 and
32). Christ’s suffering had to precede His glory (I Peter 1:11). Christ had to
go to Calvary’s cross before He would go to David’s throne. Christ’s death was
not only the Father’s will, but was by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of the Father (Acts 2:23 . . . Acts 4:25 to 28) . What God did,
and what Israel did, as to the death of Christ (Acts 3:18 . . . John 3:16 . . .
Acts 13:29 and 30), was in fulfillment of the Scriptures. (Luke 24:24 to 27).
Israel indeed sinned against the Son of man; ‘killing the Prince of Life’.
(Acts 3:14 and 15). But Christ prayed on the cross for the forgiveness of
Israel. (Luke 23:34). Then the Lord sent Peter to Israel to give them the good
news that He would consider their terrible crime due to ignorance (Acts 3:17),
if they would repent. Every one of them would be turned away from his sins.
Also God would send the Son of man back from heaven to set up the prophesied
kingdom. (Acts 3:26 . . . 3:19 to 21). Note in Acts 2:30 and 2:16 and 3:24 what
David said and what Joel said and what all of Israel’s prophets said. They said
nothing about the ‘JOINT-BODY’ of Ephesians 3:6. They knew nothing about ‘THE
DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’, which was ‘HID IN GOD’, ‘HID FROM AGES AND
GENERATIONS’, KEPT SECRET SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN’. (Ephesians 3:9 . . .
Colossians 1:24 to 26 . . . Romans 16:25). With the exception of Genesis 5:2
and 2:21 to 24, and the truth of Galatians 3:8, ‘THE MYSTERY’ was not ‘HID IN
THE SCRIPTURES’ (Ephesians 3:8): it was ‘HID IN GOD’. (Ephesians 3:9).
THE FALL OF ISRAEL—WHEN?
No faithful ‘STEWARD’ will date
the FALL of Israel until after the sign of Matthew 12:40 and the WITNESS of the
Holy Spirit of Acts 5:31 and 32. It was after the sign and the witness that
Stephen uttered the words of Acts 7:51 and 52: “ye stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit, as your
fathers, so ye . . . Which one of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before the coming of the JUST
ONE; of Whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers?” Then Stephen saw
the Son of man standing in heaven. In Acts 13:45 and 18:5 the apostle Paul also
told Israel (out of their land) that they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit; and
therefore, he would turn to Gentiles. The remnant of Israel, according to the
election of grace (Romans 11:3 to 7), accepted Paul’s message of justification
by faith in Christ without Moses and the Law (Acts 13:39). The rest stumbled
(Romans 9:29 to 33). They were blinded. (Romans 11:7 to 11). When Israel
rejected Paul’s message they stoned him as they stoned Stephen and then forbade
Paul and the other apostles to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Then note
what happened as recorded in I Thessalonians 2:14 to 16: “God’s wrath to the
uttermost came”, for Israel had filled-up their sin. Their ‘ALL-DAY-LONG’ ended
with their BLINDNESS and FALL. Their FALL brought RICHES to the nations.
(Romans 11:12). Israel became enemies of the gospel, for the Gentiles’
sake. Israel will be redeemed for
the ‘fathers’ sake’ (11:28), after God has made the ‘ONE NEW MAN’ of Ephesians
2:15, after God has brought to an end this special reign of grace for the
nations. Blindness in part happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles
be come in.
THE BEGINNING OF ISRAEL’S “ALL-DAY-LONG”
According to Exodus 1:1 to 5
about seventy Israelites went to Egypt about 1700 B.C. But let us begin
Israel’s day when Moses was 80 years old. (Exodus 7:7). About 1500 B.C. God
BAPTIZED unto Moses more than 600,000 Israelites. (Exodus 12:37 and I
Corinthians 10:1 to 3). That was 430 years after Abram, in uncircumcision, was
justified by faith. (Exodus 12:40 . . . Galatians 3:8 and 3:16 to 19). Israel
was delivered from Egypt in fulfillment of Genesis 15:13 to 15. As we consider
this exodus of Israel under God’s appointed deliverer, Moses, let us keep in
mind Deuteronomy 18:15 to 19, that the Lord Jesus was to be raised up to be
Israel’s Prophet, a Prophet like unto Moses. This was quoted by Peter in Acts
3:22 and 23 and by Stephen in Acts 7:37. According to I Corinthians 10:1 to 3,
the more than 600,000 Israelites were BAPTIZED unto Moses by ‘THE CLOUD’ and
‘THE SEA’. Now note Exodus 14:31, “and Israel saw the great work which the Lord
did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord,
and His servant Moses.” In the verses preceding Exodus 14:31 we are told how
the Lord and Moses delivered Israel and destroyed the Egyptians with ‘THE
CLOUD’ and ‘THE RED SEA’. Note the result. The Israelites believed Moses. The
Egyptians were immersed in water, but they did not rise to walk in newness of
life. The Israelites crossed the sea on dry land. (Exodus 14:29). By the two
great miracles God persuaded Israel to receive Moses as His and their
deliverer. This is the meaning of being ‘BAPTIZED’ unto Moses by the Cloud and
the Sea. Compare this with Acts 2:22, John 20:30 and 31 and Matthew 12:40. By
these miracles God wanted Israel to be BAPTIZED unto the Prophet like Moses.
Israel was not delivered because they were faithful in keeping their part of
‘THE OLD TESTAMENT’, that is, because they kept the Sabbath and the other
commandments. Israel had not yet been given the ten commandments. Israel was
delivered from Egypt, ‘for the fathers’ sake’; because ‘the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance’; because of ‘the two immutable things’, ‘in
which it is impossible for God to lie’. (Exodus 2:23 to 25 . . . Romans 11:28
and 29 . . . Hebrews 6:17 and 18). It is for this same reason that Jeremiah
23:7 and 8 will be fulfilled when ‘the fulness of the Gentiles be come in’.
How? Read Luke 21:27 to 33. From Egypt to Sinai the children of Israel murmured
against Moses before they became God’s ‘OLD TESTAMENT’ people. (Exodus 15:24 .
. . 16:2 . . . 17:3). More than 1500 years later at the time Stephen called
Israel, ‘stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart’ (Acts 7:51), Stephen told
them that they had received the LAW by the disposition of angels, and had not
kept it. (7:53). On the way from Sinai to Canaan Israel worshipped the molten
calf, God called them then ‘a stiff-necked people’ (Exodus 32:9). They were
saved from destruction because of God’s ‘two immutable things’. (Exodus 32:13
and 14). If you are so busy with other things that you have not the time to
study all of the Scriptures that explain the meaning of Romans 10:21, how God
stretched forth His hands toward that disobedient, unfaithful nation
‘ALL-DAY-LONG’, read with the two ‘Vineyard’ parables which we have mentioned,
Psalm 78 and Psalm 106, Acts 7 and Acts 13, with Matthew 23:24 to 39 and I
Thessalonians 2:14 to 16, and you will not only have the answer to the question
God
asked of Israel in Isaiah 5:4,
“what more could have been done in My VINEYARD that I have not done it?”, but
you will have a good general history of Israel. After you read this history,
and learn in Romans 11:7 to 33, that Gentiles are up because Israel is down,
that we are rich because they are poor, do not fail to read Romans 11:21, “if
God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” By
reading II Kings 17:18 and II Kings 23:26 and 27 with the second chapter of
Daniel we learn when ‘THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES’, politically, began, about 600
B.C. In the second chapter of Daniel is recorded the beginning, the course, and
the end of ‘THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES’, politically. (Luke 21:24). In Romans
11:7 to 25 we learn the meaning of ‘THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES’, spiritually.
Thus we learn of the FALL of Israel, politically, and the FALL of Israel
spiritually. In both instances God turned to the Gentiles.
ISRAEL UNDER DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS
‘FROM ADAM TO MOSES’ there was no
LAW; for the LAW was given by Moses. (John 1:17 . . . Romans 5:12 to 14) . The
LAW ENTERED (Romans 5:20), the LAW WAS ADDED (Galatians 3:19), about 2500 years
after sin entered by Adam. Moses was 80 years old when Jehovah and Israel
entered into the LAW CONTRACT at Sinai. That was 330 years after Abraham died.
It was after Isaac, Jacob, Judah and Joseph had died. The Book of Genesis
begins with the first man, Adam, and closes with the death and burial of
Joseph. No one from Adam to Joseph was an Old Testament character. The LAW
COVENANT, added at Sinai some years after the death of Joseph, was a very, very
new Covenant when it was added to the Abrahamic promise and oath. The promise
to Abraham and his seed, that he should be heir of the world, was not through
the LAW. (Romans 4:13). The LAW is called ‘THE YOKE OF BONDAGE’. (Galatians 5:1
. . . Acts 15:10 . . . Hebrews 12:20 . . . Colossians 2:14). The LAW is called
the ‘MINISTRATION OF DEATH AND CONDEMNATION’. (II Corinthians 3:7 and 9).
Therefore, ‘THE LAW WORKETH WRATH’. (Romans 4:15). The LAW COVENANT was taken
out of the way and became ‘OLD’ after the death of Christ. (Hebrews 8:13). The
Abrahamic Covenant is still in force, although that phase of the inheritance
which guarantees Israel’s national redemption and occupation of Canaan has been
interrupted. The prophesied kingdom has been postponed until God, who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), Accomplishes, in
this present age and dispensation, His ETERNAL ‘GRACE’ PURPOSE concerning
Christ and the Church, ONE FLESH. (II Timothy 1:9—Ephesians 1:4, 5 and 11).
Surely we have seen the utter folly of calling, Abraham or Jacob or any of
Jacob’s twelve sons, ‘Old Testament’ characters. There is not one line in
Genesis concerning the ‘Old Testament’; which began with the twentieth chapter
of Exodus. In Genesis, the eleventh chapter, we read of BABEL, meaning
‘confusion’, and of Peleg, meaning ‘division’ (I Chronicles 1:19). Then we read
in Romans 1:21 to 32 how God GAVE UP THE GENTILES. Out of the wreck and ruin
God called an uncircumcised heathen, Abram, and then and there God began a NEW
MOVEMENT. When God did what He did for Abram, according to Genesis 15:6 to 8,
the Scriptures foresaw ‘THE GOSPEL OF THE UNCIRCUMCISION’ by which many
uncircumcised heathen would be saved in the same way. (Galatians 3:8 . . . 2:7
. . . Romans 4:4 and 5 . . . 4:18 to 23). Another something new was added 24
years after Abram responded to God’s call; namely, ‘THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION’.
Then 406 years later at Sinai God erected the middle-wall
of partition between Israel and
the nations, which stood until God broke it down. (Ephesians 2:14 to 17). When
the LAW was ADDED that sin might abound (Romans 5:20), that sin might be exceedingly
sinful (Romans 7:13), that by the LAW every mouth should be stopped and all the
world become guilty before God (Romans 3:19), that LAW was given to be Israel’s
SCHOOLMASTER to bring Israel to Christ, that they might be justified by faith.
(Galatians 3:24). When Israel passed under ‘THE YOKE OF BONDAGE’ at Sinai, the
REIGN of LAW began. Israel knew that a most radical change had taken place.
They knew that they were entering a very different DISPENSATION, with a very
complicated religious system imposed on them with the ten commandments until
the time of the reformation. (Hebrews 9:10). ‘THE LAW WAS ADDED TILL’ . . .
(Galatians 3:19). When the LAW had served its purpose Israel was no longer
under the LAW SCHOOLMASTER. (Galatians 3:25). After the resurrection of Christ,
Israel was slow to learn that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4). Read Acts 21:20 to 25. It was a
great change when Israel went from ‘NOT UNDER THE LAW’ to ‘UNDER THE LAW’ at Sinai.
It was just as great a change when they went from ‘UNDER THE LAW’ to ‘NOT UNDER
THE LAW’ after the death and resurrection of Christ. They learned the truth of
Romans 6:14, ‘ye are not under the law’. Do you know a better name for this
than ‘DISPENSATIONAL BIBLE STUDY’ After reading Luke 2:39, Galatians 4:4,
Matthew 5:17 and 18, 8:1 to 4 and 23:1 to 3, would you not say that Christ with
His nation, including His disciples, lived on earth ‘under the law’ before His
death and resurrection? No minister of Christ need be a profound student of the
Scriptures to know the great difference between the message of John the
Baptist, ‘baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins’, (Mark 1:4),
before the FALL of Israel, and ‘the washing of regeneration’ of Titus 3:5 and
6, after the FALL of Israel. There is a very great difference between the Jews
and Gentiles, as ‘children’ and ‘dogs’ in Mark 7:27, before the FALL, and the
‘no difference between Jews and Gentiles’ in Romans 10:12, after the FALL.
There is just as great a difference between Matthew 6:15 “if ye forgive not,
neither will your Father forgive” (Matthew 18:34 and 35), before the FALL, and
Colossians 2:13 and Ephesians 4:32 after the FALL, having all your sins
forgiven, for Christ’s sake; and therefore, forgive one another. Inasmuch as
Christ told His apostles, “go not in the way of the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:5),
we are sure that God was not visiting the Gentiles to take out from them a
people for His Name (Acts 15:14) while Christ was Jesus of Nazareth in the
midst of Israel. (Acts 2:22 . . . Romans 15:8 . . . Matthew 15:24). Therefore,
before the FALL of Israel, Gentiles were not obtaining Divine mercy because of
Israel’s unbelief, as they were after the FALL. (Romans 11:30). In rightly
dividing the Word of truth, the faithful ‘STEWARD’ of the MYSTERIES of God will
study and interpret every doctrine and event in the Bible as to whether it is
recorded before the FALL of Israel or after the FALL of Israel. Has the
communism of Acts 2:44 and 45 and 4:34 and 35 been a part of God’s program
since the FALL of Israel? Has God ever instructed any Christian to tarry for
Holy Spirit baptism since the FALL of Israel? ‘PISTEUSANTES’ (believing) the
gospel of salvation, the believer is sealed unto the day of redemption with the
Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13 and 14 and 4:30). But while Jesus of Nazareth was
on earth under the law the Holy Spirit was not yet. (John 7:38 to 40 . . .
16:7). (Acts 1:5). While Christ and His disciples were under the law, neither
Christ nor any one of His disciples would have preached
Colossians 2:16 or Romans 6:14:
“let no man judge you in respect of a holyday or the sabbath”, “for ye are not
under the law.” The Lord was not making the JOINT-BODY of Ephesians 2:15 before
the FALL of Israel. Believing Jews and Gentiles were not being baptized by ONE
SPIRIT in to ONE BODY while Christ was a Minister of the circumcision,
confirming promises to Israel. (Romans 15:8). The ONE BODY of I Corinthians
12:13, Romans 12:4 and 5, Ephesians 4:4, was not promised to Israel by their
prophets. When we read in Acts 10:28 that it was unlawful for the apostles to
go to the Gentiles, we know that at that
time Peter was not preaching what Paul later on called ‘the mystery among
Gentiles’. (Colossians 1:27). When God’s due time came for the Gentiles (I
Timothy 2:4 to 6) Paul added, “whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an
apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.” (2:7). We have no record that Peter
preached the message of II Timothy 1:9, concerning God’s eternal ‘grace’
purpose; for there Paul again said, “whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and
an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles”. (verse 11). Read also Acts 22:21 . .
. Galatians 1:16 . . . Romans 11:13 . . . 15:16 . . . II Timothy 4:17 and Titus
1:3.
THE MINISTRY OR WORK OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT
After Christ was raised from the
dead He said to His disciples, “ye shall be BAPTIZED with (in) the HOLY SPIRIT
not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5). They waited many months, after they received
water baptism, for the Holy Spirit. (Luke 3:16 . . . John 7:38 to 40 . . . John
14:17 . . . 16:7). If we understand Galatians 3:14 and the correct translation
of Ephesians 1:13, we know that no Christian has to wait five minutes for the
HOLY SPIRIT, for the anointing, the sealing or the baptism. No faithful
‘STEWARD’ of the MYSTERIES of God will preach to any person today 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.” This was
God’s message, in God’s ‘kingdom’ program, before the FALL of Israel. Israel
had yet been cast away. The message of Acts 2:38 was for individual Israelites,
but was also for the nation, as was Acts 3:19 to 26. What a great difference in
God’s ‘grace’ message after the FALL of Israel, “not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His (God’s) 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.” (Titus 3:5 and 6). These two
messages are as different as law and grace. The faithful ‘STEWARD’ will find
just as radical difference between Acts 5:31 and 32, Peter’s message to Israel,
before the FALL of Israel, and Paul’s message in I Corinthians 12:13, after the
FALL of Israel. We quote these verses: “Him (Christ) hath God exalted (raised
from the dead) with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
REPENTANCE TO ISRAEL, and forgiveness of sins . . And we are witness of these
things: and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey
Him.” Now I Corinthians 12:12 and 13. . . “So also is ‘THE CHRIST’ . . . for by
ONE SPIRIT were we all baptized into ONE BODY whether we be Jews or Gentiles.”
What a great difference in these two ministries of the Holy Spirit! It is true
that Peter, some years after Paul was sent forth by Christ, said that God gave
the Gentiles the Holy Spirit as He did the Jews, and put no difference between
us and them, and we believe that through the grace of Lord Jesus Christ we
shall be saved even as they (Acts 15:8 to 11). It is also true that there is a
great difference between grace in former dispensations and the
present ‘DISPENSATION OF GRACE’.
Peter knew that the first mission and work of the Holy Spirit was not to
baptize believing Jews and Gentiles into the JOINT-BODY of Ephesians 3:6, and
make them members one of another, (Romans 12:4 and 5). Before this operation of
the Holy Spirit began the nation Israel was to be held accountable for the sign
of Matthew 12:40, the burial and resurrection of Christ. When Jonah came out
alive from the big fish after three days, the heathen of Nineveh repented.
(Matthew 12:38 to 43). What would Israel do, as a nation, after Christ was
raised from the dead to take David’s ‘throne’ (Acts 2:27 to 33), to give to
Israel ‘THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID’ (Acts 13:34), to be a Prince and a Saviour
to give REPENTANCE TO ISRAEL (Acts 5:31), ‘turning away every one of you from
his iniquities’? (Acts 3:26)? Christ was raised up, in incarnation, from Mary’s
womb, to occupy David’s throne (Luke 1:27 to 33), to give to Israel ‘THE SURE
MERCIES OF DAVID’ (Luke 1:67 to 77). Christ was raised up, in resurrection,
from Joseph’s tomb, to occupy the throne of David, to give to Israel ‘THE SURE
MERCIES OF DAVID’ (Acts 2:27 to 33 . . . 13:34). This meant, of course, to
‘BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH IS BROKEN DOWN’. (Acts 15:15 to 17 .
. . Amos 9:11 to 15). At the time Peter preached to the household of Cornelius,
the Gentile who worshipped God, who prayed to God, who loved the Jews. Peter
knew nothing of Romans 11:25, 11:11 and 15, that God had sent blindness on
Israel that they should stumble and fall, so that salvation might be sent to
Gentiles, and that Israel’s blindness would continue until ‘the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in’. So Peter didn’t say Romans 11:33. Peter was certainly not
telling the Gentiles that they were obtaining Divine mercy because of Israel’s
unbelief (Romans 11:30), or preaching Romans 11:31 to Israel. It was after Paul
said to Israel, ‘lo we turn to the Gentiles’ (Acts 13:46), that God opened the
door of faith unto the nations. (Acts 14:27). We should, not have that door
open before God opened it. Peter at first knew nothing about ‘THE DISPENSATION
OF THE MYSTERY’ (Ephesians 3:9), ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD FOR
GENTILES’. (Ephesians 3:1 to 4). Peter’s keys of the kingdom and his gospel of
the circumcision and his message of Acts 2:38 have no place in the
‘DISPENSATION’ or ‘DEPOSIT’ which Christ, by revelation gave to Paul.
FAULTY DISPENSATIONALISM AND
FANATICISM
The so-called Fundamentalists,
who claim to be premillennial ‘grace’ messengers, and stewards of the mysteries
of God, are aware of the untiring energy, the zeal and sincerity of the SEVENTH
DAY ADVENTISTS, and JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, and the FANATICAL PENTECOSTALISTS with
their program of tongues, healing and visions. These groups are unceasingly
active in propagating their heresies. They are sincere, but sincerely wrong.
Although the doctrines emphasized by these three sects are radically different,
and not one of the three groups has any fellowship with the other, they are all
a menace to the Church of Christ, and are zealous opponents of the gospel of
the grace of God, knowing not one single thing about God’s ‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’,
PURPOSED in Christ before the overthrow of the world. They are as ignorant of
Colossians 1:24, as well as 1:25 and 26 and Romans 16:25, as though they were
never revealed from heaven. Can you imagine any sane person, to whom the Holy
Spirit has taught the truth of Ephesians, ever being deceived by the so-called
‘VOICE OF PROPHECY’ and believing the damnable heresy concerning Satan, the
scapegoat bearing the sins of Christians, the heresy of extinction of life or
soul-sleeping or soul-destruction between death and resurrection, and the
annihilation of the wicked? The
only sense in which these groups are ‘ISRAEL’—and they call themselves that—is
the fact that they share Israel’s blindness, only their blindness comes from a
different source. (II Corinthians 4:3 to 6 . . . 11:1 to 4). Read II
Corinthians 11:13 to 15. The millennium program of Jehovah’s Witnesses is very
largely due to their absolute ignorance of ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’,
not knowing the difference between the prophesied kingdom of God, prepared from
the overthrow of the world, and the ‘ETERNAL PURPOSE’ of God concerning ‘THE
CHURCH OF THE MYSTERY’, purposed and predestinated before the overthrow of the
world, but not prophesied by Israel’s prophets. Denying the eternal Deity of
the Lord Jesus, Whom the Scriptures plainly declare to be God, and the
Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, and denying that Christ is a
glorified Man at God’s right hand, they preach another Jesus, another spirit
and another gospel, beguiled by the one who transforms himself into an angel of
light. (II Corinthians 11:1 to 3 and 11:13 to 15). It is the duty of every
minister of Christ to be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God and to obey
Ephesians 3:9, “make all see what is ‘THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY’.” The
knowledge of this truth is God’s sure cure for almost every ism and ill with
which the Church of Christ is afflicted. One of the outstanding ‘grace’
teachers among the Premillennial Fundamentalists referred to the truth of
Ephesians 3:9 and Colossians 1:24 to 26 as ‘THE LOST PRECIOUS GEM’. He wrote
that that wonderful truth was lost for centuries because Christianity had been
JUDAIZED. Surely then it is the duty of every minister of Christ to
enthusiastically and earnestly enter the task of aiding in uncovering,
recovering or rediscovering the truth for which the apostle Paul suffered as an
evil doer. There are many conscientious, sincere, devout, zealous, splendid
people in the Pentecostalist movement. They are not in sympathy with all of the
religious doings of some of the extreme fanatics who likewise call themselves
Pentecostalists. But they all have a zeal of God, not according to knowledge.
They claim that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit, in fulfillment of
Joel’s Prophecy, was poured out and began His work of baptizing believers into
the JointBody of Ephesians 3:6, that that first Pentecost Church was the Church
of power and authority, working under the commissions of Matthew 28:19 and 20
and Mark 16:16 to 18. They are sure, therefore, that the Church of 1951 should
contend earnestly for the full program of Mark 16:16 to 18 and the first
chapters of Acts. If the Dispensation of the Grace of God of Ephesians began
with Peter and Pentecost, are the present-day Pentecostalists right or wrong in
their contention? Note the message and program of Mark 16:16 to 18 . . .
believeth . . . is baptized . . . shall be saved . . . these signs shall follow
believers . . . cast out demons . . . speak with tongues . . . drink poison
without harm . . . lay hands of the sick for their recovery. Note the message
of Acts 2:38; repent . . . be baptized for the remission of sins . . . receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then note the order in Acts 8:1 to 15. If God did
not change His message and program when Christ revealed to Paul the program of
Ephesians 3:1 to 9 . . . Romans 16:25 . . . Colossians 1:24, if God began His
program of grace on the day of Pentecost because the FALL of Israel took place
when Christ uttered the words of Matthew 23:38, “your house is left unto you
desolate”, are the Pentecostalists to be condemned or commended for contending
for the full program of Mark 16:16 to 18 without revision or abridgment? The
‘grace’ Fundamentalists, who revise and abridge Mark 16:16 to 18 to read, “he
that believeth and is saved shall be baptized with water as a witness to the
world . . . no signs to follow”, certainly handle the ‘Word of God ignorantly,
if not deceitfully. They have no
Scriptural answer to the
Pentecostalists, with their ‘sign’ program and their Acts 2:38 gospel, because
of their faulty dispensationalism. God’s answer is, that ‘THE DISPENSATION OF
THE GRACE OF GOD’ and ‘THE JOINT-BODY OF EPHESIANS 3:6’ began with Paul’s
ministry after the FALL of Israel and not with Peter and Pentecost before the FALL
of Israel. Neither the Pentecostalists nor the ‘grace’ Fundamentalists follow
Paul (Philippians 3:17 . . . I Corinthians 11:1) in thanking God, as he did in
I Corinthians 1:14 and 14:18 and 39: “I thank God I baptized none of you (but
four or five)” . . . “I thank God I speak with tongues more than ye all” . . .
“forbid not to speak with tongues.” Is there not a Scriptural answer to the
questions, “why was it that the Corinthians, who were the least spiritual and
least faithful of the first-century Christians, exercised the gift of healing
(I Corinthians 12:9), that believers were to lay hands on the sick for their
recovery (Mark 16:18), and Paul healed ungodly heathen in Acts 28:8 and 9,
whereas we read in II Timothy 4:20, some years later, Paul left a faithful
saint, Trophimus, sick?” This is explained in part in I Corinthians 13:8. From
this verse we learn that we must recognize the principle of progressive
revelation even after the FALL of Israel. Intelligent study of the Scriptures
in obedience to II Timothy 2:15 is ‘DISPENSATIONAL BIBLE STUDY’. When we are
told that ‘dispensationalism’ must not be carried too far, we ask, how far is
far enough but not too far? In recognizing the principle of ‘PROGRESSIVE
REVELATION’ in our ‘DISPENSATIONAL BIBLE STUDY’, surely we should ask why the
Book of Acts suddenly ended when Paul reached Rome, although Paul continued to
act for some years after Acts 28:31. Luke, the human author of Acts, was with
Paul when Paul wrote his farewell message. (II Timothy 4:11). Note Acts 12:19,
that Peter, right after James received his DEATH BAPTISM (Matthew 20:23 . . .
Acts 12:1 and 2), abode at Caesarea. After Acts 12:19 there is no record in the
Book of Acts of any of the missionary journeys of Peter and his fellow
apostles. The last sixteen chapters of Acts record the doings and sayings of
one apostle, Paul, and only those of such other persons as had dealings with
him. But the Book of Acts suddenly ended before Paul’s ministry ended. Why? In
Paul’s Epistles written after Acts 28:31 we learn that we are living in a
timeless, a signless and a ‘religion-less’ period, with faith, hope and love
remaining. Let every member of the Body obey Ephesians 3:9 and keep the unity
of Ephesians 4:1 to 7. Every member of the Body should believe what the Moody
Bible Institute has for more than thirty years printed in a book by A. E.
Bishop, entitled ‘TONGUES, SIGNS, AND VISIONS, NOT GOD’S ORDER FOR TODAY’. This
pamphlet has the unreserved endorsement of Dr. C. I. Scofield. This writer
endorses most heartily the following statements copied from Mr. Bishop’s
pamphlet:
“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 and teachings, and would
adjust things in general, placing secondary things in their place and first
things where they belong.”
“In the latest epistles of Paul
not only is it noticeable that the sign gifts are nowhere in manifestation, but
a different order is brought forth by the Holy Spirit for the correction of
prevailing hobbies and fanaticisms.”
“There is no foundation in the
word of God for the prevailing popular doctrine of ‘Divine Healing’.” “It is
not true that healing is as much the will of God for every Christian as
salvation
is for the unsaved. Some of the
choicest of saints by the elective will of God, have been patient sufferers for
years upon sick beds.”
“In contrast with the sign-gifts
of I Corinthians 12, limited to a portion of the believers and operative only
during the Book of Acts period, let us note the non-sign gifts of Ephesians
4:10.”
“The fact that the Bible does not
give a hint of the manifestation of the sign-gifts after the Book of Acts, must
carry convincing evidence to the careful student who compares Scripture with
Scripture, that they have been retired.”
“If we give heed to this fact, it
will be easy for us to see later on why God, who is sovereign in the giving of
signs, afterwards retired completely the sign gifts.”
“Is it the spirit of God or
Satan, who turns the eyes of sincere Christians back to Pentecost and away from
the goal placed before them in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians?”
“Is it the spirit of God or Satan
who attempts to revive the sign-gifts that were divinely retired after having
fulfilled their purpose? Every widespread attempt to revive them has, without
exception, resulted in confusion, divisions, injury and disgrace.”
Les
Feldick Galatians teaching on the two Gospels -
King James Bible
The Preserved and Living Word of God
(A
10 Minute Video)
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